I Love Boston Project: Rockport, MA

Despite the terrible blogging as of late, the I Love Boston Project is still in full swing. Yesterday Eric and I decided to do a short day trip up to Rockport, MA to celebrate our anniversary. Even though it's less than an hour away, I somehow have never been there and just really wanted to go. I didn't do as much planning and research as usual, so I do plan to go back to explore a bit more but if you are looking for a short and easy trip, I would recommend this. If you are willing to make it a longer day than we did, you could incorporate Gloucester as well, which is only a short drive away. 

Eric and I began our Rockport adventure trying to find a parking space. I entered in an address on Bearskin Neck, which is the downtown area of Rockport and ended up driving through this highly pedestrian, super narrow street. At the end of it, there were maybe 4 parking spaces and they were all full, so I REALLY recommend parking when you are ALMOST at downtown. Once that adventure was over, Eric and I were ready for lunch. 

We stumbled upon a restaurant called Brackett's Ocean View restaurant. It was in the downtown area, but not all the way down at Bearskin Neck. From the road, it doesn't look like it will have much of an ocean view at all, but when they lead you inside you end up RIGHT at the ocean. 

Eric ordered a drink called a Neon Margarita. It was clear at this point this was going to be a great restaurant, I mean look how awesome that thing is. Yes, we judge by drinks. 

While we enjoyed the view, we enjoyed some sour dough rolls and cornbread. Then Eric ordered a turkey burger and I got a lobster roll. We were both very happy with our meals, and the whole thing including drinks came to less than $40. That's more than I usually spend on lunch, but with lobster, it's not a bad deal. 

After lunch, we headed down to walk through the Bearskin Neck area. Along here there are tons of great shops, art galleries, more restaurants and probably at least six ice cream places. If you are looking for any kind of jewelry, art or Rockport clothing, this is definitely the right spot to be.

When we got to the end of this short walk, we ended up at the beautiful water. 

There are some benches you can sit on to enjoy the beautiful harbor, but Eric and I decided to risk a walk out on the jetty. 

I have to admit, being a big fan of jetty walks at the Cape, I was mocking this sign when I was talking this picture but looks are deceiving, there was some challenge on this walk. It is worth it in the end though, because the view is even more gorgeous out at the end...

We hung out at the end of the jetty for a bit and watched some sailing schools. There were some really little kids with their own sail boats! As someone who knows very little about sailing, I was impressed. 

We spend a bit longer walking back in and walking down some of the side streets before heading back home. We decided to revisit Rockport during the off season sometime soon to see how it's different. My guess is, less people and less boats? :) 

If you like this I Love Boston Project, you may also want to read about: 

I Love Boston Project: Day Trip to Ogunquit Maine. 

I Love Boston Project: Blue Hills

What do you think about small coastal towns? I think they may be my favorite, but then I visit cities and I don't know if I could ever decide between the two.