When Bostonians can't get away for an extended vacation, they go - where else? - just down the road to Cape Cod for the weekend. But when it comes to planning that getaway, such a familiar destination can easily slip out of focus.
Don't spend half of your trip in traffic or looking for a place to eat: These trusty itineraries for one, two, and three days take away the guesswork. And if you can steal away in the middle of the week to beat the crowds, that's even better.
The villages dotting The Old King's Highway (Route 6A) as it winds along the southern end of Cape Cod Bay have always been a quiet corner of the peninsula, where square-rigger captains retired to calmer waters and reclusive authors found peace and relaxation. With just one day to get away, you'll want to drive, leaving home early enough to get to Barnstable by 10 a.m., when, on Saturdays, the Sturgis Library, with its ongoing used-book sale, opens. (On a summer weekend, it takes at least two hours to drive from Boston.) Launch your own contemplative Saturday in the circa-1645 Lothrop Room, where a whole bag of novels, mysteries, and biographies will set you back less than the price of a bottle of sunscreen.
For the other kind of sustenance - a picnic lunch - drive about 3 miles east along Route 6A to Hallet's Store in Yarmouth Port. Built as a drugstore in 1889, the shop long ago shifted its primary trade to a soda fountain and lunch counter, with sandwiches, salads, and its own birch beer, cream soda, sarsaparilla, and raspberry-lime rickeys, all available to go.
Your last stop before the beach is the 200-year-old Edward Gorey House, on the village green. Now a museum celebrating the macabre whimsy of the illustrator and designer, the stone dwelling is where Gorey - known for his New Yorker cartoons and the animated title sequence that still introduces Mystery! on PBS - spent his last years.
With your books, lunch, and brand-new attitude, follow Centre Street north to the free parking lot at Gray's Beach. Watch for red-winged blackbirds as you cross what seems like a sea of swaying marsh grass on the elevated boardwalk. Shallow, calm waters get deep enough for swimming at high tide but are really best for ankle-deep wading between chapters.
When it starts getting too dark outside to read, you'll know it's time to head home. Make one last stop back in Barnstable at Mattakeese Wharf Restaurant on Barnstable Harbor. Settle into a chair at one of the deck tables for the catch of the day and a glass of wine. And speaking of day, how did this one get away so quickly?
