Wasque Point beach, Chappaquiddick Island

 

It’s another non Airstream adventure. I’m contemplating renaming this site to Amy & Greg’s Adventures and Musings. Anyhoo, our friends Mike and Kathy summer on (on, not in!) Martha’s Vineyard and invited us out. It was a real eye opener. We haven’t been on the East Coast in decades. It couldn’t be more different than the West Coast. It’s easy to understand why Martha’s Vineyard is so famous. It’s a beautiful island with a lot history.

You learn so little in high school regarding US history. Maybe the Massachusetts kids learned this, but I had no idea the island has a long progressive history. It has been a historic haven for Black Americans, especially Oak Bluffs, Mike and Kathy’s town, beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was one of the few places where Black families could freely buy property, build wealth, and vacation without segregation.

I asked Mike the obvious question, where’s the vineyards? His response was there aren’t any. Then he told me the island was named Martha’s Vineyard in 1602 by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, after his daughter Martha. The exploration found an abundance of wild grape vines growing along the coast.

Of course, like all of America, there was already an indigenous group living there, the Wampanoag tribe. They have inhabited the island for thousands of years! Approximately 300 of them still live on the island.

The dynamics of tourist towns fascinate me. The town and surrounding area are always beautiful, that’s why tourists flock to them. But they are so busy during “the season” that it distracts from the experience. Then there’s always a segment of the locals that loath the tourists. Apparently they don’t understand that the tourists are bringing all the money into town. Lucky for us we just missed the height of the busy season. There isn’t a stop light on the entire island, so we did see some traffic jams at a few of the crazy intersections.  Jimmy Buffett has a classic song about living in a tourist town, When the Coast is Clear.

 

We took the red eye to Boston Logan International Airport which wasn’t fun. Then we jumped on a little eight seat Cessna 402 for a 30 minute flight to Martha’s which was a blast!

A great view of Boston.

We’re on the Vineyard!

A community since 1835. This is where Mike and Kathy’s cottage is located.

Amelia and Kathy in front of their cottage. She’s been staying there since she was six years old!

The history of their cottage. It was built in 1868! From 1971-1993 Kathy’s grandparents, James and Marion Thorp, owned it.

Old license plates that belonged to Kathy’s dad.

This gives you a feel of the neighborhood. There are a little over 300 cottages. If privacy is what you seek, this is not your place. The first picture is Mike and Kathy’s cottage. There’s a path that runs through the neighborhood. Tourists are constantly walking by taking photos. I got a kick out of sitting on the porch, acting like the owner and greeting all of them.

 

Hydrangea flowers galore

The Tabernacle on Martha’s Vineyard. A majestic, open-air wrought iron building built in 1879. It’s around two hundred yards from their cottage and where we saw the Indigo Girls on our final night.

 

Our generous hosts really rolled out the red carpet for us. Beach on our first afternoon, three mountain bike rides, a car tour up island, marvelous home cooked meals, dinner at a swanky restaurant, Atria, and the Indigo Girls concert!

 

The path to the beach and Amelia looking out on the Nantucket Sound.

 

Mike and Kathy on ferry to from Edgartown to Chappaquiddick. The distance is 527 feet and only takes about three minutes!

Looking back on Edgartown.

Cape Pogue

Chappaquiddick, or as the locals call it Chappy, was an easy but fascinating ride.

 

Ticks are a thing, granted we have them in San Diego, but it’s serious shit out here.

Mike is standing at the site of the Chappaquiddick Incident. In July of 1969 Mary Jo Kopechne died inside the car driven by Senator Ted Kennedy after he accidentally drove off the bridge. Back then there were no safety railings on the bridge.

There is no official plaque honoring Mary Jo. Only the RIP buoy and an old hand engraved piece of plywood attached to a piling. It was quite sad.

We packed sandwiches and had lunch at a bench overlooking Wasque Point beach. That’s Kathy and Amelia heading back after checking out the shore break.

The terrain we were riding had a different sensation than the areas we typically ride. It was nice when we got to the open space…there might have been some claustrophobic moments.

One day we got to experience that famous East Coast humidity. Wow! It was really something.

The movie Jaws was filmed on Martha’s and 51 years later it’s still a big deal. There’s tours on the island that take you to all the filming locations. In the movie this is the location of Police Chief Brody’s house. It has undergone an extensive remodel and you can rent it for $15,000 a week!

No caption needed

On our up island tour we stopped at Larsen’s Fish Market in Menemsha for lobster rolls.

Doing the tourist thing at Gay Head Lighthouse.

I was surprised at all the turkeys on the island.

Not surprised at all about the gaggle Canada geese.

On our last ride we rode by a beautiful pond full of lily pads.

The high life! One of the best things about our visit to their cottage was the outdoor shower. It was heaven.

Toby the cat living the high life.

Friday night was glorious!

The encapsulating morning photo.

 

We had a lot of laughs. The biggest ones were regarding the pickle party we were all invited to. Saturday morning Kathy got the text. The party was to be that evening before the Indigo Girls concert. None of us had ever been to a pickle party. It was intriguing and sounded fun. Their community is very social and always doing things at the spur of the moment. Mike and Kathy figured it was just another excuse for a party. And Kathy said not to worry, she had a jar of Famous Dave’s hot & spicy pickles in the refrigerator.

On our bike ride we all started bantering back and forth about pickles and the party: being in a pickle, playing pickle ball, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles. Amelia was hoping there would be fried pickles. Then came the talk of what kind of party is it really? Someone brought up pickles and orifices (not me!). One thing was for sure we couldn’t wait to see what the hell this pickle party was all about.

Before the party Kathy busted out a cute little serving dish and a small fork and filled it up with pickles. Then she went to the trouble of creating a little display sign to put next to the pickles.

We were ready to go! We walked across the path and the grassy median being careful not to trip over all the roots, then in between the yards and into the pickle party house through the backdoor.

Folks were gathered around the island in the kitchen. We had the only pickles! All kinds of hors d’oeuvres were spread out on the counter. And no pickles!

The host said, “Did you think this was a pickle party?”

Kathy responded, “Yes that’s what your text said.”

“Oh! That damn auto-correct. This is a pickees party.”

The four of us looked at each other and laughed. We didn’t say it out loud but we were thinking WTF is a pickees party?

Like usual, I was the first to leave the party. The other three quickly followed. None of us had heard the expression pickees party before. Strange. I just might have to call into NPR’s A Way with Words one day and found out where this lady picked up that slang.

 

Here’s my musing: The thing about living on an island is, you’re on an island.

 

P.S. Today was the day we were going to begin our three day/two night Grand Canyon North Rim to South Rim hike with our friends Needles and Marlene. The Chinese hoax struck again. On Saturday August 29th, a significant flash-flood event occurred in the Grand Canyon. The damage was devastating. It would’ve been scary as hell if we would’ve been caught up in that. We lucked out this time.

 

Rest in Peace Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem