The last time I was in Provincetown (aka PTown) was in 1995 when Beth and I stopped out for a couple of days after attending my high school reunion. Dang, that’s a looooong time ago! I remembered it as a very colorful (in many ways….), happy, vibrant town. It hasn’t changed much in that regard. There were many,many more tourists here than just about anywhere we’ve been on our entire trip. And, they were all having a great time!! It is still a very artsy town with little shops running along both sides of Commercial Street.
We parked Buster about 7 miles outside at a bike path trailhead and rode in along the shore on Rte 6A. It was breezy and at times down right windy. We didn’t mind though — we were there to take it all in, not to speed past it at a race or training pace.
There were some great Tshirts in the window….remember this is PTown!
We had lunch at a lobster shack and Randy, Beth and Leo indulged in locally made ice cream. The auto traffic on that street is one-way, but bikes can go either way and as you might imagine that lends itself to some very interesting traffic patterns!
We inched our way through the downtown traffic maze of cars and pedestrians. There was definitely a carnival feel as we weaved in and out and around everything. We ended up parking our bikes for lunch and exploring a bit on foot. That was fun too! A colorful alley caught my eye and it turned out to be an active art site! The artist was creating a piece using a box of items salvaged from a house fire — knowing the story behind it made the piece even more interesting to me.
Eventually we got back on the bikes and rode out of town to the dunes. There’s an awesome bike path loop that’s maybe 7-8 miles of roller coaster paths along the beaches and out to a ranger’s station. It would’ve been perfect to capture on a GoPro, but alas it will only be recorded in my memory and my mind’s eye. Makes me smile as I sit here typing about it though….. what a BLAST!
At the farthest point out on the dune ride, at Race Point, there were a bunch of camper rigs set up and camping in the parking lot. When I inquired, they said that they normally drive out and camp on the beach. Sounds like something the folks in the Revel FB group would love to do. Apparently, the air down to 11 lbs and drive out onto the sand. I asked how often vehicles get stuck — and the ranger said,”Oh,at least once a week.” That would be me!!!
The only thing that would’ve made today better was if ‘my’ Beth was here to spend it with me again. Maybe we’ll come back together once we’re both retired…..
