The third and final day of our trip, and it’s a lazy one. We’re up again before 5 AM, driving a short distance southward on the highway to catch sunrise from the parking area at the top of Fort Hill, just off the highway a few miles to the south of our motel. Past a series of old colonial houses, their yards decorated by whale jawbone gates, we arrive at a beautiful, panoramic viewpoint just as the skies are beginning to brighten. To the east, past Salt Pond Bay and the outer beach, a sanguine sun is beginning to crest the Atlantic Ocean. To the north, the house at Coast Guard Station, sitting high on backshore bluff, begins to gradually catch the light. And to the south, boats sit placidly in Town Cove, overlooked by the oceanfront houses of Orleans. I set up my tripod a short distance back down the hill from the parking area, using an old wooden fence as a foreground object of interest as the first rays of sunlight beginning to strike the backing vegetation, marshes, and waterways curving into the horizon.
After sunrise, we drive a short distance north to the parking area above Nauset Light Beach, which was completely full when we first swung by on the first morning of our trip. Today, at just before 6 AM, the lot is all but empty, and we leave our car their to leisurely admire the famous lighthouse, whose brilliant red-and-white façade adorns the exterior of so many potato chip bags across the country. I personally am finding lighthouse photography rather tricky; compared to shooting pure landscapes, there are simply not many interesting perspectives or angles for one to shoot a single, vertically prominent building at the edge of the sea. This is especially true outside of the golden hours, which provide interesting differential lighting and soft, colorful hues in the sky. Nevertheless, we make the best of the early morning light, take our selfies, and make a quick visit to the nearby Three Sisters Lighthouses before departing. On our short drive home, we stop by Hole in One Bakery & Coffee Shop for a breakfast of croissants, specialty donuts, and iced mochas.
Back at the motel, we have a leisurely breakfast (watching travel shows on TV) before checking out in the late morning. Scrapping our hiking plans for the day, we instead drive to the town pier in Wellfleet, where we see a cormorant catch an eel for lunch, as the local fishermen work the dock. We briefly browse the used books at the nearby, lovingly named Bookstore & Restaurant (an establishment after my very own heart!) before eating lunch next door - clams, a cod sandwich for Jane, and yet another lobster roll for me. Then, we’re back on the road, driving to the town of Chatham at the elbow of the Cape.
Chatham is a small but bustling little seaside village in the summer, even mid-week. We park off Main Street and set off browsing the stores. At the nearby bookstore, I pick up another title on my “to-buy” shortlist: Robert Finch’s Common Ground. Jane buys an iced lemonade, which we sip at to stay cool as we walk the mile toward the beach, admiring the town’s lovely homes and flower-filled yards along the way. A local kid, shuttling tourists on a golf cart for his summer job, eventually finds us and gives us a quick lift to the front of Chatham Light. We stop to photograph the lighthouse station, the nearby beach with its crystal-blue waters, and the omnipresent wild rose bushes, before making our way back into town.
Back on the road, we drive westward through the fishing villages of the Mid Cape, checking into our last night’s motel just east of the Bass River, in Dennis. After a perfunctory afternoon nap, we make our way to Skipper Chowder House, a famous seafood joint a few miles away, where we place a takeout order (more chowder, more seafood, and another… lobster roll). While waiting, we share what I can only describe as an absolutely sinful banana split (actual quote: “The chocolate fudge is… on the bottom. The bottom is all chocolate fudge. It’s all fudge”). Having eaten ourselves to oblivion back at our motel, we depart for a bayside sunset at Gray’s Beach, a short distance to the north through the town of Yarmouth. The marsh here is a photography hotspot because of its long, west-facing boardwalk, but between the throngs of summer visitors and the clouds of midges and marsh insects, it winds up being the least pleasant place I’ve photographed in awhile. Even with repellent, I come away with a disgusting number of little bites after taking some fast sunset shots. Were the photographs worth it? …. Someone else will have to be the judge.
The following morning, after a rather sleepless, muggy night in the motel, Jane and I walk the short distance up the road to the Bass River Bridge for sunrise. The insects are out again, and the air is preternaturally still, but I am able to get some nice shots of the nearby boat dock and the lovely houses facing us on the west bank of the river. We pack our bags back at the motel, and it’s a relatively brief (though somewhat… itchy) ride back to Boston by late morning.
