Cape Cod Trip - Day Five

I loved the ferry ride!

Martha’s Vineyard Day  -  Janie and I were so excited to go to Martha’s Vineyard.  We rode the bus for an hour and a half to get to the ferry, The Island Queen. Janie happened to be standing right at the entry gate while she waited for me, so we got on first and went to seats on the front row of the deck! We were hot until the ferry began moving, then it was glorious. We eased out into open waters, then glided along.  Blue waters, sailboats. The trip took thirty minutes, but it sure didn’t seem like it. When we arrived at Martha’s Vineyard, we loaded on yet another bus, but this time it was an old school bus with no air conditioning. We were among the last to get on, so I was relieved to find a seat by Father Crique. We saw different styles of Cape Cod houses, saltbox, half Cape, three quarters Cape, and full Cape. Almost all the houses had shake siding made out of cedar, because the paint does not last in the sea air. Our guide, Terrible Tom or Terrific Tom, said paint only lasts about five years.

We ate lunch at the The Fish Shanty . We had fresh fried shrimp outside on the deck by the water. We shopped for a little bit and then had to get back on the bus for more riding! It was better than I thought, though, because we drove by the water and saw some huge fancy houses. One was Spike Lee’s. We saw where Jaws was filmed. Back in the village of Martha’s Vineyard, we took a quick walking tour of the Methodist Camp and all the quaint little cottages that encircled it. The story goes that they used to have church camp meetings, and people would pitch tents in a circle around the open air meeting house. They then built little houses instead. They do not own the land, just the houses.  That was my favorite part of the on-land tour! The tiny dollhouse-looking gingerbread houses were painted bright colors - red, pink, blue, etc.  The temperature was in the 90’s, unheard of for this time of year on the Cape.

We got back on the ferry for the ride back, and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  On the bus ride back Terrible Tom described in gory detail how to crack a lobster. Janie and I began to giggle. He asked us if we were taking happy pills. "No," I replied, “Now I wish I had ordered the Lazy Lobster instead of the whole one!” (another option on the menu).

We returned back to the hotel, showered and dressed for our lobster dinner at The Irish Village. It was such a treat! The staff was actually Irish! They had an adorable accent. One black-haired, handsome young man said, “What can I get for you luve (love)?” Two male singers performed on stage while we ate. They sang Irish songs, as well as songs from the 70’s, so I was grooving with the tunes. They soon brought our bright red boiled whole lobster out, and with a quick twist and pull, the white meat piled out on my plate. We cracked the claws ourselves. I was surprised to find that I liked the sweet meat. I would highly recommend this restaurant for the food and the Irish atmosphere.

Cape Cod Trip - Day Four

     The Cape Cod sun rose along with our excitement. We headed out on the bus to Hyannis. We saw the Kennedy Compound, or as much as we could from the street, which was mostly a big gate. We also caught a glimpse of our first beach, but did not get to walk in it! The huge house in front of the Kennedy Compound was that of the owner of Old Navy and The Gap. We ate lunch outside at the Fresh Ketch. It was my first New England clam chowder, and it was delicious, so thick and creamy, nothing like you get in a can. 

To the right of us in the distance is where the Kennedy Compound is located.

We went into the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, which includes over 80 photographs of family and friends from the years 1934-1963, as well as a short documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite. One of the women at the museum said John, Jr. used to come to there to look at the photographs. She also said she sees Eunice Kennedy attending the St. Francis Xavier Church. She shared that the locals do not bother Mrs. Kennedy. We toured the church and saw where President Kennedy sat when he attended. Rose Kennedy sat on the front row, of course. This is the church where Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver were married in 1986.

Off we went for another quick stop at Veterans
Memorial Park in Barnstable (pronounced Bonstable, our tour guide informed us), just a short drive from downtown Hyannis. The park hosts memorials to John F. Kennedy and Korean veterans.  Janie and I hiked down to the beach to put our toes in the sand for the first time. 

We also toured the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, Massachusetts, where a glass blower created her art. We would back on the curvy roads to Tommy Doyles Irish Pub and Restaurant in Hyannis for our dinner. We were pleased to see our original bus and bus driver waiting for us there. The funniest part of the evening was when our friend Eugene said, “These are the lumpiest, most tasteless potatoes I ever ate.” Our dinner companions informed him it was a ball of white rice!The dinner was not the best, but we were in good company, so we had fun anyway.


Nancy and Eugene and his lumpy potatoes!