I had a wonderful time. I didn't have internet access while I was down there - a mixed blessing; I've gotten used to checking the weather, looking up things in Wikipedia, etc. whenever I want. But I couldn't possibly check my work email, either! 
I kept a blog, with the plan of posting it when I got back. I'm going to do it in daily installments, with some editing and the occasional picture.
October 14, 2008
My Harwich Port Blog
Or at least that's my intention as I start to write this. It's something after 11 at night, and I'm slumped on my bed (my intention was to be propped up comfortably, but that doesn't seem to be working). So I moved to the ditzy little round table, the one with the plastic lawn chairs. Other than those, though, this room seems to be well furnished.
My trip almost didn't happen. Well, I guess that's not really true; I would have gotten down here if I had to crawl. But yesterday, when I was fighting to make myself walk properly up the cellar stairs, my right knee (that's the good one) gave out on me and I fell to both knees at the top of the stairs. I had sprained it badly. It's better today, and it didn't bother me when I was driving. But I felt for awhile that the Powers of the Universe were conspiring against me.
I arrived in Harwich Port (as it says on the map; there's a mixed opinion about whether it should be one or two words. I always think of it as Harwichport) at about 12:55 p.m., roughly 2 hours and 10 minutes after I left home. I wasted most, maybe all, of that 10 minutes looking for a Dunkin Donuts in Weymouth and, after finding one, trying to find Route 3 again. I thought I knew where it was. Oh, well, this is New England; you can't travel more than a mile without passing a Dunkin. There's even one here in Harwichport, where the Christy's market used to be, in the strip mall where the A&P was when I was growing up, the one my sister and I (ages 7 and 5) were allowed to walk to, even though it meant crossing busy Lower County Road.
Check-in time for the Sandpiper Beach Inn is 3 p.m., so I had a couple of hours to kill. I went to an amazing yarn shop in the center of town, in a new building next to the municipal parking lot. I think it might have been a furniture store at one time; that's what my dim memory is telling me. Anyway, it's been broken down into a series of shops, some of which haven't been rented out yet. The yarn shop, Adventures in Knitting, was displaying a lot of knitted goods made up in variegated yarn. I loved them and knew I had to make something! I bought yarn, a circular needle, and a pattern to make myself a hat in a very complex pattern where the strips of knitting appear to be woven together. I'll take a picture of it when it's done. It's made in a Japanese yarn called Noro Kureyon (which I'm willing to bet is Japanese for "crayon"). I chose a purple, blue and green blend (no surprises there; most of my wardrobe is purple, blue, or green).
After that, I wanted to get some lunch, and that's when I discovered that most of the downtown restaurants either closed after Labor Day or closed before 1:30. I ended up going to Seafood Sam's, a favorite family restaurant which I was saving for Friday, when my sons are coming down for the day. I got the lobster bisque, which was just as good as I remembered it.
I drove up Route 28 to Chatham, turning around at the traffic light by the Unitarian-Universalist church. I'm saving the center for tomorrow, when I can give it the serious attention that it deserves! I noticed that some of the places we used to go aren't there any more, and others had closed already for the season. Marion's Pie Shop is still there, though, and was doing a great business. After I drove by, I realized that I probably should have gone there for lunch. I don't think there's actually a restaurant on the premises, but I think I could get soup and maybe a slice of pie to take out. It's worth a try, anyway; I think I'll give it a shot tomorrow.
The nursery where Mom and Dad bought a hydrangea in about 1958 is still there. It's an Agway now. Interesting, the things that stick in my mind.
It was about 2:40 by then, so I drove over to the Bank Street town beach parking lot (right outside the Sandpiper Beach Inn) and read the Boston Globe until it was late enough to check in. The manager is very young, about my kids' age (somewhere between 20 and 27). He lives on the premises with his little long-haired Dachshund, Louie, who gave my shoes a thorough sniffing. Probably smelled the cats. The office has windows on three sides; it's like being on a boat. He told me that they're going to turn it into another room and put the office where his apartment is now.
The place is really more like what we used to call a motel (it's a row of attached rooms). The part I'm in has a second story, but the part across the grassy lawn doesn't. The cars park in an adjacent lot. My room has a king-sized bed, which is overkill in my case. The room is tiny and the furniture typical motel stuff, all except for the aforementioned white plastic lawn chairs at the table. There's a mini refrigerator and a microwave in each room. There are windows at the front and back, and outside the back door there's a small enclosed terrace, exclusively for this room.
After I unpacked, I changed to shorts and sandals and went down to the beach to wade in the water. I walked along the beach towards where we used to go. I didn't go that far; I didn't want to overdo it on my first day, and my sprained knee was aching. I hope to get down to Allen Harbor before I leave. It's been windy ever since I got here. I was cold on the beach. I passed a couple walking in long pants, sneakers and jackets; they seemed to be looking at me as if I was crazy. Not crazy, just my first trip to the Cape this summer, and I'm going to wade no matter what!
[The actual blog blathered on a little longer, but I think I'll stop here for today.]
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