Jane Travels- Martha's Vineyard

Hi readers,

While I wish I was still on the vacation that I just returned home from, I am happy to be back, sharing with you some musings from my favorite place on earth, the Vineyard. If Bahamas and Halifax had sex and produced a love child, it would be Martha’s vineyard. Part Caribbean island living, part east coast hospitality with just enough Americana to remind you that you are neither in the Caribbean or Canada, MV is a totally cray vaca.

Sorry, to clarify, when I say cray, I don’t mean that we were acting cray- if there is a nightlife on the island after the summer months, I have yet to see it- also, we don’t leave our home away from home- but I digress.

MV is like the Hamptons of Boston- everything on the island is amazing, expensive and well manicured and during the summer it is bumpin with senators and vacationers alike. In fact, only 50-90,000 people reside on the island full time/ from coast to coast it is a 45 minute drive and the beaches that surround it all, like everything else, are fucking amazing.

A quick island tour;

The main ferry port takes you to Vineyard Haven. Name. accurate. Or better yet, Vineyard heaven. Here is the only main “chain” grocery store and a bevy of shops and little homeware places, a gallery owned by Carly Simon’s brother, a bazillion boutiques that put Anthropology to shame, a store that had the best balsamic vinegar I have ever had- seriously, I was drinking this shit in a cup. Moving East, you get to Oaks Bluffs. So, in MV, a lot of the areas are “dry” meaning that there is no booze to be found. Oak Bluffs, by contrast is wet making it A. somewhere we went often and B. more touristy. OB boasts North Americas oldest carousel, a lot of shops that sell Jaws stuff (Jaws was primarily shot in MV making MV Amnity Island, in essence) and some really beautiful old houses. Moving South East you get to Edgartown, the yuppie area of the Vineyard. You can tell. The houses here vary only in being either Classic American or Dutch mansions. Seriously, I would live in some of these houses garages and be happy. Majority of residents here curiously drive Mini Coopers. This is a true white, Waspy area. The stores are boutiquey and it is bustling with tourists. Oh, and you  can buy booze here too and unlike the booze store in OB, this one doesn't not smell like cat vomit. From Etown, you can take a 2 second ferry over to Chappaquiddick aka where Kennedy killed a hooker. If you make your way now West across State road you will pass all these yummy bakeries, restaurants, places to buy Alpaca wool, farms, and artisan galleries until you reach Chilmark. This was our home for the week. Chilmark is... Well... Chill. It is way more cottagey and rustic and gorgeous plus, the Gylenhalls live there. Enough said. Further West and North is Aqquina home to the Gay Head cliffs- we did a lot of Gay head on that trip. Stop it. You are immature.
Finally circling back toward vineyard haven from the other side is Menemsha.

That’s the island, in summation.
Now here is what we did on it.

Eat a boatload of seafood- pun intended.
Seafood that actually has come right out of the water and is in your pan a few hours later cannot be matched. You can actually taste the sea-ness of it all which, if you like seafood is a good thing- if you don’t I guess it would be like, the grossest thing you could ever eat. The specialties on the island are full fat and friggin amazeballs. Lobster rolls- oh hi totally fresh, just peeled lobster mixed with green onion and mayo on a buttery hot roll, I will eat the shit out of you. Clam Chowder- oh hi delicious cream soup with chunks of fresh clams and potatoes, yup, I will eat you too. Lobster bisque- oh, oh hey same as clam chowder but red and filled with lobster chunks, you can hop into my belly too. Those coupled with daily fresh oysters, shrimp, scallops, fish and squid made up the 99 percent of what I ate. Sure, I gained 5 pounds easily in 5 days. It was worth it.

Walked around the gorgeous natural scenery.
Every inch of this island is pretty. Like you can be walking by a ditch lined with porta potties on route to the beach, and it is pretty. We walked the beach, the Gay Head cliffs, all the towns, 2 arboretums, a farmers market and biked through E-town and Chappy.

Drink wine and laugh a LOT.
My husband and I have been to the vineyard alone before back when we got engaged and it was wicked, as was the day we had before our friends arrived from NYC to spend the weekend with us in MV. I love alone time with him- it is romantic and nice and a great way to just be together- but time with our besties in the best place on earth is priceless. I laughed for 3 days straight. We drank enough wine that I could go wine free for a few months, and talked so much that I am all out of what to say now.

Unplugged- more on this to come but this was one of the highlights.

Swam in the ocean.
Heck ya it was warm enough to swim. The water was cold but the sun was shining and there is nothing as splendid as savoring those last moments of summer in late September in the ocean.

Overall, this was actually one of the best vacations of my life. It didn’t have to be super exotic or action packed or even hot and beachy all the time which goes to show that great company is really the spice of life.

Cheers to the end of the summer and to a new annual tradition of saying goodbye to summer in MV. YOMVO (if you aren't lucky)

Xo,
J