The Vineyard

Monday, I had to choose between getting up at dawn and making a ferry at 9, or sleeping in a bit and catching a boat at 2. Given the night we had on Sunday, it wasn't a particularly hard choice. Teeny bit of drama in Woods Hole when the main parking lot was full and I had to go to an alternate lot, but I caught the shuttle to the ferry to the island just in time to make the 2 o'clock departure for Vineyard Haven.

That first afternoon, after a delicious lunch courtesy of SaraJane, we drove to Edgartown and had a good walk on and around the main strip. Got some really good iced coffee, and headed to the coast.


The 'On Time' Ferries to and from Chappaquiddick, passing in the canal. (They go back and forth pretty much constantly, so timeliness would seem to be a fairly manageable factor.)


Isabella and Madeleine watching the ferries.


A lighthouse near where SaraJane got married.


The kids had a bunch of fun playing near that lighthouse (and during the whole downtown venture.) You can't really tell, but this photo shows Isabella during one of their favorite games du jour: throwing around a teddy bear. The bear did not seem to mind.

Fish tacos and good wine for supper. The next day, SJ, Cory, Madeleine and I took a jeep to one of the beaches where you can, well, drive a jeep on the beach.

This, it must be said, was tremendously fun.

I'd never gone four-wheeling before, and there aren't any photos because, well, I was in the jeep. We all took turns driving - too inexperienced to do anything fancy, especially given that we had a 2 1/2 year-old with us, but still - way fun.


Here's one of my favorite shots from the trip: Madeleine in all her beachy glory.

The rest of the trip was full of lots of the kinds of things you'd associate with Martha's Vineyard: farmers' market, Boggle and Scrabble, more good food and wine (I made a lobster feast one night), more time on the beach, in Chappaquiddick this time, ice cream and iced coffee, blowing bubbles on the deck.

It was a pretty estrogen-y household: 6 gals, ages 10 months to 41 years, 5 of them related to each other, and me. It's been said that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Now, I don't hold much truck with that proposition, but if we grant it for the sake of argument, I'd like to think I speak Venusian as well as the next guy, and better than most. But even for me, this was a lot of chick energy. This is not a complaint! It was a great vacation. In fact, it was kind of wonderful - exactly the thing for a long summer weekend.

We also took a walk through a quaint and well turned-out town square, ending up at one of Madeleine's favorite places of all: the Flying Horses carousel.



Here we are getting ready to ride. It was fun - very old school. There's a spot inside and one outside where the riders try to pluck rings off the wall. Now I'm not saying that I was the best at that game or anything, but only one person on each side of the carousel gets the coveted brass ring that wins you a free ride, and guess who grabbed it on the outside?

No, I didn't keep the free ride for myself! I gave it to Madeleine, of course.


Given the opportunity, what wouldn't you do for this one?