Jaws, Is That You? Photo on the Map: Cape Cod, MA

There’s something eerily alluring about weekending in a place that openly advertises its shark-infested waters. Souvenir shops abound with half eaten baseball hats and tee-shirts. And then there’s the local news headlines like Great White Spotted Just Feet From Shore. Did I mention “Shark Week” is filmed here? Jaws fans flock to Cape Cod’s beaches in search of a thrill, and some for respite from hot & sticky summer days in the city of Boston. It’s like skydiving, or week old leftovers – a little flirt with danger to get the blood pumping. Sharks like that.

I mostly spent the day with my head in a book, but from time to time would gaze beyond the pages of my novel to the beach goers below; a touch of anxiety in my heartbeat. Happy-go-lucky teenagers bounced around on a tube pulled by a 20 foot motorboat, kids made sandcastles, and seagulls circled in the sky. Just checking. Choppy waters and laughter tend to make a swell setting for a horror film plot to unfold. [Da nun. Dan nun…]

Alas, no dramatic sequence ensued. THAT would’ve made for quite the vacation memory. Instead I lolled around sand dunes fit for a Nicholas Sparks romance, soaked up a tad too much sunshine (they call me 50 shades of Shannon now), and relaxed more than I deserved.

The Cape is the Northeast’s answer to NYC’s Hamptons, where the wealthy wasps spend the warm months, and families visit for the day to get their lobster roll fix and splash in the deep blue.

Have you been to Cape Cod? Or more exciting still, had a brush with white death? [Muwahahaha]