Say Yes, And Figure It Out Later: An Unexpectedly Wonderful Event

Say yes, and figure it out later. That is a phrase I have heard a lot over the years when it comes to opportunities in life. Typically it refers to a job, but for me it refers to a speaking event.

This week I was part of an event that could have easily gone sideways, and in the back of my mind I figured it would. The Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis reached out to me last week on Tuesday. They had an event scheduled for Thursday, August 13th. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, their speakers dropped out. One even said something like, ‘I’m old, I just can’t.’ That’s a great way to honor your commitments.

I received an email asking if I could step in on short notice. I wouldn’t be giving the same presentation as the people who bailed, though. I was asked to create something.

I hesitated, but when they said that Don Wilding, who I consider the gold standard of Cape Cod history, recommended me, I was in. I didn’t want to disappoint him, the maritime museum, or the people who had already spent money to buy tickets for the event that night.

So I said yes, but that left me with an issue: I had one week to craft a totally new presentation. They gave me a bit of leeway. The only parameters were that it needed to fit into the Roaring Twenties motif of their lectures during the summer of 2026.

Luckily, a few years ago I had crafted a video about what it was like to have a summer vacation on Cape Cod a century ago. That was for 1923, but it was not that much of a leap to change things up for 1926.

Although I had the subject, I still needed to do a lot of research and spend hours putting together a suitable presentation and copious notes. I needed to make sure the talk included details about specific Cape Cod places from back then, like restaurants, hotels, and events of the time. By the time I was done, I had forty slides in the presentation and 3,000 words worth of notes.

Despite being really happy with my work, I knew that there could still be issues. I felt good about what I would be speaking about, but would it matter? People had ordered tickets for a certain event. Now that it had been changed to something totally different, what if they didn’t want to keep their tickets to see me? What if sales of tickets for my presentation were terrible?

I have written ten books. I have spoken at many dozens of events over the years. Even at my highest of highs, I still get imposter syndrome. It’s that voice in the back of my head that tells me that I don’t deserve good things, or success, or love, or happiness, or whatever. It’s a fear of being found out or exposed even though it's usually totally unfounded.

It was too late by the time August 13th rolled around. I had committed to the event and done the work of creating the presentation. I would not bail like the other people had. I remained cautiously optimistic but still kept hearing in the back of my mind that it might not be as good as I’d hoped.

The drive to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum was a wash of summer traffic and a passing severe thunderstorm. Would the weather play a factor in turnout?

I arrive at my events forty-five minutes early. There was an event at the Cotuit Library years ago where I got stuck in traffic on the way and arrived five minutes before my start time. I walked in, and the people were waiting. It already looked bush league.

Then, on top of being nearly late, the cables to connect my laptop to the projector were malfunctioning. It was a nightmare. In the end, I believe I started speaking fifteen minutes late. I vowed to never let that happen again, and it hasn’t.

The staff at the museum were so grateful to me for stepping up. I had never been inside, so I loved getting a behind the scenes tour. Anybody who enjoys boats, sailing, maritime history, anything like that, I highly recommend visiting.

Naturally, because I was so early, everything was set up in record time with no hiccups. My cautious optimism turned to overjoyed excitement when I got the news. Not only were the pre-sale ticket people coming, but the entire lot of seats was sold out. On top of that, there was a standby list of people waiting just in case seats opened up. That’s right, my event had a waiting list. It was a first-ever for me.

I set up my books on a table and gathered my notes on a clear hard-plastic podium. One by one, staff members came up and thanked me for being there. I admit I felt a little pressure, wanting to be worthy of all of the praise.

Once the setup was done and all of the pleasantries exchanged, all I had to do was wait. The Maritime Museum holds events in a really neat, rustic downstairs library overlooking the harbor. It was so packed with chairs that I was wedged in a corner behind the podium.

While awaiting the people, I looked around. In an interesting twist, the very first book I spotted was one about Gurnet Point in Plymouth. It’s meaningful because my buddy Steve’s family has had a cottage out there for a century. I snapped a photo to send to him later.

That was another interesting shift. I tend to take a few photos or videos before the event to share on social media. On this day I didn’t have time. People began coming down the stairs, and it was showtime.

This was a History on Tap event, so Cape Cod Beer donated some drinks for people to enjoy. I had a nice lemon seltzer. August 13th was my 2,162nd day alcohol-free, with my 6th ‘Soberversary’ coming September 12th.

People filed in with their plastic cups of beer or wine and stared at the title slide for the event. Not wanting to just stand there, I engaged with people sitting nearby. Slowly the seats filled, and voices echoed off the old wooden floors and walls.

I was mic’d up, but only for the recording of the event for the museum and not to be heard over the crowd. Having come up in the restaurant industry, I had learned how to project my voice, so being heard has never been an issue.

As we began, there might have been an empty seat or two, but it was a nearly full house of somewhere between fifty and sixty people. So they had shown up. Now it was up to me to be worthy of their time and money.

Yes, I might have needed to basically read my notes like a script, but I spoke of Olde Cape Cod for forty-five minutes. I loved hearing the sounds people made at each new slide. Some featured old photos and postcards of places they either remembered or had heard about.

When I finished my talk and asked for questions, the applause echoed off the walls. It had gone better than I could have hoped for. The Imposter Syndrome retreated, at least temporarily. I also realized that saying yes to something a bit out of your comfort zone is good. While it is good to keep the worst-case scenario in mind, it also rarely ends up happening.

I answered questions for another twenty minutes, never wanting it to end. After the event unofficially ended, people came up to buy books, thank me for stepping in, and overall wish me well. I felt validated.

I have always been an introvert. Writing books forced my hand into becoming a public speaker. People are usually shocked when I tell them that after an event. Now I have confidence while speaking; it tends to be everything else surrounding the event that gets into my head.

The guests made their way upstairs, or into the next room to see some genuine boat building going on. Soon it was just the three remaining staff members and me. The event had not only drawn in regulars, but it had brought in people they said they’d never seen come to a lecture. I will stay grounded and say it was the interesting topic rather than the interesting speaker.

As things began getting put away, the staff at the museum asked if I’d want to come back and do another presentation. Of course I said yes.

The plan now is to do an event in January. It is likely going to be a return to the Lady of the Dunes murder case that was such a huge part of my life a few years ago. For that one, I will not need to create a whole new presentation.

In the end, the event turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever been a part of. I left the museum feeling grateful, validated, and a bit overwhelmed at the support I got.

Driving along the busy Route 28 as the sun began going down on a warm summer night, I felt the urge to stop somewhere. I chose Englewood Beach in West Yarmouth. It was, and in many ways still is, the spot I most associate with my Nana.

I felt like being in that setting, reveling in such a successful event, and in a small way sharing the good vibes with my Nana. Sure, the stress and worry felt a bit pointless after the fact, but you never assume anything until it’s over.

That’s a little look at what ended up being one of my favorite events of my writing career. It shows that sometimes you just need to say yes and figure it all out after. It also gives me growing confidence that if I do say yes, things will turn out as good as or better than you might expect.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #83: Deep Discounts, Feeling Froggy, Two-A-Days, etc.

1. Sometimes you just get lucky. No, I didn’t win the lottery, but it did feel like I got away with something. When at the supermarket, I was in the a la carte section looking for something quick and easy for dinner. I am a fan of scalloped potatoes. I saw a couple of containers of them and went to grab one. The first was about $4.75 and had probably 12 ounces of food in the container. Then I looked at the other and had to do a double-take. It had about the same amount of potatoes but was priced at 12 cents. No, that’s not a misprint. Someone labeled the potatoes as 12 cents. Even though it was their mistake, I still hit the self-checkout like I had a box of cookies jammed up into my shirt. Once I was out the door, I was thrilled. Dinner was extremely cheap, lucky me. Of course I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t skeptical of the discount. I did wait a few hours, half-expecting to get some sort of food poisoning. Nope, just some rogue employee or complete fool giving me the best deal in a while.

2. One thing I enjoy about Facebook is the daily memories collection. Having been on the site since 2007, I have 18 years worth of posts, photos, etc. Sometimes they can be embarrassing or annoying, like when I’d share cryptic posts about someone I was interested in. I am noticing recently just how much my life revolved around the game FarmVille in 2009. Nearly every day in my memories, there is a blank status update from 2009 that says FarmVille. I don’t feel too bad, though, because at its peak in 2010 it had over 34 million active daily users. If you don’t know or don’t remember FarmVille, you’re in luck. FarmVille is still around online and you can go play now. However, as much as I’d be interested in dropping by to plant a few new crops, I worry that it would become an obsession again. I don’t know if I have time currently for another part-time job of being an online farmer again.

3. I have a client I train at my day job who is notorious for late cancellations or switching their appointment times quite often. They got so bad at late cancellations that they finally had to start being charged a fee for the inconvenience. The late cancellations stopped, and the incessant switching of their appointment times began. This week was perhaps the worst of them all. This client was supposed to be in to train on Thursday afternoon. They called and asked to switch to Wednesday afternoon. I figured that was fine; it worked out with my schedule as it would allow me to start my vacation a little early. Within an hour of the change that they asked for, they then canceled the changed appointment. I was dumbstruck. I made it a point to have our office manager not offer the old time slot to this client. No way I was giving up a few extra hours of vacation for someone who might end up canceling again anyway.

4. The last day at work before my vacation started was like the last day of school before summer. It was only fitting that the day began with something wacky. I enter through a side door that goes through the gym. I tend to go in and set my first workout up before even getting to my desk. On this day, I was walking and thought I saw a leaf on the floor, as they can get tracked in from outside. Only when the ‘leaf’ moved did I realize it wasn’t a leaf. Upon further inspection, I found it was a tiny ‘peeper’ frog. It was about the size of a quarter. How did it get in the gym? No idea but I had a helluva time wrangling it to get it out. I had to chase it around with a paper cup in one hand and a paper towel in the other. Eventually, I caught it. Luckily, out behind our parking lot is a swampy area. This is where I chose to let it go. I even got a video of it.

5. Only when I started my vacation this week did I realize just how much of a creature of habit I am. I have a routine on Fridays which consists of doing laundry and recording the next episode of my podcast. With 11 straight days and 15 out of 17 days off, I have almost unlimited time to do things. Still, my intention was to do my typical Friday routine. That was until I realized I was on vacation and then I basically wiped the slate clean. I still did end up doing my laundry on Friday though. Oh well, I still need a little structure.

6. The biggest news of the week, and maybe the year, is my first attempt at filmmaking. I am partnering with my friend, producer Frank Durant, on a short Cape Cod film, When Henry Met Henry. It will be a fictional meeting between iconic authors Henry David Thoreau and Henry Beston set on the beach on Cape Cod. I am going to be either a director or producer; we’ll see. We are crowdfunding much of the film. In one afternoon, I created a landing page for the film, a short video detailing what we are doing, and got the GoFundMe up and running. The crowdfunding will run through October 11th, with the film being shot later that month. We hope for it to be done in early 2026. Obviously, much more to come on this front.

7. I learned the hard way that there is a limit to how many electrical items can be running at once in my apartment. I was using my convection oven and got impatient. I decided to use my microwave to heat something up at the same time. This, coupled with a light and a fan going proceeded to blow the fuse. It was funny, not anything serious. The reason was that it took several minutes for everything running to blow the fuse so I thought I was in the clear. Nope, bam out goes everything. Needless to say, I will practice more patience when cooking.

8. Since the weather turned a bit cooler and less humid, to where I could take my A/C out, I briefly forgot that it was still the tourist summer season. I found this out when I took a leisurely drive on Route 6A, which is typically less busy than many other roads during the summer. If what I saw was still ‘less busy,’ I shudder to think of how slammed Route 28 was. Sorry for the specific road names for anyone not from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Either way, the drive was worth it to snag the buy one, get one for $1 deal on weed seltzers at my favorite dispensary. For that deal, I took the pain of crazy traffic.

9. I am closing in on 50. I am trying my best to age with dignity. This means not going overboard with anti-aging creams or hair dyes. The same cannot be said for one guy at my gym. He has to be mid-60s and he is fighting Father Time with all he has. For many months, this guy had a fully gray buzz cut. He’s one of those ‘alpha’ hardos. It’s pretty funny to see this guy now dating a woman 25 years younger than him and also with a pretty bad dye job. I mean honestly, his hair looks like cream soda now. I guess to him it’s better to cling to straws of your distant past than it is to have some pride. Well, he’s a hardo, so he probably thinks he looks amazing.

10. As I just said, I am closing in on 50. Well, in a little over 2 years, but still it gets closer every day. So I was surprised when I somehow managed to tackle a double workout day, aka 'two-a-days' in sports. Every now and then, when I was younger, I’d work out in the morning and again in the evening. It was rare and usually just so I could brag that I did it. This week, the timing was perfect. One of my oldest friends was down on the Cape with his family and to my pleasant surprise, he wanted to get together for a long walk. Not that I didn’t believe him, but I decided to hedge my bets and go to the gym in the morning. I only did strength training. Then, around 4pm I met up with him and his wife, and we did a 4-mile walk. Now granted, I’ve burned more calories on one long walk this year than I did in both workouts on this day, but that’s beside the point. I turned back the clock briefly, but as I write this, I am waiting to see how my body feels the next day.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #80: Dream-Life Hangover, Phantom Oil Change, Supermarket Happiness, etc.

1. Anytime I get a taste of my dream job as a content creator, or filmmaker, or author, it’s a good thing. This past weekend, getting to see my old classmate’s one-man show inspired me. Speaking to him after I made sure to tell him that I use him as an inspiration for continuing my journey. It leaves me motivated to work on whatever my next project is. However, as soon as I walk into my day job after experiencing that motivation, I feel empty. I feel like I have failed. When I have my ‘days off’ to work on my other passions, I think, ‘this is the time I’ll get that big break.’ When it doesn’t happen and I have to go back to my typical work day, I feel like someone let the air out of my balloon. It’s almost like a dream-life hangover. Maybe one day it won’t be a dream anymore.

From after the show.

2. Several years ago, I bought software to convert VHS tapes to digital. I have more than 65 hours of old tapes I recorded during high school, and I am trying to get them all digitized before the VHS tapes eventually break. I have Elgato Video Capture. It has always worked fine. I hadn’t used it in a year or so when I plugged the cables in. For some reason, the software wasn’t on my laptop anymore. No worries, I downloaded the necessary software and drivers to do the job. Or so I thought. It turned out there were certain functions I needed to turn off on my laptop to get the software to work. However, once those were turned off, my laptop said it was dangerous and I needed to turn those functions back on. It was like an ice cream headache. In the end, I needed to delete the drivers for Elgato. Easier said than done. I spent a few hours researching just how in the hell to get them off my laptop. I was reading that if all else failed, I’d need to contact Elgato and get a new CD-ROM of the software. Not bad right? Well unfortunately, my laptop doesn’t have a CD drive, so yay. It was like a comedy skit where I just wanted to vacuum my car, but somehow managed to set it on fire instead.

3. Okay, I have reached the ‘I’m ready for fall’ portion of the summer. When it’s nearly 100 degrees and humid, that’s enough for me. Several years ago, when I was young(er) and crazy, I looked forward to running in all sorts of bad weather. Too hot? Let’s go. Too cold? I have layers. Hurricane or Tropical Storm? Sunglasses block the blowing sand. Blizzard? I can hide in a house under construction. That last one is 100% real. Anyway, this week’s heat and humidity took me out of my desire to do any run or walk. I chose to hide inside in the air conditioning. Hey, at least I am doing some sort of work, like this blog entry. Wake me when Labor Day is here. Sorry, not sorry.

4. There is an age-old line about New England that goes something like this: If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes. That is how it went this week. I just mentioned it being close to 100 degrees early in the week. Only a few days later, we had rain with highs in the mid-60s. Honestly, if I had to choose between the two, I’m taking the rainy 65-degree day over the sunny, humid 97-degree day. I will say that my idea of perfect weather is partly cloudy, low humidity, and temperatures in the low 70s, but that’s just me.

The weather is always changing in New England.

5. After 2 months and 4 pretty bad injuries, I was finally able to start going back to the gym. I managed to injure my lower back twice, sprain my ankle, and nearly break both hands. The only thing I was able to really do over the past 2 months was go for walks and eat my feelings of being depressed. My first workout was good but man, did I feel my regression. I was so tired and sore almost immediately. Now my joke is how long is it going to be before I injure something else? I’ll take sore muscles. That’s way better than some sort of foolish calamity that leaves me unable to work out for another 2 months.

6. I am now at the age where waking up at 8am is considered sleeping too late. If you had told me 10 years ago that I’d be used to waking up by 7am on most days, including days off, I’d have said something must have gone wrong. I’m not going to start setting an alarm on days off, though. Years ago, the idea of waking up at 5am to hit the gym before work was a definite no-go. Now I am starting to think that within a few years I’ll be naturally getting up at that time. I still won’t want to go to the gym, though, I’ll just surf the net before sunrise.

7. My car is up over 150K miles, so keeping up on the basic maintenance is very important. My goal is for it to get to at least 250K. This week, it was time for an oil change. I usually go to Jiffy Lube since it’s quick and convenient. I mean, they do try to upsell you on a lot of stuff, but that’s kind of par for the course. This time was interesting. Everything seemed to be going well until one of the crew told me they couldn’t get my oil filter off. They said they tried a few ways, but it was rounded and nothing could get it off. What? Is that a thing? They told me I’d need to go to the dealership and they could change it. The irony is that the last few times I’ve gotten my oil changed, it’s been at the same Jiffy Lube. Getting the oil filter off has never been a problem. So what changed this time? I have no idea, but they ended up changing the oil and doing a few other things and not charging me. That was nice. Unfortunately, this means I have to do another trip for routine maintenance, and a dealership at that. You can smell the attempted upselling from a mile away.

8. I don’t know why, but one of my favorite things is shopping in supermarkets that I don’t typically go to. I mean locations that are out of my normal routine. It’s like I go to a Shaw’s or Stop & Shop, and all of them are varying shades of the same color. Still, somehow it’s new and exciting. It’s even more so when I go on road trips. You get me off of Cape Cod and have me stop at a Big Y, Hannaford, Publix, Giant Food, Aldi, or Wegmans? Oh man, it’s like I’ve won the lottery. I have gone to those places on vacations and maybe (definitely) have kept plastic bags with the logos. I even have an insulated Big Y bag that I bought. It is currently holding extra copies of my books.

9. After having a shaved head for about 14 years, it is still weird to me that I have a full head of hair. In fact, my hair is currently probably as long as it’s been, maybe ever. I can spike it up pretty high when it’s wet. The funniest thing is that if it’s not spiked perfectly, I get the hair at the front of my head, right where my hairline and forehead meet, falling forward. It literally looks like I have bangs like my sisters did in high school. I do plan on getting it trimmed down at my next haircut though. Not because of the bangs but the hair will tickle my forehead, which makes me think I have a bug on me, especially at night. Oh well, I know loads of guys around my age that would kill for the ‘problem’ of having too much hair so I should be grateful.

10. We’re now about 3 weeks out from my vacation, and I’ve got to tell you I’m not feeling any sort of road trip. I haven’t booked any hotels yet, and I’m kind of glad. I am looking forward to the time off, but I can’t tell if I am burned out or not. I work full-time and then work almost full-time on my content, such as this blog. It can feel like I am on a treadmill with working. Maybe as I get closer to the actual vacation, I will get excited and make plans to go, at least do one overnight stay, but who knows? Originally, I had plans for three overnights up in Maine and New Hampshire but honestly, as we get closer to the dates, just the thought of driving over four hours has made me lose interest. It is definitely a fake problem to have. Oh no, I have a paid vacation but don’t know what I want to do with the time. I don’t expect any tears shed for my predicament.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #77: Foolish Furniture Store, Reading Labels, Mousy People, etc.

1. There is a furniture/home décor store that recently opened in my town. It took over the building from another furniture store. I’m guessing the new business wanted to make a big splash upon opening. Their solution to get eyes and ears on their store has been to blast music super loud from speakers in their parking lot. It is a little bit smart and a lot more ridiculous. I mean, let’s be real, you’re a furniture store. I’d expect that kind of obnoxious music blasting on loudspeakers outside from an amusement center, a restaurant, or, you know, a music store. It’s like the excitement of the loud music would be followed immediately by disappointment when you go inside and it’s desks and lamps, and tables. Wooo exciting.

2. This is the time of the year when I begin to plan my vacation. It occurs pretty much the same time every year, the last week of August. I have some good stuff planned already. It’s basically going to be a 3-4 day road trip through Northern New England. The irony is that even though a vacation is meant to be relaxing and a way to recharge I feel pressure. I feel pressure to pack my days with as much stuff to see to make it a trip worth remembering. I’m pretty sure I could go sit in a tent in Maine for 3 days and it would be awesome, but I’ll still be worrying for the next 6 weeks if I have enough to do on my itinerary.

Last time I was in Maine in 2019, those are my first 5 books.

3. It doesn’t take too long into summer for me to begin dreaming of my favorite season, that is fall. Warm weather and long days are all well and good, but with them comes loads of bugs and loads of low-intelligence people. I’m not sure which is worse. There are sprays to protect you from bugs. There are no sprays to protect you from idiots who drive while looking down at their phones repeatedly. It only gets worse when they begin swerving all over the road. Even after nearly hitting the sidewalk and a few oncoming vehicles, they went right back to checking their phone. I beeped to try to get them to smarten up and pay attention, but all they did was wave like a jackass. When I was finally able to pass them safely, I looked over and this guy looked like someone swept around a dumpster, poured it into a grungy tank top, and threw a few tattoos on it. Stay classy, white trashy.

4. In the building where I work, there are 3 other businesses besides my job. If a package is accidentally delivered next door, the people there will put a piece of paper in the window that says ‘UPS.’ Very nice of them. The only problem is when I go over there to get the package. I walk inside and down a short hallway, and I will knock politely on a door with a window. The woman who works at the front desk treats me like I am an ax murderer. She will crack the door open and speak with a trembling voice like she’s expecting me to whip out a machete and start carving her up. Maybe that’s just how she is. Maybe next time I should bang on the window and yell. She’d probably end up acting normally.

5. It might be time for me to get a new set of headphones. I have had a set of Mpow over-ear Bluetooth headphones that have lasted me close to 8 years. I had been used to having wired headphones last a few weeks or even less, so a pair that has made it years has been a privilege. That being said, I have noticed they are starting to wear out. The padding on the headband that connects the 2 ears has been gone for a few years. No big deal. But in the last several months I have noticed how difficult it is for me to get the headphones to charge. What I mean is that when I plug them into the charger, I have to wiggle and turn the USB in the headphones very specifically to get the charger light to turn on. It can be a 5-minute process to get the little red light to turn on, only for it to immediately turn back off. So yeah, maybe I have to get a new pair of headphones before I just take the old ones and bash them with a hammer.

6. There are days when I think I should buy a bucket, sponge, cloths, and soap, and do a full detailing of my car. Then I think about all of the time and effort it would take to make it look good. Plus there’s the fact that the trees and birds around my car like to use it as a toilet. Those are pretty strong deterrents. Why spend money and time to make my car look like new when it will likely be ruined by nature by the end of the same day? No thanks, I’ll just spray it with the hose each week, same thing.

I'd be better off washing my car with beer.

7. It will never not make me laugh and shake my head at the people who go to self-checkout in the grocery store and have no idea how to do it. There was a woman this week who was scanning items but decided to put her purse next to her shopping bag on the checkout counter. Naturally, the machine registered this and thought it was an unpaid item. The woman got mad at the machine because, of course, she can’t just admit she messed up. I felt bad for the employee who had to come reset the machine because they had to listen to this woman try to explain how it was the machine. I wanted to tell her next time, just go to a regular checkout line, but there’s no point in trying to help people like that.

8. I went to a baseball card shop for the first time in so many years. It was so that I could get a gift for my stepfather’s birthday. I forgot how much I loved looking at and collecting sports cards. The owners were great, and I intend on going back soon. They had a good mix of old packs of cards, new cards, and specialty stuff like autographed cards. I had a budget, and it was hard to keep to it. After seeing a Ken Griffey Jr. Donruss rookie card priced at $300, which I have, I am back to searching through my card collection to see if anything is valuable. Who knows, maybe this hobby will pay off. It has to be better than my Beanie Baby fail.

9. There is a great deal at a local dispensary called Haven in Brewster. You buy a 4-pack of THC seltzers and you get a 2nd 4-pack for $1. Awesome. This deal is on Saturdays during the summer for anyone who lives near Cape Cod. Anyway, I took advantage of it this week. For some reason, I figured that all of the seltzers had the same ingredients, even if the flavors were different. Boy, was I wrong. I thought Grape Soda flavor would be good, and it is. The problem is that it’s made like a regular soda. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but it’s also 180 calories and loaded with sugar and carbs. My debate now is whether to drink all of them, or try to give the $1 4-pack away to others. Next time, I need to read labels.

Tastes great, loaded with sugar.

10. This summer has been a funny mix. So I always have some sort of work to do in writing, content, podcasting, etc. That’s in addition to my full-time day job. On my days off from the day job, I find myself spending 5-6 hours a day on content. I’ll get to a point where I need to pause my work and get outside and enjoy the summer weather. That is, until I actually get out on the road. Then I remember how incredibly overcrowded Cape Cod is in the summer. The roads are packed, beaches are packed, and stores are packed. After a few minutes I am ready to retreat back inside and wait until Labor Day. Sunny days are bad, rainy ones are worse. Then it’s like rushing outside to sit in traffic, even in my driveway.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #75: Hand Sandwich, Sleeping Bees, Ruined Trampoline, etc.

1. My sprained ankle happened 3 weeks ago and is getting closer to being healed. Of course, that meant it was time for me to inflict another injury on myself. This time I decided to create a hand sandwich and use the steel of the reverse hyper machine at work as the bread. In trying to adjust the flat pad for a future client, I mistook where my hand was. Instead of having it braced with my left hand, I had nothing. When the arm let go it pancaked my right hand between two steel bars. I had a client on the treadmill and was doing this while she walked to save time. I gasped but didn’t scream. My boss walked in a minute later, and I was basically hyperventilating. I was sure my hand was broken. Luckily, there was a less than one-inch gap between the steel bars so my hand wasn’t completely crushed, just mostly. There was lots of ice, lots of ibuprofen, and lots of bruising and swelling. Oh, and also it was a Monday, and I had a super busy day training clients, so it was a bundle of laughs.

Right after the damage was done, it got a lot worse.

2. Cape Cod and much of the country got its first major heat wave this week. We had several days of weather in the high 80s and low 90s. I finally broke down and put in my A/C. This was also the day of my hand injury so trying to put in the A/C was a battle as I tried to gently put it in the window sill while making sure my injured hand didn’t give way. Then the A/C would have fallen onto the cars in the driveway. It would have been like a sitcom with way less laughing from me. Not to worry though the A/C went in and is working fine, just in time for temperatures to drop at the end of the week, making the A/C not necessary, thanks.


3. In continuing with the healing of my right hand I put some pain-relieving gel on it one afternoon. The stuff works well. After work I went out for a short walk with a little running on one of the hottest days in a few years on Cape Cod. It was only when I got back to my car that I noticed my right hand was on fire. Not literally but the combination of the gel, my profuse sweating, and the heat of the day made the perfect mix. My hand was burning until I could get home and take a shower. I still recommend the pain-relieving gel though.


4. One more thing about that hot afternoon of walking and running. First, when I parked at a small lot along the bike trail, I spotted several crows in a tree. They all had their head back and their mouths wide open. It was so odd and creepy but I later found out that they do this on hot days to keep cool since they cannot sweat. Second, while walking the trail, I had 2 different chipmunks I passed that didn’t run away. These chipmunks were sitting beside the trail in the grass too hot to run or care that I was there. I literally could have reached down and picked one up. When the ‘real feel’ is 105 at 6pm, I guess I can’t blame them.


5. When leaving the house one *much* cooler afternoon this week, I spotted a bumblebee sprawled out on top of some blue hydrangea flowers. It was just lying there so I got out my phone and grabbed an up-close video and photo. It wiggled its antennae a bit and when I blew on it to see if it was ok it did move its legs a little. I read that bees sometimes sleep on or in flowers. I also read that they do something similar when they are near the end of their life. When I got home later the bee was gone, so I don’t know if it flew away or if it was picked off as an easy meal.

Was it just sleeping?

6. One thing I am trying to figure out. Is it common for people who own Jeeps to line their dash with rubber toys and other assorted toys? Is this something new? I have seen way more such Jeeps over the last few months than I’d expect. Maybe I am seeing the same few Jeeps repeatedly, but I don’t think so. These Jeeps tend to have a handful to more than a dozen toys on their dash. It’s interesting. I’m curious, but not curious enough to take time out to Google it.


7. I saw on Instagram last week a story featuring a handful of girls running to and jumping on a trampoline located in the dunes of a beach somewhere on Cape Cod. I thought it would be a fun adventure to find and get some photos and videos of to share on social media. Of course, because we’re not allowed to have nice things as soon as I started researching it I found that it had already been ruined. I went out to where it was located and sure enough, some piece of garbage had sliced the trampoline open, making it useless for anyone who might want to go have a little summer fun. Can you imagine being that much of a sad loser that you see something that you know makes others happy and you feel you have to destroy it? Absolute scum. The rumor is it might get replaced with a new one so I have made it a point not to share where it is just in case.

People suck

8. For those who don’t know this summer marks the returns of the cicadas for their visit that occurs once every 17 years. On Cape Cod it has been interesting. We have them but they have not ventured all the way down Cape. Where I live we don’t have any cicadas. I want to try to get a few photos of them since if I don’t I’ll have to wait until 2042. I had to drive about 20-25 minutes west to get to where they have been routinely spotted. I stopped at a marina and could hear their hum so I knew I was in the right area. The problem was that I didn’t know where to stop to try to look for them. Plus it was a gray and drizzly afternoon. I ended up not getting any photos. The best I got was seeing a few in the road but I wasn’t going to stop my car and get out to take photos of a cicada. Oh well there still is plenty of time left in the summer.


9. It is still weird for me to be back in the routine of getting regular haircuts. I had been shaving my head pretty routinely for about 14 years. Long story short I have not been a fan of my hair as it doesn’t grow straight or curly. It grows somewhere in between. I started growing it out in November as a sort of birthday gift to my mother, who has hated my shaved head intensely. With the return of hair meant the return of haircuts. I now keep the top longer and the sides and back short and faded. It doesn’t look bad, and I’m actually enjoying it. This week it was time for a haircut. I have been going to the same barber shop for over 25 years, when I have hair to cut that is. The barber who cut my hair I had never been to. I gave him my haircut instructions and let him have at it. All in all it looks great but I did have a mini heart attack when he wet my hair to trim the top. When he was done he showed me how it looked and he had parted my hair much in the same way it used to be parted when I was like 10 years old. Once I messed it back up it was good, but I worried I was going to be stuck looking like the kid in my old school picture there.

For a moment this guy came back, though much older

10. Even though summer is only a little over a week old it’s time for me to start planning my annual end of the summer vacation. I take my week’s paid vacation the week before Labor Day. It ends up being somewhere around 11 straight days off from work which is always good. Last year I took a 3 day road trip to northern New England, specifically northern New Hampshire into Vermont and then back home through the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. I am thinking this year should be another 3 day road trip but concentrated in Maine. I haven’t been to Maine since 2019 so it’ll all be fresh again. Time to get to planning.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #64: Flat Tires, Terrible Spring, A Hot Stove, etc.

1. I had a fun morning when I left to go to work one day. I had a mini heart attack when I noticed my back right tire was virtually flat. It was going to be a terrible inconvenience. I went over and pushed on the tire to see how flat it was. The tire felt firm. I decided to take a risk and drive to a Cumberland Farms on my way to work to put air in it. Then I’d let the chips fall where they may. I got to Cumby’s, pulled in front of the air pump, and stepped out. The tire was fully inflated. What? Well, it turned out that I had parked on a raised area of dirt that only made the tire look flat until I moved. Yes, I felt pretty dumb, but I’ll take dumb over yet another nail in one of my tires.


2. At my work, we got a new piece of equipment. It is called Emsella and it is for pelvic floor strengthening. Think about the muscles you need to hold in your pee. Anyway, it uses electromagnetic energy to contract those muscles rapidly and repeatedly. It is several thousand contractions in a half hour. Another great benefit is when you sit on the special chair is that it can work on other muscles. For me I have had what’s known as ‘glute amnesia’ on my right side for years since I got injured running. Emsella with its electromagnetic energy, immediately solved my glute amnesia. It was after only a couple of minutes my right glute was exhausted because it has trouble getting activated. This means that hopefully, with some more sessions, I’ll have strong glutes again that will get me closer to the runner I used to be.

3. A little old lady, someone that my sister Kate knows, made it a point to tell me how adorable I was at the gym the other day. Ego boosts are always welcome. Getting called adorable happens less and less often as you age, that is until you get up close to 90. Then you get called adorable as much as you did when you were a baby. Bonus points if you’re a married couple over 90, then the ‘adorables’ rain down on you like Niagara Falls.


4. There’s no better way to start the day than making a drink in a Blender Bottle, popping open my laptop, sitting down in my comfy chair, and immediately spilling said drink on my shirt. Helpful hint: make sure the top is *firmly* screwed on before taking a sip. 2 minutes into the day, nice. Oh well, on the bright side, it was laundry day so the shirt was going to be washed anyway.




5. I am torn. For so long, I would buy wired headphones to use at the gym or while running. These were usually cheapo ones since they’d break or short-circuit pretty quickly, almost routinely. Why waste money right? Flash forward. I bought a nice pair of over-ear headphones in 2018. I think they cost me $35, a big step up from the $6.99 ones I’d get at Marshall’s. These have worked great and are still functional. That being said, they are showing their signs of wear. The padding is stripping away, and parts are noticeably looser, but they still work. So my dilemma is do I chuck these even though they still work and get a new pair, or do I run them into the ground as they slowly get worn out? I’m hesitant because there’s no guarantee the next pair of headphones I get will work as well as my current ones.


6. Maybe it’s recency bias but it feels like this has been one of the worst starts to spring that I can remember. It has been cloudy, rainy, and/or foggy seemingly 90% of the time over the last 4-5 weeks. No wonder I don’t want to do anything but sit around. If it’s low 40’s and drizzle everyday there’s nothing else to do but stay inside and eat bad foods, which is another problem in and or itself.

How it's looked all spring

7. I am still trying to perfect being able to keep up the hustle and grinding away at my dreams while also having time to relax and enjoy life. I have been in this constant content creation loop since I quit alcohol 4 ½ years ago. I did it at first to keep my mind off of booze, but now it’s almost like a reflex. Part of me feels that if I keep pushing out new podcasts, videos, blogs, etc, that eventually it’ll pay off. But another part of me feels like if all I am doing is working nonstop on lockdown, I am letting life go by, and you don’t get the time back.


8. Even though we’re not quite a month into spring, my mind is on summer. I need to get on planning my vacation. On one hand, I’d love to go back to the amazing Pemi Cabins in northern New Hampshire. I’d also like to visit my friend Shayna in Central Maine. Then again, I want another chance to hike in the Hoosac Tunnel and get some sick long-exposure photos. Or maybe I go back in time and do a road trip race like the old days? I feel like I can probably do 2 of those 4 things but not all. Luckily, I plan on vacationing in late July or early August so I have time to think.

Do I go back to New Hampshire?

9. I know the stove is hot. I know touching it will lead to a burn. I know I should leave the stove alone, or at least shut it off. But part of me is curious if this time the stove won’t burn me, or maybe I’ve grown enough of a callous that it won’t hurt. In this case obviously, I’m not speaking of a stove; I’m speaking of a situation that I’ve seen play out enough but sadly, I am a hopeless optimist.


10. I am at the point in my life where I am there for anyone who needs me, family and friends. I am also at the point where if someone needs me, they have to reach out and ask. My days of being proactive are pretty much through. I used to feel guilty about not staying in touch or checking in on people. Then I realized that every phone number and email can work two ways, so everyone I feel guilty about also is not bothering to reach out to me.

When Cape Cod Became A Vacation Destination: 1873-1900

    Today, in the 2020s, Cape Cod is a major destination for travelers looking to escape the grind of the city. Exchanging smog for salty air, bustling sidewalks for windy country roads, and the rat race for relaxation.

    It has been this way for generations. Cape Cod is relatively docile during the colder months and swells to the point of bursting during the summer. However, it was not always that way.

    Long ago Cape Cod was rustic, virtually deserted except for the hearty locals that plied their trades along the seashore and dirt roads. Then something changed. Well, two things.

    First came the classic novel Cape Cod written by Henry David Thoreau. Released in 1865 it gave a first-person romantic view of the sandy peninsula so few knew about. It gave people nearby a reason to pay Cape Cod a visit.

    Second, the Old Colony Railroad finished its expansion into Provincetown. Reaching the end of Cape Cod in July 1873 the railroad now gave people from farther away access to the places that Thoreau’s book had described less than a decade prior.

    These two things together were the genesis of creating a vacation destination. It did not take long for railroad cars filled with travelers to take the ride from near and far. They stopped in Sandwich, Falmouth, Chatham, Provincetown et all. These people poured into the villages in search of Thoreau’s Cape Cod. So what was it like to be a tourist on Cape Cod in the early days? We will take a look at a vacation on Cape Cod in the late 19th century.

Provincetown railroad station c. 1900(Picryl.com)

    The arrival of the Old Colony railroad in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1873 was a major turning point in Cape Cod's transformation from a working maritime region to a sought-after summer tourist destination.

    The line connected directly to Boston, making travel quicker, cheaper, and more accessible—especially for the growing middle class. With the arrival of the train, Cape Cod began to shift away from industries like whaling, fishing, and saltworks—many of which were already declining—and embraced the growing economy of leisure and summer escape.

    Once arriving via rail, one could take a horse and carriage to a nearby resort, hotel, or cottage. It was far different back then. There was no such thing as a hotel chain. It was single-location hotels and/or resorts. The average room at a lodging establishment would run you anywhere from $1($26 in 2025) a night in the early 1870s to about $6($229 in 2025) a night in the late 1890s.

    Interestingly there were countless boarding houses and seaside inns that began popping up. These were similar to today’s bed and breakfast locations. Also, it was rare to stay for a night. Typically the average visitor would plan for a week, month, or even the entire summer.

    Some of the popular hotels one could have stayed at on Cape Cod during those latter days of the 1800s included the Cape’s first resort, Hotel Chatham, which opened in the summer of 1890. There was The Globe Hotel in Barnstable Village which opened in 1827. It would later become the Barnstable Inn and remain in business until 1972.

    Visitors could also have stayed at the extravagant Chequesset Inn in Wellfleet. Built in 1886 this resort hotel on a wharf over the water at Mayo Beach was unlike anything else on Cape Cod. The Central House in Sandwich, which opened in the mid-18th century, was a popular spot and later became the Daniel Webster Inn. The Santuit House in Cotuit was one of the original hotels on the peninsula, opening in 1860. There was also the iconic East Bay Lodge in Osterville, which opened its doors in 1886 and remained in business for over a century.

    Of course, if one was looking to walk in Thoreau’s footsteps, they could literally stay where he stayed. The Highland House in Truro, formerly the Small Farm, opened as a boarding house proper in the late 1860s after the release of Thoreau’s Cape Cod.

    If resorts or hotels weren’t desired there were also normal everyday people who would open up spare rooms in their homes to travelers. It is not too unlike today’s AirBnb company. The local residents began catering to visitors with services like horseback tours, fishing charters, beach outings, and homemade meals. It was an economic boom for Cape Cod.

Chequesset Inn in Wellfleet

    It didn’t take long before wealthy Bostonians began summering on Cape Cod, often for weeks or months. Over time, the seaside towns that had once been tightly knit fishing communities opened up to a seasonal rhythm of visitors that is commonplace today. Cape Cod was praised for its “invigorating sea air” as a remedy for the city’s industrial ills, especially for treating "nervous ailments" and "weak lungs."

    In one article from the Boston Globe in August 1885 Cape Cod was said to have three “productions.” They were men of ability, pretty girls, and undisputed excellence of its cranberries. It is no wonder people near and far began flocking to the “right arm of Massachusetts.”

    The beautiful scenery was similar to what one sees today on Cape Cod. However, the amenities were far different. It was top-of-the-line for the time. That being said, electricity was very rare, even in the late 1890s. Rooms were lit by oil lamps. Also, indoor plumbing was a luxury; you would have to make do with a chamber pot or outhouse in most locations.  

    Meals at a hotel, resort, or boarding house were formal affairs, often with fresh seafood, local vegetables, and multiple courses. Think clam chowder, broiled fish, blueberry pies, and pitchers of lemonade or ginger beer.

    If you wanted to venture out on the town to get a meal there weren’t restaurants as you’d think of them today. Typically, taverns doubled as ‘eating houses’ so you could enjoy a drink and a meal. The dress code even at casual ‘chowder houses’ was fancy by today’s standards. Men wore jackets, often even hats, to the table. Women wore dresses with high collars and long sleeves—even in summer. Once inside and seated, you were expected to sit up straight and speak quietly.

    The fare was classic New England. You could get clam chowder, baked or steamed fish, or chicken. There were vegetable choices like beets or stewed tomatoes. Desserts consisted of various puddings and pies. One thing you wouldn’t be expected to do while eating out was tipping, although that practice was becoming more common at the turn of the 20th century.

What a dinig room of a resort might have looked like.(Bing AI)

    Once settled in at the desired location on Cape Cod there was no lack of activities to partake in and attractions to visit.

    Early risers could enjoy the sunrise and a walk on the beach or along quaint village lanes. There was shell collecting, sketching or journaling, and excursions to nearby sites. These were via carriage or wagon.

    If you didn’t like those options, there was always the new mode of transportation called a bicycle. It was invented back in 1817 by German inventor Karl von Drais. Innovations in safety led to bicycles being widely available starting in the 1880s. 

    Be aware though that a bicycle would cost a pretty penny. For example, in 1896, a Monarch brand bike on the low end would cost you $40($1,500 in 2025). A model with all of the bells and whistles could run you upwards of $100($3,700 in 2025).

    

    Heading out and about on Cape Cod in the early years of its life as a vacation destination would bring you to many incredible sites. What you saw depended on where you stayed. In those days, you typically did not venture a great distance from your hotel as a horse-drawn carriage or a bicycle could only realistically go so far.

    One thing that could be seen virtually anywhere was the ocean. Fishing and swimming, or bathing as it was referred to then, were the two most popular activities during a summer jaunt to Cape Cod.

    In Falmouth, one could take a dip at Silver Beach; it wasn’t ‘Old’ yet. In Chatham, it was Harding’s Beach. Orleans had Nauset Beach. The Outer Beach was the name for the stretch of sand between Coast Guard Beach in Eastham and Race Point in Provincetown. One could also partake in the growing activity of pleasure boating, especially in the 1890s.

The remains of Billingsgate Island in 1890(Picryl.com)

    Perhaps you could take a boat to the tip of Monomoy Island in Chatham. A popular activity was taking a boat across Provincetown Harbor to Long Point, something that is still enjoyed to this day. Long Point went from a bustling community in the 1850s to virtually deserted by the late 1870s. Many of the homes that once dotted the ‘fingertip’ of Cape Cod were floated across and assimilated into Provincetown proper.

    Boats at the time would have no issue traversing Vineyard Sound to get from Woods Hole to the island of Martha’s Vineyard as it was roughly five miles. Nantucket from Hyannis might be a little more difficult, being thirty miles offshore. Another option was to sail out from Eastham or Wellfleet on Cape Cod Bay to Billingsgate Island. Though erosion was becoming an issue, there was still a thriving community on the shrinking island well into the 1880s.

    Lighthouses dotted the shore to keep boats safe. The Outer Beach of Cape Cod is seen as one of the most treacherous stretches of ocean on the east coast of the United States. In the early days of Cape Cod tourism the cargo ship Whittaker wrecked off of North Truro in 1876. More famously, the steamship Portland wrecked off of North Truro in 1898.

    Along the eastern shore of Cape Cod, one would notice the Chatham Twin Lights, which were erected in 1877. Further up the coast sat the Three Sisters of Nauset. The diminutive wooden towers were built in 1892 to replace brick towers that were allowed to be claimed by the sea. Continuing north you’d find Cape Cod’s oldest lighthouse, Highland Light in Truro. The different number of lighthouses at the three stations was intentional so that seafarers would have a better idea of where they were.

The Three Sisters of Nauset(Picryl.com)

    There were no movie theaters yet but one could find entertainment nonetheless. The resorts where you stayed often had parlor concerts, dances, and lectures. Most towns had bandstands at the green where concerts were held several evenings a week.

    If you were staying in Truro you would be lucky enough to be close to Cape Cod’s first golf course. Founded in 1892, Highland Links is a nine-hole course that to this day is kept as close to the Scottish tradition as possible. Spectacular views are mixed with natural hazards like Scotch broom and wild cranberry. Back then though the greens were made of sand rather than grass.

    Shopping was a popular pastime in those early days of Cape Cod vacations. However, it was a different experience. There were no department stores yet on Cape Cod. Jordan Marsh was a big deal, but trips to Boston in the late 1800s were few and far between. On the Cape visitors would check out general stores.

    The building itself was typically a weathered clapboard with a wooden sign hanging out front — maybe it just said something like “Dry Goods & Provisions.” The store might be creaky-floored, dimly lit with oil lamps or early gas lighting, and smelling of a mix of coffee, kerosene, tobacco, spices, and wood. Shelves were packed, floor to ceiling, and everything felt a bit cluttered but cozy.

    Don’t let the aesthetic sway you though; one could get virtually anything you needed on your vacation inside the general store’s walls. This included dry goods like flour, sugar, salt, coffee, beans, rice, and molasses. There were tools & hardware like nails, rope, lanterns, and fishing gear. You could get clothing & fabric like bolts of calico, buttons, socks, hats, and even corsets. There were household needs like soap, candles, kerosene, matches, and enamelware. Don’t forget medicines, local produce or meat, and even luxury items like imported tea. Maybe you could even have a Coca-Cola, which came around in 1886.

    Shopping was also different back then because you had to ask the keeper for what you wanted. There was credit and bartering as options for payment. General stores were also social hubs for the locals.


    Popular general stores from the time included the Hallet store on the Old Kings Highway in Yarmouth Port which opened in 1889. The Knowles General Store in Brewster opened in 1866 and is still in operation today as the Brewster General Store. Brackett’s store in Eastham was supplying the Outer Cape from its opening in 1850. Centerville also had a Hallet’s general store. This one opened in 1856 and is still in operation today as the 1856 Country Store.

Brackett's General Store in Eastham

    Those spending their vacation time on Cape Cod had no shortage of wonderful attractions to enjoy. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in Sandwich was one of the largest businesses on Cape Cod. One could tour the glassworks up until its closure in 1888. 

    In Provincetown, a popular spot was the site of the Pilgrims' first landing. Located at the end of Commercial Street, you’d see their landing site, but this was in the days before the Pilgrim Monument, or even the West End Breakwater, which you can walk across to Long Point.

    In Yarmouth, you might gaze upon the Farris Windmill, which now resides in Michigan. In Wellfleet, you might spend the day at the beach in the shadow of Mayo Beach Light, which now resides in California. In Woods Hole, you might be unlucky and be downwind of the Pacific Guano Company. The fertilizer made at this factory was comprised of bird guano, sulfur from Italy, and various small local fish. It went bankrupt in 1889.

    In those early tourism days between 1875 and 1900, Cape Cod was known for fishing and cranberries. Many visitors partook in those activities or at least watched them. Virtually every town on the Cape had one or several working cranberry bogs, with upwards of 400,000 barrels being harvested annually. They also had no shortage of fishermen, rustic shacks, and boats.

(Boston Public Library)

    Spending a week, month, or entire summer on Cape Cod might make you the envy of your family and friends. You could further rub it in by sending them letters or postcards at the post office or telegraph office in town. Telephones were still a novelty in the 1880s and 1890s. This meant that even if you had access to one, the person you wanted to call might not.

    Similar to how life is on Cape Cod in the present day when Labor Day, first celebrated in 1882, approached it was time for many businesses to close up shop for the long winter. The railroad took the visitors back to where they had come from. Whether Boston, Providence, New York, or any smaller village in between, those who spent time on Cape Cod left with cherished memories, and perhaps a few souvenirs.

    As the 20th century dawned there was much to be excited about as far as tourism on Cape Cod. Electricity, telephones, and automobiles all became common. Guglielmo Marconi made wireless communication easier paving the way for radio. This made it possible to promote Cape Cod to the United States as a whole.

    It was off to the races. Kids who visited Cape Cod in the early days returned with their kids. Generations of families have made the Cape part of their summer ritual.

    Some things have changed. Cranberries and fishing are no longer the main enterprises. The roads are paved and named. Retail chains are as prevalent as mom-and-pop shops. However, some things remain the same from the late 1800s. The dunes create a magical landscape. Lighthouses still shepherd vessels safely by. Although there is a canal separating Cape Cod from the mainland, there is still a vibe that cannot be quantified when one arrives.

    Since the arrival of the Old Colony Railroad in Provincetown in the summer of 1873 made it more accessible, Cape Cod has been a vacation destination. The world feels smaller in the 2020s yet when arriving on Cape Cod, it is possible to find that same aura that those who first visited there must have felt. It cannot be explained. It must simply be experienced.

A classic Cape Cod scene.(Boston Public Library)