A day at the end of the Cape

Lisa and I went to Provincetown yesterday. The ferry only takes 90 minutes from Boston (though if you sleep for 20 minutes on the way over and 60 minutes on the way back, it feels even faster). I had been joking before the trip that we would see whales from the boat, since BHC also runs whale watches. We saw two, as it turns out, close enough to see their backs as well as their spouts. Humpbacks, probably.

Nature was on full display in the morning and evening: great blue herons flying in front of us, and a spectacular moonrise over the harbor with the huge full pale red moon slowly becoming a bright peach.

We spent the heart of the day trawling for art along the full length of Commercial Street (East End first, per Carl’s advice when we ran into him on Macmillan Wharf) with frequent breaks for people-watching. Some of the highlights:

Full-screenProvincetown Art Association & Museum’s small sculpture garden
Charles-Baltivik Gallery (paintings, metal sculptures)
Rice-Polak Gallery (kinetic sculptures, paintings)
Sarah Jessica Fine Arts (prints, etchings, glass, and ceramics)

as well as Impulse gallery with an impressive collection of art kaleidoscopes, a gallery of Philip James photographs which we could only peer into from outside, id with wonderful sculptures of human figures in motion, and more.

There were tons of fun shops as well, and more homemade ice cream than you could shake a stick at. We had an elegant lunch in the Waterford Inn and Cafe’s garden, and a stunning dinner at Victor’s. In a town with many great-looking restaurant options, I suspect the only reason we’ll ever try somewhere else for dinner is if we cannot get a table at Victor’s. Not worth missing the return ferry for, but, well, probably worth missing the return ferry for.

We had a good plan. Take the ferry to Provincetown, enjoy the end-of-summer weather and the simple joy of traveling light and letting the world surprise us. It really worked.