A Trip to Cape Cod

A family wedding in Chatham, MA this holiday weekend gave the Mister and I the perfect opportunity to take our long-awaited trip to Cape Cod. We've been meaning to get up there ever since we found out my family was selling our house up there after the passing of my granddad. 

Here's one of the last pictures of me and my granddad, back in 2007. 

He was totally awesome, and by far one of my favorite people. I miss him every day. 

He split his time between his house on Cape Cod and his house in Raleigh. My family only went up there once when I was growing up, mainly because my granddad would always stay with us for a week or so on his yearly drives up there and back. So when I found out we were selling the house, I knew that I had to get up there one last time to say my goodbyes, and to show it to the Mister. 

So we headed up there this weekend, and I decided to share some photos of our trip. My family came over to the US in the 1600's and settled in Cape Cod, so this trip was kind of like a pilgrimage for me. I even found streets that shared my middle name and my maiden name, which will eventually go into frames in the house. (But won't be shared here, since I'm not trying to put my entire name on blast to the internet world. You understand.) 

But, here are some pictures I will share of the house and the land. 

This is what you see when you finally get to the top of the driveway. And speaking of the driveway...

Isn't it gorgeous? I think it's one of the prettiest driveways in the world. To the left is the front of the house:

And to the right is the back. 

When you turn your back to the house and look over the trees, you can see the national seashore. 

And when you go down that path on the hill:

You come to a cove, where my granddad taught me how to quahog. 

And then, because why not, there's a really heavy stone pagoda in the backyard. 

My granddad was a Colonel in the Army, and for a large part of his career he was stationed in Taiwan and Thailand. So there are a ton of Asian influences, artwork and furniture, both in the yard and in the house. No one has lived there since 2008, so the interior isn't in the best shape, and we're in the midst of cleaning it out so we can sell it. But some of the architectural details in the house are just to die for, so I had to share. 

Here's the kitchen, which is to the right as you walk in the front door. See how the countertops look a little high? That's because my grandparents, who were both tall, designed the house. And they were tired of bending over to cook. So they made their kitchen fit their height. So cool!

Here's the staircase. I die. 

In the upstairs bedroom, there are dresser drawers built into the walls. Again, I die. 

Also upstairs was my granddad's office area, with awesome sloping ceilings and a view of the ocean (which I tried to capture through the window screen.)

After the grand tour of the property, the Mister and I went in search of food. And guess what we found? A gluten free seafood market that had many options. Behold...

gluten free onion rings, french fries, fried scallops, a crab cake and a risotto cake. I went a little overboard, but a gluten-free girl doesn't always know where her next meal is coming from when she's traveling. What can I say. 

Sunday we had wedding activities all day, but I did snap these pictures at the reception, which was held on Pleasant Bay in Chatham. How gorgeous is this place? 

Monday we devoted to toodling around the Cape. We visited the road that shares my maiden name, and then visited my granddad's grave at the family plot. It was such a beautiful, New England setting that I had to take a few pictures.

                                   

My family is all buried around the obelisk in the foreground. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, so it was nice to go and be able to appreciate what was around me. 

Before we left and returned home, my dad told us we could look through things in the house and take any little items we wanted. My granddad was an avid reader, so we had piles and piles of books to choose from. I picked a few of those that I thought looked interesting:

And some small pieces of china to display on my built-ins:

And a 1950's tray which I thought was really fun, and an Oriental style plate.

I also took two maps of the land my granddad owned on the cape, from the 1960's and 70's. I'm hoping to frame them sometime soon. 

The Mister took an old globe that no one wanted. And by old, I mean it's got the Soviet Union on there. Too cool.

And my favorite thing? I find this old picture of my grandparents with some military men from Taiwan.

So that's the rundown on our trip to Cape Cod. It was a lot of fun, with just a tinge of sadness in saying goodbye to the family estate. But I'm happy I got to bring back some meaningful things to put in my own house, and take lots of photos to adorn my next gallery wall. Oh yeah...that's some foreshadowing.