Day 7: 9/13/14

Linda thought the bath house was quaint.
(I believe it means old)

This morning the weatherman is calling for rain late in the day so we packed everything back into the van so we wouldn't have a wet muddy screen room.  The shuttle from the campgrounds drove us down to the ferry for Martha’s Vineyard.   The ferry departs Woods Hole and arrives in Vineyard Haven.  The ride is about 45 minutes.  The trip was comfortable with blue skies and a wind of about 15 MPH. 

Dockside at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution

Research Vessel "Discovery"

Travel tips for Martha’s Vineyard:

1 Don’t arrive on a Saturday!

2 When you do arrive, go find a coffee house and get a cup of coffee and wait until the third bus shows up at the bus stop.

3 Don’t go when the Tivoli Festival is going on!

4 Try walking some of the back streets where there is peace and quiet.

5 You really need a couple of days to do it justice.

Ok, here the skinny…We arrive in Vineyard Haven on Saturday morning around 11:30 AM.  The ferry ride was great.  When we arrived at the terminal there were city buses and smaller buses to take you to where ever you need to go. But there is no ticket booth for bus tickets.  You have to find the lady riding on a hover-round and buy tickets from her.  Then when the bus arrives be ready for a massive stampede with people cutting in front of the line to get on-board. Then when you put your bus ticket in the machine wrong expect to be growled at by the driver.  By now I have a headache and Linda said "Sorry, I made a mistake wanting to come here."

We were saved by a young lady who rode the shuttle with us and she guided us along until we reached Oak Bluff.  I’m expecting a quiet little seaside village and the street is packed with tourist.  Today is “Tivoli Day”.  It is the celebration of the end of summer. There are vendors up and down Circuit Street with everything a tourist could want to buy and eat and eat and eat.

We had lunch at the famous Nancy’s Restaurant next to the harbor.  $12.95 for a Codfish sandwich.  But it was a good.  After lunch we watched the goings on in the harbor.

The Wesley Hotel 

Then we strolled to the next street back from the waterfront and found a beautiful village of gingerbread homes in a quiet neighborhood.

 We finally found the bus stop for Vineyard Heaven and traveled back to the ferry terminal.  After watching the boats in the harbor we took a walk uptown and saw the many shops.  This is what I expected MV to be.

 

The "Island Home" our ferry to Martha's Vineyard

 

"Grace"

Vineyard Haven

Vineyard Haven

Woods Hole

Our shuttle driver said Martha’s Vineyard was a rather quiet refuge for the wealthy until President Clinton and family started to vacation there.  Then it seemed it became to open to the whole world.

Back at camp we just got everything set up and we felt the first few drops or rain.  We quickly packed it all away and made a beeline for Burger King.