Off to Martha's Vineyard
Dan and I have lived and worked in MA all of our lives, yet, a trip to Martha’s Vineyard was never on the books. During the pandemic, we still had our itch to travel (safely). Flying is out of the question for us so road trips are more our speed, especially with a toddler. So right on Labor Day, the three of us packed our car and took the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard for the very first time. We left out of Woods Hole via the Steamship Authority and felt very safe the entire ferry ride. Passengers had the option to stay in their vehicles. However, since the weather was so nice out, we decided to go sit outside. Everyone had masks on and certain sections of seating were blocked off with caution tape to ensure proper social distancing. It was a fairly quick ferry ride (about an hour and 20 minutes). Once we arrived into Vineyard Haven, it was a 4 minute drive to our Air BnB.
Travel for us looks different these days with a toddler in tow. Below are some highlights and recommendations from our short stay. You can always catch all of this on my IG highlights.
EATS
Finding a coffee spot in walking distance is always key for us. This way, once E is up, we can all go for a quick walk in search of breakfast. Mocha Mott’s fits our needs exactly!
They had great quick grab and go options! E especially enjoyed her daily pastries!
Another convenient spot for us was Waterside Marketplace. We picked up breakfast there two of the mornings there and popped in there more than once on our way home from a day out for coffee and snacks.
We spent a few hours in Edgartown (more on this later in the post). It was a very warm day and we weren’t all that hungry. We found a great cafe called Among the Flowers where we got acai and yogurt bowls and a Belgian waffle (for little miss E). They had outdoor seating, which was great. However, had they not, there were plenty of little green spaces where we could have sat to enjoy our light lunch.
While we were heading out to catch the ferry home, we didn’t have much time to grab lunch. The plan had been to bring lunch onto the ferry. In haste, we did happen upon Sweet Bites. Dan ran in and grabbed a few treats, including this amazing chicken empanada!
While we were in MV, we received a few recommendations of places to dine. However, it was hard to dine-in (but really sit outdoors) as some places served dinner on the later side, making it hard with Eleanor. We did try to order takeout from a few of these places, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t being offered (possibly because it was start of off season). Anyhow, thought I’d pass them along here:
Another missed opportunity (or more poor planning on our end) was getting lobster rolls from Menemesha Fish Market. It was getting awfully close to E’s dinner time and when we got there the wait was insane. There was no way a hungry toddler was going to last the wait and we sadly had to leave.
To Do’s
Of course we had to go check out the Gingerbread Cottages at Oak Bluffs! There are so many cute and colorful homes in this area. I dressed E up for some photo ops :).
We headed over to the Gay Head Cliffs and Lighthouse right around the golden hour for Dan to snap some pics. While he was enjoying that, I was chasing E around and trying to wrangle her in as she was basically photo bombing everyone’s pics ;). It would have been great to get a family pic here but we felt weird asking someone else to take pics of us during the pandemic. SO, we just took turns taking pics with E.
On the nicest day we were there, we planned a bike ride from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown. We rented our bikes and toddler bike trailer from Tony’s Bike Rental out of Vineyard Haven. The staff there were very helpful and friendly! The bike ride was fun and there were certain parts with bike paths while there were parts where we were on the road. Didn’t love that part too much but Dan had E and she didn’t seem freaked out by it. She enjoyed her ride except for the return ride where she feel asleep very uncomfortably and woke up screaming her head off. We managed to calm her down by putting on Little Baby Bum for the rest of the ride home #survival. When all was said and done, it was a pretty fun activity to do as a family.
While we were on MV, one of Dan’s good friends from home was spending a week in Nantucket with his family. We decided to take the ferry over to meet up with them. We took the first ferry out and the last one back which gave us about a half day to spend with their family. They had rented a beautiful home with a pool. Eleanor was in paradise (she’s a pool girl). They have two young children so it was great to have them hang. Our very short time in Nantucket has made me want to plan a proper stay there for another family trip.
After leaving MV, we wished we had stayed longer. But now that we know the logistics of getting to and from, we will definitely be making a return trip!