Martha's Vineyard

We took a quick trip to Martha's Vineyard over the weekend.

It was a LOOONG trek to get there from our little town in the woods of Western Massachusetts. Road work and an accident didn't help the traffic either. By the time we got to Wood's Hole, got parking, and took the shuttle back to the port, we were ready to board the last ferry of the day.
We were greeted by friends of my husband who chauffeured us off to Edgartown to use a one-bedroom apartment as our base camp. Saturday morning we headed off for breakfast at Edgartown Pizza, and then we drove DH to visit friends in West Tisbury. I left him there and took Abby for some sightseeing in Edgartown. Did I mention that the guy who lent us the apartment, also lent me his pick-up truck AND set me up with a car seat for Abby?? Nice guy! Anyway, I had never been to the Vineyard before, and DH didn't let me do much planning, so I had no clue and no map. I just followed road signs, and called DH on my cell phone whenever I needed directions. First I took Abby down to the pier. We watched the seagulls and the boats for a while, and saw a little ferry that held only 3 cars going back and forth across to Chappy maybe. Then we wandered through some of the streets admiring the fall leaves and the old houses with the widow's peaks. Finally we hit a store called the Leaping Frog where we bought a couple of t-shirts (one for Abby, and one for her friend Toby), and a bucket and a shovel. I called DH and told him we were going to head for the lighthouse and hope it had a beach. A quick check with his friends though, and we were steered away from that plan and told to head in the direction of South Beach instead. We did. It was very quiet there, no boats. Just the sand and the ocean and a few birds. Despite a big "No dogs" sign, we found several people bringing their 4 legged friends with them. I protested a few times, to no avail, and finally Abby and I retreated (with a pocket full of seashells) inland a bit to where the bathrooms had been in the summertime. Abby had a great time playing in the bathroom pavilion area, and we stayed for several hours.

A 6 and a HALF year old girl was bored and wandered in our direction several times, asking me little questions. She was quite surprised that Abby was only 2 1/2 years old. She thought she was big enough to be 5 years old, and thought Abby shouldn't be wearing diapers anymore.

Anyway, we ventured back to the water to wash off a bottle cap that Abby had found, and after watching the tide come and go a few times, I took a few steps forward. A few too many steps forward! Abby and I both got our feet drenched!! As it was already past lunchtime, I was eager to use this as an excuse to head back into town for some lunch. So we headed for Main Street.

I drove right past the Chinese restaurant, and had to call my husband again for directions. It was there, right where it was supposed to be, I just hadn't seen the camouflaged sign the firs time. Abby and I got lunch specials, with plenty of food leftover. Then we went to the grocery store for fresh fruits and munchies. We got back to the apartment around 4pm or so, and settled in for the night.

Abby took a bath, and I made some supper and we spent the evening playing games and watching Caillou. She crashed out at her usual bedtime, and I went to bed soon after. My husband came back around midnight I guess.

Sunday morning we took our time packing up. Abby snacked on the munchies and fruit for her breakfast, and we said goodbye to our friend's mother as she was hanging up her laundry. Then we drove down to the Main Street diner and got some breakfast for my husband and I. I wasn't too surprised that Abby wouldn't eat since she had already eaten. She did like the strawberries though so we got some got more of those. We took her $6 pancake with us and walked down to the pier and fed it to the seagulls. One last look at the boats, and a quick peek into a store or two, and we were done.

We drove up to West Tisbury and said goodbye to DH's friends. Got Abby out to see the horses and the dogs, in the fences too. Then we asked our friend to drive us to the ferry. Got down there at the wrong time, and had to wait about a half hour before we could leave. Eventually we made it though. Abby got more fresh fruit on-board, and we had fun looking out the window watching the other boats and the birds.

It was another LOOONG trip home. Road work, a bad accident, and Patriot's game traffic slowed us down a bit too. We stopped at a McDonald's somewhere before we got on 495 and got a late lunch/early supper. Abby wasn't too interested in eating though. When we finally got her back in the car it wasn't long before she fell asleep. Got home before 7pm, and figured Abby would be awake for a while, but she went right back to sleep and slept through the night pretty much. (It's been a long time since I've seen her sleep for 12 hours!)

Anyway, that was our trip to Martha's Vineyard. My husband had been before, many years ago, but it was my first trip. Enjoyed the visit, although it was brief. The TO and FROM was a hassle (especially dealing with all our luggage, stroller, etc on the shuttles and the ferry), but it was still fun.