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Breakfast in town before catching the Ferry
I’d forgotten how foreign the Island feels to me, like I’m thousands of miles away. It reminds me of my time spent in the UK, the jovial spirit, the heavy drinking, backdropped by a fantastic landscape. I’m surprised they don’t believe in fairies and elves.
The pre-wedding festivities were, well, quite festive. There was dancing, drinking, and much too much driving afterward (like I said, two cops). Luckily the Inn was just a few hundred yards from the Sandbar, so we made the arduous (there was a lot of weaving involved) trek back around 3, only to get right back outside so I could sober up a little. The sobering up walk lasted well over an hour, but it was such a nice long walk! I don’t get to spend much one on one time with my mother and she was surprisingly good humored about it. Must have been the tequila shots she took.
Before the ceremony
Anyway, we went to the wedding surprisingly not hungover. Set in an open barnyard on the water, it was humble in its preparation (most of the food was made pot-luck style by locals) but resplendent in its location. I have a hard time not speaking so favorably of the Island because I love it so much. In fact, yesterday I went looking at real-estate, and I was shocked to find nearly three acres running at about 65k. One house was selling for 125k. I suppose the recession is good for something. Anyway, owning a house on the island, regardless of what you paid for it, is no cheap affair. The cost of delivering wood and equipment is astonishing, thus many buildings tend to fall into disrepair.
In so many ways Vinalhaven is still behind the times. A big complaint is the rising cost of ferry tickets. I believe we paid $7 round trip. What does a ticket to Block Island cost now, $12 each way? Yes, I just checked, it does.
Son giving Mum away
Anyway, the wedding was very nice, the food was tasty, and people from allover the island and nearby Northhaven stopped by as well. It brought back so many memories of being out on the boats, hauling Lobster during sunrise, traveling to uninhabited islets for black moon stones. I remember our parents the let the lobster loose on the kitchen floor and we (the kids) used to play with them/run from their bandless claws until they were dropped head first into the pot.
Festivities after the wedding were perhaps a little quieter than the night before. Though, I didn’t stick around late enough to find out. We caught a ferry early this morning and woke up early for a bite to eat. I was so sad to leave. This place makes me feel so effervescent! But I can’t complain, I head for the Outer Banks tomorrow.
Leaving reception for the Sandbar
Departing view
It is so, so wonderful being back here. I’m being hit by thousands of memories that had been catalogued somewhere deep in my brain. My mother and I are staying on one of the only Inn’s on the island, the owner of which actually used to live on Block Island. I guess there’s something to be said about the hold islands can have on a person. Anyway, like most people on Vinalhaven, Paul hauls in the morning and manages the Inn in the afternoon. Most of the teachers, restaurateurs, and retirees still haul when their able. It’s a wonderful uniting force on the island.
One of many pictures I took on the walk
Anyway, we spent most of the day wandering around, visiting old friends. Such a special strange little world. Last night was a typical Maine night, with more stars than I’ve ever seen in a single sky. I think there were at least 12 shooting stars, nearly commonplace.
Now we’re heading to the “Sandbar” (har har) for some pre-wedding celebration!
Relaxing outside the Inn
Meadow
More traps
Not the tropical kind, however. Tomorrow I head to Vinalhaven, Maine, a tiny island about a 75 minute ferry ride off of Rockland. I used to spend parts of my summers on the island as I was growing up but the last time I’ve been there I had just graduated from High School. Now, I head back for a wedding. I am so excited to be back for the first time in four years.
Before I go and report on my Island adventures, some facts: the island has about 1200 year round residents (this number triples or quadruples in the summer months), one k-12 public school, a public library, several swimming quarries (including a dog quarry and a nude quarry), a few seasonal restaurants, and two bars. The island was originally populated to farm granite (thus the resulting quarries), though that resource, for all intensive purposes, has been tapped. Now most residents are lobstermen, a profitable, draining, and seasonal trade. They are up around 3 or 4, drunk and to bed by 8. Traps are strewn in many yards, nearly as prevalent as the granite steps, posts, and other rough hewn features that dot the island.
Some traps laying in the yard
I found this link via NYTimes Travel about the island: http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/realestate/16havens.html?pagewanted=2
It’s a pretty good story, though as a non-visitor I think the author missed some points. First of all, the island isn’t as wholesome as he made it out to be (or as the summer folk would like to think it is). Yes, in the past decade’s summers an onslaught of Mainers and otherwise are coming to the island baby bumped, yoga mats in hand, and with organic fiber journals tucked safely among “Life is Good” t-shirts into their Northface gear. Understandably so, after all the Island is BEAUTIFUL, green and blue, salty, fresh, vital, and the perfect place for a fantasy summer. However, the real Vinalhaven is perhaps a little darker than this. Totally immeshed in eachothers lives, there is cattiness, deception, drama, intrigue, and drugs, the makings of a soap opera, really. The young marry the old, divorce, and then marry the ex’s sister. Seriously. And the drinking on the island is out of control. With only two cops in residence, the locals (seniors and minors alike) haven’t much of a reason to behave.
We’ll see if much has changed!
