Jen's Updates: Martha's Vineyard

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Our day at Martha's Vineyard started with a side trip to Marshfield Hills. What for? Oh, the General Store.

If you know Mike, you know that he loves movies. He can tell you any actor or actress and pretty much every movie or TV show they ever appeared in, wrote, or directed. He is constantly quizzing me saying, "Jen, who is that? What else were they in? Who are they married to? What are their kids names?" And any other connecting question you can dream off. It's awesome because I never have any idea so... 'great game.' ;)

When Mike found out that Steve Carell owns the General Store in Marshfield Hills, and it was just a short distance off the freeway between Boston and Martha's Vineyard, he asked if we could go and so of course, we did.

It was a quaint little General Store that had everything you may need: a limited selection of groceries, including milk, 'penny candy', DVD rentals, fresh muffins, coffee...

For the 'out of town' shoppers, like ourselves, they had "The Office" memorabilia and lots of gag gifts like underwear gloves and I can't really remember what else, I just know Mike & Kjersten spent a lot of time looking at those.

After visiting Marshfield Hills we caught our ferry and headed to Martha's Vineyard. First thing I noticed is that the Vineyard sure has lots of color! Lots of the shops and restaurants are painted pretty colors (like our wedding colors: pink and blue). ;-)

I learned a lot of interesting things about Martha's Vineyard.

- It's the third largest island on the East Cost and the largest island (again on the East Coast) not connected to mainland America by bridge or tunnel (it's accessible only by boat or plane - hence why we took the ferry).
- Martha's Vineyard is 100 square miles in size.
- We did check out some homes for sale on the island, and the cost of living on the island is 60% higher than the national average, homes are 96% higher than the national average. (That's some expensive houses!) There are approximately 16,500 residents year round and approximately 100,000 in the summer.
- There are six little cities on Martha's Vineyard and Oak Bluffs is the only city to be planned out and thought beforehand to target tourism.

We spent most of our day/evening in Oak Bluffs. We were going to explore the island a bit more, taking the bus from place to place, but after doing everything we wanted in Oak Bluffs, we ended up just getting on the bus to catch the ferry home.

Oak Bluffs is known for it's little village of 'Gingerbread Cottages.' Within no time, we found them and I was so happy!

There is going to be a little bit of picture overload here, but really, what else is new with my blog? I always go picture happy ;-). I just loved these houses so much! Each one was different and they were all so fun! I just wanted to remember all of them, but don't worry, I am not posting all the pictures.

Curious where the Gingerbread Cottages came from? So was I. Hence why I went to Wikipedia:

Some of the earliest visitors to the area that became Cottage City and later Oak Bluffs were Methodists, who gathered in the oak grove each summer for multi-day religious "camp meetings" held under large tents and in the open air. As families returned to the grove year after year, tents pitched on the ground gave way to tents pitched on wooden platforms and eventually to small wooden cottages. Small in scale and closely packed, the cottages grew more elaborate over time. Porches, balconies, elaborate door and window frames became common, as did complex wooden scrollwork affixed to the roof edges as decorative trim. The unique "Carpenter's Gothic" architectural style of the cottages was often accented by the owner's use of bright, multi-hue paint schemes, and gave the summer cottages a quaint, almost storybook look. Dubbed "gingerbread cottages," they became a tourist attraction in their own right in the late nineteenth century... The campground's gingerbread cottages are cherished historic landmarks as well as very expensive real estate. Many are still family owned and passed on generation to generation. On April 5, 2005, the grounds and buildings in the Campground were designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.

After visiting the Gingerbread Cottages we hung out, walked around the town, and visited the beach.

Today was our designated "No Make Up/Ponytail" Day

The water was FREEZING, but Mike wanted to go out farther than I did so he hiked up his shorts and walked his bum out there.

We waited, and waited, and waited. Back Door Donuts finally opened!

I am not a fan of doughnuts. But Kjersten was really excited about this place that she had heard so much about. It's the M.V. Gourmet Cafe & Bakery by day, and Back Door Donuts by night. They make their pastries each night after their shop closes. They reopen their back door from 7:30pm-1:00am and sell piping hot doughnuts. I have to say, that even though I am not a huge fan of doughnuts, something about eating them fresh out of the grease makes them a million times better. The 'donuts' were amazing and the apple fritters were the best I have ever had! Good find Kj!