Wonderful Wellfleet

Bracketed by a sunset on the bay and a sunset on the beach, our short but sweet vacation in beautiful Wellfleet was wonderful.

The weather was perfect, and being with all three kids was, as they say, priceless.

Katie and I got there first and, after dinner on Wednesday, went to one of our favorite sunset beaches, South Sunken Meadow in Eastham. As the sun got lower in the sky, people respectfully grew quiet. And when it dropped below the horizon, we shared in a round of applause. We followed the show with ice cream downtown.

Ben and Joe came Thursday. Each morning began with still-native peaches and blueberries plus  muffins that I got from the Flying Fish Bakery. Ben volunteered to go, but I like the trip downtown.

We went to the beach and the bay and, of course, had our traditional dinner at the Beachcomber Restaurant followed by a trip to Race Point Beach in Provincetown to see another sunset and then take a walk through Provincetown.

We saw schools (if that's what they call them) of seals swimming so close to the shore that we could see their whiskered faces bobbing in and out of the water. Fun to watch, but not so great, because they are coming closer to shore to avoid their predators, the sharks, which in turn draws the sharks closer in.

Joe, who is understandably upset by my falls, watched me like a hawk when we walked through Provincetown's busy streets. Step up, step down, step up, step down, he said. At one point when we were all in a gallery, I "escaped" by going out to the street by myself. "Hey, come back here and get back on your leash!" he said. I ultimately just walked along holding his arm, which was comforting because I knew I wouldn't fall.

Here's a photo of the four of us outside the Beachcomber waiting for our table.

And here are Joe, Katie and Ben at Race Point.

The view from the bench.

After Ben and Joe left on Sunday, Katie and I walked across Uncle Tim's Bridge, below, and followed the path along the

marshes to the Bench Book, where visitors write their impressions of this peaceful place.

We sat for a while and soaked it up. We wrote our greetings for this year and then headed back to reality.

Thanks to Diane and David for sharing their beautiful home with us.