Another Weekend in Dartmouth

If it feels like I just wrote about a visit to Dartmouth, you are right! I liked it so much that I invited myself back for another weekend with the Schoenings and company.

We drove down on Friday night to the promise of some seriously fresh seafood. One of Cara's friends had recently caught a giant tuna, and he invited some people over Friday night to enjoy it for dinner. We had it raw and seared...I was seriously impressed and couldn't stop eating it.

Soooo amazing. We also had some food made on the grill -- burgers, potatoes and veggies:

And lots of wine:

We had taken Cara's boyfriend's boat over to their friend's house, and then we took it over to a local bar a few hours later. I felt like I was in an alternate Dawson's Creek universe -- who takes their boat to the bar??

It was even creepier heading home in the boat once the bar closed. It was pitch black and the empty boats were freaking me out. Are you Afraid of the Dark, anyone?

We survived, and spent the night at Alex's house where we all had our own rooms! I woke up to this view out the window...

And through the glass...

Once I was up I went outside to lounge by the pool and was joined by new best friend:

He was so cuddly. I need a dog, stat.

Eventually we gobbled up some breakfast sandwiches and hopped back on the boat for a day at sea! The boat ride started off normally enough...

But once we hit Buzzards Bay it became ROUGH and there were giant waves tossing the boat around! I did not grow up on boats, so flying over waves and holding on for dear life is just not something I'm interested in doing. I started to have a bit of a panic attack and was able to find a good spot where I couldn't fly backwards off the boat. It was terrifying to say the least, and my arms/back are so sore from holding on.

It was all worth it though, because we ended up spending the day at Tarpaulin Cove, a small beautiful beach that we had practically to ourselves. We had to anchor the boat a bit of a ways out and swim to the beach. It was my first time in the ocean all summer!

I didn't take my phone with me since we were swimming (so I don't have any pictures), but this beach was amazing. There was a small lighthouse, and a farm with cows roaming free! Weird, right?

We stayed at the beach for the day and headed home around 5. The ride back was just as rough and there were moments when I was seeing my life flash before my eyes. I am such a pansy.

When we got back to the house we quickly showered and hopped in the car to drive to New Bedford (where our friend Marissa lives) for another night of amazing food and fun:

Beers by the pool

Clams and chorizo

Amazing hodgepodge plate

Cards Against Humanity + bowls of candy

Swedish Fish <3

On Sunday, we slept in a bit and woke up to another beautiful day. Cara's mom made us chocolate chip pancakes and then we took a nice walk to the "secret beach" (as they call it). After a while of walking on the roads, we cut through a trail that eventually opened up to a tiny beach. We were the only ones there, it really was a secret!

We stayed for a while collecting sea glass, then gathered up our stuff to go to another beach where we'd be celebrating Cara's mom's birthday! I brought her a a bag of home grown tomatoes as a gift, which she made some amaaazing bruschetta out of. We spent the rest of the day reading, relaxing and eating on the beach. Not a bad day if you ask me!

Speaking of reading, I finished The Silent Wife at the beach and started Into Thin Air today...kind of a random transition as these books couldn't be any different. Into Thin Air is my 23rd book of 2014. Well on my way to crushing my goal of 30 books!