Past tense, alas.
There were fewer license plates than usual from Québec, but other than that the Outer Cape was jam packed. There were some Europeans, as usual, and visitors from other continents were always rare.
Parking places were impossible to find. The better concerts (Graham Nash, e.g.) were sold out months in advance, and reservation at the better restaurants needed to be made days or even weeks in advance. Parking at the better beaches was scarce, and some cars were turned away to prevent overcrowding.
There is the annoying factor of cruise ships docking at Provincetown a few times a week, and loosing a few hundred or even thousand very conspicuous non-spending day trippers on the town, but if you’re there for an early breakfast or evening shopping, whale watching or dinner, it’s back to the “usual” people. They are usually academics, low key businesspeople, a few well-knowns (Rachel Maddow, David Sedaris, Kathleen Clark). But this is not the Hamptons on NY. People do not go there to rent summer places for $50,000 a week. If indeed there are any, I’m not aware of them. That’s some other planet.
A very few people fly in or sail in, but most drive. They sometimes drive from as far away as Virginia, but I’d guess that maybe 80% of them are from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania or the New England states. Either that, or they fly from far away, like we do, and rent a car at the airport. Europe has some great beaches, too, but they are usually overcrowded, often polluted, and spoiled by cramped rows of wooden lounge chairs with awnings, waiters with champagne or mimiosas snd petty thieves. Bars with sand, more than anything. JFK made Cape Cod National Seashore a national Park, so there’s none of that. The route from Boston to Provincetown was almost bumper to bumper in both directions this year, as if there were no other vacation spots open.
So, so far, even Trump hasn’t been able to ruin Cape Cod, or keep the regulars away. As long as he stays away, we’re happy.
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