Back on schedule

We're firmly into the first full week of the summer months.  It's also my first full week back to blogging on my regular schedule.  I always give myself the month off that we take a vacation so when I come back I don't have to jump right back into it and harsh my mellow with deadlines.  This year we went to places we had preconceived notions of but no idea what to expect...Martha's Vineyard and The Hamptons.  Both locations are known for being the playground for the rich and famous and presidents...so we thought we'd crash the party.  Because it's the coast and because our weather patterns are now pretty much permanently screwed, we had some weird weather but nothing I didn't care for except the wind.  I prefer the cooler temps of spring and fall so mid-50's and being firmly in sweater weather was fine with me.

We made a pit stop in Tarrytown, NY to get us most of the way on day one and then drove the rest of the way the next day.  Of course, this meant we had to fit in two movie locations on the way.

The first was the adorable town of Mystic, CT...home of the Mystic Pizza as well as the town used in the movie of the same name  (affiliate link) that brought us all Julia Roberts.

On our initial stop through, it was closed but we hit it on the way back and must agree, it's a slice of heaven.  Nice and garlicky and if it's good enough for the local minister to be gabbing about the church budget then it's good enough for us.

The second location was Water Wizz in East Wareham, MA.

This waterpark is the star of our favorite summer kick-off movie, The Way, Way Back.   (affiliate link) Definitely, an out of character role for Steve Carrell but the plot is so good and Sam Rockwell is just too good.  This park also makes an appearance in the comedy Grown Ups.

We boarded the ferry from Woods Hole, MA and stayed in Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.  (By the way, there's no vineyard.)  Edgartown was the quintessential New England town with wood-shingled homes, big white churches and adorable shops and restaurants.

We stopped by to pay our respects to John Belushi while we were there.

We stopped by the Gay Head Lighthouse and Aquinnah Cliffs area which is where the "Welcome to Amity" billboard was in Jaws.

By far, our favorite spot on the island was Oak Bluffs.

From Ocean Park to their Gingerbread Cottages to the Flying Horses carousel and just lazy days spent dockside enjoying the bay, it was a spot we returned to over and over again.

Since basically all of Jaws  (affiliate link) was filmed there, we had to do our tour.

The Brody House has been remodeled but the house next door says "Little Jaws" outside.  Known locally as "Jaws Bridge", we had to yell "shark" when no one was around.  The pond where the shark swam in and took the dude's leg.  The sign for Amity Bank is still in the Edgartown Bank and if you ask politely, they have no problem with you taking a pic.  But I get the feeling the lady whose office it's in isn't a fan or got her undies in a twist at what a long summer it was going to be.  The "Alex attack" beach with the kid on the raft.  Then there's the town hall and it is basically exactly the same down to the little signs hanging outside of the doors and even the circle desk where they held the meeting to calm residents before some of them became chum.

We took the 3 car Chappy Ferry for the 95-second ride over to Chappaquiddick Island where Lady Gaga and Meg Ryan have homes.

It felt like we had the whole island to ourselves.  We made a stop at Mytoi Gardens, saw the Dike Road Bridge where the infamous Kennedy incident took place (Google it), had Cape Poge beach to shell to our heart's content and enjoyed the views of Edgartown before heading back.

Whew, that was a lot!  Come back tomorrow for the continuation.

Have you been to Martha's Vineyard?

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