My “Last” East Coast Month
…aka, my love letter to Cape Cod.
I am coming back east in October, and again in November, and we have already booked a house for next summer, so it’s not like I am heading west in a covered wagon, never to return. But July was the last month before our move to LA, and I love talking about the things that make Cape Cod from June-October my favorite place in the world, so here we are.
I grew up going to my grandparents’ house in Centerville, so I am legally obligated to tell you up front that Four Seas is the best ice cream in the world (and it actually is.) Since 2008, my husband and I have rented all over the peninsula (fun fact, Cape Cod is not technically an island, even though it is not connected to land, because the canal was manmade), and on Nantucket (actually an island), but for the last 5 years we have chosen to live in North Falmouth, so that’s where most of the rest of these recommendations are located.
Because the only things I look for in a beach are proximity to where I am staying and the presence of a snack bar, I don’t feel like I need to waste your time with telling you that the little beach near the house we rent is lovely. We also have our favorite restaurants, but honestly it’s really hard to mess up steaming a lobster, so none of what I am going to say is revolutionary on that front either. The Upper Cape happens to do two things I love really well (fashion and yoga), and these are the places I go every single year.
My fav stores:
If money was no object (it is), I could do all of my shopping at Maxwell in Falmouth and Beach Boutique in Miami, and never go anywhere else. Maxwell’s owners and buyers fill their store with unique and totally wearable clothes, shoes, and accessories, and everything they bring in is just so gorgeous. They carry a fabulous selection of designers like Dries Van Noten, Nili Lotan, and Marni, but also feature smaller brands that I have come to adore, like Burning Torch, Calleen Cordero, Gilda Midani, and Avant Toi. I love everyone who works there and going in is always a fun afternoon. They also have an unparalleled men’s department that comprises most of what is currently in my husband’s closet.
I literally found this store by accident one October a few years ago when I was in Falmouth for a wedding. It is sort of hidden in a little commercial area across from the Coonamessett*, and yes, it is underground. Nicole has fabulous personal style and everything has an awesome laid back but distinctly rock’n’roll vibe. She is actually the one who introduced me to my favorite denim brand, Moussy, but I have also gotten great pieces from Clare V., La Superbe, Ba&sh, Iro, and Cotton Citizen there. She also carries a lot of great Korean brands, like Lvir, TheLoom, and Tripleroot.
Lisa Sue is simply one of the nicest and most generous people I have ever met and I love this store. The style is feminine without being cutesy. It’s like shopping in the closet of your friend who always looks perfect on vacation. A+.
This one is a departure, for sure. In news that would shock absolutely no one who knows me, I am not a huge Grateful Dead fan. I went to one show, pretty much accidentally, in 1994 at the Miami Arena on a date with my mom’s best friend’s nephew and at the time I had bronchitis that eventually turned into pneumonia. I do love tie dye though, and The Dead Zone has one of the best collections I have ever seen at amazing prices. Both of my kids also found a ton of things they liked, which is rare. Yarmouth is oddly hard to get to from Falmouth, but if you are driving down Cape or staying in the area, I highly recommend a pop by.
The best yoga:
Even though I owned a spinning and barre studio for 12 years, yoga is my true passion, and for a lot of reasons, I have Michelle to thank for that. innerglow is where I did my 200 Hour YTT, and where I taught my first yoga classes. Everyone who teaches there has their own style, but literally every single instructor is great. Michelle does a really good job of making sure that the emphasis is on the yoga at least as much as it is on the fitness component, and it shows. This will always be my yoga home regardless of where I am living.
I absolutely adore hot yoga and Gratitude does a great job at it. The room is always really hot, the studio doesn’t smell at all, the teachers are all really good at what they do, and they have classes at really good times. A+
The Yoga Collaborative Cape Cod
For some reason the timing of their classes didn’t line up for me this summer, but I can’t more highly recommend the studio, which happens to already be stunning, and they are making improvements after the season is over. The classes I have taken with Melissa (the owner) and Jenifer were among the best I have ever been to.
The Shining Sea Bike Path
I love riding bikes, but I really hate doing it when it’s at all hard. Enter the Shining Sea Bike Path. It’s basically flat, the whole thing is paved, it’s mostly shaded, you pass by lots of marshes (or if you have a New England accent, “mashes”) and other wild life-y areas, and at 10 miles each way, it’s long enough without being too much. My husband and I call this the platonic ideal of bike paths. We have also biked the entire Cape Cod Rail Trail three times and each time we ended up in a screaming fight while walking our bikes the last two miles in the dark because we always misjudge how long it takes to bike 50 miles, how much we don’t like being on bikes for that long, and how hard it is to bike when there is any change of elevation.
*If you are looking for a place to stay, I love the Inn on the Sound. I am not usually a bnb kind of gal, but the room was so pretty and if the idea of eating breakfast with strangers weirds you out, just don’t do it.