The Caped Cod

Just got back from vacation in Cape Cod with my lovely wife Mary Beth! So let's summarize! I'll start just a little before we left. The day before. We went to the Brooks to see Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock & Roll, a documentary about music in Cambodia, which by necessity was a documentary about Cambodia (from independence from France to the Khmer Rouge regime). Really rough watching especially towards the end, but it was good. I did enjoy the aspect of using popular music as a lens through which to view the unfolding of history. And it's a subject that's hard not to hit you emotionally.

Last Friday I got off early and it was time to head off! (I went in early Thursday and Friday and stayed late Thursday). Got home and we got ready and we were off by 4. The first night we stopped in Louisville. We got in to town and ate at that place Jacques and I ate during our aborted show on derby day those years ago (Spinelli's Pizzeria). Mary Beth and I went to a different location so I wasn't sure it'd be quite as awesome, but the one downtown is just as awesome as the one that has the bearskin Burt Reynolds mural (whatever that part of town is called). It has its own charms. It's in this basement which is pretty cool. You go down these steps on the sidewalk to get to it (the kind of thing you'd do in New York City, maybe). We went for crazy toppings. In fact, we went for two types of pizza that should not have been together! But they were! On the same pizza! Half chicken and waffle, half taco! Two delicious halves! Slept and then woke up for breakfast. We went to this place called Wild Eggs. I chose it because I read about the hot brown, a signature food of Louisville (it's like welsh rarebit in open-faced sandwich form), and this place had it and seemed a little easier than the other, semi-fancy places that had it. Their version had egg on it, you may be unsurprised to learn (because of their name, see). Okay, then back on the road for the long day of driving!

Now we're on the way to Philadelphia. Mostly went fine. Ugh, though the toll through Pennsylvania was much higher than expected. Knew there'd be one, but sheesh! We got in at night and and had time for me to hit up a record store! I went to Philadelphia Record Exchange which ended up not being so great, but I did pick up a couple things: v/a: Yoruba Drums from Benin, West Africa and Skinny Puppy: B-Sides Collect. Mary Beth spent this time at a nearby bar (The Yachtsman) so I met up with her afterwards. We also happened to see Barcade nearby so Mary Beth wanted to hit it up. This was a Saturday night so it was jam packed. The atmosphere was pretty terrible, but they did have a lot of great games. So I played some badly while Mary Beth watched. Okay, then to our hotel (the same round one as last time).

Sunday was full of doing stuff! First we went to the Edgar Allan Poe House. Actually I think first we stopped Knead for some bagels and related sandwiches. Okay, back to Edgar Allan Poe House, it wasn't huge but pretty interesting. We stopped by Federal Donuts and had some delicious doughnuts again! Then we found the Eastern State Penitentiary. That was really awesome. It's a museum now but it was the first penitentiary in the world (opened in 1829) and it ran up until the 1970s. It was originally based on a model of complete silence and isolation for the prisoners (an idea at the time which was attempting to be humanitarian) though that eventually lost out to the "New York model" of prisons that is closer to what is known today. But a very interesting history considering how long the prison lasted with how old the building is and considering it was built for purposes that went against its eventual use. They also did a great job in incorporating information about the current state of the prison system in the us (you know, how it's completely fucked up and broken...with those nice statistics comparing us unfavorably with the rest of the world which makes it hard to avoid the obvious connection to the failed war on drugs...and got me thinking of evidence that could mark the us as a third world nation). Then we hit up the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was damn huge. There were some exhibits across the street(s) in another building that Mary Beth wanted to see. They had a really good collection. Naturally we didn't look at it all, but we hit the modern+ areas. I got to see a few Mondrians and other great stuff. It was pay-you-can day so we got in relatively cheap but it was crowded as fuck. So it was kind've a rushed feel through it, but still really great. There was a special exhibit on Impressionists but there was an EXTRA admission to get into that so we didn't do it. And hey, we got to see some Impressionists in the regular part of the museum too. They had a ton of Monets so there!

I sweet talked Mary Beth into letting me try out another record store (Repo Records) since the other one was a bit disappointing. It was much better and I got some stuff: Fugazi: The Argument, Brian Eno: Another Day on Earth, Vangelis: Chariots of Fire soundtrack, Holly Herndon: Movement, The Soft Moon: Total Decay, Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska, Holly Herndon: Platform, and Run the Jewels: 2.

After that we went over to Boathouse Row and walked along the Schuylkill River. It was pretty and nice and all that jazz. We watched a group of geese swim up into the little harbor area and fly up to the bank to merge with another group of geese who were already ashore as they overtook a couple with a bag of bread to feed them (the one group coming to land suspiciously on the dot of the couple's arrival). There was also a little bunny who'd hopped out of the bushes next to us. Back to town to eat sandwiches, well the place we were shooting for was closed for renovations. But we'd seen a place around the corner that'd looked promising: Joe's Steaks + Soda Shop. So we had cheesesteaks and milkshakes (okay, srasparilla floats to be more precise) and all was right in the world. Before going back to the hotel for sleep, we stopped at The Ranstead Room, Mary Beth's favorite speakeasy type bar (and you can't argue with the dark atmosphere with red leather and naked lady paintings).

We headed straight out in the morning on the way to the Cape, our final desintation. We did make a brief stop in Providence for baked goods. Also, I ruthlessly forced Mary Beth to let me go record shopping (Armageddon Shop, it was nearby too!). She apparently had the best raw oysters ever while I was otherwise occupied. This place was pretty metal focused but with other good stuff. And I picked up a bunch of stuff: Arab on Radar: The Stolen Singles, Dälek: Absence, Godflesh: Messiah, The Ex: Tumult, The Flying Luttenbachers: Retrospektiw IV, Numbers: In My Mind All the Time, Rachel's, The Sea and the Bells, The Young Gods: Only Heaven, The Body: s/t, and Liturgy: Aesthethica. (Given the nature and that they're apparently from Providence, I wonder if this is The Body's preferred record store). Okay, end this diversion! Back to Massachusetts! Also, Rhode Island is surprisingly longer than it feels like it should be (I think I've noticed that before too). Maybe it's 'cuz you go through it at an angle (still). Maybe it's 'cuz Providence isn't as large as it seems it should be. I don't know. Maybe I'm just dumb. Okay! We make it into the Cape and to Orleans where we met her parents and Judd and Jeanine and their kids and nephew and neice Alex and Kirstie (sic?) in a house very much resembling the one we stayed at three years ago. I don't think we did too much, just hung out with the family and etc and ate and had a nice evening.

Okay, now to our first day on Cape Cod. What did Mary Beth and I do? Good question! Can I remember? Yes! We'd wanted to check out Morris Island (which is not actually an island, now anyway, but it is peninsular). We couldn't find where to go for a bit, but eventually did. You park in the same are as you park to go across to Monomoy Island (which is an island). So we get there and find out the beach would disappear at its narrowest point with the approaching high tide (it'd start to disappear in an hour!). We walked all the way down to the part at the end, what is Morris Island. We made it back just in time. Part of the beach was gone, but that's okay. You just wade in the ocean like we'd been wading in it anyway! Also worth note: the horseflies there! Ouch! I'm not used to flies hurting. What'd we do next? I know we went to the Stop & Shop to pick up some groceries for dinner (I also got some Moxie which I drank a ton of the next few days) (also worth note, "Roadrunner" came up during the drive back yesterday and I finally made the connection with the line in the song where he mentions the Stop & Shop!). I feel like there very well could be something I'm completely forgetting about! Maybe I'll think of it and throw it in later. After dinner we went back out for a movie... Ooh a cliffhanger! For another post!

More Cape Cod

So we went to the little theater in Chatham called The Orpheum to see Jaws! (Hadn't seen it until a year ago and now I've seen it three times since, the time before also being somewhere called The Orpheum). But I really enjoy that movie so it's always nice to see it. And we couldn't pass up the chance to watch it while on summer vacation in Cape Cod (on the beach) of all places.

Wedensday we spent most of the day with Mary Beth's parents. We went around to Cape Cod Lighthouse and some areas by the shore. We saw where they shell scallops. We tried to go to Lieutenant Island, but the road by the bridge was flooded with the tide. We had lunch in Wellfleet at Bookstore & Restaurant (fried clams). Around that northern part of the Cape a bit. Dinner back at home. Then Mary Beth and I went back to The Orpheum to see this local movie called The Golden Scallop (there was a local film series thingie going on at the time). It was a mockumentary and, in spite of my reservations when it first started, it was pretty funny. It was about an annual fried seafood competition on the Cape (the title of my last post comes from it).

Thursday was our big beach day. We hit the National Seashore beaches (god, I keep fucking saying "we hit," is it thesaurus time for me?). We started at the tip and worked our way down: Herring Cove, Race Point, Head of the Meadow, and Marconi. Herring Cove was nice. We got in the water and had a nice swim in the ocean. Next was Race Point and the waves were a little better so I was enjoying that. Then over to Head of the Meadow and the waves were even even better! There was an underwater sandbar just a little out and there were some awesome fucking waves coming up against it. Because of it the water was really shallow (so it was warm, which is not what Mary Beth likes so much). I found an awesome way of body surfing. Because I was crouched down to be somewhat submerged in the shallow water, I started jumping up into the wave (not just into it, the upward motion). So I'd go up into it like a ramp. I dunno, it felt really awesome. We tried to go to Nauset beach but the lot was full (that happened last time too) and Coast Guard beach (right next to it) you have to take a shuttle to. Besides, we were hungry and aiming for Nauset because we knew it had an oyster bar on the beach. But we stopped at Arnold's again and loaded up on a seafood platter which we took to Marconi. We ate on the beach and had the cooler filled with drinks and our chairs and it was pretty nice and relaxing. After eating and having dried off since it'd been a while since I was in the water at this point and all the swimming I did earlier and seeing other people reading I thought it'd be nice to just relax and read on the beach for once. So I ran back to the car and grabbed my book and it was a nice and relaxing way to spend my time. But then Mary Beth comes back from swimming and she'd been swimming next to a fucking seal! Holy crap! The one time I snooze I really did lose! I went back out into the water. I saw the seal, but it was never close to me (she said she first she it like three feet from her, goddamn!). I very well may have been right next to it anyway 'cuz as we were leaving, going up the steps, we saw it all over the place. Actually we saw that there were at least two seals swimming along the coast. When I was first out and trying to see if I could find it, I got nervous 'cuz I went out a little flapping about and remembered that seals attract sharks... Oh well. It was still pretty rad. Before coming back home we stopped quickly at Chatham Light beach (which is Mary Beth's favorite because it's so cold). Our first day out (Tuesday) I got sunburnt because I just plum forgot to put on sunscreen until later. Fortunately it seemed to heal up pretty quickly. I was good about it on Thursday, applying some after swimming in each beach, but still being so exposed and getting in the ocean so much I did get burnt a bit on my more tender parts that rarely see the light of day. There wasn't as much area burnt, but it didn't heal as quickly either. Ah well.

So in the morning on Friday we began our trip back home. Traffic wasn't great but oh well. Made a long day of it driving. About fourteen and a half hours. A lot of symmetry with the last drive back. Ended up stopping shortly into Tennessee not too far after we stopped the last time (though Mary Beth made sure it wasn't the same run down place). Continued back this morning without too far to go. We stopped in Nashville for lunch at Mas Tacos Por Favor. Some good stuff, though a little tricky to eat while driving (still, managed to). Got in this afternoon and got Mary Beth's oil changed and then came home to do some house cleaning (such filthy filthy cats!). The cats didn't even bother trying to give us the cold shoulder this time! Horace ran up to me for pets immediately. And he's still starved for them, he's on the floor right behind me giving me the meow man routine now and again. Ha! There he went!

I thought of one thing I've forgotten! On Saturday, between Louisville and Philadelphia, we stopped in Wheeling, WV at Di Carlo's again for some tasty one-of-a-kind Ohio Valley style pizza! (Made Devin jealous again!) Okay, if I think of any more shit I've forgotten like some terrible person I'll be sure to throw it back in here.