Cape Cod?

[Crankin]

Do not even think about riding there, during the summer, unless you go out before 5:30 AM. Trust me on this.
I spent every summer of my childhood/teen years at the Cape. Then, when I moved back here, every vacation with my kids. Now, I rarely go, except in the off season.
Stick to the beach on the weekends, have a barbecue, and if you do go out for dinner, go to a place where you can make a reservation.
I second the National Seashore. Also, the Audubon Sanctuary in Welfleet. Miles of flat, beautiful hiking, and if you time it right with the tides,you can walk pretty far. Last summer I hiked on the Pamet Area Trails in Truro. Go here, if you want a spectacular, harder/hilly hike to escape your family. It is rare for me to go to a place on the Cape I haven't been to before. Sandy, dune hiking, with a view to die for.
Go to a beach on the bay side at least once, when the tide is low. It is amazing. I like Crooks Brook Beach in Eastham.
Rt. 6A from Dennis to Brewster for antiques/art. There is a natural history museum on 6A in Brewster. The Brewster General Store.
Stay off of Rt 28 as much as you can.
Chatham Center/Main St. The Penny candy store near the rotary and the Fudge store. Seriously. You can have it shipped anywhere. Fun to people watch here.

Food: Bucca's for Italian food in Harwich. On Rt 28. No reservations. Go early/late, during the week. Sundae School. Yes, just what it says. There are a couple, but the one on Lower County Rd in Dennisport is the real deal experience. Don't eat before you go and order a blueberry Sundae, if it's in season.
Go to Bonnats' (spelling) in Harwichport for breakfast. Portuguese rolls.... do not miss this one!
Chequessett Chocolate in North Truro. The best hand made chocolate and coffee drinks I've ever had...
Arnold's for seafood in Eastham
Go to Provincetown. There is nothing else like it in the world.
If you are going to have one "fancier" family dinner, I suggest The Red Pheasant in Dennis. In an old house, with charm. It's been there for 40 years and never fails.
PM me for more.

[ny biker]

Thank you very much, ladies, for your suggestions. The plan of the trip seems to be morphing, as some family members want to spend time visiting Boston, including a Red Sox game at Fenway as well as the historic sites there. There's also interest in a possible visit to Lexington and Concord. They're thinking that we can find a hotel that is centrally located, though I fear we will end up having to drive a long time/sit in lots of traffic every day to get back and forth between the hotel and the Cape or Boston. I need to look at a map.

Digression: I'm looking into the National Seashore. I saw this on the National Park Service website:

"The word "cranberry" originated as a contraction of crane berry, a name given to the plant by early settlers because the flower resembles the head of a crane."

I'm not seeing it. Unless they were thinking of the color. Nonetheless I will thrill my family with this bit of trivia when we get there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranbe...cos_120604.jpg

[Crankin]

Ha, ha. I laugh because, well my new street is a cranberry ...
If you decide to do Lexington and Concord I can lead you on a tour... seriously, let me know. And, there are ways to avoid the traffic, by planning your driving times thoughtfully.

[IBrakeforPastry]

I thought I responded to this earlier, because I remember agreeing with Crooks Brook Beach. My friend lives right near there. Last year we managed a sunset at low tide. I never realized the tide went out so far!

I'll leave the practical advice to Crankin. Living there, I hardly went out to dinner. And during the summer, when I wasn't working, I didn't go out much, just visited with friends.

I was hoping to visit in May, and coincidently, I was going to stop in the Concord area on my way home. Not sure if it's going to happen this year. I hope you can work out a great trip!

[Crankin]

Anyone who wants to meet in Concord, just let me know.

[IBrakeforPastry]

That's nice - thanks! I was going to pm you as the time got closer, just to ask about the different trails in the area. I'm still trying to work out the dates with my friend on the Cape.

[ny biker]

So our trip will be happening soon. Of course I've been too swamped at work to have much time to think about what I want to do while I'm there. I think my parents have been coming up with ideas. My mother mentioned a few things, but the only one I remember was visiting the Kennedy library.

We found a rental house in Plymouth. There's a pond behind it and a canoe is available. There's also another pond nearby with a beach that we can use. So I went swimsuit shopping for the first time in years. What an ordeal -- it's like shopping for bras that only come in one cup size. Most of the tankini tops are super low cut, the girls are practically falling out of them, and there's all this foam padding which surely must float if you try to go swimming. The only good thing is that swim shorts and skorts are widely available now, no longer just an old lady thing. After much consternation and and frustration, trying on suits at seven different stores, going up four sizes to finally find a top that isn't too tight across the back only to find that now the cups are way too big, I finally found one Nike tankini top that fits. Then I realized that most of the swim shorts and skirts come in navy or black but I need royal blue to match the new tankini. Luckily Land's End has a "cobalt" swim skirt that fits well and matches perfectly. After all this hard work I decided to order another one of their skirts in navy, since it would work for canoeing (or kayaking, which I'd like to try one day) with some of my cycling tank tops.

But I digress.

I think we might actually end up spending one or two days just hanging out at the rental house, since it sounds like a pretty nice place. And it will be nice to be able to cook some meals instead of going out for all of them.

Now that almost all of my pre-vacation shopping is finished (I also needed new sneakers, picked up some swim shoes on clearance at Sports Authority and sandals at Land's End, plus a small electric fan for my room since I'm pretty sure there will be disagreements about the thermostat setting for the A/C), I'm hoping to find some time to study the map and get a feel for where things are. I suspect we will be making/changing plans as we go. I'd better start watching the weather up there, too.