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We made it to MV & back today. Wow!! That was a looooooooong day!
We took the Ferry from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven 10:45am sailing arriving at 11:30am. The off site parking was interesting. I honestly didn't like the unknown about this. The website said to tune to 1610 AM for information on parking or call a # or check their mobile website for parking. Once I was over the bridge the radio was still fuzzy and not knowing where I was going made me nervous so I pulled over and checked their mobile website for parking info. Plugged that address into my GPS and was on my way again quickly.
We arrived and parked about 9:30am. The shuttle buses weren't waiting for us. We had to wait for them about 10-15 mins. The first one filled up quickly and we had to wait for another one to arrive. Then we made it on & it was a 20 minute ride from the parking lot to the terminal. We made it to the ticket office about 10:25am. We purchased round trip tickets to Vineyard Haven even tho I wanted to be in Oak Bluffs, I had a plan.
We arrived in Vineyard Haven and sought out the Visitors Center to ask about purchasing a bus pass. I purchased an all day pass for $7 for myself and $7 for my 11 year old. My 6 year old was free (6 & under are free). Then we went in search of the Black Dog for lunch. It was easily found with a map we picked up at the Vistor's Center. We get there and put our name on the list. They don't start seating for lunch until 12pm. I didn't even realize we were that early till the hostess said that, but good thing! We got our name on the list. While we were waiting we checked out the gift shops. Waaaaaaaay too expensive for me, but my son had his eye on the $20 stuffed dogs.... I told him to keep it in mind and we'd keep looking. I was excited to see they had a gift shop in Oak Bluffs because we had planned to spend most of the day over the.
Lunch at the Black Dog was pretty good. We were early enough to get a window seat by the water!!! Woot! I had a burger (don't like seafood much) & the kiddos had grilled cheese and burger. Neither were a fan of the french fries. They are a little different, but I thought they were good. The burger was ginormous and I was stuffed!!!!! Service was good. Little guy did not care for their grilled cheese at all!!! The kiddos ordered lemonade for a drink. Waitress brought it out saying it was the last of it. Well it tasted like the dregs & was just horrible. I had a sip of my son's because I thought he was just being weird (Grilled cheese was fine, but not like he's used to). Told the waitress it was watery and she brought him a Sierra Mist. Lunch for the three of us including tip (a little over 18% (tip guide was on the receipt - i usually do 15 or 20 personally) was $39.
After eating we hit the restaurant restrooms to change into our bathing suits!! Sorry for the people who were waiting on us to get out. We changed as quickly as possible. There are only two restrooms in the Black Dog that I noticed. Then we went back to the ferry area to catch a bus to Oak Bluffs. We took #13. It was refreshing to see we weren't lost as some people. Two girls on the bus got off before it ever left and then got back on. They were super confused. lol It made me feel good like I knew where I was going.
We got off the bus at Ocean Park. We crossed the street and found steps down to the beach. We brought 2 towels with us. One for sitting on and one we kept in our bags for drying off later. This is the Oak Bluffs Town Beach...
Now for the beach.... I don't know if I'm spoiled or if this isn't an ideal beach. I don't have a lot of experience with MA beaches. I'm originally from South Carolina and the beaches there are all sandy and at most perhaps a little broken sea shells to walk on. There are tons of rocks and whatnot to walk over before you get to the sandy bottom. My feet hurt so bad but I was determined to go in the ocean with the kiddos. Once I got out there I wasn't going back for nothing till I was done. ouchy ouchy ouchy. Definitely reccomend water shoes for this beach.
We can spend all day at the beach but we had other things we wanted to do. We spent an hour or so at the beach. The water was nice and I didn't find it cold at all. It was refreshing.
Afterwards we walked across to Ocean Park's fountains. I am not sure if this is a wise thing to do but we saw others had put their feet into the fountain. Ours were all sandy so we rinsed them off there. I dunno if this is good or bad. The water looked a bit dirty from others doing the same thing? I don't know. It freaked me out some, but it can't be any worse than swimming with seaweed.
We sat for a bit and then headed to the restrooms down near the ferry terminal to change. There is a family bathroom there and we lucked out being able to use that! It made it easier for the 3 of us to go in and change out of our wet suits and into our dry clothes.
Then we headed in the direction of Post Office Square seeking out Backdoor Bakery for some donuts. This turned out to be a bad idea. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon there is a poor selection of donuts, but the ones that are there are like 50% off. I got a sprinkle donut for the 6 year old for $0.60 or so.
The big kid wanted ice cream so we headed to Mad Martha's. Oops.. Turns out they only take cash and I didn't have enough. They point us in the direction of an ATM. So we check out a couple of other ice cream shops and they all only take cash. Big kid mentions to me she thought the ice cream at Mad Martha's looked weird. Ok? I didn't even look at it so whatever. I wasn't eating it. We ended up at Carousel Icecream. Kiddie size was HUGE. We got some drinks and two kiddie sized ice creams for about $15. Good thing I didn't order myself one. Little guy couldn't finish his so I helped him out.
After that we checked out the gift shops. We got a cute Martha's Vineyard stuffed turtle at Waves for big kid & the little guy wanted a dog from the Black Dog gift shop STILL. So glad I didn't have to go back to Vineyard Haven for that one!!!!
After the gifts were purchased I was out about $45 and wasn't spending any more money on the shops we headed to see the MV Methodist Camp Cottages just off Circuit Ave. That was awesome. Those little houses were something else. It's amazing how quiet it was with all those houses so close together and just off the main street in town. There was a kid from Holliston selling lemonade for $0.50 a cup. Always gotta support the little entrepreneurs!! His lemonade was better than The Black Dog and I was sure to tell him!! So cute.
After that we headed over to the Flying Horses Carousel. $2.50 per person to ride. At this point I'm like whatever dang. I can't believe how much this day is costing me. Hope the husband is still talking to me when I get home.
Then we went in search of Nancy's for some supper to bring with us on the boat ride home. We ordered from the Snack shack and got the food to go. They don't have a kids' menu, but their prices pretty reasonable if you're not ordering chicken fingers and fries. That was another $30+ . We carried our food over to the ferry terminal. We actually found a picnic table there and sat down and ate while we waited for the boat. There are only like 2 tables there tho.
We caught the 6:15pm boat from Oak Bluffs to Woods Hole. This boat was much smaller and super crowded, but we got on early enough we had seats with no problem, but there were a lot of people standing up on this one.
In retrospect, I wish we had skipped the all day bus pass for $14. Only used the bus once, but I wasn't sure what we'd want to do or go. I wasn't sure when we would want to leave either or if we'd need to go back to Vineyard Haven to take the Ferry home depending on when we wanted to leave.
It was an awesome day with the kiddos!! Leaving the house at 7:30am and getting home at 9:30pm tho? Eeeeek... So long and tiring, but worth it. I'd definitely do it again (just not any time soon!)
Last edited by KellyCrash; 07-31-2014 at 09:12 PM..
WOW what a day you had.
mad marthas and anything from the Black dog can be expensive but hey you were playing the tourist right.
If you ever get back to MV the nicer beaches are State beach inbetween Oak Bluffs and Edgartown and South Beach that features miles of sandy beaches but the surf can be rough for little ones. State beach has warm water and is family friendly.
My favorite lunch is at the Plane View at the airport but I don't know about the bus going there.
Oh well next year if you should return give us some more notice and we can give you better tips.
The bus does go to the airport! It was the kids' first trip and that's kinda why I wanted to hit all the touristy stuff. I will have to seek out less expensive options next time & a better beach!
What a great trip report Kelly- thanks for sharing. If you find an inexpensive way to do MV let us in on that. We used to vacation there, prior to moving to the Cape. The. The presidents started coming and we were out priced. We put in a pool after our last trip. LOL. It was cheaper and more convenient that Vineyard trips.
I found your reaction to the price of dining out amusing. We were with friends from Maine this week. They could not believe the cost of dining out. We thought the prices at he restaurant we chose were cheap. It was a pub style restaurant with sandwiches. I guess that's why we don't go out much. Often dining out on the Cspe and Islands find us paying premium prices for mediocre cuisine.
Now I need to go take a nap. I am exhausted just thinking about all that you did in one day!
What a great trip report Kelly- thanks for sharing. If you find an inexpensive way to do MV let us in on that. We used to vacation there, prior to moving to the Cape. The. The presidents started coming and we were out priced. We put in a pool after our last trip. LOL. It was cheaper and more convenient that Vineyard trips.
I found your reaction to the price of dining out amusing. We were with friends from Maine this week. They could not believe the cost of dining out. We thought the prices at he restaurant we chose were cheap. It was a pub style restaurant with sandwiches. I guess that's why we don't go out much. Often dining out on the Cspe and Islands find us paying premium prices for mediocre cuisine.
Now I need to go take a nap. I am exhausted just thinking about all that you did in one day!
Bill Clinton ruined Martha's Vineyard in my opinion. It's still a fun place to vacation, but it's far more crowded now and there are way too many New Yorkers. Clinton made the Black Dog famous as well and now their gift shops are all over the island and Cape Cod. Once, the Black Dog was a restaurant now it's really a t-shirt shop.
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It was the kids' first trip and that's kinda why I wanted to hit all the touristy stuff. I will have to seek out less expensive options next time & a better beach!
