Date visited: 5/25/2024

Rockport is a busy tourist town on the tip of the Cape Ann Peninsula. It's so busy in fact, that I could not find any parking spots in the downtown area. We had to park at the lot on Blue Gate Lane, and walk a mile into the town. There's a commuter shuttle that runs from the lot to points of interest in the town for $1, but I had the dogs with me and we like to walk anyway. Once downtown, there was wall-to-wall people pretty much everywhere. We walked along some of the streets lined with shops, some harbor areas, and piers, as well as visiting Bearskin Neck and Front Beach (which both have separate sections on this page). It was a fun walk, about 5 1/2 miles total including the walk to and from our car.

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Date visited: 5/25/2024

This is the main strip in Downtown Rockport. It was crazy busy on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It seems like the street is closed off to traffic, but it's not. Every now and then a car tries to get through, but I don't know why because there really isn't any place to park. The stores and shops all looked very interesting, but we didn't go in any of them (but my wife sure did)! At the end of the road, is a rock jetty with scenic views. We went about two thirds of the way to the end of the jetty.

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Date visited: 5/25/2024

This is a very small, but super busy beach in Downtown Rockport. It's sort of in a cove, so the waves are mild. Despite it being cool, temps were only in the mid 60's, the beach was packed. Leashed Dogs are allowed on the beach from September 16 through May 31st, so even though it was Memorial Day weekend, Mandy and Lexi could cool off here...and they did.

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Date visited: 6/15/2024

This is a state park located at the northern tip of Cape Ann. It features wide walking trails and a rocky shoreline. It's on the site of an old rock quarry, which is now filled with water. There's an observation area where you can see out for miles. In one direction, on a clear day, you can see Mount Agamenticus, 40 miles away in Maine. I'm not sure if we got a picture of that or not, but the views were real nice. There are some rocky areas to explore, that get right down to the water. It's all very beautiful, and dogs are allowed year round. Only downside is that it costs $20 for a non-Massachusetts residents to park, which I think is a little much (It is $5 for Massachusetts residents). It's a terrible way to promote tourism.

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