Postcard: Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard

We went on our first family vacation to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard during the week of the July 4th holiday. Then, I spent the two weeks post-vacation recovering from my exhaustion. Spending hours driving with an almost 5 month old was horrible. My son hates being cooped up in a car and he hates sitting in a car seat even more. Mere words cannot convey the horror of listening to your child screaming in a tiny, cramped car (Although National claims our Chevy Malibu is "full-size," that's not the case when you cram your Bugaboo stroller into the front seat).

My son did, however, adjust well to the many stops we made along the way to break up the drive. I am extremely happy that he enjoys meeting new people. We left Manhattan around 10 AM on June 27th and stopped first in CT an hour and a half away to visit friends. We arrived in the nick of time, as he was just about to lose it. He was able to eat, nap, play with my friend's two kids, and eat again before leaving. My friend's son is 9 days younger than my son and they had a blast looking at each other and laughing. The photos of them together are priceless. Next, we had the longest stretch of the trip (3 hours!) to just outside of Boston where we stayed overnight at my cousin's. This was a nightmare drive until he fell asleep for about 40 minutes. Once again, he was just about to lose it when we arrived at our destination. My cousin has two kids and a house full of baby gear, which made our night so easy. After three delicious home cooked meals here, we left on the hour and a half drive to Chatham. After a week on the Cape, we traveled two hours to Providence on July 3rd to visit friends and my alma mater before driving two more hours to our CT. We visited my husband's alma mater in New Haven the next day before driving another two hours NJ to visit my parents in the afternoon and spend the night at the house of my husband's Uncle and family in Princeton. We returned to my parents the next day and on our return to Manhattan, we stopped at my brother's in NJ. To recap the whole trip, that was four family visits, two friends visits, two college visits, two rest area stops, and two vacation spots. I am impressed at my son's flexibility and adaptability. I think he was disoriented by waking up in so many different locations.

Ahh, on to the vacation...

Chatham is a quaint New England town that lies in the elbow of the Cape and is a popular summer resort town. English settlers named the town after Chatham, England. "Quaint" is the word to describe a sort of trip back in time, I believe. It is the euphemism to describe why our hotel room had such an old feel to it. Quaint means "back to basics" or "lacking modern touches." That said, the Chatham Bars Inn was a lovely place to stay and I highly recommend the location and its restaurants. It is considered one of the nicest hotels on the Cape and this was where my husband's medical conference was held. I learned later that one of my high school friends whom I've reconnected with on Facebook was married here. Mostly we were hotel bound because (1) it was a rainy and foggy week and (2) there's not much else to see in Chatham. The hotel had a private beach and pool and was a 15 minute walk to Main Street, which is were all of the "quaint" shops and stores were.

We wandered to the hotel's beach the first day where we played Frisbee in front of the little one. The second day, we took him for his first swim. Thankfully, his bath time has taught him to love water and he took the pool quite easily. Aside from room service, my husband and I were only able to enjoy one meal together in the restaurants as one of us always had to take the little one for a stroll while the other ate. The little guy gets bored sitting in one place. He fell asleep during our last breakfast there and finally my husband and I ate together albeit without speaking a word for fear of awaking him up.

Little boo-boo's first swim.

In the middle of the week, we went to Martha's Vineyard for a quick visit. During our ferry ride, I learned that the land was first settled by the Wampanoag tribe. The island's name came from English explorer Bartholomew Gosnald who named it for his daughter and because the land was covered by wild grapes. We spent a night at the Harbor View Hotel & Resort, which was situated across from the Edgartown Lighthouse. While here, we had a great meal of oysters, lobster and clam chowder at the Seafood Shanty. We, also, shopped at one of the famed Black Dog stores and picked up the t-shirts I saw so much of during my high school years.
The easternmost town, Edgartown, is considered the nicest one to visit. Our shuttle driver told us was that Jaws was filmed here although Steven Spielberg called the town Amity in the movie. Apparently, this was an ideal place for filming because the waters are shallow and the film crew was able to stand knee-deep in the water to film many of the shots. Many landmarks and buildings in Edgartown that were filmed in the movie can still be seen today.

Summer residents enjoy a simple kind of life. Beautiful flowers, including these purple and blue tinted ones cover people's yards.

Happy 4th of July New England style. Houses have a distinct Victorian style on the Vineyard.