We escaped from New Jersey last week and drove up to Cape Cod for the week. Both Steve and I were completely burnt out and needed to escape from work and the computer and the never shrinking pile of laundry. We plugged in the car DVD player and headed North with over-packed duffel bags and Steve’s fancy maps.

We stayed in South Yarmouth on South Shore Drive, which is on the lower arm of the Cape.

We stayed at a hotel that bragged about being perfect for young kids and that’s what we needed.  We sucked up the high price and the motel-like rooms, because the kids were happy. Our room had a back porch over looking the ocean and there were three pools. Jonah had an excellent time with the planned activities for the kids. Both kids went to movie nights. The ocean wasn’t too choppy, so I could read my Harry Potter books without getting stressed out about Ian being knocked over by a tidal wave. If one kid wanted the ocean and the other needed to chill out with cartoons in the room, it was no big deal, because the beach was thirty steps from the room.

We didn’t do too much site seeing, because the kids were completely uncooperative. One rainy day, we drove up to P-town. Surprisingly, the kids had no interest in the leather shops and art galleries. Steve was dying to see the drag kickball game at 4:00 and Hedda Lettuce at the local theater, but there was too much whining from the short ones. So, we got a quick burger at the Burger Queen and drove off. With all the bars and restaurants and camp, Provincetown looked excellent. Steve and I pouted a bit in the car back to the resort.

After that, we didn’t stray too far from the hotel except to find food and miniature golf. I read a lot. Polished off another two  Harry Potters and memorized the new Lucky late at night by the bathroom light. (I’ve been reading the fall fashion magazines on the beach since I was a kid. I remember sitting with my friend Laureen on the beach when I was fourteen with Vogue and trying to figure out how we were going to do the Chariots of Fire look on a teenager budget.)

Was it an ideal vacation for me? Well, I chilled and that was a good thing. I ate some good food, also a good thing. But my ideal vacation is to be drop lifted into a foreign country with a sack of money, a map, and instructions to find one excellent meal, get invited to a local’s house for dinner, and to buy something amazing. The children may be in college before we do that or check out Hedda Lettuce. In the meantime, thank god for J.K. Rowling.