While my mother spent her summers growing up in Maine, my dad spent many of his summers on Cape Cod. Just an hour from Boston a short ferry ride to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Islands, Cape Cod is the most beautiful and unique peninsula you’ll ever venture to. Just the names of the various towns feel as though they are out of some English fairytale…Orleans. Brewster. Barnstable. Harwich. Yarmouth. Dennis. Chatham. Woods Hole. Sandwich. Wellfleet. Eastham. Provincetown…I know, I can’t make this stuff up. You have your north shore and your south shore – either facing the Cape Cod bay or the Atlantic Ocean. Then there are the lakes and rivers in between. We change it up. We spend the morning on the south side at Sconset Beach and then spend the afternoon or even a sunset stroll after dinner wandering down Nauset Beach on the north side. Then there is our best-kept secret: Grays Beach, featuring a long, wooden pier jetting out amongst the Cape Cod marshlands of the north shore. This spot is isolated. Few know of it. And, it is our absolute favorite for watching a Cape Cod sunset.

Cape Cod may sound fancy, but it isn’t. And that is exactly what my mother and father love about it. It’s casual, cute, unique, and quite quaint if you ask me (a term used only when in the northeast). You can go anywhere in your shorts, t-shirt, and sandals and not feel like you are underdressed. Homes are breathtaking but nothing ornate or super luxurious like the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island. Cape Codders love the simplicity of the iconic Cape Cod shingled homes.

My dream is to one day have a family home in Cape Cod so that the family summer memories may continue over the years. While children grow up, they have this consistent place to call home. Cape Cod is like that fairytale dream that never grows old. While our lives change every day and the world around Cape Cod is constantly spinning, Cape Cod seems to stand still. With so much change, it’s the one thing you can depend on to always stay the same. Cape Cod is classic.

TOP FIVE PLACES TO VISIT IN CAPE COD

1.  Grays Beach – Yarmouth Port, MA

2. The Chatham Lighthouse – Chatham, MA

3. Stony Brook Grist Mill – Brewster, MA

4. Martha’s Vineyard + Nantucket

5. Cape Cod National Seashore