I have been taken on a tour of Plymouth because apparently this is where my Aunt and Uncle lived when they had my first cousin 30 years ago. So historical. We took a drive around to see their old house and to check in with some family friends who have absolutely no idea who I am.
I had no clue that this is where they used to live, growing up everyone always just said Boston but had I known they lived closer to the Cape Cod area I would’ve had a different vision of their life. This place is of course beautiful and pretty tourist-y. Right on the water, there’s tons of little shops with souvenir t-shirts and ice cream stands. I love these kinds of places.
LOCATION: 15 Town Pier Plymouth, MA 02360
My Aunt loves seafood and neither of my cousins can stand it, so ever since I was little it was a treat when I would visit because she would have a seafood buddy to enjoy food with. My Uncle is impartial and enjoys it but doesn’t quite hit our excitement level. We walk into Wood’s Seafood on this cold and windy May day and get ready. This place is already busy with very few tables and many vultures looking to swoop in on the next one that opens up. We are one of them. Our group is 6 deep and finding something that seats all of us is a little tricky in this small dining room so we opt for the idea of splitting up if that works out for us. Luckily, we don’t have to do that. We all look at the menu and see what we’d like to order but while my Aunt and Uncle are in line my cousin and I circle the dining room waiting for the next opportunity. With some cooperation from other families and a little circling we manage to get lucky and score a row of 3 tables that would fit all of us perfectly while rearranging ourselves with other customers to get them seats for their groups too. It’s a serendipitous day.
This is where we go family style, my Aunt has ordered two lobsters (with french fries), little neck clams, and an order of fish fry. My cousin’s boyfriend opts for the fried clams and she, of course, gets the hot dog. A sad sight to see at this restaurant right on the ocean but some things you can’t change. I’m pretty excited and get my hands dirty cracking open lobsters and handing claws to everyone. It’s still early in the season so these lobsters are full of water and are a little small but we’re here and I’m determined to eat lobster and enjoy my first trip to the area. Nothing can bring me down. I love eating this kind of food and getting messy and I couldn’t be happier. By the end of the meal my cousin’s boyfriend is overly stuffed and likely scarred from having to eat more than his intended meal but this is how the family works. Welcome buddy.
After lobster we walk down the street intending to walk off our meal and be tourists. We hop into shops looking for magnets and other keepsakes. I score a lobster t-shirt and a tiny little lobster stuffed animal that looks a little more like a crawfish at this size but we can pretend. It’s cold but not too cold for us to stop for Ice Cream.
LOCATION: 120 Water St. Plymouth, MA 02360
We walk by a tiny little ice cream shop called Ziggy’s with seating for 10 inside and two teenagers behind the counter that most definitely should have an adult supervising them but it’s summertime and life is chill. It may be 60degrees but it’s never too cold for ice cream and while the wind blows outside, we are now equipped with slightly more layers and the building makes us feel like maybe it’s not so bad out. My Aunt is not amused by my need for ice cream in this weather and we can tell she’d rather be in warm and sunny Florida at this very moment but my Uncle humors me and amps up his excitement to match mine. This is why I am their unofficial favorite niece.
My uncle agrees to share a banana split with me and we rook my aunt into taking a few bites to help us out but we finish the whole thing. Apparently, my aunt is a sucker for a banana split and loves it deep down, just not today. Her love is seasonal and very weather dependent while mine runs deep. I’m not a fan of chocolate ice cream and tend to eat around it when it comes to things like this but neither my aunt or uncle mind and they let me modify our split to my tastes. We get a scoop of french vanilla, one of strawberry, and I substitute out the chocolate for a seasonal blueberry. We get all the toppings and dig in. Im my opinion, you can’t go wrong with ice cream and I’m always happy eating it, even in cold weather.
We wrap up the day with a little more shopping and my Uncle excitedly shows us plymouth rock as it starts to rain outside. That’s our cue to call it a day and head back to the airbnb full of lobster and ice cream.