Road Trip Travelogue: Rockport, Massachusetts

When I sold my vacation cottage on Cape Cod, it occurred to me that I would be able to go to other places. What a concept! If you own a vacation home, you pretty much have to go there on your vacation. Sure, you can go someplace else, but then your house is empty, or you're renting it out, or family and friends are using it. You feel bad not using this house that you're paying all sorts of money to own and maintain. It was a huge relief to sell the place, quite frankly. And, it enabled me to go other places, which is what I decided to do in 2017.

In the spring, I went to Myrtle Beach. It's now on my list of potential retirement places - if I can drag myself away from Massachusetts some day, that is!

To kick off the summer, I spent one day on another southeastern Massachusetts beach: Duxbury, just to see what it was like. It was quite lovely, easy to get to, and I intend to return regularly.

Duxbury Beach

But for my real vacation this year, I spent a week in Rockport, Massachusetts, on the north shore, by Gloucester.

Gloucester is where the events of "The Perfect Storm" took place, and there also happens to be a restaurant there named Passports, which I have to eat at every time I go there (because I work at the other Passports -- the student tour company -- which is completely unrelated, although we get their email all the time!). Great food, by the way. I highly recommend, despite the name.

Rockport is a "dry town". That means that there are no liquor stores, no stores that sell beer or wine, and no bars. Some, only some, of the restaurants serve beer and wine, but no hard liquor.  Now, for me, this is perfectly fine since I've been clean and sober since 1988 (one day at a time!). But, this might not be your cup of tea (oooo, pun!) if you like to party at a bar, your hotel, cottage or the beach. Ok, most beaches don't allow alcoholic beverages anyway.

Rockport is, however, a dog-friendly town. Hooray! Sort of. Dogs are not allowed on the beach. And you better have a superbly well-behaved dog.  Of which, Charlie and Cooper are not. Sorry fellas.

Booooo, mom didn't take us on vacation!

I had initially booked my accommodations at Captain's Bounty on the Beach Motor Inn (yup! Motor Inn! lol!) in one of their pet-friendly designated rooms. As my trip dates approached, though, I decided to leave the hounds at home, and I'm really glad I did. The rooms are tiny. The hotel is very compact, and they would have barked at everyone walking past my room. The hotel is not high-security. In fact, it's low-security -- like a throwback to the 1950s. You close the slamming screen door with a hook and eye, then you lock your inside door, then you use a chain to lock it further. Just like my cottage on Cape Cod, but not exactly what I wanted at a hotel. There is a fridge, and a/c, but no safes, so when I left the room for longer than a few minutes, I locked my laptop and camera gear in my car. Not ideal, since the temps were soaring, but it was the safest option.

You can walk to the town with no problem. The views from every room (EVERY room faces the ocean) are incredible. That was worth the trip, just to get these great sunrise photos every morning.

Sunrise shots, from my balcony, on two different mornings. Beautiful!

When I first looked at the photos of Captain's Bounty's pet-friendly rooms on their website, it looked as though ever-so-tall Charlie could certainly jump over the balcony onto the beach. Once I got there, that was probably not the case, but he might have tried. Especially if he saw a seagull or a child running. Even the first-floor balcony (pet-friendly rooms are on the first floor only) is quite high off the ground -- more like a second-story. But if he had tried it, he might have been successful. That was reason number one for leaving the boys at home. Secondly, they could not be left in the room unattended. That would have meant no shopping or beach for me, since I'm single, and it wouldn't have been fair to ask any of my traveling companions, "Gee, can you stay behind with my dogs so's I can go out and have fun?" Strike three was that dogs are not allowed on the beach. You heard right: dog-friendly town; dogs not allowed on beach. Oh well.  The water is astonishingly colder than on Cape Cod, just an hour or two south, which surprised this hearty New Englander. I actually had to wear my long-sleeved sun-protector shirt to swim. Never had to do that on the Cape!  (By the way, Gloucester/Rockport is on the other Mass. Cape = Cape Ann.)

The fog rolled in fast, and I managed to get this great shot of Front Beach socked in.

The dog-friendly factor came into play in the little town which was quite lovely. Dogs were allowed everywhere, with some exceptions. A few restaurants wouldn't allow dogs indoors, but dogs were welcome most places, particularly places with outdoor seating such as Top Dog (ha ha). There is also a dog supply boutique and my guys are way too big to have even fit in that store.

One of my favorite things that kept happening was that I kept seeing this older gentleman in a green Toyota with a cute little dog everywhere. For some reason, they kept turning up every evening -- at the ice cream store, at the convenience store, at the pizza shop.  I decided the man's name was Mr. Bojangles. And every time I saw him, I would point out to my friend who was with me... "Look! There's Mr. Bojangles again!" We kept seeing him! I wonder if he's a tourist attraction.

So, if you have a super well-behaved, small dog, and a partner or companion so you can switch off on dog duties, you'll be all set in Rockport -- even in the height of summer.  The town is so small, that once you walk through you've basically seen it all. Therefore, in my opinion, a whole week is a little too long to spend in Rockport. Watch your step at most shops -- the buildings are ancient, and the steps to get in and out are all different sizes, materials and shapes. Be mindful of the hot pavement on doggie paws, too.

Sunrise with fog

True to form, for this road trip I avoided highways and drove the country roads of Massachusetts from where I live to the north shore. It added nearly an hour to the trip, making it nearly three hours in each direction, but it was beautiful, and less stressful. Route 128 north of Boston? No thanks! I also learned of some towns I'd never been to before. In case you don't know, my favorite hobby is taking a long drive on the back roads of New England.

It's beautiful here. The Massachusetts coast (either north, or south) is gorgeous -- it's one of my favorite places in the world, and I've been to a lot of places. I mean, hey, that's why I live here! If you ever have a chance, check out the Massachusetts coastline... it won't disappoint. You can bring your dog to many areas in Mass., just be sure to do your homework and ask first. Some towns have restrictions during the summer months.

Where did you go on your summer vacation? Tell me about it in the comments!

My favorite traveling with dogs photo

This is my favorite picture of myself. Ok, I know, self-absorbed! But isn't that what social media and the internet is for, when you think about it?

This photo was taken in 1987 during my very first trip to the island of Tobago in the Caribbean. Nobody ever knows where Tobago is. It is the sister island of Trinidad, and is located about 90 miles off the coast of Venezuela -- due east of Aruba, if you will. Tobago is the very last island in the Caribbean chain before you reach South America, more or less.  In fact, my mom, when she was alive, would always say, "Are you going to South America?" instead of "Are you going to Tobago?" ha ha.

My favorite pic of myself, with Tobago the dog!

I deliberately did not retouch or Photoshop this picture. It is actually a paper snapshot from "back in the day" before digital cameras. 

The way I see it, this should not be my favorite photograph of myself. I was going through a horrible time in my life. While I was in Tobago, my father died, 6 days after the birthday we shared. I was going through a divorce, and had just come off of the worst six months in my (relatively new) travel career:  the terrorist attacks of 1986 (terrorism was new then) had caused thousands of our customers to cancel their 1986 and 1987 tours. I had spent six months handling phone calls from angry clients wanting refunds. It was a horrible time. I spent the first few days of this trip with Gil, and then he went home. It was while I was by myself at his house that I learned my father died. I didn't go home for the funeral. People said I would regret that for the rest of my life. They were right, but I was 27 years old, young and stupid. I needed this break from "life". I needed to recharge and find myself. I stayed on the island and did not attend my father's funeral.

A week after Gil left, and I had been by myself (can't believe I did that!) my co-workers arrived, and we spent another two weeks on the island. It was, and would be, the only time I would spend a month in Tobago, even though I have been there dozens of times since. One of my co-workers snapped this photo for me.

The dog in the picture is named Tobago. Most dogs on the island are not big. He was the biggest dog on the island. If you see dogs on Tobago these days, you'll notice the black snout, and the brown coloring. We feel that Tobago the dog bred himself very strongly on the island (to this day there is still an aversion to spaying and neutering -- as with most Caribbean islands). We think his genes live on in the Tobagonian dogs of today.

Tobago the dog was a jumper. When he would greet people would jump on them and scratch the hell out of them (not deliberately), but because most people were wearing bathing suits, they'd get some awful scratches. But other than that, he was a pretty cool dog, and he lived a long time in Tobago years, which is not very long (dogs die young there, as a general rule). 

The island of Tobago is frozen in time. While the landscape changes due to erosion and too much building, the people never change. The locals still fish using large nets and everyone in the village helps pull the nets in each day. It's incredible to watch this more or less primitive tradition taking place. Tourists call Tobago "paradise". I'm not sure it still is, but back in 1987 it was as close to paradise as I had ever experienced. The Beatles and Princess Margaret (separately!) spent time on this island.

The most beautiful sunsets are on the island of Tobago -- second to none!

While I didn't travel WITH Tobago the dog, because he lived there, I became friends with so many dogs during my years traveling to Tobago. Here's a picture of one that I bonded with during one trip. It was my birthday. I usually went to Tobago for my birthday, as was tradition. I was sitting on the back porch crying (as I often did during these trips) and this dog just popped up over the back steps and laid down in front of me. He walked on the beach with me every day after that, and we became rather attached. We ended up helping his owners out for a couple of years, buying food for the dog and stuff like that. I doubt he is still alive, but I like to think he was sent to me, like an angel, by the birthday angels.

My canine 50th birthday present. Sent to me by angels.

Decades later! Gil and me in Tobago on my 50th birthday. It poured rain all week, but I didn't care. 

Do you have a favorite photograph of yourself? What is it about that picture that you like?

Tell me in the comments, or share it with me on Facebook. 

One of the things we used to do in Tobago was read books. We would "race" each other to see who could read a book the fastest. He always won, but not by much! We could read about a book a day.