Cape Cod in the Fall

One of the things I love about living on Cape Cod is the way the people leave at the end of August. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a tourist-hater - but the drop in population (and traffic) is always welcome. Since we moved here almost 8 years ago, the year-round population has increased to almost 250,000 residents spread throughout the Cape. In contrast, I read a recent article that said almost 6 million people visit the Cape each year, which is roughly equivalent to the entire population of the state of Massachusetts!

With this kind of population explosion and contraction each year, many businesses shut down for the off-season. Over the years that we have lived here, I have discovered many year-round places to enjoy, but if you are thinking of coming here for a visit, I recommend coming in the fall. September and October are great down here - the weather is mild, still hot enough for the beach at times but cooler at night. The seasonal businesses don't begin shutting down until the end of October. You can drive up to almost any restaurant, park right in front, and be seated immediately, no matter how crowded and exclusive it may be in the summer months.

The best part is the great outdoors. Right now, it's green and lush outside, but in a few weeks, the colors will start to come out. The cranberry bogs will turn scarlet, and the trees will flame, and a walk around the bog in the back of our house will be a new adventure for my kids. The bugs that make slogging through the woods miserable for them will go away, and as the undergrowth thins out the kids are happy once again to go poking around for rocks and leaves and twigs - treasure!

If you are thinking of coming to the Cape in the fall with your kids for outdoor fun, The Insider's Guide to Cape Cod website has loads of information. There are conservation areas and walking trails all over the Cape. One of our favorite places is the Botanical Trails in Yarmouthport. You can also find guides on the websites of most towns under conservation or recreation. For example, here is the list of downloadable PDF files for various Barnstable trails.

For rainy days, there are other options, such as the Cape Cod Children's Museum, but honestly? Some of the best nature walks I've had with my kids have been on these not-too-warm, not-too-cold drizzly fall days ...just like today!

NE Mamas Recommend - Nashoba Valley Winery and Orchard

As one of our Mass mamas pointed out, autumn is knocking on our door. And to me that means apple picking season.

My poor, beleaguered husband, he had no idea what he was getting himself into when he met me. I live for apple picking season. I want my own bag and my own apple picking pole (although, after about fifteen minutes I'm usually done, spending more time eating the apples than picking them). I want to bring home many, many pumpkins to go with the obscene amount of mums I decorate my front steps with. I want it all.

Now I have a child who I've been introducing the wonders of fall to, and I have to admit it can be a bit trying. She has a limited attention span for the actual picking, but we still want to experience this bit of New England charm as a family, so our choices are:

Find a "family friendly" orchard with a snack shack and some playground equipment (not that there's anything wrong with them, but, personally, those types of places freak me out), wait for parking in a long line of cars all going to the same place, walk a gajillion miles from the parking lot to entrance of the place, hop on the back of a truck and get driven out to orchards that are too far for any self respecting toddler to walk to, all to spend five minutes picking apples and the rest of the time running after said toddler, trying to stop her from putting the worm-eaten apples off the ground in her mouth. Then giving up and buying a bag of employee-picked apples from the orchard shop, grabbing a jug of cider and some pumpkins and getting the hell out of Dodge.

Or...

We could drive to Bolton, Massachusetts to Nashoba Valley Winery and Orchard with a pre-made picnic lunch, park our car with relative ease, pre-pay for our bag of apples, grab our picking poles and walk to the orchard to pick our own fruit... Where the toddler will, in fact, try to eat worm-eaten apples off the ground, but location isn't going to change that.

Then, oh my dear lord, then we can run inside to the winery and pick a bottle from the large selection of Nashoba's locally made wine (they make pretty good beer and spirits, too), where they'll uncork it for you - if you're not like me and don't carry a corkscrew in your purse for this very occasion - maybe make our way over to the refrigerated case for some Mass. made cheese and then head outside to enjoy the spoils of our labor on Nashoba's expansive lawn.

Sounds heavenly doesn't it? Let me tell you, it is.

I almost don't want to share this gem with you because, admittedly, at the height of the season it gets very crowded (sorry, there will be crowds). But my husband and I love it and Nashoba is extremely family friendly - you can even bring your leashed dogs! Just remember to pick up after the pooches, because you don't want to ruin it for everyone else.

We bring a blanket and a soccer ball to kick around with our daughter and then we usually eat a very leisurely lunch and sip our wine - which is much better than you think it would be, for wine made in Massachusetts. We're not exactly the wine capital of the world, you know? And then, if the weather is really nice, we'll play some more ball or just chill on our blanket sharing the cheese and crackers and eating apples for the rest of the afternoon.

The view from their lawn is of the valley below and in fall that means blazes of red, orange and yellow. Very complimentary to the church steeples in the distance. And you don't have to just go in the fall. We go almost all year. We've been there to pick peaches (they're picking right now as a matter of fact) at the end of summer and we were there in the spring for my mother's day lunch. We haven't been in the winter yet, for the Christmas tree lighting. Maybe this year.

And I haven't even gotten into their gourmet restaurant, J's. Love the Sunday brunch but that is not toddler friendly.

I cannot say enough about this place so I'll just shut up now and let you decide for yourself. But if you go to Nashoba Valley Winery, let me know. I'll meet you there with my corkscrew!

New England Mamas recommend - The Discovery Museums in Acton, MA

I don't know why it took me so long to get there, but my daughter and I finally made it to the Discovery Museums in Acton, MA. And yes, I am kicking myself for not going sooner because my daughter had the best time EVAH.

In case you've never been, the Discovery Museums (from their website) "are two separate but complementary museums filled with exciting, interactive exhibits for children of all ages using focused spaces and hands-on activities inviting exploration and discovery. "

The Children's Discovery Museum, housed in a converted Victorian, is in fact room after room of these interactive learning exhibits, each with its own theme. For example: The Safari Room (complete with "wild" animals of the stuffed variety and climbing nets), The Water Room (waterproof smocks are provided so kids can splash in the large tub with abandon), The Ball Room (think of the game mousetrap when it's completed and that's a bit like the Ball Room), and my daughter's favorite, Bessie's Play Diner (booths with jukeboxes, a play kitchen with a diner's counter, play food and cookware).

My daughter in the water room. I forgot my camera so I had to resort to using my camera phone.

The entire third floor is the S.S. Discover (a "nautical adventure", Ahoy!). Oh, and there's a Rainbow Room as well, which my daughter enjoyed because it had a slide, but is not at all like this place. Bummer for me, bonus for my kid.

I was there with my in-laws, my husband's nephews (ages 4 and 8) and my daughter (not quite 2 and 1/2). The Children's Discovery Museum was perfect for the 2 and 4 year old but it was far too young for an 8 year old boy. He would have been better off at the Science Discovery Museum, but since this was our first visit we didn't know much about it and didn't leave enough time to visit it.

A word of caution if you have kids that different in age: You have to pay for the Children's Museum and the Science Museum separately. And you need to leave a lot of time to do both (we spent about 2 and 1/2 hours in the Children's Museum). A better bet would be if one parent could go with one kid to one museum and the other parent go with the other kid. That would save time and greatly cut down on any over-stimulated tantrums.

If you're thinking of going at a time that will run you into lunch, there is no indoor eating facility so you'll have to go out to get a meal or bring your own (there are a few tables outside for eating al fresco on nice days) but your hand stamp grants you access to whichever museum you paid for for the entire day.

(There's a McDonald's right down the street. Just a heads up.)

I have a feeling we'll be going back very soon. The Discovery Museums are incredibly easy to get to from both the Boston area and 495. If this directionally challenged woman can get there, anyone can. If we lived a bit closer I'd purchase a family Membership, but even though it was easy to get to from my home outside of Worcester it still took about 40 minutes to get there. Including one stop at Dunkin Donuts. Because, really, if a place is that fascinating for infants, toddlers and preschoolers then you can imagine a parent needs a little caffeine before going in.