Brewster Herring Run

The Mothers Day weekend adventures continue. When Mom and I got back from Inaho on Saturday night we still needed to satisfy our sweet tooth. She whipped up a batch of chocolate sauce from scratch and drizzled it over vanilla ice cream and sliced bananas. Inaho makes a mean flourless chocolate cake, but I am so glad we passed. Wouldn't you be if you came home to this?
Warm gooey chocolate and cold smooth vanilla ice cream with soft sweet bananas makes for one incredible combo. I drank Sleepytime Tea and we watched the movie I bought her - How To Loose a Guy in 10 Days. Classic chick flick that I've seen over 100 times. I thought she needed to add some DVDs to her collection of about 4.

I must recreate.

I awoke on actual Mothers Day Sunday to fresh brewed coffee. Mom added cinnamon and vanilla in the coffee grounds. Creative eh?
My coffee mug sits a top her business cards collected over the past week. She is introducing local companies to Visit Cape Cod.com in hopes some might like to advertise with them. I think this website is a great guide to the Cape. If you or anyone you know is interested in advertising, leave a comment and I can put you in touch with her! As I sipped my coffee, aromas of pure maple syrup filled the air.
We sat down to a luscious breakfast of French Toast topped with walnuts and dried cranberries.
There is nothing my Mom can't cook well. I'm sure of it. You are probably wondering why she is making um well everything I've ate this weekend. (Besides Inaho - my treat of course!) Shouldn't I be cooking her breakfast? (I'd have burnt the french toast by now. Plus, she likes doing this.) We busied ourselves around the house for a few hours and had a quick snack before heading due east to Brewster.
Our first stop was at the Stony Brook Herring Run.
In April and early May on Cape Cod schools of herring, also called alewives "run" from the ocean via natural waterways to freshwater ponds to lay their eggs.
However, not all of them make it. The seagulls flock to enjoy a tasty meal. While you can't see any of the silver fish in my pictures (besides the one in the seagulls mouth) they are there. Schools and schools of them.
The gulls are quite adept at catching the herring in the shallow depths of the creek.
The herring run site boasts some lovely trails
with picturesque bridges and quaint stone steps.
Right across the street is the Stony Brook Grist Mill
and the upstream waterways.
Exploring the herring run will take you less than an hour. Of course you can linger as long as you like, but it's not one of those activities you'd need to plan an entire day for. Even when the herring aren't running and the gulls aren't having their annual feast, it's still worth a visit.
As a kid I was engaged for what seemed like hours at this magical spot. I'm pretty sure we used to pack picnics and make a day of it. On Sunday it was only the first stop on our lower cape journey.

Now it's time to watch Lost. Mothers Day to be continued....