Miles Away

Sunday July 26th

(now with pictures!!)

Waking up at 7:45am this morning, I felt refreshed and excited for my day.  Jill and I had to get ready for our busy day and leave the Cove by 8:30am.  We were headed to falmouth to meet her aunt and uncle and go to Martha’s Vineyard. Since neither of us own a car, and we took a bus to the cape, that exactly what we needed to do to get to Falmouth (only about 20miles away from the Cove).

Our first leg of the journey was walking to the Hyannis bus deport, no problem its just as far as walking to downtown Hyannis (Which we did yesterday).  We brought with us our old sneakers (as you may recall, yesterday we bought some new shoes from the Rebock store). Why did we bring our old shoes with us? Because on our walk to downtown yesterday we noted the location of a shoes & clothing donation bin, so that we could donate our old shoes to charity.

shoe donation

They were still in good enough shape, where hopefully someone in need can use them. (Also mine had some kickass green laces). We got to the Bus depot at around 9am, bought some tickets and waited for the bus to Falmouth.  At 9:30am, the bus arrived, and we were on our way.  But oh no! the bus does not go all the way to Woods Hole ! (the port where the Boat leaves from).  So we’d be riding to the Falmouth Walmart, and catching a connecting trolley from there.

bus to falmouth

I find that bus rides always seem to be interesting, they have alot of negatives and positives.  Positive, along the route we passed a road called ‘Bacon ave’.  Negative, a man sat infront of us and he smelled of sweat and stale popcorn (not the best thing for the senses at 9:45am).  A big negative, was that at one point I was checking Twitter and found out that my friend Josh’s father had been involved in an accident on his bicycle and was killed.  I immediately e-mailed josh to extend mine and Jills condolences, and let him know that next time we participate in a bike ride (September the HUB on Wheels ride) We will be riding in his fathers honor.

We got to the Walmart, late.  it was 10:30am, and we needed to be at the ferry dock at 10:45 to catch the boat! Luckily the trolley was waiting for us, and barely followed the rules of the road to get us there in time.  We arrived at the dock on time, found Jill’s aunt and uncle but it turns out they could not find parking, so we had to stay on the shore and watch the boat to Marthas Vineyard take off without us.

With our plans now changed, we decided to take in the sites of Woods Hole, and walk around town.  Jill was excited because Her Aunt and Uncle brought their dog Mya with them, who was very excited to see Jill (But then, every dog is, and Jill is excited to see every dog). I was excited because we passed by a restaurant called ‘Quicks Hole’,.. well here’s a photo of the sign, lets see if you can tell which part excited me.

Lobster Tacos

Lobster Tacos! I never new such a thing existed.  The perfect pairing of New England & Mexican cuisine.  Unfortunately I didnt get a chance to try them. Where was I, oh right.  So Jill, her Aunt Vicki, Uncle Mike, Mya and I took a walk around town.  At one point there was a secluded beach.  We let Mya off the leach and watched her run around.

Mya in Water

She was very funny to watch, and we all had a great time. After walking around for about an hour, looking at the local flare we were all hungry. We decided to get some lunch at this seaside restaurant.  I got the Steamers, which were phenomenal. After lunch Jills Aunt and Uncle decided to take off.  It being only 12:30pm, and no bus due for about an hour Jill and I decided, why waste our trip and bought some tickets for the next Ferry to Marthas Vineyard (1:15pm). We were already there anyways, it was a beautiful day so why not.

I have not been to Marthas Vineyard since I was about 7 or 8 years old, and on the boar ride over I told Jill what I could remember.  All I could remember was the boat ride over to the island.  It was Gram, my sister kelly and myself.  I remember being young and looking out to the water and thinking, “what if a giant pirate skeleton comes out of the water and grabs the boat!? what will we do??”  and I believe I actually asked this question to Gram and she responded with a smile and told me what a creative mind I had.  As for being on the actual island I could not remember a thing.

Jill and I on the Ferry

When we arrived on the island, we had formulated a rough plan of what we wanted to do.  We walked about an 1/8 of a mile to Adventure rentals, and rented ourselves a moped.  Now lets get this out here now, neither Jill or myself had any experience on two wheeled transportation vehicles other than bicycles.  We were given a 20minute demo/ training and sent on our way.  During training we both took turns driving, but ultimately decided that only I would drive (I’m to heavy for Jill to balance).

ready to roll

We started out slowly, so that I could learn how to balance, and how to handle the moped. But our speed started to increase (up to the state max of 25mph) and we began having a fun time exploring the island.  We drove along the water, along the main street of Vine Haven (the town the boat docked at).

While I drove, Jill snapped some pictures of the road and scenery.

the road

a beach house

a cute couple

And then we decided to venture into the island, turning left, turning right, and before you know it getting lost.  We were not worried though, we’re on a island so how lost could we get.  So we smiled and laughed every time we ended up going down a dead end street and had the locals watching us turn around.  At around 3:15pm, I knew we’d need to find our way back shortly so that we got the rental back in time.

Lost, for now.

But we managed to get our barrings and find our way back to the main part of the town, and back to the renal place.  We then had an hour to kill until the Ferry back to the mainland, so we took the opportunity to visit the famous black dog Cafe, and heck out the rest of the shops on main street.  At 5pm, the ferry arrived and we returned back to Woods Hole.

right when we arrived back on shore, there was a trolley waiting and we took it back to the Falmouth Walmart, and from there took the bus (the last bus of the day I might add) back to Hyannis.  It being the last bus, and us being the only passages, when we arrived in Falmouth the driver asked us where we were going. When we said the Cove on rt 28, he said he could bring us right there (he had to drive that way to bring the bus to the overnight depot) We were really surprised.  We are used to Boston bus drivers, who are not the friendliest people in the world, and we made sure to tell this driver how thankful we were (I was not looking forward to walking amile back from the hyannis depot).

When we got back to the Cove from our exciting day out, we rested for a bit, and ate some dinner.  I then took Jill on an annual trip of mine. I’m not sure exactly when I started doing it, but every year I walk all the major hallways of the Cove, from front to back bottom floor and top. I always found it claiming, a bit of simple exploration to remind myself how much this place means to me (BTW this walk has to be done in socks, no shoes).  I was glad to be able to shaare this moment with Jill, and around every corner I filled her in with what used to be located here and there, and stories of fun I’ve had.

It was another great day in the Cape, 3 for 3 so far and tomorrow should be the same (even if we’re supposed to have thunderstorms, we’ve got a plan to watch some movies and go bowling).

<< Go To Part 2