MARTHA'S VINEYARD

Our last day on Cape Cod was spent on Martha's Vineyard. The Vineyard is located south of Cape Cod and is only accessible by water or air.  We ferried over and decided to spend the day. Mr. W and I had visited the Vineyard twice before.  Our friends wanted to do a van tour, so Mr. W booked the tour.  It was suppose to be in a high top 15 person van.  He verified it with the lady who owned the company.  However, when we arrived, the tour guide told us that their van was broken and we were squeezed into a 10 person van with 12 people. Not good.

The Vineyard is mainly a summer colony for the rich and famous. The cost of living is about 60% higher than the rest of the country and the people make about 30% less. Needless to say, more and more of the "working" people on the island are moving off the island. Our tour guide said that one of the celebrities who owns a home there had gone to order some groceries and when the grocer found out the address of where to deliver, told her that she had misquoted the price.  The grocer raised the price 50% higher. There were a lot of name dropping and a big run down of who's who on Martha's Vineyard which really left a bad taste in my mouth.

Martha's Vineyard was known as one of the earliest deaf colonies in the US.  It had its own sign language, Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, and remained as a deaf colony for almost 200 years. Actually, most of the deaf on the Vineyard were deaf by hereditary.  As tourism increased and more people moved to the island, deafness started diminishing with the intermarrying. The last deaf person, who was deaf by hereditary, died in 1952.

The island received international notoriety after the "Chappaquiddick incident" of July 18, 1969, in which Mary Jo Kopechne was killed in a car driven off the Dike Bridge by U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy. The bridge crossed Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island (a smaller island formerly connected to the Vineyard and part of Edgartown). As a foot bridge, it was intended for people on foot and bicycles, as well as the occasional emergency vehicle when conditions warranted. Currently, 4×4 vehicles with passes are allowed to cross the reconstructed bridge.

John Belushi is buried there. In 1999, a small private airplane crashed right off the coast of Martha's Vineyard killing John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and her sister. Barak Obama just bought a home there. Ted Danson lives there and drives an old jeep around the island. David Letterman, Meg Ryan, Mike Wallace, and Diane Sawyer are just a few celebrities that own summer homes on the Vineyard.

After we returned to our pick up point, we talked with the tour company owner and she agreed to refund some of our money.  She did the right thing. 

We had lunch at a great restaurant and did some shopping.  Some of us wanted ice cream after lunch and then it was time to take the ferry back.  Not sure if I will ever go back to Martha's Vineyard.  It was a great day with great weather.

While in Cape Cod, we stayed at Scusset Beach State Reservation, which is like a state park in Texas. It was beautiful. It has all asphalted sites and beautiful trees.  It was not on the beach but just a short walk to the beach.  It was on the bay and many people would take their chairs down to the bay and sit and watch the boats coming and going. It has 50 amp electricity and water, no sewer. The people that work there are really nice. I would definitely stay there again.

AMERICAN HISTORY AND BOSTON

Anyone out there who LOVES American history, please raise your hand.  Mine is raised so high I can almost touch the ceiling. I love anything that has to do with America and especially our history as a nation.  So, where else could I go on this trip to get a heaping helping of history but Boston.

We had already been told to not plan on going into Boston on a weekday.  The weather was suppose to be great on Saturday so we planned a trip into Boston.  I have been to Boston before and walked the Freedom Trail both times before.  It was awesome and they have a map to show you where all the historic sites are on the trail and either some history about the site on the map or you can find out the history of the site at the site.  Did that just make sense?

The other 2 couples we are traveling with are some what older than we are and have numerous health issues, so both are very limited in what kind of physical activity they can do. So, even though Mr. W and I would have loved to walk the Freedom Trail again, we settled for a hop on/hop off trolley ride.

We actually got a really good tour driver. He told you right from the start to turn off your cell phones. He would not allow you to talk on your cell phone. He also would not allow you to talk amongst yourselves unless it was a short whisper.  He called a couple of people down for not following those directions.  But as it turned out, I was glad he did. He gave us a lot of good information and it was really easy to hear him since no one else was talking. If you didn't like his rules, you could get off his trolley and wait for the next one which was about 5 minutes behind us.

We did the entire tour and then decided to get off at Faneuil Hall.  There is a big market place there and lots of food vendors.  We ate lunch and then went into the Hall to take a look.  This Hall is often called the Cradle of Liberty. Faneuil Hall hosted America’s first town meeting and played an influential role in the politics of the American Revolution. It is the site of many speeches by Samuel Adams and James Otis, among others, who encouraged independence from Great Britain. It was also the place where Americans first protested the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and later the Townshend Acts and Tea Acts, following the idea of “no taxation without representation.” An interesting fact, there is a grasshopper on the weather vane on top of the building.  During the Revolutionary times, the king's spies would try to infiltrate and learn which colonials were leading the revolt.  When someone new tried to come into the fold, the colonials would ask them what was on the weather vane on top of Faneuil Hall.  Most people would think it was a chicken or a bird or a horse.  However, only those who were true colonials knew it was a grasshopper.  

After Faneuil Hall, we walked several blocks and went through the cemetery where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Paine are buried. All were signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Just as a side note, Benjamin Franklin's parents are buried there too. I love these really old cemeteries. The headstones are wearing away and the dates are back to the 1700s. Some of the epitaphs are written in old English and some you wish you knew the story behind.

After leaving the cemetery, we walked through a garden and went to the trolley stop to ride one stop to where our car was parked.  We got on and there were 2 small children that were screaming and crying and fighting. They were also hanging out the window in the back.  Their parents ignored them and did nothing.  I never can quite wrap my head around that.  Anyway, no one in the back around those children could hear a thing the driver was saying.  It made me appreciate our driver.  Fortunately, one stop and we were off.  

It never fails when I see statues of those Patriots and hear the stories of what they put on the line to make our country free, it makes me want to stop at a flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the Star Spangled Banner.  I'm not sure there would ever be that kind of selflessness again in a generation of men or women.  Thank God these people were.

Neat bridge

Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall

The old is mixed in with the new

CAPE COD AND FOREVER FRIEND

My last visit to Cape Cod was 1999.  Son played baseball in the Cape Cod League.  He was assigned to a couple that had never hosted a baseball player before.  He arrived at their home on his 21st birthday and because she wanted to make it special, Lisa (host Mom) made him a special dinner.  Little did she know that the dessert she made, cheesecake, was his favorite and she won his heart that first night.Well, 20 years later, we are back on the Cape.

The Cape is within driving distance of Boston and so it is a great getaway place for Bostonians. Also, there are a lot of Cape residents that work in Boston. The traffic was crowded on weekends 20 years ago.  But, the traffic is now crowded all the time and comes to a grid lock during commuting hours and weekends.  An example, we had to travel 12 miles and it took us 45 minutes and that was going in the opposite direction of the "traffic".

However, the Cape is a very quaint place.  It is divided into several different towns and each town consists of several villages.  A lot of the homes were built in the 1600 and 1700s.  The Cape has many, many rules and laws that require residents to maintain the outside of their homes to keep them looking as original as possible.  Most people have gone in and done remodeling, but the outside has kept it quaintness which is part of what makes Cape Cod what it is. They also have some of the most beautiful flower gardens of anywhere.

They had just closed this beach because of a shark sighting.  Sharks are becoming more and more prevalent because the seal population is growing.

Most of the beaches on Cape Cod are free to certain residents.  If you are not a resident, you must pay around $20 pp to get on their beaches.  They have 1 free public beach that I know of.  I believe it stays pretty crowded during the summer season. They have pretty beaches.  It is just a matter of getting close enough to see them!

Sunday, we met up with Lisa (host Mom) and spent an incredible day with her.  We had lunch and she took us on our own private tour of Hyannis and Hyannis Port.  One thing I learned was that people who were supporting the Crown back in the Revolutionary times would paint a black stripe on their chimneys.  They wanted to symbolize or "brag" that they supported the king.  Of course, that helped the colonialist soldiers know what side people were on.

In 1999, Lisa was 7 months pregnant with her first child.  That child is now a sophomore in college and her younger sister is a freshman.  Lisa had just moved both kids to Boston College and will now experience "empty nest".  She has been a single Mom for 6 years and now is time for her to spend some time on herself.  I think she will be fine. Lisa is one of those people that is easy to love.  She is tenderhearted and has a love for life and others.  I am very fortunate to have met her and have her as a friend. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to spend the day with her.  What a treat for me.

All in all, it was great to be back on the Cape again.  It will always have a special place in my heart.  I've posted some pics below of the ballpark where Son played.  What great memories.

The 1999 team won the championship.  They also won the championship this year.

THE MARBLE HOUSE

The mansion was built as a summer "cottage" between 1888 and 1892 for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt. It was a social landmark that helped spark the transformation of Newport from a relatively relaxed summer colony of wooden houses to the now-legendary resort of opulent stone palaces. The fifty-room mansion required a staff of 36 servants, including butlers, maids, coachmen, and footmen. The mansion cost $11 million to build (equivalent to $307 million in 2018). They only spent 6 weeks every year at this house.

The Marble House

The dining room

Mr. Vanderbilt's room

Mrs. Vanderbilt's room

The guest room

When Alva Vanderbilt divorced William in 1895, she already owned Marble House outright, having received it as her 39th birthday present. Upon her remarriage in 1896 to Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, she relocated down the street to Belmont's mansion, Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House and hosted rallies for women's suffrage. Alva Belmont closed the mansion permanently in 1919, when she relocated to France to be closer to her daughter. She sold the house in 1932, less than year before her death. The mansion still stands in great visible condition and is used for many things such as guided and non-guided tours, as well as hosting various special events, parties, and weddings. Several movies have shot scenes in the house.

We toured The Breakers 20 years ago when we visited this area.  The Breakers is bigger and was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt. These houses boggle my mind.  They were their "summer" houses and they are huge and over the top opulent.  I can't even begin to imagine living in something like that, but I like touring them.  You do a self-guided tour with an audio set that takes you from room to room and tells you some personal stories from the family. 

We started the day having a picnic at a park by the seashore.  It was a great place and the weather was great. We ended the day by seeing a cruise ship in the bay right behind where we are staying. We decided to go sit by the bay and enjoy the scenery. We got a treat in seeing a seal.  There is a restaurant called The Pilot House across the bay from us and you can hear their nightly entertainment. All in all, it was a great day.

Our picnic view

Gorgeous butterfly

How we ended the day, sitting on the dock of the bay

A seal swimming close to us.