Massachusetts: Provincetown Rock Jetty

Provincetown Rock Jetty

519 West Fayette Street

Baltimore, Maryland 

Oh, about 10 years ago I started taking my younger cousins on weekend road-trips as a gift for their 15th or 16th birthdays. It seems almost every year one of them was turning 15 and I think that is a perfect age for a road trip with an older cousin for many reasons:

1. At 15 you don't have a job.

2. At 15 most of them do not have a boyfriend/girlfriend.

3. At 15 you don't want to spend your whole summer couped up in the house...

4. ...or stuck traveling with your parents  

Fifteen is the perfect time to hit the road with an older, wiser, fun-lovin' cousin. Right? Well, I hope so because that is what I did with them. At this point I have run out of 15 year-old cousins.

This past summer, 2012, it was Cousin Bitzy's turn to hit the road with me. Typically my cousins did not choose the destination, although I always offered to let them pick. I just don't think they knew where they wanted to go. 

I put an awful lot of thought into choosing the best location to travel to with each of them based on distance, expense, but mostly on their interests and personality. Although, you do learn an awful lot more about a person when you spend 4 days in a car with them; that's for damn sure.   

Cousin Bitzy is a theater kid, loud, and fun, and dramatic; a real life-force to be reckoned with. I thought a trip to see the Gold Coast Mansions in Newport, RI would be just up her alley; lavish and regal and full of drama. Having already spent several trips in Newport though, I wanted to add something to our trip that I had never done before. For all my excursions to the various corners of Massachusetts, I had never been to Provincetown; the last little community on the end of Cape Cod known mostly for its, hmmm, flamboyant residents. And so off we were - -

I put a lot of research into planning a trip. I need to know addresses, how long it will take me to get there, the best places to eat, what is there to do, how much will it cost me, etc. Once I get there though, my only goal is to "absorb the local color"; a phrase my mother used quite often. It means to just observe, breathe, blend in, or better yet soak it up.

My research into Provincetown revealed that there was a very interesting walk to take there. At the very western end of Commercial Street, just behind the Provincetown Inn, there is a mile-long jetty. I saw pictures of this thick rock path jutting out into the sea; children prancing around on it, couples holding hands. Ah romantic, serene, ahh.

Aww hell no, that shit was some scary!
 

I parked the car a few blocks away at a metered lot; parking in Provincetown was rough. We walked in some serious heat down to the jetty. And yes, there were children prancing on it and couples walking hand in hand. It was beautiful; I'll give you that BUT I couldn't get more than 30 steps out onto it before I had to turn back. There were big gaping crevasses between the enormous stones. This wasn't a leisurely walk, it was a balancing act even if only in my acrophobic mind. I wasn't looking out at the calm of the ocean; my eyes were glued to my feet. 

This was not for me. 

But we tried it. And that is really what travel is about; giving something new and different a try.

If you have been to the jetty and made it out to the end and back alive, I'd love to hear from you.