More Vineyard, More Vaughn

This morning we woke up to gloomy skies and a high likelihood that we'd see a lot of rain today. Everybody on the island was talking about how bad it was going to be - I think we got sprinkled on twice the entire day.



I still took Vaughn out for our morning stroll, as it was just windy, but the humidity actually made it a bit warmer than normal so that was nice. Stacie dressed her in a very fun outfit - her guitar onesie, rainbow leggings, a black tutu, a turquoise bow and ruby red sparkly Tom's shoes we'd bought her just the day before. She was a total rock-n-roll baby.

Not that she needed any help turning heads, but this outfit garnered her even more attention than usual. It was a hit. As I walked down Water Street, I came to a cafe that I hadn't noticed before, so I popped in. After greeting the other folks in the cafe and letting Vaughn receive her compliments, I browsed the selection of pastries, breakfast sandwiches and coffees and decided this was where breakfast was happening today.

I walked back to the hotel, where I saw Steven and Jim downstairs, so Vaughn and I hung out with them while we waited on Stacie. Once Stacie made it down, Steven and Jim split off as Steven had some work to do, and Stacie and I wanted to shop around the town a bit more. We walked down to the cafe, called Murdick's - it's also a chocolate and candy store - pop in and order some food and coffee. It was delicious, so if you're ever in the area, be sure to stop in and grab some breakfast.

Stacie and I walked around the island ducking into some shops that we hadn't made into the day before, and then we headed back to the hotel. At the hotel, we decide to take Vaughn up to the 4th floor porch to lay out a blanket so she can roll around and play while we look out over the harbor. When we get up there, we find Jim is already there, so we all just hang out and enjoy the now cool, but pleasant morning.

Here's Vaughn hanging out on the porch (due to requests, there will be a few more Vaughn photos in this post, and maybe even some from past days):



Here's Vaughn on the porch with Uncle Jim:



Eventually, Vaughn snuggled up and fell asleep on Stacie while she was rocking her. So, we spent most of the morning out there just chatting and enjoying the view.

Once Uncle Stevie was done with work and Vaughn had awoken from her nap, we all hopped in the car and headed to Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. Vineyard Haven is the furthest away, though it's only about 20 minutes, so we cruised through Oak Bluffs to head to Vineyard Haven first; but we did see enough of Oak Bluffs to know we wanted to head back there a bit later.

In Vineyard Haven, our main goals was tracking down the Black Dog Tavern for lunch which was easy enough. It's literally right by the docks for the ferry we came in on. They had a chowder on the menu, so naturally I ordered it. It was okay, but not great. I'm starting to wonder if I've eaten so much chowder that the law of diminishing returns is causing me to be less impressed with my most recent chowders. Nevertheless, I have to put each where I think it belongs in the rankings, so:

1. River House, Portsmouth, NH
2. Atlantic, Edgartown, MA
3. Anthem, Boston, MA
4. Chesca's, Edgartown, MA
5. Black Dog Tavern, Vineyard Have, MA
6. The Newes From America Pub, Edgartown, MA
7. Legal Seafood, Boston, MA

After our rather late lunch it was now about 3.30PM, so we decided to hang out in Vineyard Haven until about 5.30 and then head to Oak Bluffs before it got too dark to see anything. We headed up a small hill to Main Street where a lot of little local shops are located and began popping in and out. It's so nice to just stop and meander a bit which is exactly what we were doing. There were some really nice shops there, though, and our favorite was a store that we decided was a cross between Anthropologie and Restoration Hardware - with maybe a touch of J. Crew, as it had some J. Crew-ish men's clothing. It was very cool, and with an unlimited supply of money, time and shipping options, much of that store would be on it's way to Chicago right now. It was called Midnight Farm.

We picked up a few goodies from Main Street in Vineyard Haven and then headed back down to Oak Bluffs. Oak Bluffs is a very interesting town - the only town on the island to be consciously planned with tourism specifically in mind. Not only that though, there are some very interesting homes there, cottages really, that all radiate in a circle out from a large central pavilion. I'll let Wikipedia explain:

"Some of the earliest visitors to the area that became Cottage City and later Oak Bluffs were Methodists, who gathered in the oak grove each summer for multi-day religious "camp meetings" held under large tents and in the open air. As families returned to the grove year after year, tents pitched on the ground gave way to tents pitched on wooden platforms and eventually to small wooden cottages. Small in scale and closely packed, the cottages grew more elaborate over time. Porches, balconies, elaborate door and window frames became common, as did complex wooden scrollwork affixed to the roof edges as decorative trim. The unique "Carpenter's Gothic" architectural style of the cottages was often accented by the owner's use of bright, multi-hue paint schemes, and gave the summer cottages a quaint, almost storybook look. Dubbed "gingerbread cottages," they became a tourist attraction in their own right in the late nineteenth century. So, too, did the Tabernacle: a circular, open-sided pavilion covered by a metal roof supported by tall wrought iron columns, erected in the late 1880s, which became a venue for services and community events. The campground's gingerbread cottages are cherished historic landmarks as well as very expensive real estate. Many are still family owned and passed on generation to generation. On April 5, 2005, the grounds and buildings in the Campground were designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior."

Now, let me remind you that we were here at dusk. Actually, by the time we wandered the town a bit and made it to this part of Oak Bluffs, it was dark. The only light was from some random street lamps, and there was a church just off to the edge of the arrangement of cottages. It was deserted here. We were in town at the very end of tourist season, after all of the shops had closed and when many of the people remaining were probably somewhere eating dinner. Church bells started ringing, and not just ringing to announce the time. No the bells began playing slow, melodic music.

It was creepy. I felt like we were in the beginning of a horror movie. We decided it was time to head back to Edgartown. Safe, cozy, Edgartown.

We made it back fairly quickly as it's not a long trip, and we headed out to dinner. We decided to try a spot called Eleven North. It's brand new - only been open about 3 weeks - and unfortunately it showed. The atmosphere is really cool. It's not "island-y" at all. It was very modern and trendy, and we were really impressed...with that part of it.

Service unfortunately was pretty slow and pretty amateur. The food was mediocre. I don't know if I'm coming back to Martha's Vineyard, but I assume that if I do and if they're still here, they will have worked out their kinks by then. I want them, too, because they seem like good people that created a cool place, The best part of the evening was when the poor, under-trained waiter pronounced thyme, TH-yme when reciting the dessert special to us. Oh well, win some, lose some. We all enjoyed a nice evening together and that's all that matters.

Now as promised here's a few more pics of the trip.

Me after totally miscalculating the tide coming in, moving to dodge the tide, realizing that I had actually calculated just fine, but now that I attempted to dodge the tide I lost my balance and stepped in the ocean:



I have no idea why this picture is so small either.

Here's Vaughn playing with Uncle Stevie:

Here's Vaughn eating the sunglasses I just bought in Maine. The place was giving out free ice cream, so we shopped. They were cheap, but still I forgot that Vaughn is getting teeth so now they're scratched.

Well, that's all the pics I have easily accessible right now. Tonight is our last night in Martha's Vineyard. Tomorrow we head to the airport to go home, which will be an interesting journey in and of itself. We have a flight booked for 9AM, but there is no chance we're making it since the earliest ferry doesn't leave here until 6AM. So, we're going to head to the airport and hope we can get on the next flight out. This could get interesting...we're really winging it.

But we feel good about it all working out just fine. I'll probably write one more wrap up post about the trip (and specifically how winging it with a six month old goes) with some additional pics, but that all depends on how long it takes us to get home safe and sound in Chicago.

Oak Bluffs on Dwellable