I gave quick directions. Then I sat and waited for a half hour. No one showed up. After I stopped waiting, a white rental car slowly meandered up Old King’s Highway. The car contained a tired German couple with a cranky five-year-old, seeking an affordable bed & breakfast for four nights. They were not the guests I had been expecting but looked so lost that I decided to help them find a room, since Chez Sven is full.
The gentleman followed me into the house. In his Guide to Wellfleet, he had circled all the kid-friendly establishments. I called the first one and got an answering machine. At the second, I got a friend of the owners who told me there was no one home. Down the list I went. Duck Creek Inn accepts kids but all 27 rooms were full. Sweet Liberty is new. Surely, it would be eager for early season guests? I dialed the number and reached the owner, busy doing last-minute painting. “Sorry! Kids over 10 only,” he said.
Having exhausted all Wellfleet options, I called the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce. An employee told me that the bed and breakfasts in her town, as a rule, do not accept children. I was able to obtain the name of one that does, the Surfside Inn.