Getting up at 3AM on a Sunday to drive out to Provincetown to meet friends for brunch may not be everyone's idea of a relaxing weekend, but this was not a typical weekend. It was one of our contributing editor's b'day weekend. In fact, half of our "gang of six" have birthdays with in days of each other!
Four of the gang were already out at Provincetown for various reasons. We thought we would get going early to avoid the traffic. One thing lead to another and our plans morphed to "let's go watch the sun rise over the Mayflower in Plymouth!" There was a moment of hesitation when the alarm went off at 3:15AM, but we were in the car and on our way within the hour.
We got to Plymouth around 5AM (sunrise was at 5:10AM). Needless to say we had no trouble parking. In fact, we had no trouble parking anywhere all morning. The only other creature awake at that time was a lone bird on a rock. We were not able to actually see the sunrise as the cloud cover was too thick. As we still had another 95 miles to go, we decided to get some coffee and continue on.
Since we were the only car on the road, we made GREAT time. We were in Wellfleet before we knew it. It was clear we would get to Provincetown WAY before our 11AM brunch appointment. With a few hours to kill, we did a quick check on the GPS and found a few nearby attractions (Marconi Beach, Wellfleet Bay Audubon sacutary) which looked interesting. As it was in Plymouth, parking was not a problem.
Carolyn, who does not like to be reminded that she has a passing resemblance to a certain Alaskan politician, was seen here looking out over the horizon. When asked what she was looking at, she winked and said "Just keeping an eye on the Russians."
The Wellfleet Bay Audubon Wildlife Preserve was already teaming with activities at this time of the day. All manner of creatures were out and about looking for their morning meal.
We followed one of the trails and took a hike out to the marsh and saw all kinds of birds. One in particular was especially cross with our approach. We must have been getting a little too close to its nesting site as it was louding "expressing" its displeasure with our presence.
The rest of the day was just as wonderful as the morning. We met up with the rest of the gang, had a nice brunch outside, and took a nap before our return drive to Boston. The others were not heading back until Monday, but around 2-ish we decided it was probably time to get back on Route 6 before the "back-to-Boston" traffic got serious. We wouldn't do it all the time, but this pre-dawn drive gave us an opportunity to enjoy a side of the Cape that we have not experienced before. [Permalink] - Morning Drive to Provincetown
|
