Saturday after Earl

We were able to attend the annual Crafts Fair after Earl. All the exibitors were local artists showing their goods. Everything from lots of jewlery, sew and knited crafts to wood working.

A women was selling hand made yarns from wool gathered from local sheep.

A visit to Lobsterville Beach was a great morning. Lots of small rocks and shells along the beach. It is located North West of Gays Head and we spent hours walking along the beach by ourselves.

Aview from the beach looking towards Menemsha. As you can see, wide open beach in a wonderful bay. Not many waves as it is protected by the western edge of Aquinnah.

The light house at Gays Head or as some call it, Aquinnah Cliffs. We didn't venture down to the beach to save it for another day. Wonderful views all around looking down to the Atlantic Ocean.

Another wonderful view of the Atlantic. The seas were quite calm considering that a big storm had just passed the day before. The biggest concern was the rip tide which was real. We never saw anyone going in too far out, a very wise thing to do.

We were fortunate to have nothing but blue skies and no rain for the remainder of our stay on Martha's Vineyard and were very tempted to stay through the end of the week.

MV Before Earl

We spent most of the day getting our feet wet, as it were, around the island and getting to know our way round a bit. One of the most obvious things you see are wonderful hanging signs above almost every business. This one looked really good but it turned out to be a simple take-out type of place with no customers. Now whether there were no customers because their food was just so, so or because of Earl we will never know.

As with any location on the ocean, you are always seeing wonderful boats of every kind. We caught the Yawl coming into Edgertown Cove as she was getting ready for a tack. A beautiful wooden boat with canvas sails and a wonderful white bottom.

Well everyone know the story of the Black Dog and how it arrived on MV becoming the trade mark of a local tavern. And what a great spot it was, or so they say. The Black Dog is now the best model of what great marketing can do for any business. There are now several taverns, bakeries, gift shops galore and even a tall ship! No more $10 T-Shirts at the bar.

South Beach- The original that is along the southern (like I needed to mention that) shore of the island is probably the most popular beach on Martha's Vineyard. Funny thing is, not only can you collect sea shells, sea glass and rocks, but actual US military bombs!

Truly a beautiful beach with a long, long stretch of natural sand and dunes.

As seen from town dock in Edgertown is the light house. Actually not the original. It was replaced after the hurricane of 1936. Prior to be torn down, the light house keepers refused to live in the old one saying the roof leaked, the floors shifted and it was unsafe. The Coast Guard removed the light house from Ipswitch and placed it here.

It's always nice to leave your mark when you visit a new place.

South Beach

Earl

We were on the roof top of the Mansion House Hotel for the beginning of Earl. Not much was happening other than some wind (25 - 35 MPH) and spots of rain. We had a great view of town, Vineyard Haven.

This is the same view of town around 1:00 PM before anything really started happening.

We were able to secure the second to last room in the hotel. A very nice room but not big enough for the price we paid. Also, we were facing the wrong direction, inland rather than out to the bay. But it was much better than staying at the shelter.

All over town folks were boarding up their windows preparing for the worst. A few even had a few comments to leave for Earl.

This building was right on the bay shore expecting the worst.

Some folks were even having a bit of fun getting ready!

We found it very interesting that this marine shop boarded up their windows but left their boats chained outside.

We were informed this morning that MEMA had declared a state of emergency and that all businesses and road on the island were to be closed by 2:00 PM. That included the camp ground. We could leave the Airstream there or take it to the High School where there were no trees and the chance of flying objects was the least. From there we had to go the shelter at the elementary school. We opted for a hotel.

At the time of the announcement, we were under Hurricane Warnings and the National Hurricane Center had Earl heading directly towards the islands and expected to be a category 2 or 3. Of course we all know weathermen have the privilege of being correct 50% of the time.

The restaurant of the hotel was able to stay open past the 2:00 PM deadline because they had to offer food to their guests. We stopped in for lunch after dropping off the Airstream and that's how we were able to find a room for the night. The three young ladies and the full kitchen staff were to stay till they had to close.

Ferry to MV

We originally had 9:30 AM reservations for the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard Thursday morning but when we arrive around 8:30 PM Wednesday they got us onto the next ferry going out. We knew there was a strong possibility of Huricane Earl hitting the island but we never let a little weather stop us. Once we got onto the ferry, the weather channel was showing Earl as a catogory four and heading for the islands.

Our Airstream went right on and within moments of getting on board we were on our way. The trip took about 45 minutes and went by quickly. We were able to get hold of the campground and advise them that we were a day. Our site was ready when we arrived and by 10:00 PM we were all settled in for the night.

Mount Defiance

After hiking up to the top of Mount Defiance this Fourth of July weekend, it was refreshing to see the American flag flying at the crest. It wasn't always that way though. Several different flags have flown from this lofty position. On July 5th of 1777, General John Burgoyne had placed two cannons and the Union Jack atop this location.

As your eye would see it, two cannons pointed in the direction of Fort Ticonderoga. I would find it hard to believe that even a well seasoned artillery team could cause too much damage, if any, upon Fort Ticonderoga seen in the far distance in the middle of the peninsula.

Sandi snagged this photo of me pretending to be the British General totally pleased with myself that after dragging only two artillery pieces up the step mount, General Arthur St. Clair, Colonial Commander of the fort, abandoned the fort to the British without a single shot being fired. Idiot!

From this vantage point you can see up Lake Champlain all the way to New France.

Putnam Pond, New York

By now we would imagine that everyone is getting bored by always seeing a photo of the truck and the Airstream situated in some site of a campground. For all you would know we just move the truck around from one site to another at the same campground!

Actually we are always some where different and we decided that we would have to stay home one weekend of each month. This year for the Forth of July we decided to celebrate the holiday at Fort Ticonderoga, a location filled with history starting in 1666. The actual fort was built in 1758 by the French. Several key battles were fought between France and England and the fort eventually fell to the British. Fast forward a bit, May 10th, 1775 and the fort was taken by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen & The Green Mountain Boys. And so the story continues. There are so many flags flying at the fort today you do need a quick history lesson to figure out who is who.

The Dump

OK, so it may not be a big deal to most of my readers but check it out, 0004!
The dump is a Saturday morning ritual which since we are always camping has become only a once a month occasion. Permits are issued around the first of June but many of us get our checks into the town clerk way before that always looking for the coveted low number. As luck has it I have the same number as last year. See the early bird does get the worm, or in this case the low number. There is only one place other than the dump to meet up with friends and trade the male gossip of town and that is at Nick's Barber shop. Since I don't have much hair left, the dump is still the best spot in town.

Riverside Marina

We spent the weekend on the Connecticut River with our friends from the Charter Oak Unit of WBCCI at a very cool well kept secret of a campground right on the river.

Friday night was the night before a full moon.

And what a view, camping right on the river with water and electric.


Of course there is nothing much better than an Airstream, actually seventeen of them, in the middle of a marina filled with boats. Oh, there is one very pretty Bristol sailboat for sale which I was able to go on board. It will be in the water in a few weeks. I think we will be camping here again in the very near future.


A view from the river looking up at the happy campers.

Looking up the river toward Middletown. Our host had posted that one of their members, Toni, was wondering if anyone else would be bringing their kayak's. I always have mine on the truck so we spent four hours paddling the river together. We went up river and found Madabassett river and it was incredible! Beavers, Herons, Wigeons, turtles and a whole bunch more. We are planning on going back in the fall.

I never try a new dish at a rally before testing it but this was an exception. A new Mac & Cheese, no bake with Gruyere cheese, slab bacon, leeks, and a few other ingredients.

No doubt, it was too hot to be inside cooking, but Sandi was helping with all the prep and we pulled off a wonderful new dish. Good news, I wrote this one down!

As with any Airstream rally there is always lots and lots of food for everyone.

Here are a few of our fellow campers getting the pot luck dinner ready.

Toni, my new kayaking buddy, surprised everone with a case of bubbly to celebrate her last day of being sixty-nine years old.

Not sure how it happened but it became my responsibility to make sure Toni always had an open bottle to pour!

Gardens

The pepper garden is doing quite well this year. We planted the usual varieties, Hungarian, Cayenne, Cherry Hot, Habenaro and Halipino to name a few.

A whole new hybred plant this year is a Lemon Hot. Lots of buds right now so we are looking forward to see if they will be worthwhile.

New for us this year is also Brussel Sprouts and Celery.

For the first time in a few years my Hostas and ferns are doing very well. No critters eating away at them. Over twelve varieties this year all doing well.

The grasses always do well and this year is no exception.

Quechee River

Andre, Ken and I decided to take a cruise down the Quechee River. There was water but not as deep as we would have liked. The weather was perfect and seemed like a good day to go down.

We had a very mixed bag of water, most of the time we have a good flow with 12 to 36 inched of water, sometimes a lot less.

The river was crystal clear and you could always see the bottom.

Some times you could see the bottom so well you were better off walking the stretch.