By: Sam Dostaler

22 hours. In a little red Corolla. A single mom and her two kids. A brother and a sister. Anyone who has gone on a long car ride with their siblings can imagine the scenes that played out in the back of that car.

Then, in the distance, a glimmer of hope.

The Sagamore Bridge emerges on the horizon. With each passing moment, the bridge draws closer until finally you feel the tires start to move ever so slightly upward towards the peak of the bridge. Below the Cape Cod Canal shimmers in the sun as boats cruise through the water.

A few moments later, the car tips back down. The tires grip the road as they have for thousands of miles. But now everything feels different. An annual summer pilgrimage that began in St. Louis, Missouri, had reached its destination. Cape Cod.

“By the time we actually did cross the bridge, it was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Heidi Drexler said as she brought herself back to those early trips to Cape Cod. “The bridge is so iconic, and when you cross it, you're in a whole new world.”

Originally from Paxton, Massachusetts, Heidi’s grandparents, whom she called Nana and Pi, lived in St. Louis, Missouri, for a few years after her grandfather was transferred for work. Although they eventually returned to New England, Heidi’s mother, Wendy, met her father and stayed in St. Louis, where she still lives today.

In 1980, the year after Heidi's parents got divorced, her grandparents, Leonard and Muriel Morrison, built a summer home in Dennis. It was in that moment that Coastal Granddaughter was born.

For Heidi, Cape Cod became more than a place she visited each year. It became a part of her. A pillar. A home. A place to reset.

“Everything is always the same. It is very nostalgic, very uncommercialized. There is just so much familiarity and so much comfort. I got divorced, so my two kids experienced the same thing of growing up and visiting every summer. It was just something that we looked forward to, and every year we got transported from the Midwest to this magical New England lifestyle.”

Now 53 years old and remarried, Heidi’s life pillar is also her inspiration. Her professional playground. A photographer and creative, Heidi has been snapping photos for more than two decades. She has a million ideas. But in April 2025, one stuck. She was going to make a coffee table book, showcasing Cape Cod through her lens.

“When I decide to do something, I usually do it,” said Heidi. “It doesn't always work out, but I just knew that I knew enough about it.”

As the idea was formulating, Heidi knew that she had camera memory cards filled with Cape Cod photos. She could create the coffee table book without leaving her St. Louis home, let alone traveling over the Sagamore Bridge. But for Heidi, that just wouldn’t do. She wanted her book to capture a specific moment in time.

So she spent the summer of 2025 traveling back and forth between St. Louis and Cape Cod. Airplanes were now involved, making the travel slightly more manageable.

She began on Martha’s Vineyard and ended on Nantucket. In between, she explored every corner of Cape Cod. She took photos of buoys, surfboards, tattoos, people, and storefronts. Of the often overlooked parking lot signs, of roadside vegetable stands, and, of course, the ocean.

“Literally all I did the entire time was drive around and then take pictures of places that inspired me,” explained Heidi. “Places that I thought inspired me and that I thought represented Cape Cod, whether you were born and raised here or somewhere else.”

No agenda. No plan. Drive. Stop. Snap.

As she drove, as she searched for inspiration, she knew that she was trying to create something that made people feel and remember what Cape Cod is to them. To make people smile and think of their best day ever.

“My stepdad, Dan, died of Alzheimer's about five years ago,” said Heidi. “We were very close, and he and my mom had retired to the Cape but ended up having to move back to St. Louis. But when he was sick with Alzheimer's, he would just say this is the ‘best day ever,’ and it kind of became a motto in our family. There's so much love in this book. I hope people understand that it isn’t just a bunch of photos.”

Coastal Granddaughter is a collection of photos, but it is more than that. It captures a Cape Cod summer in its purest form. It creates nostalgia. Showcases the magic of this unique slice of New England. It also created a community.

Over the winter of 2025-2026, Heidi spent hours huddled in front of her computer selecting and editing the photos that adorn the pages of Coastal Granddaughter. Self-published pages that were ready for the return of Cape Cod beach days.

So, as the long, hard New England winter of 2026 turned to spring, Heidi made the trip back to her place. A May trip. St. Louis to Cape Cod. Just as the sun truly starts to warm the beaches and there is more than a hint of summer in the air. The only difference was this time she had an agenda. To showcase her coffee-table book and to travel to the spots she had photographed the year before. However, this time there was one difference, instead of holding a camera, she held the finished Coastal Granddaughter. The story of Cape Cod through her lens.

At each location, she stood book in hand, smiling while she held open the page showcasing the location behind her and the image in her hands. She stood in front of her cover photo, the Days Cottages in North Truro.

“When I was little, my grandmother used to tell me about a place near Provincetown, where there were little cottages on the water where artists, writers, and creatives would rent these little cottages and spend a couple of weeks. I always fantasize about that in my head. I'm an introvert. I'm an artist. I could totally see myself living alone for two weeks,” Heidi said. “I never knew exactly where she was talking about, but when I found them I knew instantly they were going to be the cover. I just had a gut.”

The Canteen in Provincetown, with the Hy-Line Cruises boat captain, inside The Wharf Edgartown, with a staff member of the Sesuit Harbor Cafe in Dennis.

With each return visit to her shoot locations, Heidi smiled with accomplishment. The spring breeze softly blew her hair. But even as she stood and celebrated, another one of her million ideas was bouncing around.

Coastal Granddaughter had “captured the quiet magic of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket—just as they are.”

At the same time, Heidi Drexler had captured our imaginations and left us wondering. What is next? We might not know just yet. But one thing we can be certain of. The idea will start once her wheels touch the Sagamore Bridge. 

The Wolf Cove Inn: An Inn With a Story to Tell

The Lakes Region of Maine. Distant to many. A mystery to some. But to those who know? A place of peace, quiet, and nature. A place to experience the seasons. A place to experience the cool touch of lake water in summer. To take in the foliage in the fall, and explore a winter wonderland during the cold weather months.

Amidst the serene setting, one can find the Wolf Cove Inn. Located just feet from Tripp Lake, Wolf Cove Inn, on the surface, appears to be everything the name would suggest. A lakefront Bed & Breakfast. But as the saying goes, if those walls could talk.

They would tell a story that began in 1894 as a summer cottage before becoming a lobster restaurant and the setting for a scene in the 1960s TV series Route 66. They would tell of the old cottage along the lake becoming an Inn in 1996. How the Inn became a frequent stop for the Secret Service following 9/11, so that they could monitor traffic in the area around a member of President George W. Bush’s staff’s home.

Finally, the walls and the guests would tell stories of feeling at home. Of watching the Wolf Cove Inn evolve under each innkeeper’s watchful eye. First it was Rose, then Sue and Roy Forsberg, and now a pair of California transplants, Nicole and Geoff Skidmore.

When all put together, the Wolf Cove Inn is a living story. One that continues to grow each day.

Oh, and check out their Instagram. Nicole and Geoff know how to have some fun!

A Sticker That Tells a Story

“Rooted in Kindness,” “Explore and Wander,” a moose wearing a sweater, Bigfoot with the word “Believer.”

Stickers tell a story. A quick look at the stickers on a water bottle or a computer produces a quick snapshot of who a person is. Enter Kay, the owner and artist behind Scotty + Calvin Designs. From Maine to the Pacific Northwest, back to New England, away again, and back again, all the while using her story to help others tell their story.

Storytelling takes on many forms. Stickers are one of them.

Let us know where you are reading The Nor’easter; we want to know! Whether it is at your favorite brewery, off the side of a bike trail, or strolling through Austin, Texas! Send us a DM on Instagram, and we will share your story!

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The Nor’easter: No. 4 - Publish Date: July 23

The Nor'easter - Stories of New England. The people, seasons, places & traditions. Building a community for those who are New England.

The Nor’easter is a publication of the New England Travel Journal