Voyage

n. - voyage

We returned a while ago from a lovely sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard where a dear friend of ours not only lives, but was born and bred.  While the trip was absolutely wonderful and one I would repeat again, there were a couple of “don’t’s” – the first being not to take the ferry from New York, but rather splurge and fly there, which you can do now direct from JFK.  We were being frugal, but the ferry does not take five hours as indicated, but closer to over six and for a weekend getaway, it’s too much time in transport that could be better spent enjoying the island.  Furthermore, the ride over was very bumpy and we all know what that means.  Fortunately, I didn’t get sick, but I did get terrified and when I lost the horizon due to the darkness of night, I was left just clinging helplessly to my seat staring ahead in the black of night praying for the voyage to end. 

Given that experience, pizza seemed like such a poor choice for a boat snack, but there it was in all its greasy glory right along side the hot dogs, chips and beer – staples of the American diet.  This leads me to my other “don’t” and that is tempura-fried lobster.  Now I’m not talking about frying the actual meat, which could be a good idea, but rather frying the whole thing shell and all.  This works with soft-shelled crab – because you can eat the shell, but you can’t eat the lobster shell or at least I can’t.  It’s messy enough to get through with one’s little pliers and picks, but now there’s an added layer of grease and fat to contend with.  This wasn’t served on the ferry by the way, but at an upscale eatery where we went on our second night.  I guess just plain old boiled or baked lobster becomes pedestrian when living near the sea so this was their way of differentiating themselves, but I’m more of a traditionalist.

Traditional is not a word I would use to describe my friend’s father, also a long time Vineyard native.  He lives in a non-traditional home with two non-traditional pet roosters who actually come when they’re called and allow themselves to be picked up and held.  They greeted us when we arrived and clucked and pecked around us as we visited.  We took a little boat ride out to the beach since he lives on a bay and then we each took a turn on his excavator – and that’s not an SUV by the way, but a 10 ton machine that operates on hydraulics used for lifting or digging dirt and moving it from one place to another.  I’m still not sure exactly what the project was that he was using it for, but it was quite fun to have a go at it.

All in all, it was a delightful journey with delightful people and the ferry back came all too quickly, yet still took all too long!