Great Little Beach Towns

Hot and hungry, tired and sandy, we're staggering away from Truro's Corn Hill Beach with our gear when my 4-year-old daughter bends all the way down to the side of the path, inhales deeply, and sighs: "Aaaah." Birdy is stopping to smell the roses. Literally -- the wild ones that perfume the dunes along this beautiful shoreline. And I can't think of a better illustration of what Cape Cod is all about.

If you picture the Cape as a flexed arm of land jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, then it's the narrow forearm and curled fist -- better known as the Outer Cape -- that's been our family's destination since 8-year-old Ben was a baby. Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown, the outermost trio of towns, are our favorites. They're uniquely beautiful, good-natured, and unpretentious. Life's greatest pleasure may be eating a steaming plate of Cape Cod lobster at a shady picnic table in your flip-flops. Unless you're a kid, of course, in which case life's greatest pleasure is the beach, the beach, THE BEACH! The kids can't wait to get there. From the second we arrive at our weensy rented Wellfleet cottage, they're peeling off their clothes, they're gathering up their shovels and pails, and they're weighing our options. Should we head to mild Cape Cod Bay for sand castles and miles of low-tide wading? Or go a mile or two across the Cape to the Atlantic, for crashing waves and blue-lipped boogieboarding? Or stop by one of the freshwater kettle ponds that dot the woods? We don't really need to decide: every option is only a short drive away, so many days we can do all three.