Summer is finally here. It's the best time to live on Cape Cod, according to every native. But for those of us who tough it out and live here year round, the summer can also be a nightmare to say the least. Cape Cod is a great place to be in the summer, but it would be nice to not have to deal with the difficulty that comes with living in a tourist trap. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, life on the Cape transforms into complete chaos from the peace previous seasons bring.
To start it off, you are never "in Cape Cod," you are ON Cape Cod. This is one of the most frustrating things for a native resident to hear someone say. Yes, you may say you are IN Massachusetts, but Cape Cod is an exception to this. Just like you would say you are ON Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, you are ON Cape Cod just the same. Basically, if you can't say it right, you probably should just go home and try somewhere else. It may sound harsh, but natives take pride in the place we call home, so it should just receive the proper respect when being referred to.
Don't even get me started on how unbelievably frustrating tourists make the driving around the Cape throughout the summer months. With GPS, all of the back roads that locals know and use ALL YEAR also have become traffic ridden, making commutes that should take twenty minutes, more than twice that. Don't even get me started on the fact most out of town people cannot properly drive on a rotary; yield does not mean you must stop. And not to mention the people who stop every twenty feet because they think they are about to turn, then decide against it, and repeat the process down each and every back road. I sit in my car and say to myself, "I LIVE here and all I want is to get home."
There have been many interesting times where I find myself enjoying a beach day just for the peace of the sun and the waves to be interrupted with an explosion of people around me. All of a sudden the space my friends and I had is being overrun, people are shouting in many languages all around us, and cameras are everywhere. Beaches on Cape Cod are one of the best things about it, I completely agree, but there is nothing fun about not getting a relaxing beach day on the cape between May and September.
I consider myself lucky to live in a place as wonderful as Cape Cod. It is nice to be able to share the beauty and wonder that Cape Cod offers, I just wish that didn't mean months of endless frustration. So to all of the tourists out there: thank you for wanting to visit, and for throwing all of your money at the Cape but I think it's time we go our separate ways.
