Oh, *Dan*. Every time we come back from vacation we have a new piece of furniture with us. I don't know about others. . .

One wonders what sort of clientele they are attempting to serve. What gay man or lesbian is likely to be tempted by one of these:

http://www.rootshomeandgarden.com/store/products/all/755-%22night-vision%3A-owl-lamp-w-shade/images/1/

I think I might have been at this store, if it's the one that sold me a Putamayo CD. I'll window shop, though it needs to be something special to justify the logistics of getting it back home.

FWIW we're a childless straight couple, but being in my twenties lands me squarely below the straight couple age demographic in Provincetown..

In general I think it's safe to say that couples and families with small children just have different ideas about what constitutes fun. The kitschy shopping and restaurants of Provincetown wouldn't strike me as appealing much to kids.

I used to go to Provincetown as a kid every summer- it's great for kids (even with straight parents like mine). There's candy and Portuguese donuts and an army-surplus store with gas masks and other interesting things. I'm not sure families need a week to themselves, though.

I've bought coffee mugs on vacation. Even salt-n-pepper shakers.

Never furniture.

(And that owl lamp definitely did not appeal!)

I shopped for furniture on my recent vacation. Granted, it was in the city I live in because I chose not to go anywhere this year.

When traveling? Furniture is not at the top of my souvenier list.

*Who* knows?

Btw--I was joking. I'll window shop but am usually not tempted to buy pieces of furniture. But you're right. Gay parents DO ruin everything.

*@2...

They mean antiquing right? For an art deco chez lounge, circa 1920's, shipped from an antique store that is "simply amazing... it's in BFE, so YOU will never find it, but if you did, you would die, DIE!!".

But never "furniture" shopping...

Why not just collect driftwood and call it art?

This consumer society wastes more than it can afford.

And it shows.

You know that there are probably a ton of old-timey residents of Ptown who think that stores like Roots Home and Garden ruined everything with overpriced French soaps, faux Tuscan tableware, tacky garden decor, and outdoor furniture that no year-round resident can afford.

Oh Jeebuz @2, that looks like the overpriced crap you see at Square Room - does anybody really have so little taste that they'd actually consider spending $$$ on that garbage?

(Although, in truth, my mother would probably LOVE that lamp - it would go perfectly next to the 100 or so other ceramic owls in her collection. But, I'm still not buyin' it.)

And @2, that owl lamp is freekin' awesome. Are owls the new deer in interior decorating?

Dan, did you take the ferry over from Boston? B/c if you drove out, you might have noticed the 800 furniture/antique stores dotting the highway along the cape out to p-town.

I could never understand why people think it's a good idea to shop for bulky furniture on vacation either (how do you get it home?...in the car with the dog strapped to the roof a la ex-Gov. Romney?...pay a 200-mile delivery surcharge to NYC or Boston?...seriously, how?). But I know they do, in droves.

Dan, While I bought my Chippendale bedroom suite when on vacation in Boston, my Regency dining room suite on vacation in NYC and my Hepplewhite drawing room suite on vacation in Philadelphia, I do limit myself to more portable antiques and objet d'art when I "cross the pond" and have purchased a lovely George II silver service in London, several fine pieces of Sèvres in Berlin, my Haviland Limoge dinner service in Paris and my Waterford in Dublin. I like to be surrounded by memories of my travels when at home, and hate the idea of throwing money away a cheap souvenirs, so I make investments in good pieces of fine furniture, antiques and art. The last time I was in Province Town I purchased a lovely antique sterling tea service. This autumn its going to be 18th century folios in London & Rome and at least one piece of Czarist Fabergé in St. Petersburg.

slings are easily portable in your luggage...

@14,

Yes. No home is complete without at least one ceramic owl and a framed copy of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster.

half of a childless straight couple here. . . and nope, we don't furniture shop on vacation.
I spent several summers on the cape and in P'town as a kid. It was a blast. The dunes and meeting other kids there for the summer was great. I also loved that army surplus store.

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This is the real problem according to the business people: "adults who normally visit Provincetown on vacation don’t come that week, preferring to wait until the crowd becomes less child-saturated. "

Ooh, scary children! I'm so upset, I can't finish my Splendarita!

What do you bet some of the child-fearing homos are the same ones that laugh at the discomfort of clueless straight people that come into town not knowing about The Gay, and huddle in the tackiest t-shirt shops, clutching their straight spouses until the ferry comes back to pick them up?

Woman up, people.

And don't cramp your style on my account. As a lesbian mom, I can't wait to [save up enough money and vacation time to] bring my son to P-town, and there damn well better be some traditional partyin', assless-chaps-and-feather-boa-wearin', man-kissin' homos there to give him a vision of the many ways of manhood.

And if the childless people give *us* the evil eye, I'll just feed my son rice cereal without a spoon and set him loose on their dry-clean-only silk shirts and designer slacks.