Friday, July 31, 2015

Nantucket, MA

Nantucket was such a special town, and definitely one of our absolute faves on the trip so far! We arrived there just before the 4th of July, and spent the holiday weekend right in the harbor. 

The lighthouse marked the marina entrance.
And then we made it to the boat basin.
This was cruising perfection.
Here we are all tucked into our dock. A fantastic location!
    

    The scenery was idyllic.
The town itself is even more charming than Marthas Vineyard was. Weathered gray shake siding on ALL homes and businesses was de riguer. Everyone was required to keep their homes in the exact same way in order to lend a cohesiveness to Nantucket. If you were a veteran of the Civil War, WWI or WWII.. You were allowed lap siding on your forward facing facade. Let's just say it was hard to even spot one of those. No, the photo below is not one with lap siding. It's a filler photo as the hydrangeas looked so nice. ha!
July 3rd was spent enjoying the afternoon on the boat with our guests Kevin & Gael. FUN!

My girlfriends Angela & Vanessa were in town from Chicago and came over for dinner that night and 
a little "pre-game"holiday fun before joining us the next day for 4th festivities. 
Bish cooked up a fabulous dinner of chicken paillard and grilled corn. 
Gael was obsessed and took the recipes home with her.
After we finished we had these crazy visitors....
These guys walked by the boat and were quite funny. We invited them onboard for a cocktail and learned they were in college and summertime caddies at the local golf club. (Cue Caddyshack here) 
They were hysterical & quite harmless. 
Brad whipped out his best dance moves to dazzle the crowd as usual. 
It's hard to keep him down. Haha!
The next day we booked a bike tour of the island as this was a great way to see it. 
Dorky helmets and all... We were ready to ride!
I couldn't help myself and had to bust a beach move. 
And then everyone got in on the action at the lighthouse. That's what landmarks are for!
We passed the beautiful estates of Nantucket.
Our guide was great and had tons of local knowledge. 
This was his summer job as he was still in school at an all men's college. 

Sights of downtown Nantucket. 
Local shops did a great job putting their own spin on outdoor advertising.

We biked to beautiful "Steps Beach" which was a locals only kinda spot. 
The views were fantastic!
Further down the island we came upon this old windmill which was still in use. 
Kevin & Gael got the grand tour. 

We had the best lunch seaside at Cru! 
Brad challenged Gael to a staring contest and had his best game face on. 
The cuisine was sourced from local farms & sublime.

For most, Nantucket is accessed via ferry and those lines can get excruciatingly long and painful in the peak summer months. Hence the line below that stretched all around the harbor. 
Outside a local restaurant there were fish tales to be told.
Stars and Stripes out in force for the 4th!
And here the boys came upon the annual 4th of July water fight in town. Kids and adults came out of everywhere armed with waterguns and water balloons. (Poor Brad took a whack-a-doodle to the head) The local Fire Dept pulled their water truck into the town square and let her rip! It was insane and a ton of fun. People were beyond prepared for this and must look forward to it all year. 
As I headed back to the marina, I checked out what the locals were catching. 

                                                  Slicing & dicing...lots of good fishing!
The girls and I had a good belly laugh at the restaurant delivery area that was across from our boat. 
The evening chill came on strong and even the boys bundled up 
as we awaited the fireworks extravaganza. 


The 4th ended with Dance Party USA 
on the back of our boat. Nothing like a good dance floor I say!
Somehow Gael & I thought red, white & blue scarves would look better on our heads.
It was such a fun 4th!

The shops along short wharf were perfection & über charming.

The next night we ventured out to Sconset via taxi for cocktails at Summer House.
Summer House had their own beachside resort tucked down on the sand.
The perfect place to whittle away the day!
We couldn't have asked for a better night than this. Such great friends, good food & LOTS of laughs!

This place was beyond idyllic and we couldn't have imagined a better spot.

They had a supreme bartender skilled at martini making...
                                                                                        
Brad surveyed the scene...
Then..we traversed down the street & walked through the charming village of Sconset. As we headed to the GEM of the night...Chanticleer restaurant. Kevin & Brad said it was the best steak they'd ever had. That was saying so much! Food was incredible, as was the ambience. What a find place this was. Thanks for the tip off Mary Mac!!

Someone was looking sassy!


The next morning we pulled out of our slip at 7am & headed to P-Town!
While they backed out, I followed in our tender...
 We had to load our tender back up onto the boat while we were out in the mouth of the harbor as 
there wasn't room at our slip. 
And then we were off!