Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

It's always funny to me that Nantucket is just made up of the town of Nantucket, while Martha's Vineyard (also known as Dukes County) is actually made up of a number of smaller communities.  For Todd and the kids FIRST adventure to the Vineyard, we hopped on a boat to Vineyard Haven.

We had wanted to get on the boat to Oak Bluffs but it was leaving almost as soon as we pulled in to the terminal on the bus.  The big Steamship Authority parking lot was full (no real surprise there) so they directed us to the secondary (read: farther away) parking lot.  So by the time we got to the docks, the Oak Bluffs ferry was leaving. But no worries, there was one leaving a few minutes later to Vineyard Haven.  Neither Todd or I were worried about it, the kids were melting down over it.  It's a chill day, no worries!

We were seated next to the moving van and dump truck.

As you set sail from Woods Hole, you pass by the big homes on Church Street, as well as the Nobska Lighthouse which is at the end of the point. The current lighthouse is from 1876 and while the Coast Guard maintains the lens and the foghorn, the town of Falmouth and the Friends of Nobska Light maintain the tower.

Me and my little buddy on the back of the boat out to Vineyard Haven.

I always wonder how these boats don't sink with all of this weight! (Just kidding, I know the answer to that!)

It was cloudy as we pulled into Vineyard Haven about 45 minutes later.

Vineyard Haven is actually a village within the town of Tisbury, and it's a fairly quiet community - not nearly as built up as Oak Bluffs.  One day, I'm finally gonna get out to Aquinnah!

And of course, it's home to the original Black Dog Tavern!

Vineyard Haven is quiet, but there's much more to do in Oak Bluffs so we took the island bus to OB.  But I forgot to bring my headphones to listen to Vineyard by Jackopierce!

We walked to Lookout Tavern for lunch and Grant looked like he might kill everyone for that ketchup.

My children simply cannot make normal faces.  But let's hear it for crab cakes and fish tacos!  Natalie did not like the crab cakes, unfortunately.  I was kind of disappointed because that's one of my favorite seafood meals.  At least she tries new things!

Nobody at our table ordered lobster, but TELL ME you aren't so sad to see this little guy down here.  Literally the best part of the lobster!  Someone must have been so sad to lose it!

After lunch, we went down to the Oak Bluffs fishing pier, which I didn't realize was only built in 2014.  At the time it was built (and perhaps still?) it was the largest recreational pier in Massachusetts (superlative, check!)

Let's go see what's going on at the end of the pier!

The beach was a bit cool and foggy.

Baileys on a pier on the Vineyard.

This is completely all three of their personalities.  Grant was actually posing here.

The kids were freaking out because it looks like this boat is heading RIGHT for a crash landing on the beach, but there's an inlet there that leads into the inner harbor.

Hello large fishy under the pier.   Was it a striped bass?  Hard to tell.

After lunch and a trek to the pier, we made our way back into town so we could ride the Flying Horses.  I'm not obsessed with hydrangeas. No, not at all.

What?  What kind of crazy superlative is this!?  I love it!  Flying Horses... America's Oldest Carousel!

Watch Hill, Rhode Island also has a Flying Horses carousel, but it was established almost 20 years later.  The Oak Bluffs Flying Horses were built 100 years before I was born in 1876! 

Four tickets, please.

The ride isn't that long, but the line is pretty long and there is no air conditioning, obviously.

Grant and I were waving to people out on the street.

All right!  Let's do this!  Superlative, check!

Sure.  Let the tall girl take the taller horse!  This is an old carousel.  These horses don't go up and down like the newer ones do!

My boys, ready to ride!

So we were about 3 "go rounds" before I realized the kids in front of me were grabbing rings as we spun around.  At first, I was like, "WHAT?  What are they doing? They're going to break something!"  Oh.  But this is totally ok to do.  Phew.  So I started grabbing rings, and sometimes could grab two in one pull.  The last one I pulled?  The famous brass ring! The one who pulls the brass ring is entitled to a free ride, whether that's now - or a ticket for a later ride.  Duh. I chose now, because who knows when I will be back to Oak Bluffs!

Look at me. I'm the winner.

Me taking a picture of Todd, waving at me as I took my free ride on America's Oldest Carousel.

This is the thing you pull the little rings from as you spin around.

It's not fair that Mommy gets another ride, so we should definitely get some cotton candy.

 My sweet family after riding the Flying Horses in Oak Bluffs.

Natalie had done a little research about Martha's Vineyard and really wanted to see the Gingerbread Houses so we headed that way after our horsey ride.

Eeek!  (I might say that a lot in this post!)  There are 318 of these cute little cottages which were all originally built in the mid to late 1800s as homes for people attending the Methodist camp meetings.

Originally, the attendees of the camp's summer revivals stayed in tents, but I'd say this is WAY cuter and more comfortable.

Yes, I would like to paint my house hydrangea pink, please.

Most of the homes are named, and this one is called Lazy Dayz.  Grant loves Lazy Dayz, that's for sure.

There's not a lot of real estate surrounding these homes, but they all definitely do the best with what they've got!

This little area is actually now called Wesleyan Grove and it's a National Landmark Historic District.

So colorful and cute!

We walked around many areas twice - this one is one of my favorites. I love the detail around the windows and of course - a compass!

I'll take one of each, please.

These homes look really tiny - and some of them are.  If you look online, you'll find most of them are about 500-800 square feet and priced somewhere between $500,000 to $900,000.

Purple homes are my FAVORITE.

Pretty colors around Trinity Circle.

There's so much detail around the roofline and around the porches.

This view isn't too bad either!

I think this was my favorite row of homes.

And for Natalie and I, THIS was our favorite!  It's Wizard of Oz themed!

If you look closely in the garden, you can find the cast of the Wizard of Oz!  We couldn't find the Tin Man though.

Pink and turquoise, squeal!

They still have a large covered area known as the Tabernacle in the center of Trinity Park where the Methodist church (that is behind us and to the right) holds outdoor services. I bet this came in super handy for the last year and a half.

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place! Or at least just the presence of a little boy!

No, no, no... THIS was my favorite!  All purple, all the time!

These homes really look like little dollhouses.

We went to sit in Trinity Park for a bit to rest our feet.  Sometimes they get along.

Trinity United Methodist Church sits right in Trinity Park.

Most of the homes are over 150 years old - like this one built in 1868. 

This is the Pink House Natalie was dying to see.  No, it really is named that! SO cute. Look at the flower boxes!

Rightfully so, most of the flowers outside of the Pink House are... pink!

More pink flowers in front of the Pink House.  If you Google 25 Butler Avenue, you can see inside because it just sold and it is AMAZING.  They even had a pink toaster!

I LOVE the detail in the railing around the porch at the Pink House.

Panorama inside of Forest Circle.  Not as clear as I would like it to be but it was so cute (and kind of more private than some of the other streets.)

We went down to the Black Dog outlet to see about some shirts, and went behind the building to see the boats.

Everything feels too crowded to me these days, so we decided to head back to the boat.

Just as we got to the boat, it started sprinkling so it was good timing on our part.  This is the Oak Bluffs Town Beach, and the dock for the Steamship Authority is right here.

We saw so many fish under the (believe it or not) parking lot.  I guess there was no real estate on land, so they built this parking lot over the water!

Vacationing is SO hard.  

Until next time, Martha's Vineyard!

Nantucket, Massachusetts

The kids had never been to Nantucket - although Todd and I had before, separately.  I went once for work (what a job!) and Todd went back in his younger, single days.  So we decided to do a day trip to Nantucket!

We booked ahead and bought tickets on the Steamship Authority (infinitely cheaper than the Hyline) for a round trip to Nantucket, leaving around 11 am and returning on the 8:15 pm boat.  This was before we knew that Grant was going to be doing his evening oral immunotherapy treatments.  Oops.  But thankfully we were able to change the return trip to an earlier one in Hyannis before we boarded the boat.  Parking was a hot mess as there was none available in the Steamship Authority lots, but we expected that (after all, it IS summer), built in time and found a pay parking lot.  $20 for the day is fine with me if it means we don't miss the boat!

It was a pretty bumpy ride out to Nantucket as there was a small craft advisory for choppy waters.  It didn't bother any of us though - and we were greeted with some sunshine as we pulled into the harbor!

First stop? The Rose and Crown for some lunch!

Todd and Natalie (yes, Natalie) both got the lobster roll, while I got one of the best fish sandwiches I've ever had. Bread matters, people!

And of COURSE, Natalie absolutely loved the lobster roll - naturally the most expensive thing on the menu!  At least she ate it all!

After lunch, we decided to walk to Brant Point lighthouse. The hydrangeas are in full bloom right now out on the Cape and Islands!

The hydrangeas grow so well out there because there is less fluctuation in the air temp over the course of a year due to the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.

We stopped under the trees at White Elephant Village because we were having a TERRIBLE time with Walgreens Alliance Rx and Todd had to stop to take the third of several phone calls he would have with them.  On the Friday afternoon prior to our trip, he was on the phone with them for THREE HOURS because they didn't seem to understand that Grant's immunotherapy pills could be mailed to us. They thought he hadn't had his initial treatment in the hospital yet, but he had.  And then they said that his doctor had to call Alliance Rx to let them know that he had already had the initial treatment. Which she did. Twice. And we spoke to someone else on Friday evening who said the doctor had called but she hadn't told them whether he had tolerated the treatment.  (Yes she did, they didn't write that part down.)

So even after we seemed to have resolved the problem Friday evening, and the woman on the phone took down our vacation home address, there were still more issues.  So the kids just had a seat on the grass.  And Natalie suddenly had a headache, but I didn't have any medicine on me, so we had to hike all the way across town to get some Tylenol, and all the while, I'm trying to get ahold of Grant's immunotherapy doctor (who is fabulous, by the way!)  

Finally, even though he was still on the phone with Alliance Rx, Todd said we should just walk down to the lighthouse so we weren't wasting so much time. I snapped this pic of the pretty flowers along the way!

And I saw this super cool car outside of the White Elephant!

I just loved this house, which is down the street from Brant Point lighthouse. When you think of a quintessential Nantucket home, this is exactly what I imagine!  This is only worth about $17 million.

"Pretend like you're excited to see the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the US!" (Superlative, check!)

While the kids and I went down to the lighthouse, Todd was STILL on the phone with Alliance Rx!  The doctor's office had called me back, and Todd, not willing to accept any communication issues took my phone and held it up to his own phone so that the nurse from the doctor's office could speak directly to Alliance Rx between our two phones!  Of course, we did this right there in front of the Coast Guard station, and all of the Coast Guard boys came out to see if we were okay!

Behind Todd is one of the Nantucket Harbor Range Lights that sits on the Coast Guard property.

The kids immediately ran down to the beach near the lighthouse.

This picture of Grant was SO funny!  Also, check out that massive boat in the background on the right!  The side of the boat said it was the Annastar - a $40 million yacht. Nantucket is so money.

Every picture of him looks like he's flying because he never stops moving!

Arrrrgh matey!  I believe this is the tall ship Lynx, which is a boat that hold educational programs about the "maritime challenges of the War of 1812."  

Natalie, please do not break your brother's back here in Nantucket.

Back not broken, arms outstretched.

Natalie is out looking for shells and Grant is STILL running around!

The current lighthouse structure at Brant Point is the 10th lighthouse building that they have had here out on the point.  Several burned down (not surprising!), rotted or were blown down.  

This area is also the US Coast Guard Station here - although the official "post" is down the street a bit. 

Here we are looking at the beaches to the northwest from Brant Point.

Come on guys, give me ONE more picture with the lighthouse.

Finally, Daddy rejoined us after his marathon phone call with Alliance Rx.

Steamship Authority, coming in hot!  This is the same boat we took!

Todd, let me take a picture of you with the pretty lighthouse so you can forget all of that Alliance Rx nonsense!

Not sure if you can see it or not, but above the door (no, way above the door) it says, "Originally 1746 Established."  There's been a lighthouse in this vicinity since 1746, making it the oldest continually operating (although different structure) lighthouse in America! Whoo hoo!

This is actually the previous Brant Point lighthouse, which is about a block or so away from the current lighthouse.  This one was built in 1856 and still sits on the Coast Guard property.

You guys haven't seen THIS in a while!  Manhole covers of Nantucket!  America, we MUST get on the ball about making prettier manhole covers!

Todd really wanted to go to the Nantucket Whaling Museum (because how often will you go to a whaling museum!?) so we stopped in to see Fudgie the Whale.  Todd named him that.  Why?  Because he didn't actually have a name!  The lady at the front desk said she named him Fred and I appreciated that but she said, "You can name him whatever you want!"  Apparently they once had a contest to name him, but they never actually announced a winner.

The Whaling museum is very interactive and you will not be bored! There's a huge exhibit about the candle factory and how they used the oil from whales to make candles.  In 1847, the spermaceti candle factory had been located here.  Behind me here (which I couldn't fit into a whole picture) was the only original whale oil lever press left in the entire world!

Fudgie the Whale is a 46 foot sperm whale skeleton that was found beached on New Year's Day 1998.  The boat below it is only 28 feet long, showing you how dangerous it was to be in the whaling business here.  Whales are bigger than the boats!

The Bailey's love fishing for worms, apparently.

At the Whaling Museum, you can go to the roof and check out the views of the harbor.

Ok, he's silly ha ha.  They had nice chairs and tables up here, but hey, how about some beverage service here?

I spy Brant Point and the lighthouse from the top of the Whaling Museum.

If you're on top of the Whaling Museum and look to the south, you can see right down Water Street in downtown Nantucket.  Many people were waiting in line for ice cream in the bottom left corner!

Fresnel lenses are BEAUTIFUL and this one is a second order lens from 1849.  It had a range of 24 nautical miles!

We left the Whaling Museum and headed down Water Street toward Main Street.  This is where the road turns to brick and cobblestone.

New Zealand is only 15,800 miles from here!  Actually, this is a geographically incorrect compass and it bothers me a bit.  I'm struggling with the fact that they believe Iceland is northwest of here. And that London, Paris and Moscow are southeast of here.  And that they think the Cape Verde Islands are more northeast than Berlin.  Who made this?

Todd knows that if I could paint our house this color, I absolutely would.  That purple trim is awesome!

Alas, it was time to get back on the boat and head back to Hyannis.

My boys say Nantucket is number 1!  (Ok, just kidding I have no idea why they are doing this!)

Until next time, Nantucket!