For the love of old windows... and old friends

For the love of old windows... and old friends

9.22.2019

I was in Newport for the weekend - which was lovely. 

It was such a special occasion celebrating one of my oldest friends. Although 11 years might actually not be that long, we have certainly done a whole lot of living in those 11 years. Learned a whole lot of lessons. Mostly good ones, which is nice.

The weekend was spent mostly outdoors which is my favorite place to spend time. So few pictures were taken that it is challenging to write a post about it - but I've found myself recently passing on past posts to others... and given that, any post is a good post. 

Slept At: Gilded Hotel

This place was aggressively quirky and cute with a super loud design decor. I tend to skew more towards traditional, New England looks but this was very bold - and wonderful. But the best part might be the hospitality. There was a great tea selection (I'm an old woman at heart) and peaceful little courtyard with a fountain. The homerun of it all was really the homemade chocolate chip cookies that magically showed up at the right time - even 1 am when we got home from the events. 

The next morning there was this thing called "small plate breakfast" which could be annoying - but was actually really wonderful. I've already emailed the hotel for the tomato salad recipe. It was delicious. Turns out if you put tasty food in very small plates people will love it. Even the super small diced watermelon.

Socialized At: New York Yacht Club, Harbour Court

The event was at the NYYC. From any of my research and all the signs, I know that phones are not permitted anywhere and cameras are not cool either. There is apparently a small loophole if you go outside and down the very steep hill. So that is what we did. 

I love a good house with history, plus a giant flagpole and sweeping views didn't hurt either. The passed appetizers were delightful. I absolutely consumed more than my fair share of deviled eggs and roasted golden beets. Would also like the recipe for those beets. 

Night Activities: Everywhere

One of the planning people wrote up a treasure map of sorts to keep everyone on track after the cocktail party. I honestly have no idea where we went all night mostly. All I know is that it was not too far, but far enough for my tender little feet in heels. They are highly accustomed to sneakers and Birkenstocks... not 3 inch heels on cobblestone streets. My how life has changed.

1. Perro Salado --> adorable patio area with even cuter lights. absolutely must go here.
2. The Fastnet --> Good amount of space plus there is darts... and the majority of the walls can be written on in chalk. Sounds fun right?
3. Buskers --> Standard Irish pub
4. Benjamins --> there are a lot of stairs to get to the great stuff - but there is this upper deck area that is wonderful. Go all the way to the tippy top. 

Morning Stuff: Assorted

I'm an early bird so I got in a lovely walk of the Newport streets before the actual brunch and the hotel brunch. Yes, I ate twice. The old houses are great in Newport but it is really the amazing older windows that I'm in love with. You simply cannot buy them like this anymore. 

The actual brunch was delicious. If I spent the entire last evening telling everyone about the roasted beets, I spent the morning talking about the kale and bacon quiche. It is by far the best quiche I have ever had. I have a renewed interest in figuring this out for my home life.  I do think the secret might be a lot of heavy cream. That's okay.

 

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22 hours on Martha's Vineyard

22 hours on Martha's Vineyard

7.12.2018

... otherwise known as when I held my brother and his girlfriend hostage... and made them do everything I wanted to do. But actually, it was a really great day. One of these days I'll have to actually stick around the island for more than 24 hours and relax more - but until then, I'm leading action packed adventure trips.

Similar to last year, we had a small hit list of things we wanted to try and do - but really added a whole bunch more this time. And just like last time I talked Hertz into giving us a beautiful new Jeep Wrangler for the price of a Nissan Versa. It was amazing.

Fast Start
After catching a midmorning boat to the island, we landed in Oak Bluffs. Even though our rental car was in Vineyard Haven, we capitalized on the hiccup by immediately riding the Flying Horses Carousel. The fun part of this Carousel is that everyone tries to get the brass ring. Although none of us got it, there were some valiant attempts. Then we hopped in an Uber to pick up our rental car in Vineyard Haven... and then lunch in Edgartown. It was admittedly a ridiculous idea to drive this route but we had been to R+B for lunch last year and it was a home run. I (still) had a BLT... and it was (still) great. Perhaps even better than last year.

Gay Head Light & Menemsha
It is hard to resist a trip to Gay Head light when on the island - especially when I have learned it is open to the public. After lunch we shot over to the other side of the island to enjoy the view. The top of Gay Head light is really unlike any other that I've been in. It was borderline spacious. I'm used to them being so hot, tiny, and crowded. The view was also quite incredible. Totally worth $6.

Since we were in the area, I convinced my hostages we should also look at Menemsha. I had prepared myself for a big challenge finding parking... and there was none. It wasn't until several hours later that I realized there was plenty of parking because it was a TUESDAY.

While we were walking around Menemsha I ran into this plein air painter I first saw 3 years ago in nearly the same exact spot. I hesitated on whether to say something to her but I introduced myself and told her I had taken her picture 3 years prior... and it was one of my favorite photos.

Evening Activities
During our last trip to the Vineyard we missed out on a trip to Felix Neck for a little birding. Felix Neck is a Mass Audubon property with trails and educational opportunities - but we were just in it for the trails. Our grand master plan was to order a pizza for takeout and while that was cooking away enjoy a nice walk at Felix Neck. Jake spotted three birds he hadn't seen before so that was a victory in my book.

We grabbed our pizza from Edgartown Pizza and took it over to Chappy for sunset. This might be one of the best ideas I've ever had - but we also totally lucked out. We caught the On Time Ferry across the harbor and found Chappy to be deserted - not a soul in the parking lots. So we took the pizza for Wasque Point and enjoyed it on a picnic table looking out onto the water. Pure heaven. We checked out another spot on the island over by Dike Road as well. Given the time of day, the island was just gorgeous with all the big field open space... plus we saw some big deer a couple times.

The last part of the day could be called "circling Edgartown for parking and finding nothing". Despite it being a Tuesday night ... and everything else on the island vacant and easy to access... downtown Edgartown was still BUMPING. The "kids" got ice cream and I stole bites of both options. There was a live concert happening on the fish pier that seemed planned and also neat... but I was getting tired. We closed out the night with a round of National Parks Monopoly and Hogan's Heroes VHS tapes. Yes, VHS tapes.

Morning Stuff
The best and worst part about traveling with me is that I am up early - and I've already done an adventure before you get up. In this case, my morning adventure switched up our breakfast plan from Vineyard Haven to Katama.  I missed sunrise at Edgartown Light but still enjoyed the easy walk out of there. It has been a lifetime since I was in Katama - and it speaks to me now more than it used to perhaps... especially on a week day. At 6 am the beach is deserted and just a light ocean fog rolling around. Heaven.

After picking up the hostages at the house, we grabbed breakfast at Right Fork Diner. The cool part of this place? It is right on a bi-plane airfield along the ocean. You can sit and eat bacon... and watch old planes take off.

Next time? I'd like to explore the Farm Institute in Katama and maybe spend more time just sitting at the beach. My current regret is that I didn't buy this dumb tanktop at a "cheap" t-shirt store in Edgartown. It was $19 ... and I didn't feel like I needed another tanktop. That is still the truth... but with all my free time from work I am crushing my current tanktop inventory. 

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10 hours on Martha's Vineyard

10 hours on Martha's Vineyard

7.30.2017

As a family we grew up spending many weekends on the Vineyard, so many trips to Felix Neck, Bunch of Grapes bookstore, Chilmark Chocolates, and other vintage gems. The Vineyard in the 90s feels different than the Vineyard now. And while I think that is true, it is also just a bit of a lie. All the same laid back, easy going, casual people are still there... they are just slightly hidden by the hoards of bachelorette parties.

Jake and I rather casually planned a last minute-ish trip down the Vineyard when we both had some time off. He's going away to college in like a month so I'm dying a bit inside and trying to trick him into spending as much time as possible with me. And just like I learned during our Seattle trip, he is a perfect travel partner. He listens to what you might be interested in doing and makes sure that you get to see it. We have the same taste in snacks (Cape Cod BBQ Chips) and stores to browse (anything outdoor-ish). He also doesn't say "up to you" when you ask for his opinion on which sweatpants to get. For the record, I went with "Chappy" sweatpants.

Here's how the longest, best day ever unfolded. We started with our favorite bagel breakfast at home before hitting the road. Despite trying to sweet talk my way into the "good" Steamship Authority parking lot, we had to drive to another one. I normally win with grandfather-types but this was a fail ... but that was legitimately the last piece of poor luck we had for the rest of the day. We made the ferry we wanted and got excellent parking spots for the rest of the day. A true Summer Vineyard victory.

All in it was a super long day... but also incredibly worth it. I can't guarantee that you'll see fireworks twice like we did - but maybe you'll get lucky and see them once. It certainly made waiting for the 9:30 return boat worth it... and getting into our car at 10:30 for the drive home.

Lunch & Chappy
I applaud people that can mentally handle a public bus system - but I am not one of them. So, we were absolutely renting a car. I reserved a tiny little Nissan Versa ... and with my Hertz status figured we would get an upgrade to something slightly better. But - the incredibly nice guy named Ron ... gave us a nearly brand new Jeep Wrangler instead. It absolutely made the day so much more fun.

The obvious choice after getting off one ferry ... is to get on another one. After we left arrived on the island, we quickly picked up our rental car in Vineyard Haven and grabbed lunch in Edgartown. We rather randomly ended up at R+B Eatery and it was pretty perfect. I had a BLT (obvi) and Jake had a burger. The guy we shared a table with thought we were locals - which was pretty flattering. Also, the pasta salad... totally worth it.

For years, it always felt like Chappy was a lot of work - but it turns out it really isn't. We just rolled up to the ferry and then proceeded to drive around Chappy for a couple hours. We hit up the Trustees spots in Wasque Point and Cape Pogue Wildlife Refuge. Initially, we were excited about spotting an osprey... and then literally saw like an osprey party at Cape Pogue.

Casual Afternoon

We had initially been thinking of going to Felix Neck - but very much forgot about that. I think seeing all the ospreys on Chappy really distracted us. So instead, we wandered Morning Glory Farms before heading into Edgartown. Those sunflowers? So amazing.

Edgartown will always been one of my favorite places. It's just so picturesque. Standing on the top of the pier offers such an incredible view of the harbor. You are an idiot if you don't make the tiny effort to check this out. Stores we wandered? Black Dog and Backwater.

Our parking good luck continued when we got a parking spot right near Edgartown Light. I've always loved this lighthouse but especially since I saw it for sunrise in 2015. But this was better than that. We walked to the lighthouse taking turns eating BBQ Cape Cod potato chips and chatting. Heaven. Second highlight? When Jake knocked on the lighthouse door and asked if anyone was home. I'm not sure why that is so funny but it was. Perhaps we just really needed pizza at this point.

 

Pizza and Sunset
I'd like to give us nearly a 10 for solid planning. We worked our way clockwise around the island during the day and called ahead hours in advance for our pizza from Wolf's Den Pizza. From the very beginning, we had planned to have a pizza dinner on the beach. Initially I was thinking about Gay Head but honestly we were too hungry - so we went to Menemsha Beach instead. I'm sure that we did this when we were kids too but I'll be sure to do this again. So easy to just pick up a pizza and head for a picture perfect sunset.

Another reason why Jake is a great travel partner? He patiently waits for me to take the picture I'm hoping for. These dumb kids were jumping all over the fish sculpture at Menemsha Beach and we just waited for them to stop throwing sand at each other. Since the early part of sunset was so cloudy, we figured it wasn't worth the wait... and we had a ferry to catch. But we were so wrong. The sky totally lit up. Thankfully, this happened as we were pulling into Vineyard Haven so we scooted over to West Chop to watch the end of the show.

[top] Cape Pogue dune grass
[1] ferry for the ride from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. We sat on the deck and bought used golf balls off Amazon.
[2, 4] Fog as Wasque Point. It didn't seem like there was fog anywhere else on the island but when we drove up to the beach it was enveloped in a heavy fog. Made everything a little bit more interesting.
[3] Osprey nest. I often see osprey nesting poles around but never with a nest as big as this one. It must be like two feet in depth? No osprey in sight but this was huge.
[5] Cape Pogue beach. Had to wait for all the families to get on the beach to take this shot... but it was worth it.
[6] Adorable "On-Time" ferry return ticket. Kind of wish we realized there was a map on the back before we were in line.
[7] Morning Glory Farm display
[8] Watching the Chappy ferry from the top of the Town Pier. One of my favorite views in Edgartown.
[9] Edgartown Light. There were bees everywhere on the wild flowers.
[10, 11] This is my favorite type of architecture. Old, with flags, and flowers. I'm going to need to learn how they get their hydrangeas so bountiful.
[12] It might look like we were alone but we absolutely were not. So many families all hanging out of the beach having picnics. Since we were so ill-prepared, we sat on the jetty.
[13] Menemsha Swordfish sculpture. Not sure this could be any more picturesque at sunset.
[14] Stumbled upon this killer West Chop view rather by accident. I'm pretty sure that it's actually some how a private little view point, but thankfully nobody said anything as we leapt out of the car for a quick picture.

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