Apple fritters for breakfast! But Amy can’t have sugar on an empty stomach,
it doesn’t agree with her – so she actually eats her leftover lobster and salad
for breakfast.. and then has her fritter as her breakfast dessert. Dana and I just have our fritters on the
paper bags that they came in – smoosh it down and instant plate.. but Patti has
hers on a “hard plate” – she’s staying in. Making a statement, taking a stand..
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| Patt's fritter on a hard plate... and her "really?" face... |
We’re trying to arrange our days by geographic regions –
even though the island is only 25 miles wide at the widest point and 9 miles
across at the widest point… we can easily travel back and forth across the
island, and we have – but we’re trying to be economical in our plans. Today’s plan is to head to the tip of the
island to Aquinnah (also called Gay Head – which.. hmmm.. really?).
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| You can see us north, Vineyard Haven - Aquinnah and Menemsha far west and Edgartown and Chappy far east... the length of the island only 25 miles |
It’s a nice clear day today and that’s what
you want to head up to the Aquinnah cliffs and light house. Also
in the area is Chilmark, and we want to do the chocolate place, and go by the
Chilmark library to see the Deaf history archives (but we’re not expecting
much). Menemsha is also in that area,
and we love going there because that’s where the fishing and lobster boats come
in – they pull up with their crates full of lobster, drop them off – and then
we can buy them, literally right off the boat.
I’ve looked up the library hours – and island life has
interesting hours. Thursday they’re open 2:30-6:30; Friday 10:30-1:30; Saturday 10:30-5:30… I have a feeling that it’s
like just one guy and he gets to make his own hours. We called down to the ice cream shop to see
when they closed… “around 10”.. oh yah, island life.
We’re heading to Aquinnah fairly early, and with the
library not open until 2:30… and we realize that Aquinnah isn’t going to take
that long and we’re not going to be ready for lunch while we’re near Menemsha..
AND we’re not going right back to the house after Chilmark, so getting
chocolate is probably not the best idea either.
So much for our day on this side of the island. But we do make it to Aquinnah – and it’s one
hour parking (it’s one hour parking in many places on the island) – Patti makes
us chuckle.. they think everything here only takes an hour.. I know that I can’t
make it funny for you dear reader. But
trust me, it was a big hit with everyone in the car. Aquinnah is just one little trail up to the
top of a hill that overlooks cliffs and the lighthouse – and the trail is lined
with about 3 shops and a few places to get some food. So really, it only takes us 30 minutes –
Sandy wants to sit in the car and get our full hour in. We earned it (and there is an officer marking
tires who reminded us when we parked that we only had an hour).
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| The view of the Gay Head cliffs at Aquinnah |
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| The strip of cute shops - proof that I was there too. |
With 25 minutes still left in our hour, we decide to head
to the other side of the island and check out the shops and restaurants in
Edgartown. I can’t stop saying it like “Eggar
suit” from Men in Black – he was wearin and Egger suit.. we’re heading to
Eggertown. Edgartown is the ritzy rich
part of the island (and that’s saying something). They also have the ferry over to
Chappaquiddick – or “Chappy” if you’re hip.
Amy has a rule that she follows when shopping, you don’t
cross the street – you go up one side of the street and then back down the
other side. But it’s tempting sometimes when
we’re done with a shop early, we go out and wait.. and if others are taking a little
more time in there, that shop that you really want to check out across the street
is calling to you. But that’s against
the rules. A lot of the T-shirts and
souvenir stuff is the same as in other parts of the island, but they have this
cute little book shop, and we love the painted stairs there. Sandy and Patti get into it and talk to the
shop owner about some reading suggestions – Patti actually ends up with some
socks that look like the old library cards instead of a book.
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| We want these stairs... |
There is a jewelry store on the island named CB Stark –
my middle name is Stark – so when we see one, it’s a little cool. Amy thinks we need to go in, even though I
have no interest in jewelry and especially pricey snobby jewelry.. the nice boy behind the counter asks if he
can help us find something, and I explain that we’re just here because my
middle name is Stark, so we thought this was a little cool. He chats us up and asks if we’re staying for
the weekend, and we say that we’re here for the week – and that we’re mooching
a house from Amy’s family. OH! He completely knows how that is… like oh my
god… his family has a 5 bedroom here in Edgartown, and they ALWAYS have family
coming in to stay and mooch at their house..
I told him that’s what he gets for having a 5 bedroom on the
island. J
The water front is really beautiful here – this is where
we rented the boat at the last time we were here and it overlooks the marina. The shops here have some pretty unique things –
stuff that really isn’t MV related and that we could find in other places or
online, but fun to look at. Like in one
shop I find a 5 year diary – it’s a line a day for 5 years. They list the day once, with 5 lines below
it, so you go through the book 5 times and each year you get to reflect on what
you were doing last year at this time. It’s like an old school TimeHop
app. I got one that is called “Jane a
day” – the same set up, but it has a quote from Jane Austin each day.
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| Taking a break at the Chappy ferry |
It’s lunch time – our bellies are grumbling.. there is a place we went last time, the
Seafood Shanty, and it was good – but we just saw The Net Result make a fish
delivery to the Shanty and we joke that shrimp we just got for $5 will be
$12.99 at this place, and so we feel weird about going there and having the
same fish we could have much cheaper somewhere else.. but after we walk around a 2 block area
checking out each menu – we end up back at the Shanty. And I’m REALLY happy that we did.
We order the mussels – big mess of them for only $13 and
they’re cooked in garlic and white wine.
YUMMY! I’d never really craved a
mussel, the ones I’d had were always in another dish or stew, not stand alone
and really not impressive next to the other seafood, but they’re Sandy’s
favorite and since she can’t eat them anymore, I give them another chance so
she can eat vicariously. They are really
good! Amy gets their massive lobster roll, Patti
gets their lobster CAKE (like a crab cake except lobster) and I get the lobster
quesadilla. All of it, SO good.
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| Massive lobster roll |
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| Mussels with garlic and white wine |
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| Lobster cake |
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| Lobster quessadilla |
But the best part of the lunch was the drink! A friend (John Ferrari shout out) had just
posted on his facebook that he’d tried Not Your Father’s Root Beer – an actual
beer that tastes just like root beer, and we had been talking about it. Well, it’s on the menu! I have to try it out – when it comes, it’s
more than just the bottle. It’s over
ice, with whip cream on top, the glass is full, but the bottle is still like 3
quarters of the way full! I thought I
had just ordered the beer – but this looks amazing – I look through the drink
menu and what I actually have is the Not your Father’s Root Beer FLOAT! It’s mixed with Stolli vanilla vodka and then
of course the whipped cream on top (when have you ever had whipped cream on
your beer) – it was SO good. But the amount
of beer left in the bottle was an indication of how much vodka was in the
glass. I kept drinking and refilling
with the bottle – that was one of the great parts of the drink, the glass kept
getting full again!
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| YUMMY! I will be recreating this... |
We walked back to the car, going to the shops on the
other side of the street – with one exception.
The art gallery hadn’t been open when we passed by it on the way down
and they had some art with sea glass (which Dana loves). It was really cool, it’s the shape of the
island made out of sea glass. Dana got a
magnet with the design on it. It's really cool...
Came home and chilled for a couple of hours again – kind of
our routine at this point, our siesta time, and then about 6:00 we walk down
for our double feature – it will be Inside Out at 6:30 and Spy at 9:00. They rotate movies on the island, instead of
something playing for a week, it may play for Mon and Wed in Vineyard Haven and
Tues and Thurs in Oak Bluffs – that’s because people often stay for a week at a
time, or even if they’re here longer, it lets the kids have something to do
through the week without seeing the same movie repeatedly. It’s the cutest little movie theater, you buy
your tickets outside, and that’s where the concessions are as well. The guy waves at all of us before he takes
our orders – it’s a little odd, but friendly.
We think that it was his first night or something because he seemed
nervous. The man who appears to be the
owner or at least the managers the guy wants to take care of us for the second
movie – but I’m not sure what that entails.
We had asked if we could go ahead and buy tickets for the second movie,
and he said yes, but the ticket girl said no.
It’s not that big of a deal, we just walk back outside and get tickets
again, it’s like 5 feet from the door, but after the first show we learned that
he was looking for us and already had our tickets ready for “the four ladies”. Sandy didn’t think she could sit for two
movies straight so she just came for Spy and had planned on shopping while we
watched Inside Out –but all the shops closed at 6. Vineyard Haven is kind of the “old folks”
part of the island – it’s not the hip and happening place for the kids to hang
out, so things close a little earlier in these parts.
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| You can see the ticket and concessions window outside - inside is just the theatre |
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| Ready for the movie! |
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| Second movie - Sandy has joined us! |
We loved Inside Out – I cried happy and sad tears.. Threatened
to use Patti’s jacket as a Kleenex, so she took it “to keep warm” (so she says…
but it is chilly). Between shows we find
Sandy, and we had about 30 minutes so we sat outside on the benches and
chatted, some got some ice cream (even though it was chilly) – some great
people watching on the island, and tons of cute puppies that make us miss our
girls at home.
After Spy (also very funny) we walk back and discover
just how very DARK it is on these tiny island streets at night. We’re all using our flashlight apps to get
home. Another great day on the Vineyard.
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