Friday, August 28, 2009

Steph’s Visit: Day One

Feeling a bit lazy on Steph’s first full day here, but also as if it was important to do something to maximize enjoyment of vacation, we decided Friday morning to head down to Cape Cod for the day. I remembered having great chowder there when I went with my parents and grandma in college, and great chowder seems like a key part of a visit to New England. Because we were embracing spontaneity, we decided to randomly stop at a winery in Plymouth on the way.
Turns out that wineries in Plymouth primarily make (non-grape) fruit wine, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless and the lady in the tasting room was quite nice. She even (shockingly, to me at least) sold us on a bottle of blueberry wine to serve with cheesecake. It was oddly sort of awesome. Overall, an educational diversion on our way to the Cape.
Because we were already in Plymouth, it seemed like we’d better head over and see Plymouth Rock, and we ended up stopping at another “winery” on the way. This one was much less enjoyable, although the owner definitely tried to make it educational, including tips on “fancy” ways to serve his fruit wines… The guy was a trip, and in an effort to keep these posts positive, that is all I will say about that.
Next up (a couple blocks away) was our stop at Plymouth Rock. I’m not sure why this thing isn’t considered one of the wonders of the world. It’s pretty spectacular. Behold:
Yep. That’s a rock alright… At this point we were starving and made a beeline for Captain Parker’s in West Yarmouth.
As I mentioned above, I had visited this place about 10 years ago, but I didn’t mention that we ate here three times in 6 days because we liked the chowder so much. Because it was getting on into the afternoon, we decided to order a seafood appetizer sampler to go with our chowder. This was… interesting. Clockwise from the left (pictured below) it included Clams Casino, Oysters Rockefeller, “Mussels Monterey” (the orange-ish pile of melted cheese) and “Stuffed Mushrooms” (the whiter pile of melted cheese next to that).
Nothing you would expect to be decent (how can you mess up clams with bacon?) was particularly impressive, and the “Stuffed Mushrooms” were two mushroom caps buried under a pile of seafood-y stuffing and cheese. We (surprisingly) decided that our favorite thing on the plate was the Mussels Monterey, which were mussels with garlic-butter, covered (for reasons that I cannot fathom) in a pile of melted cheddar cheese… Moving on: the chowder was absolutely fantastic. Not too many potatoes, creamy, not starchy/gummy, a nice herbal accent… Delicious.
As long as we were in Cape Cod, we figured we might as well drive out to the end of Massachusetts. Along the way were lighthouses:
and the stiflingly beachside-y town of Provincetown:
a few miles north of which lay the end of this fair state. It was quite lovely, and many pictures were taken.
We had originally planned on dinner in Provincetown, but the place was crushing my soul, so we decided to pick a place at random on the drive back. We (unfortunately) ended up at The Lobster Claw. Steph ordered the Baked Stuffed Sole in Newberg Sauce
and I went with the Broiled Seafood Combo.
Again in the interest of staying positive, I will just say that the scallops weren’t overcooked and leave it at that… Oh, and the beer was good. That is all. From there we drove home and collapsed, ready for Day Two of our vacation.

2 comments:

Midge said...

I expected Plymouth Rock to be . . . on I don't know . . . bigger.

emmo said...

That makes three of us... =)