Last year, really needing a vacation after a summer of widowing, the germ of an idea, “oh, maybe I should spend my birthday in Provincetown” grew into a wonderful 9-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, and yes, ending up in Ptown for my birthday. I’d never been to any of these places, and it was a nice way to get away and also to start a new vacation tradition with places that C and I had never been to together, or even discussed as possibilities.

I had such a good time in Ptown that I definitely thought coming back for my birthday, maybe yearly, was a fun idea. Well, this year, I ended up scheduling my return visit a couple of weeks later to take advantage of a Monday holiday, and here I am!

The plan: fly to Boston on Friday, then take the midday ferry into Ptown. Spend three nights and two days there, then reverse the trip on Monday morning. (Unlike last year, I make sure to book the ferry trip ahead of time.) Prepping for the trip was a bit pushed – a lot going on at work, and I had rehearsals both Wednesday and Thursday, but I got it done. Left the apt. at 8:00 am for my 10:00 flight, had a breakfast sandwich at the airport, and spent the wait and the flight knitting, journaling and reading.

Flight was very short – we pulled away from the gate at 10:00 and landed at 11:00. No real problem. Got my bag, sought out the Silver Line. Hmm, where to buy tickets? It doesn’t say. Got on the Silver Line bus, the driver just waved me back. Oh, is it free now? (*quick google* – yes, from the airport. I guess I’ll need a ticket back – oh, and it looks like I’ll need bills if I want to pay in cash.)

Got off at the World Trade Center, a little phone sleuthing to find the Bay State Cruise dock, where people were already getting in line. (dumbass me just thought they were waiting on benches, no the benches were a line, but that was fine.) Waited around for 45 minutes or so as the line built up – as expected, a mixture of enthusiastically gay gentlemen (and ladies – it’s Women’s Week here and lots of womyn-centered events), straight couples and families. Got on the ferry, no problem, decided not to be exploratory, just sit in the main cabin, where I got a coffee (not bad!) and settled down.

Only memorable thing about the ferry trip was a large bearish gentleman clad completely in Barbie couture lugging a pink suitcase came on board. As if that weren’t noticeable enough, he then sat beside me. I really wanted to find out what Barbie Bear’s story was, but he put on his Barbie-branded sleep mask (I’m not kidding) and zonked out.

We arrive in Ptown at 2:30. Then things started to get a little weird. First, I didn’t remember exactly where my lodgings were, and had to look them up – and, oh, look at that, they’re actually further west than the Brass Key, where I stayed the last time. I’d gotten an email from them (The Bradford) telling me how to get into my ‘cabin’ room (really basically a motel behind the main house). I stupidly walked there on Bradford Street, schlepping my suitcase up and down hills in the unexpectedly warm bright sunlight (I now know, to avoid hills, I should have just done Commercial Street all the way). Finally found it.

But the other thing is that there are two things going on with my health right now – first, my CPAP machine broke a couple of weekends ago and while the company is sending me a new one, it hasn’t arrived yet. So I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a couple of weeks. (Sleep apnea causes you to actually stop breathing many times a night, that’s what the machine helps prevent.) The other thing is that, about the same item, I started this new weight loss drug, Wegovy. (Why, yes, this drug has been in the news lately about bad side effects. Don’t send me the articles. I KNOW.) It’s doing its job as predicted, but basically, it largely makes me feel unsettled, and I knew this particular day would be weird as far as exactly when I’d be able to eat and how hungry I’d be. Anyway, bottom line is I felt weird and when I arrived at my room, which was unusually hot and humid, I was like, bleargh, what now?

Had no energy to unpack, decided to just head out and get a (very late) lunch and pick up water, soda, milk for the room. Also to grab the local rag that lists all the shows and stuff. So I had a quesadilla and a prosecco out on the deck of Bayside Betsy’s, which was nice, and looked at the possibilities. I knew I wanted to do drag shows, comedy, and gay stuff. Suzanne Westerhoeffer is in town, so seeing her was a priority.

Back to the Bradford, where I picked up some continental breakfast things from the lobby to have on hand in case I couldn’t get dinner (I’d found out last time that the timing of shows and when restaurants close do not sync up well). Booked that evening’s show (Anita Cocktail’s Variety Hour) and Suzanne W for Saturday (tonight), decided to leave other stuff alone until later, and then passed out cold for an hour or so.

Got up, finally unpacked, showered, felt much better. I’d pretty much already missed tea dance, but went to the Boatslip’s main bar and had a glass of wine and observed the clientele, perfectly pleasant. Headed down Commercial past the Post Office Cafe and the drag queens to see if that hot dog takeout place on the wharf block would be open when the show was over (answer: undetermined). Then to the show.

I’d been to this same show last year. Anita Cocktail played host and did some numbers (she repeated “This is Me” from last year). Abby Cummings repeated her horrifically funny parody of “I Love the Nightlife” (“You want the buttsex?”). The third queen, Jizzelle, sang everything live rather than lipsynching, so she got most of my tips. It was fun!

(for the record, I could have gone to Anita’s drag brunch today, but I figured it would be the same queens and the same numbers. I’m going to a different drag brunch and evening drag show tomorrow.)

I then headed back to the hot dog place, but they were indeed closed. (by this time I was feeling much better than I had been in the afternoon, and was hungry again) I got a slice of pizza from Spiritus, which I munched on the way back, and finished with the yogurt and muffin I’d lifted from the breakfast leftovers once I got back. And so to bed.