Hi, friends! It’s been quiet around here because last week I went to Cape Cod with my NYC friends (we had a group of 20!). I grabbed a train up to New York from DC last Thursday afternoon. When I arrived to Penn Station, I grabbed Shake Shack for me and Emma, and then we headed over to Grand Central Station to catch a train out to Stamford, Connecticut for the night.

On Friday, we woke up before the sun at 4am so we could beat Cape traffic, and I am so glad we did—we hit no traffic. After a country-music-filled drive, we arrived to the house we were staying at in Wellfleet, Massachusetts around 9am. Prior to the trip, I did some research on the Cape and the one thing that surprised me was how large it is and how many towns there are! Wellfleet is halfway between the “tip” and the “elbow” of the Cape, and definitely won me over as a fan. The beaches are beautiful, the people were so laid back and nice, and all the houses and restaurants were so cute.

Unlike some of the trips I take that are go, go, go, this one was more of a true, relaxed beach vacation. We pretty much spent our days at the beach drinking spiked seltzer and Bud Lights out of a Yeti cooler and hit up the best beach seafood shacks for meals. I had the best time!

I didn’t take a ton of pictures on this trip, and we really didn’t explore much beyond Wellfleet other than on the drive in and out, but I wanted to share a quick recap of our trip in case you ever find yourself in the Wellfleet area. I would love to get back to the Cape sooner rather than later and explore other towns, like Chatham, Hyannis, Provincetown, Orleans, and Dennis.

Although the forecast called for rain the entire time we were there, we actually lucked out with two sunny, warm beach days. On Friday after we arrived, we went to White Crest Beach and on Saturday, we went to Cahoon Hollow Beach right down the road. Both were beautiful, clean beaches that weren’t too crowded.

One thing that surprised me was that these beaches were accessed only by walking down huge sand dunes—I’d never seen dunes this high before! To protect the dunes, the town had a designated path that everyone could walk up and down to access the beach. Going down wasn’t too bad, but y’all, getting back up the hill with all our beach accoutrements was quite the workout!

At the entrance to both dune paths were warning signs about Great White Sharks. A longtime Shark Week fan, I knew going into this trip that Cape Cod is a popular spot for Great Whites, but I feel like we were hyperaware of the dangers this trip since a shark attack had happened just two days prior to our arrival. While we were standing at the water’s edge, we noticed a seal about two or three yards away from shore—I have never seen them that close in the wild before! That was the first of many seal sightings on our trip, so needless to say, we avoided swimming on this trip.

In terms of food, we packed drinks and snacks for both beach days, and bought lunch at the beach. At White Crest Beach, we bought turkey sandwiches and pasta salad from a food truck at the top of the dune. At Cahoon Hollow Beach, we ordered lunch from the to-go window at The Beachcomber. The Beachcomber is an institution in Wellfleet, and in addition to being a restaurant during the day, turns into a 21+ bar at night with a band. We hit it up on Saturday night, and it was well worth the $20 cover. The Beachcomber is really well known for their Goombay Smash cocktail, which is a mix of rums and tropical juices with a myers float. You can see one in the picture above—Emma and I enjoyed them after coming off the beach for the day on Saturday afternoon.

For dinner both nights, we found ourselves at PJ’s Family Restaurant since it was right at the end of the street our house was on—and also conveniently located next to a liquor store. This was a great spot with ample seating and something for everyone on the menu. The first night I had clam chowder and the Baja salad, and the second night I had a cheeseburger and ordered Mexican egg rolls for a late night snack, hah! Everything we had was delicious.

On our way into and out of town, we grabbed breakfast on the road, but on Saturday morning, we made a trip to The Flying Fish for breakfast sandwiches. We ordered them all on croissants with home fries, and they were delicious. We grabbed ours to-go since we were such a large group, but if you have a smaller group, it definitely looked like a cute place to hang out and eat!

Of course, while I was in New England, I had to get my hands on some Fisher’s Island Lemonade I talked about in my Newport guide. My friend Emma brought us a four-pack she picked up in NYC for us to enjoy on the beach and I was also able to find it at the liquor store in town, so I bought a four-pack to bring back to DC since you can’t find it in stores here—though you can buy it online!

The traffic getting off the Cape was very slow, which is pretty typical for this time of year. But, hey, what’s summertime without a good old fashioned road trip? I had the best time on Cape Cod making fun memories with friends new and old, and hope I can get back up there next summer!