Cape Cod in late November?!? Well, why not? Sure, all of the ice cream shops, mini-golf courses, and most of the restaurants are closed during the off-season, but one can cruise down Route 28 without getting stuck behind loaded minivans trying to maneuver into the packed parking lot of Captain Parker’s restaurant. Sure, the water temperature averages 45 degrees and the wind gusts without reprieve, but the luminous sand dunes and dramatic salt marshes are still a marvel of natural beauty. Sure, the trees are bare and the landscape is bleak, but hotel rooms are 50% cheaper.
And if there’s ever a time of year for chowing down on clam chowder, it’s November, not July. Speaking on which, how is it that every restaurant, lunch counter, and independent grocery store on Cape Cod claims that their clam chowder is “award-winning”? It must be a pretty sad chowder that has failed to garner such accolades and distinction. One restaurant boasted of its “thrice-award-winning clam chowder,” which sounds like a very distinguished chowder, but the wording piqued my inner grammarian so I opted to forgo soup altogether, even though my feet were frozen and my mouth was lined with a thin layer of sea salt that would have blended perfectly with oniony, peppery, clam-thick cream.
Some scenes of Cape Cod in late November courtesy of Mr. Pinault…
An iconic Cape Cod image at Gray’s beach in Yarmouthport:
Roaming the sand dunes of Sandy Neck beach and praying that I don’t get shot by any of the pheasant, fox, and coyote hunters in the area:
On Sandy Neck beach, with rays of peaking sun and a terrible sky in the distance:
