I recently had the unfortunate experience of living on the lam for a bit while in between home sales. OK, it actually wasn’t really an unfortunate experience after all, in fact it was a welcome surprise. For close to a month I rented a home with a view of the Atlantic Ocean in a place called Great Neck. Located at the end of a long road in Ipswich, Massachusetts, roughly 355 acres sit high above three surrounding bodies of water: Plum Island Sound, Ipswich River and Eagle Falls River. (Did I mention there is also the beautiful Clark Pond in the middle of all of that?) This fantastic aerial photo from the Association of Great Neck website was taken in 1962.

Ruby loved walking along the beach every morning and evening, and though he didn’t seem to notice, I could barely take my eyes off of the sunsets on Clark Beach.

On our daytime walks, especially early in the morning, we would often pass by clam diggers and fisherman out working. Ruby definitely developed a taste for the finer things in life, eating crabs and snails and who knows what else, fresh from the ocean. He did not, however, show anything but loathing for the idea of getting into a boat!

When you’re not taking in the view of a waterway, the Great Neck area is also a Wildlife Sanctuary where I saw (and heard) swans, turtles, deer, possum and all different kinds of birds that I won’t even pretend to know the names of! It’s a quiet, wonderful place and I’m blessed to have had a chance to live there, however briefly. If you’re visiting Massachusetts or just looking for a local getaway option other than Cape Cod, make your way up to Great Neck in Ipswich, Massachusetts and send me a postcard!