Cape Cod EARLY Spring!

Forsythia abounds in bright yellow blossoms!

"Spring on Cape Cod is in the eye of the beholder.  You have to crack it open for the beauty to pour forth."

   --Eric Levy



Now that I have had a couple of years to visit and explore this arm of land extending out into the Atlantic from Massachusetts, I find myself yearning to visit to welcome spring and then fall--but, before and after the TOURISTS arrive and depart!

Lewis Bay, our first walking destination after the rain ceased.

Yes, one could argue that I could be defined as a TOURIST--but, now that I am beginning to have my favorite places, I would consider defining myself as an EXPLORER, one who seeks to discover more in the familiar.

My spring visit was in the first week of May this year--the earliest I've visited Cape Cod and before the Lilac Season that I adore. It gave a very different view of a season that never ceases to astonish me. 

RAIN greeted me when I arrived.  Because there were also strong wind gusts, I wondered if I was experiencing my first nor'easter--only to learn that this storm would only marginally qualify.  Still, I'm stubbornly pleased that I can add this storm to my repertoire. 

Warm with gloves and a down vest beneath my rain jacket, I'm ready
to stroll the empty beach of Lewis Bay.

RAIN pelted us during our drive from the Providence, R.I. airport onto the Cape, threw torrents against the house and continued with dark intensity for several days--all to my delight!  

I LOVE storms and this one was a whopper that encouraged us to go shopping, browse art galleries and later enjoy quiet nights at home.

An osprey delivers breakfast to a waiting mate on the nest at Lewis Bay.

Once the rain ceased and we were able to venture out, there is a wonderful solace of open space when one has the opportunity to visit favorite and discover new beaches before they fill with summer guests. 

The boardwalk leading out to Gray's Beach is a particular favorite.

The salt marsh at Gray's Beach, where the surf rolls onto white sand across the inlet.

Greater Yellowlegs wade in the gentle water at land's end.

Few footsteps disrupt the sand on a windy afternoon at Skaket Beach.

A path beckons.

View of Provincetown Harbor.

All too soon my visit was drawing to a close and I requested a return trip to Provincetown--a lovely, quirky and built-on-top-of-itself community located at the very top of Cape Cod.

Of course we started with a delicious lunch at the popular Lobster Pot, where we had the BEST table with the BEST view and the BEST waitress, too!  Thank you, Emily!

P'town, as the locals call it, is really a small community of about 3,000--and then swells to over 60,000 in the summer!  

It's a crazy mix of hippies, gays, artists, businesses, theaters, restaurants, galleries, bars, boutiques, houses, apartments, all strung together with power lines that criss-cross over all of it.

Here was where the Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed, where Portuguese sailors settled after the American Revolution and where the fishing industry was severely damaged after the 1898 Portland Gale.

Power lines criss-cross over Commercial Street.

Reminding me of the North Dakota Badlands, the dunes rise remote
and ever-changing.

After strolling down Commercial Street, browsing art galleries and enjoying the whimsical and creative shops (where I found a well-used brass bell and two square silk scarves from Napal) we left P'town to travel north to the tippy-top of the "fist" of Cape Cod to see Race Point Beach.

Dunes, part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, rise up quickly as we leave the town proper.

Skies darken in late afternoon over the historic harbor house at Race Point Beach

Stick sculptures temporarily decorate the beach at Race Point Beach.

Gentle waves and soft sand quiet at day's end.

We realized as we drove home on Route 6 that if we were lucky, we'd reach home and Lewis Bay at sunset.

We were lucky.

Sunset at Lewis Bay marks the end of this visit to Cape Cod.

  "You can never have too much
           Cape Cod."