Bikes, Kites, Beaches and Beers - Martha's Vineyard Sep 2011

Michael and Marguerite Snr continued their trip to America by joining Jude and Marguerite Jnr on a 3 day holiday on Martha's Vineyard. Nice.

So they were up bright and breezy and caught the 'T' to South Station to get the bus.

'Here Daddy, don't we just love black and white stripes so much?' asked Marguerite. 'Yes dear, we do, they're fantastic altogether', replied Michael.

Things got a bit scary when going over the Sagamore bridge (leading to Cape Cod) but the views were class.

In Woods Hole Marguerite Snr & Jnr are gabbling away to each other goodo, meanwhile Michael is either catching a few rays or he's meditating..... it's hard to tell.

'We're all going on a summer holiday.......no more working for week or two.......fun and laughter on our summer holiday............

The ferry trip from Woods Hole on Cape Cod to Marthas Vineyard is really beautiful, especially on a lovely day like today.

'Hey look, I can see land.......is that.......is that......Martha's Vineyard? asks Marguerite as she uses Michael super cool binoculars.

'Hey these binoculars are sick, wha? replied Jude.

Much to everyone's amusement Jude kept pulling mad weird faces when using the binoculars ........like as if he was smiling and squinting at the same time.

'It's windy up front, isn't it'?

'Wha?'

'I say it's very windy up here in the front row'.

'Wha?'

'IT'S WINDY, I say windy, W-I-N-D-Y, windy, it's bloody windy up here'.

'You can say that again'.



After arriving on Martha's Vineyard the gang made their way to their hotel in Oak Bluffs. It was called the Pequot Hotel and very charming it was too. Upon entering you are met with this nice wee sign reading: 'Enter as strangers Leave as friends'.

Marguerite quickly got settled in on the decking area of the Pequot Hotel......

.....as did Jude. Here he is studying his map as he puts the finishing touches to the plans. Melter!!

A quick change for Marguerite and before long everyone was ready to head out for the day. Firstly Marguerite had to go fetch the beach chairs from the hotel reception.










Jude's mucker Nancy (IIIC) had recommended visiting a wee seaside village called Menemsha to nab some nice seafood and relax on the beach to watch the sunset. So that's exactly what the gang did. With Marguerite Snr & Jnr away to grab a spot on the beach it was left to Michael and Jude to bring home the dinner. This first spot was shut but open at the same time. Well Jude walked in but there was no-one there, so rather than cook their own food here.......

........they decided to go here instead. Now this was a fun place. The man that owned it had obviously copped an unfortunate one with a very large fish hook at some point as one of his hands looked like.......eh...like one of those utensils ye'd use to lift Spaghetti. Nice bloke though!! He was very concerned about folk leaving before buying anything so he would call ye back, 'hey, come back here, try our chowder, try our mussels', he would shout. Poor folk would feel uncomfortable and come back in and...eh...buy his chowder and his mussels!!! As they say in Ballygalget, 'Here, there's no flies on yer man'.

Soon enough the gang were parked up in their little beach chairs and they had about 45 mins to spare before the sunset. Jude had researched the sunset times (he's sad) and had told everyone it set at 6.15pm so they planned their arrival at the beach to coincide with that. Well it was now 6.30pm and it was still up.....maybe Jude checked the sunset times for some spot an hour out into the Atlantic......Iceland perhaps!

'Wha? 45 minutes early, sure that's even better as it allows us loads of time to scoff these yummy Lobster rolls, mussels and Oysters', said Jude.

'Here Jude, you're not very good at researching sunset times are ye, but the seats are cool, I'll give you that one, the seats are definitely cool', said Marguerite Snr as she and Michael tee-heed to themselves.

'Aye, these seats are magic too, these ones have no legs, so you can sit and lay on the sand at the same time, it's unreal.......they're eh........as Dee in Belfast would say..... they're smashing', said Jude.










'Eh.... we opted for the higher chairs Jude, we don't like getting our legs sandy, nor our feet sandy, so we keep our shoes on too when on the beach .....see that's why we've the higher seats', replied Michael.

It was now 6.45pm and slightly cooler but the water remained perfectly warm, just perfect for Jude to have a moment to himself and go for a paddle and a bit of stone skimming.

Enjoying the beach.

'Hey Jude look, the sun is setting, quick take my pic, it's going away, quick, hurry', Marguerite said. 'Aye yer close Marguerite .........maybe another 10 minutes will do it, sit yerself down there and have a wee glass of Red', replied Jude.









'Ehh........ok then', replied Marguerite.








Then on a quick trip to the bogs Marguerite Snr realised her worst nightmare, she got asked to take a pic for this family. The thought of being asked to do such a thing fills Marguerite with horror. 'Why did they bloody ask me for? she was heard mumbling. Anyway with her nerves wrecked she tried to master this wee camera and get a pic......and after 14 takes and a lot of patience (and mumbling) she nailed the pic.

Family portrait - take 1.













Oh yeah, the sunset, here we go.

By this stage the beach at Menemsha was beautiful. Lots of people come here to do this same thing every day and it was clear to see why. Maybe this was one of those, 'ye had to be there' moments but the sunset at Menemsha was cool to experience. Here the two Marguerites relax on the sand.

Michael's camera will have a pic of Jude taking Marguerite's pic, taking Jude's pic......oh this is confusing......who's taking who's pic.


Do you remember in the last post there was a scene in Times Square..............







........of Michael jumping up and down. Well Marguerite Jnr's big idea tonight was to capture a similar pic pic of her and her Da jumping in the air with the sun setting behind.

Well.........

.......they tried their best, they did, but did they master the jump? Well you judge for yourself.

'To jump, ye need to lift yer feet, what are you doing........jump.........

..........this is the worst ever, jump properly, this is unbelievable', shouted Jude.

Family portrait - take 2.

'Whaaasssssuuuupppp?'













Nice.

Michael 'the magician' holds the sun in his hand.

As does Marguerite.

Sunset at Menemsha, Martha's Vineyard 13 Sep 2011.

And moments later, the view from the harbour.

After a quick scoot back to Oak Bluffs the gang parked themselves in this wee spot for a beer or two......

.....before heading home.

Here are Michael and Marguerite relaxing on the decking area of the hotel after breakfast the following morning.

'Get well stocked up on breakfast folks, you're gonna need plenty of energy today, I say we're going to be burning calories today', mumbled Jude.

Today the gang cycled from Oak Bluffs to Edgartown. Here's Michael at the start thinking to himself, 'naaiy, that's half a mile done, only another 14 and a half to go'.

Pitstop on the bridge for Marguerite Snr & Jnr.

Another pitstop for a wee pic with Da.......

......and one with Ma too.

Speed merchant.

'Here is that log strong enough to hold us?' asked Michael. 'Sure pile on and we'll find out', replied Marguerite Jnr.

The countryside was beautiful on this cycle route but before you could say 'I'd love an ice cream', the gang had arrived in Edgartown..........

......and bagged themselves a poke each!!

Jude felt sorry for the ducks and so he fed them his ice cream cone.

'Hey Michael, let's go buy a kite, wha?'

'Aye Jude, dead on'.











Edgartown harbour area............cool.

Folk may recognise parts of Edgartown. Why? Well because all the scenes in the classic film Jaws were filmed here in this town.








'Hey Michael, here I got us this class Kite, here look it's magic, sure I'll have a go at putting it together', said Jude. 'Where will we fly it?' asked Michael

'Chappaquiddick............that's where. We'll get the wee ferry over there and fly the kite on the beach, it's sure to be windy because it's a wee island so it'll be perfect', replied Jude.

Unbelievably Michael forgot his belt today, so while Marguerite is looking for a nice spot on Chappaquiddick, he is looking for bailer twine!! Seriously, you couldn't make this up.

'Naaiy, how does this darn kite thingy work.....













.......I haven't did this since I were a wee lad and that's a long time ago', mumbled Jude.

'Get up there ye blighter', he rambled on.

'Go on ye good ting ye..............

.............I say go on ye good ting ye'. Eventually he mastered it.

And then after he had did all the hard work Marguerite took over.

'Here Marguerite, have ye seen any bailer twine anywhere?' asked Michael.

Marguerite Snr expertly shows how it's done.

The best kite in the world it was too!!

'Ok, please take a picture of me now Jude', says Marguerite.

This beach was narrow but it had nice soft sand and lovely warm water for dandering in.........

.......and lovely wee spots for resting on.

Michael is done out after spending the last hour looking for bailer twine and hoaking the kite line out of the bushes any time it fell to the ground. Amazingly he found some twine and hooked it around his breeks as a belt, like a farmer would (spot the leftover twine laying between Michael and Jude's shoes).

Wha?

Leaving Chappaquiddick on the wee Chappy ferry.

Everyone is all smiles because they have just got fed and watered in Edgartown.

'Naaiy, let's go for a dander down here and maybe a wee nosey in a wee shapp or two', says Michael.

Ok, spot the difference between this pic and the next one.

Can you see the difference?


Marguerite has just bagged a bargain and nabbed a cool new t-shirt!!

Here are the gang as they make their way back to Oak Bluffs.

Speed merchants!!













Oak bluffs is called......................Oak Bluffs. Simple.

For 3 days (and 3 weeks before) Marguerite Snr, Jnr and Michael referred to Oak Bluffs as Oaks Bluff which is nice but it's not the name of the town. That's ok once, maybe twice, but 'umpteen' times later it can be mildly irritating for a stickler like Jude. 'It's Oak Bluffs, O-A-K Oak B-L-U-F-F-S Bluffs, Oak Bluffs', he'd say. Now who's the bigger melter here, the folk who can't say the name right or the edjit who is bugged by it? It's debatable.

In Oak Bluffs a quick visit was made to the famous 'Gingerbread Houses'. Fascinating things these were too. They were originally built and occupied by a Methodist religious group who formed their own wee village here. The houses are class, very detailed and each one uniquely artistically designed.






Here is Marguerite on the doorstep of this cool wee spot.......

.....and then she parked herself in a seat on the balcony. 'Here get outta there that's someone front porch', said Michael.

Anderson's Bike Rentals in Oak Bluffs......magic!

Check out the kite wrapped up there again for future use.

'Hey Jude, do you like our new car?' asks Marguerite Snr. This old VW Beetle was part of the decor in this garden. Class!

The architecture in Martha's Vineyard is really class. Not just the Gingerbread houses, each house had it's own unique style, nothing was the same, brilliant really. This is just one example.

After a busy day Marguerite relaxes in the garden at the hotel.

But the day's adventures were not over yet?

'Here, where are ye lot going with the beach seats?'

To the beach of course!!!!

So Marguerite Snr & Jnr went to get pizza......

(Eh.......what's the kite doing in the bag? The gang must have been expecting wind this evening).

........while Jude and Michael popped open a bottle of wine. They polished off their wee holiday by watching a spectacular moonrise. Yes moonrise, as opposed to a sunset. It was really magic but naturally it was harder to get a good pic of this because of the difference in the lighting, i.e. it was darker, duh!!!

Remember the sign. Enter as strangers leave as friends. Well that was very apt for the Pequot Hotel as everyone had a great time and were sad to leave.

Bye-bye from a brilliant adventure on Martha's Vineyard.