Woke up this morning to the rhythm of the pouring rain outside. The weather did the island a big favor yesterday by not raining a drop during all of the Fourth of July festivities. Today, however, all bets were off and it was coming down by the bucketful.
Since we managed to actually get up a little early, we decided to try to make it to Linda Jean's for breakfast. Their blueberry pancakes are in my top three best pancakes ever. The challenge was getting to Oak Bluffs before they stopped serving breakfast at 11:30am (which they should just serve all day). Somehow, we managed to make it just in time, despite Mapquest taking us to the wrong address.
Afterwards, we took a ride on the Flying Horses Carousel. Moved to Oak Bluffs from NYC (probably Coney Island) in 1884, it's the oldest operating platform carousel in the US. They have arms dispensing metal rings on each side (manually fed by the operators). If you grab a brass ring, you get a free ride. Experienced riders can grab two or more at a time.
Then we took a stroll through Cottage Grove, the neighborhood of Gingerbread Houses. These are little summer cottages, most of them built in the 1880s, by members of the Martha's Vineyard Campmeeting Association.
Originally, the congregation erected tents for their summer revivals. Eventually, the tents gave way to more permanent wooden structures. While the floor plans are very similar, each cottage is unique in color and decorations. You can easily spend an hour or more just walking around and looking.
By that time, the sun had come out to stay, so we headed over to Island Cove mini-golf in Vineyard Haven. I'll go ahead and say that we've never really explored Vineyard Haven too much because it's very difficult to park and the tiny streets make traffic a bear. Today was no different, but we had a great game in which my winning streak continued.
Since we still had a good amount of daylight left, we opted to head down to the beach in Aquinnah (also known as Gay Head). "Aquinnah" is the Native American name for the area, and there's still a Wampanoag tribe that lives nearby and operates the shops there. The clay cliffs are sacred to the Wampanoags. Have to admit, though, it looks a lot like the beach in Planet of the Apes.
It's also one of the few clothing optional beaches on the island, but apparently only in certain areas which are not at all marked. In fact, when you walk down to the beach, the rules state that nudity is not allowed, so it's rather surprising when you encounter them. What's even more surprising is that they're all middle-aged. The younger bathers manage to keep their clothes on.
Last time we were there, we wanted to see the lighthouse from the beach. The problem was that the path down is very long and sends you in the opposite direction. We had to turn back without success due to the sun going down and the clothes coming off (to our surprise).
This time, we got an earlier start, so we had more time. We even had to work our way through a section covered in rocks, but we were determined. We finally made it all the way around the cliffs. But no lighthouse. Still couldn't see it. I'm now convinced that you either can't see it from the beach, or we'd have to walk a couple of miles to do so. Consider this quest abandoned.
By that time, it was getting late, so we walked back to the shops and had dinner at the Aquinnah Restaurant. This is one of our favorite places to eat, mostly just because of the view. It's really breathtaking.
Finally, we drove over to Menemsha, the fishing village, to see the sunset. On an island that changes very little, we were really surprised to see a brand new Coast Guard station and cement dock that runs the whole length of the village. Conversely, the vacant lot where Quint's shack was built for Jaws is still vacant after 40 years (the production had to tear it down after filming because it wasn't built to code).
Sadly, I missed the actual sunset trying to park (it's a real bear here, too), but Marsha and Madison got to see it. That's what was most important. And we still got to spend a few minutes together enjoying the view and the breeze.
After we drove back to the hotel, Madison and I walked down to Mad Martha's for some ice cream. Marsha got a head start on getting ready for bed. Tomorrow the plan is to get up early for my birthday and head back to Vineyard Haven for breakfast at The Black Dog Tavern. Really looking forward to their banana pancakes! I just hope I can find a place to park.
No comments:
Post a Comment