We left early on a Friday morning and headed to Tarrytown which would serve as our "home-away-from-home". We stayed at the historic Tarrytown House Estate high on a hill overlooking the Hudson River.
We spent a lovely afternoon in Tarrytown and had lunch at a cute Greek restaurant before heading off to Fordham to visit Pat's daughters, Meg and Jane. Fordham is a beautiful school and it was fun visiting with the girls. We returned to the Tarrytown House and had dinner and drinks at the restaurant at the hotel. Off to our rooms for a good night's sleep before heading into the city in the morning.
We took the train into the city and Miss Amy had her first train ride! There would be many "firsts" for Miss Amy...the Empire State Building, a Broadway Show, Times Square, Ground Zero, the Empire State Building, Central Park, a cab ride, Tavern on the Green....We had a wonderful trip...lots of laughs...lots of memories with the girls....and planning for the next trip...Cape Cod.
September 2011
Our Chatham Hideaway
Our "birthday trip" started on a sunny September day...only three of us went this year because Nancy was in San Francisco helping her son and daughter-in-law with their move from Texas. We REALLY missed having Nancy!
We settled in quickly and then spent the afternoon exploring Chatham...the shops...the beach...the quiet streets...we had so much fun!
A big house and a little house...chicken coop or storage shed?
A hedge trimmed in the shape of a whale!
Lots of little parks in Chatham.
We walked to Chase Park to look at the grist mill that was being renovated. It's a great little park with beautiful plantings and a "lawn bowling" court!
Not being familiar with "lawn bowling", I did a little research. According to Wikipedia, lawn bowling is: is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat (for "flat-green bowls") or convex (for "crown-green bowls"). It is normally played outdoors although there are some indoor venues and the surface is either natural grass, artificial turf, or cotula (in New Zealand).It is popular in United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong and parts of the United States and more recently in Japan. It belongs to the boules sport family and is related to bocce and pétanque.
As we entered the park, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this "hood ornament" on a car parked in front of the park; what a cute little basset hound figurine. Little did I know, that I would soon meet the "real" basset hound!!!!!
As we walked into the park, a big, clumsy basset hound came bounding towards us! I knelt down, put my camera down next to me and "Harry" promptly gave me a sloppy kiss and grabbed my camera and ran! It appears that Harry likes cameras and cell phones! He was, however, very well-behaved and promptly dropped the camera when asked.
Harry
After a lovely walk, it was time to head to the ferry and visit Martha's Vineyard. Amy and Pat had never been, so I was going to be the tour director! The ferry docked in Oak Bluffs so we started our "tour" with a visit to the Flying Horses carousel. The carousel was brought to the Vineyard in 1884 and it is the nation's oldest operating platform carousel and a National Historic Landmark. I remember taking my kids to the carousel when they were little and watching them try to grab brass rings as as the carousel turned. Every rider has a chance to grab rings which hang from neck-high metal arms extending towards the riders. The rider who grabs the last ring gets a free ride.
We continued our journey by walking to the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting grounds. This is a rather unique area with quite an interesting history. The "camp meeting grounds" in Oak Bluffs is a small community of gingerbread cottages built around a tabernacle. The "camp" was built to allow members of the Methodist church to worship. According to the literature we received, the first camp meeting was held in 1835. In subsequent years the congregations grew and people were housed in large tents known as "society tents." Obviously, conditions were cramped, with men and women sleeping dormitory-style on opposite sides of a central canvas divider. Over time, families began leasing small lots on which to pitch their own individual tents. In the 1860s and 1870s, the family tents were replaced with permanent wooden cottages. At one time there were about 500 cottages; today there are just over 300. Today the Campground is a community of summer residents and a smaller number of year-round residents.
I was bold and sat on one of the porches! Dont' worry, no one was home!
After Oak Bluffs, we hopped on a bus and went to Edgartown. We did some shopping and then had a wonderful dinner on the porch overlooking the harbor at the Atlantic Restaurant. Boy, do they make a good "Painkiller" - rum, coconut, orange juice, pineapple juice and a sprinkle of nutmeg! It's a good thing I wasn't driving. We took the 8:30 pm ferry back and fell into bed, exhausted, but happy.
On Saturday we spent a leisurely day in Chatham. We went to the Chatham Pier to watch the seals and then bought some clam chowder soup for our picnic lunch at Lighthouse Beach. Believe it or not, we saw four weddings; three right on the beach and one just for pictures.
So cute...but I worried about sharks!
After spending the afternoon on the beach we went home and showered and changed and went to the Chatham Bars Inn for a drink on the veranda; oh, so beautiful.
After drinks, it was off to dinner at the Wild Goose Tavern...great seafood and good drinks. A great ending to a wonderful trip. Time to start planning for our next trip..........................
