4th of July, 2006 - Provincetown, MA (Cape Cod)

I decided to spend the 4th of July this year in Provincetown, MA. I used to live in Boston and would spend time out there at least 2-3 times during the summer. It's a very quaint town out on the tip of Cape Cod. Let's just say that the culture there is very unique. In the summer time it becomes a Gay Mecca. Especially on the big weekends like Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. Not to mention all the special themed weeks that are in between all these holiday weekends.

I had not really planned on going to P-Town this summer but I had a Ticket on Alaska Airlines that I had not used and wanted to make a vacation out of it. As it was, the ticket on Alaska Airlines was worth $300. I called Alaska Airlines to change the ticket to Boston and the total cost of the ticket was $ 614. So ended up having to pay an additional $ 314 to fly to Boston. I then had to figure out where I was going to stay. Fortunately I have a friend from Seattle that has lived out in Boston and now has a house in P-town. I e-mailed him and asked if I could sleep on his sofa for the week of the 4th of July. He said "sure". So I spent 7 days in P-town and my last 2 days in Boston. I had looked on the internet for a hotel in Boston and could not find a single room under $ 220 a night. I finally decided to try Priceline.com. I bit $90 a night in the combat zone and they accepted my bid. Ironically, the hotel that I was placed at was the Radisson. I had check all the travel sites before Priceline and the price at the Raddison was $239 a night. So I saved a lot of money using Priceline. I was a little apprehensive but it turned out to be a good experience.

So the time to go to P-town finally came about. I was on a Red-eye from Seattle to Boston, nonstop. I arrived into Boston's Logan International airport at 6:30 a.m. I had checked a bag which I don't normally do. I decided not to hassle with carrying it on board this time. As it turned out, it took 45 minutes for my bag to be unloaded off the airplane. I was in a bit of a time crunch since I had to be at the Commonwealth Pier by 7:45 a.m to catch the Provincetown Ferry which left at 8:00 a.m. So I finally got my bag at 7:15 a.m and hopped in a taxi and was able to get to the ferry on time. As I hopped out of the taxi I was in desparate need of a cup of coffee after flying for nearly 6 hours and having been up all night. I was very relieved to see that there was a Dunkin' Donuts coffee shop right at the Pier. I would much rather have Dunkin' Donuts coffee than Starbucks. Dunkin' Donuts is so much better....not to mention the Donuts ! :) So I was able to enjoy my coffee and Donuts as I got on the ferry and watched the city of Boston from the Harbor.

It was foggy when we left Boston. It was warm, but it was foggy. I was hoping that the weather would improve for the week that I would be in P-town. I wanted maximum sun time. All I wanted to do was lay in the sun everyday, sleep and relax as much as possible. Something that is not all that easy in P-town during the summer and especially during a busy holiday weekend.

The P-town Ferry takes 1 hour and 40 minutes. As the ferry got close to P-town my friend Tom had text messaged me and told me to let him know when I arrived in P-town. As we arrived at the P-town dock I messaged him and did not get a reply so I started walking. He did not live too far from the center of town. Besides, P-town is not that big so you can walk anywhere. As I was in the middle of town Tom messaged me and told me to stay put. He picked me up in front of town hall.

Once I got settled I simply made a B-line to the Boat Slip to lay in the sun. By that time the fog had lifted and it was starting to get warm. I payed my $ 5.00 for a lounge chair and a towel and layed down in the sun to relax. It was so nice to be able to soak up the warm sun. Not to mention the scenery was nice !

After laying in the sun until 3:30 p.m. I walked back to the house and Tom had gone to work and there was no one in the house. I used this opportunity to lay down and relax a little more. The next then I knew, it was 8:30 pm. I showered and walked over to the Red Inn. I was fortunate it was not too busy and there was space for me at the bar. I sat down ordered a drink and talked to Tom for a bit. I ordered a great dinner and had a few more drinks. I also had a great bread pudding for dessert. It had a vanilla custard sauce with it that was unbelievable. After dinner I walked home and slept like a baby. The next day I got up and basically did the same thing; layed in the sun at the Boat Slip, came home and took a nap and had another great meal at the Red Inn. After a couple of days in P-Town I finally ventured out to the bars and took in the "sights". It was pretty fun.

On the 4th of July I stuck to my routine of laying in the sun and napping. Although Tom's boyfriend Joey was back in P-Town and he and I decided to grill some burgers for dinner instead of going out. After we ate the burgers we went over to the Red Inn and had drinks and sat out on the deck over the water and waited for the fireworks to start over the P-town pier. After awhile Sean, one of the owners of the Red Inn and a few of his friends were also out on the deck. Then some of thier other friends shows up, Larry and Paul. I found Larry to be a pretty interesting guy. Handsome...etc. Although a big smart ass....I guess that is why we got alot so well.

After the fireworks I took off and went into town to the bars. They were packed with lots of guys. I ended up having a few too many drinks and payed for it the next day. But nothing a few aspirin and lots of water and a lounge chair in the sun could not cure.

The week was nice. Ironically low key in the busy little "mecca" of P-Town. I left Friday July 7th and had two more days in Boston before returning to Seattle. I had booked a relatively inexpensive room at the Radisson hotel on Stuart street in the old Combat zone of Boston. It was a perfect location. I was able to walk around the South end in Back Bay and see the old neighborhood that I used to live in. I ate at some great reastaurants and was able to walk all over Boston after not having been there in nearly 7 years.

Sunday July 9th it was back to Reality. I was on an American Airlines flight to Chicago and then an Alaska Airlines flight back to Seattle. All was pretty smooth. Was hoping to get bumped to maybe get a free ticket, but no such luck this trip.

Riverside, CA - Visiting My Aunt

I have not updated my blog in quite some time. I figured it was time to do so. I've taken a few trips in the last few months and it's been a pretty good summer so far. Even though it really has not felt alot like summer at all. I was talking with some friends recently and we were talking about how our perspective on "Summer" has changed as we've become older. When you're younger, like when you're in High School, College, etc., your perspective on summer is quite different. We tend to think about Summer as 3-4 months from late May to Early September. But when you get older, out of college and working for a living, Summer simply blends into the rest of the year and if you don't plan any type of "summer vacation", you really don't get a "summer". So hopefully I've been able to have a "Summer" this year.

I started out my "Summer" by making a trip down to Souther California to visit my Aunt. She lives in Riverside, CA., about an hour east of Los Angeles. I try to make it down there at least once a year or more to spend some time with her. We have alot of fun just hanging out. We go shoping, out to eat and on this past trip we went to Knott's Berry farm. She likes some of the rollercoasters but I love all of them.

On this particular trip it was close to my birthday so she took me to the Mission Inn, in downtown Riverside. It's an old Mission which is a hotel and it has a great buffet brunch. We sat outside and had Champagne and OJ, and ate until we were full. We enjoyed ourselves ! :)

I'm hoping to get down to visit here again before the end of the summer !