I Once Sent a Postcard from Oak Bluffs

I got up this morning and to tell you the truth I really didn't know what to post about today. The week has been busy working with clients, Dan is rafting this weekend, Aaron returned from his vacation, our client Jason Ackner stopped in for a visit - it is fun to meet our clients "face to face", it is nice to receive happy news from Facebook friends (Deb and Dan Fischbein's oldest son Josh is getting married today and Scott and Elyse (Wolf) Davidson returned to the Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company to perform in "Hello Dolly" directed by Andrew Glant Linden with assistant Bev Brennan and receiving rave reviews), we had a terrific rainstorm in Tucson yesterday about 3:00PM, and now it is Saturday morning. I happened to read an article this morning from Time.com which had to do with the President and the First Family taking a vacation on Martha's Vineyard, specifically Oak Bluffs, and of course I thought back to my one and only trip to Martha's Vineyard. I think I once sent a postcard from Oak Bluffs. If I didn't, I should have.

It was 1991. On April 1st Dennis and I decided to take a few days off from the inn and travel to Cape Cod with our good friends, Gerry and Elaine McManus (by the way we still hear from Elaine; however, she and Gerry divorced around 1996 - see their photo below taken by me on this trip). I believe we were trying to celebrate Gerry's birthday. What we didn't realize was this: in those days most of Cape Cod is still not really "open for the season". But off we went and after stopping at the local Chamber of Commerce we actually found a nice hotel on the water called the Ocean Club on Smuggler's Beach South Yarmouth. By about the third day of our adventure and after seeing two movies, Dances with Wolves and Sleeping with the Enemy, we thought we would take a ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard. Again, we soon learned that you don't just show up to take a ferry ride. You need to plan this if you intend to take a vehicle with you to Martha's Vineyard. So there we were at Woods Hole and we decided with our 'devil may care' attitude to board one of The Steamship Authority's ferries that did not carry vehicles and did not have restrooms!

Elaine and Gerry on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard

When we inquired of the ferry staff how to find the restrooms they advised us that we would need to wait until we arrived in Vineyard Haven. And so we arrived, but the public restroom on the dock was closed for renovations. People on the dock directed us to The Black Dog (a well known restaurant); however, they were not open yet for the season! So we decided to walk into the town, as certainly some establishment would allow us to come in and use their restrooms. No luck. The businesses were either closed or emphatic we could not come in and use their restrooms. We walked further until Gerry said he would not continue on this "forced march". At that point Gerry and Dennis hailed a passing taxi. The driver stopped asked us where we wanted to go and our response was: "Take us anywhere on this island where we can use a restroom and have a meal."

Next stop: Oak Bluffs. I remember how friendly the taxi driver was to us. He took us to a great little restaurant, whose name I cannot recall at the moment. (Funny how your brain can recall the name of the restaurant that was not open, but cannot remember the name of the restaurant that was open and treated us so kindly.) Anyway the taxi driver told us he would come back in a couple of hours and pick us up for our return trip to the Vineyard Haven harbor. And sure enough two hours later we were back in the taxi and on our way.

I enjoyed learning more about Oak Bluffs in the Time article. Wonderful interesting history. So today as the First Family prepares to spend a few August days in Oak Bluffs, I will remember fondly my few hours there some 18 years ago!