Martha's Vineyard

We decided a couple of weeks ago that we'd make a trip to Martha's Vineyard once the kids were back in school and Labor Day week was over. This was the week.

We considered various alternatives: 1) Taking the truck over on the ferry, 2) Renting a car once we got there or 3) Taking advantage of the excellent bus system on the island ($10 for a senior 3 day pass). We went with the bus option.

The ferries from Woods Hole offered 2 destinations, Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs. Oak Bluffs offered a lot more hotel and restaurant options so we went with Oak Bluffs. Oak Bluffs was the nicer of the two and, given the information that we had, we made the right choice.

If we were to do it again, we'd make a couple of changes. Vineyard Haven has a protected ferry terminal where Oak Bluffs terminal last weekend (during hurricane Dorian) and, when a storm came up on our departure morning, they closed it right after our departure. In exploring the island, we found that Edgartown was the nicest place to stay by far. So, doing it again, we'd ferry to Vineyard Haven and catch the bus to Edgartown.

The ocean view from or "ocean view room". That's the ferry terminal across the bank parking lot.

Zoom on the ferry.

Ferry terminal at sunrise from the shoreline.

Our first day's travels took us to Edgartown and then back to Oak Bluffs via Vineyard Haven. We took advantage of the occasion to explore Vineyard Haven.

This yacht (the Freedom out of Newport, R.I.) was spectacular. We overheard that it had been a presidential yacht but didn't find anything like that on Google (but we did learn that a 5% stake can be purchased for $350k).

These next pictures are of the Chappaquiddick ferry. Very much like the Balboa Island ferry which I always thought was one of a kind.

That last picture was from a raised viewing area. Down below the viewing deck, we talked with some fishermen who were chumming traps with horseshoe crab meat and mussels. We assumed that the traps were for lobsters but learned that the conch fishery is important on the Vineyard.

The following are more pictures that we took from the viewing area:

A sand spit connects Martha's Vineyard (on the right) to Chappaquiddick (left).

We really liked this whale's tail statue.

We ate lunch up on the deck at the right.

A closer view of that whale's tail.

We explored Vineyard Haven on our way back from Edgartown.

On our second day, we made our way to Aquinnah Cliffs and the Gay Head Lighthouse on the far Western tip of the Vineyard. We traveled through Edgartown on the way out and through Vineyard Haven on the return trip.

After last weekend's hurricane, we were a little bit concerned about the weather but, as it worked out, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful. The rain held off until it was time to leave on Thursday morning.

-JC-

New Sign on the House

We've added a new sign to the front of the house. Our neighborhood, the Oakham Center Historical District, was recently accepted into the National Register of Historic Places which is a part of the National Park System.

Thanks to Briar. She has a machine that creates computer generated vinyl letters so she helped with the sign.

Just in case you're interested, this particular designation doesn't put any limits on what we can do with the house.

Est.

1836

National Register of Historic Places

Oakham Center Historic District

We've joked that the "Est." stands for estimate rather than established. The tax rolls didn't show a structure in 1836 but that it was there by 1837. 

-JC-

New Hampshire

For the 4th year in a row, we spent a week with Briar, Gus and the kids up in New Hampshire's White Mountains. The 1st 3 trips were in the North Conway area. This time, we stayed in Lincoln which is maybe 40 minutes closer to home.

"Unlawful to cause unsanitary coditions of pollution"

This is The Basin

Upstream from the Basin.

Cairn in the river.

Gus, Maya and Niko upstream from the Basin.

Another cairn in the river.

Same cairn.

Niko and Maya defying death.

The Loon Mountain parking lot had a whole row of parking spots with signs that said "BMW Parking" (go figure).

The trash dumpster at our condo. Loved the "Caution bear may be in dumpster" sign.

The "Open here" seemed like a dare. By the end of the week, they had replaced and doubled up on all the locks.

Covered bridge leading up to the Flume.

At the top of the Cannon Mountain gondola (carries 80 people). The cafe at the top features the highest beer tap in New Hampshire.

View from the top of Cannon Mountain.

Looking down at the gondola landing from the top of the mountain.

This was .2 miles to the beginning of the Falling Waters Trail. The trip up and back was about 4 miles of rigorous trail.

That's Gus and the kids at the upper falls.

Artists Bluff. This was to be a short hike but we missed a turn and looped around to approach from the backside. By the time that we realized that we'd missed our turn, it was shorter to just keep on going. We checked when we got back to where we should have turned and the trail was very poorly marked.

This is out of sequence but Loon Mountain had a zip line that was the only one that we found that would allow Maya to ride. I was elected to go with her. We zipped from a tower on one side of the river to the opposite bank. Then, after climbing a tower on that bank, we zipped back to the original bank.

-JC-