We just got back last week form a wonderful family vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts! I wanted to share a little about our trip and some of the fun things we did as well as share some tips after flying with a toddler while also in my third trimester. So here’s a little break down of our days on the Cape. If you want to read up on my specific travel tips, check out Tips for a Family Trip with a Toddler and Tips for Traveling (& flying!) While Pregnant.
Day 1 (sunshine!)
We enjoyed driving through the beautiful towns while heading to our Airbnb. I highly recommend Airbnb and VRBO, as these both offer quant places to stay for amazing affordable prices. We stayed 300 yards from the beach in a cozy cottage in Chatham. They had tons of beach toys and supplies (chairs, sand toys, floaties, cooler, etc.) and a pack n’ play!
We arrived in the late afternoon, so after stopping at our beach cottage we headed to one of the local restaurants for lunch. We ate at Moms and Pops Burgers, a newer place on main street Chatham with outdoor seating in the beautiful sunshine. We then spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our beautiful beach access at Ridgevale Beach. For late May and low 70s weather, the water was not too bad! I spent most of my time playing in the sand with P, but everyone else had a blast floating down the natural “lazy river” lagoon that went by the beach.
The remainder of our four full days were forecast to be rainy, but we lucked out with two semi-cloudy days and only one really rainy day. We made the best of the weather and filled our days with whatever would work best with the weather.
Rainy Days:
If you’re wondering what to do during a rainy vacation on the cape, don’t worry! Sure, there are plenty of museums and other indoor attractions, but we went to Cape Cod specifically to experience the natural beauty. So we got creative experiencing Cape Cod in the rain. Here are some rainy day ideas that we did.
Drive to Provincetown main street and explore the many shops and art galleries.
Warm up with a cozy bowl of clam chowder at one of the top restaurants in the area
Do a shorter hike through a swamp or marsh. While a day hike in the rain isn’t always fun, a shorter excursion followed by warming up indoors can be pretty fun! For our rainy days, we chose short hikes (only about 1 mile each) that would be amplified, not dampened by the rain. We did the White Cedar Swamp in Wellfleet and the Great Flat Pond Loop in South Cape Beach State Park. Both of these were beautiful, unique hikes going over boardwalks. The rain and fog made it even more exciting.
Visit light houses!
We also attempted crabbing on one of our rainy days. Unfortunately we weren’t successful and didn’t last long because I guess we’re a bit early in the season still! Pros of doing it in cooler weather? We weren’t really phased by wading into the cool water because we were already pretty cold! I honestly didn’t feel much colder standing there seeking out crabs in the rain.
Check out a Cape Cod farmer’s market. I had planned this into one of our rainy days, but completely forgot about it on the way out! Farmer’s markets are bound to be less crowded on a rainy day, so you’ll probably get a better pick on fresh produce and seafood. I’m sure the vendors will be happy to see some happy faces in the rain!
Explore tide pools. This was our original plan for a rainy morning, but the website I used was off on tide times! Tide pools can be easy enough to explore in the rain, though P did enjoy playing in the pools when we ended up going on a warmer day.
Go for a drive and enjoy the beautiful scenery from your car. Cape Cod is absolutely beautiful, even in the rain. We loved driving through quant towns and neighborhoods, picking out our favorite homes, and driving to beach views as well!
Better weather days (although they were still a bit cloudy and/or windy!)
Hiking in Nickerson State Park
Biking along the Cape Cod Rail Trail and along Nauset Bike Trail out to Coast Guard Beach
Hike the Great Island Trail
Our last half day of sunshine
Of course the two best weather days were the day we drove to and from the Cape! Still, we were able to spend the first half of the day enjoying the sunshine before heading in to Boston for the afternoon.
My mom and I rose bright and early and went out to paint on our little beach! This is something my mom and I love doing together and I really wanted to do on this trip. With our travel watercolors and sketch books, we set up facing a lovely beach scene and got to work before anyone else was awake!
After checking out from our Airbnb, we headed straight to Breakwater beach to experience some tide pools. I was a little surprised because the only tide pools I’ve been to were full of star fish, sea urchins, and other colorful creatures. These were mostly pools of water with tons of little hermit crabs scurrying around. It was still so fun to see and P had such a blast playing in the little pools. The beach was also HUGE at low tide and beautiful to just walk out toward the water.
From here we headed out toward Boston after lunch, allowing P to nap in the car before we explored the Boston Freedom Trail for the afternoon.
This trip was so wonderful and so beautiful to experience somewhere new as a family. We loved this together time before our busy summer and baby comes to town. Don’t forget to check out my tips for traveling during your 3rd trimester and tips for traveling (and flying) with a toddler.
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