When Vacations Don't Go As Planned
but you make memories anyway.
It’s hard to believe June is almost over! 2021 is speeding by like a freight train running late and I’m longing to pull on the brake and stop time. After more than a year of slow living, it’s equal parts exciting and exhausting to be mostly back to normal.
We took our annual trip to Cape Cod this month. We didn’t go last year, so it was a fun kick-off to summer. We read Nicholas: A Massachusetts Tale and Nicholas’s final stop is Martha’s Vineyard. I have been longing to go to the Vineyard and this felt like a good excuse to make it happen.
I had the entire day planned. We would wake up early to catch the first ferry to the island and eat a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal and dried fruit. We’d ride our bikes from the hotel to the dock and enjoy the 30-minute boat ride. My backpack held the ingredients for Second Breakfast: yogurt, fresh strawberries, jam, and granola, along with plastic cups and spoons. Once we were on the island, we’d find a quaint little park to have our picnic breakfast before biking a few miles down the coast on the path I discovered when researching “best bike paths in Martha’s Vineyard.” We’d stop to play at a beach before going a few more miles to Edgartown for lunch, where we’d explore a bit before biking our way back to the ferry dock. Once we got back to the mainland, we would grab something quick for dinner and go to bed early, feeling exhausted, but happy, from a day of adventuring together.
It sounds idyllic, right?
Here’s what really happened.
We did wake up early to catch the first ferry, quickly dressing in the outfits we had carefully chosen the night before. I wore my swimsuit with capris and threw a thin long sleeve shirt in my bag, thinking the island would be much cooler than the mainland that day. (Spoiler alert: it was not. I should have worn shorts and a tank.) We enjoyed our quick breakfast of instant oatmeal before riding our bikes to the dock. We boarded the ferry, parked our bikes on the lower deck, and headed up the stairs to find a seat. It was a beautiful boat ride—but cold—so we were grateful for the sweatshirts stuffed in our bags. When we got off the ferry, David suggested we bike a short way to a nearby beach, where we could eat yogurt parfaits and decide where to go next. I agreed, thinking there was a bike path we would follow.
Nope. We ended up biking on a busy street. I was slightly paranoid that my daughters would end up being smashed by a car flying down the road. They are great bikers, but we don’t bike on the road much, and it was clear the cars were not happy to be sharing the road.
We made it to Inkwell Beach where we were greeted by swarms of tiny little beetles. The girls thought they were baby ladybugs, but my research has proven them wrong. I’m not sure what kind of bug they were, but they were not afraid to attach themselves to our bodies and our bikes. They didn’t bite, thank goodness, but when there are hundreds of tiny bugs all over you, the last thing you want to do is have a fancy picnic.
“Come on, let’s go down to the sand,” I said, grabbing our bags and trudging down the five steps leading to the beach. “I don’t think the bugs are as bad down there. You can play in the water while I make parfaits.” The girls tiptoed into the water, but quickly came back to where I was sitting. “Mooooooom,” they whined, “it’s rocky and full of seaweed. And it stinks!” Not wanting to get sand all over my yogurt, I moved back up to the bug-infested sidewalk and made parfaits as quickly as I could. I handed each person a cup, telling them to take it down to the beach to eat it. “When we’re done, we’ll find the bike path and go to a prettier spot,” I promised.
We finished our parfaits and loaded up our bags, constantly fighting the relentless swarm of bugs. Trying to stay positive, I challenged the girls to make it a game. “I think once we get going, they won’t be able to hold on, so let’s bike as fast as we can!” David led us down the unmarked bike path as we began our trek to Edgartown. It was a 5-mile ride, but mostly flat, so we thought the girls could handle it if we made a stop to play in the water along the way.
We were a mile into the ride when the littlest stopped and said she couldn’t go any further. “It’s too hot,” she said. And I had to agree. The forecast said it would be 65 and breezy that day, but it was wrong. At 10:30am it was already 80-degrees in the sun, and the bike path had very little shade. “I can see the beach up ahead,” I told her, “If you can go just a little bit further we can stop there and play.” The promise of water convinced her to keep going and we found ourselves one of the few groups on an unnamed beach just a mile and a half from where we started. We spent a little over an hour there. The girls swam in their new wetsuits and collected rocks. We ate strawberries and grapes and peanut butter and jelly. We took pictures to prove we had been to Martha’s Vineyard, and we talked about how the beaches of Cape Ann are more beautiful but less secluded. We thought maybe the day would turn out to be idyllic after all.
Eventually, we got hungry and ran out of food, so it seemed like a good time to make a move. Deciding it was too hot to bike to Edgartown, we head back to Oak Bluffs to find a cute place for lunch. David led us to a playground with a boat play structure and a lighthouse hideout. The girls played for a bit while David and I sat in the shade, trying to decide where to go for lunch. We agreed on a diner that wasn’t too far away. After a quick bathroom break, we biked our way up to the main strip. When we reached the end of Circuit Avenue and found the restaurant we had decided on, we couldn’t find a place to park our bikes. As bike-friendly as Martha’s Vineyard claims to be, there are very few convenient locations to park bikes. We walked our bikes through the town in search of a place to park, listening to cries of “I’m hot! I’m tired! I’m hungry!” all the way.
Finding bike racks not far from the ferry dock, we realized we had to carry all of our stuff with us. I loaded the adult backpacks as heavy as I could, trying to keep the girls’ backpacks as light as possible. We finally made our way on foot back to Linda Jean’s Restaurant, where we were seated at a booth and given menus with options for both breakfast and lunch.
After we ate, we walked to see the famous gingerbread houses. Finding a place in the shade to rest, I passed out Double Bubble and we practiced blowing bubbles. Once the flavor disappeared and the gum started tasting like glue, it was time to fulfill our promise of riding the Flying Horses Carousel and getting ice cream.
The minute we walked into the building where the Carousel is housed, I regretted making the promise. It felt like a sauna, the music was blaring, and I instantly felt sensory overload. But a promise is a promise, and the girls were not leaving the Vineyard without riding the Carousel, so we bought tickets and watched as they spun around and around. The music got louder and louder. My heart beat faster and faster. I could feel sweat beads form on the back of my neck. Eden caught the golden ring, but said she did not want to ride again, so we left the sauna building and went in search of a place to cool off.
We found an ice cream shop, but we have past experiences of children throwing up when they eat ice cream on a hot day, so we sat on the front porch and tried to cool off by pouring water on ourselves. We had three hours before our scheduled return ferry, but there was nothing else we wanted to do. It was too hot and we were too cranky. All we wanted to do was go back to the hotel and play in the pool.
David headed to the ferry to see if we could get on an earlier boat. While he was gone, both girls came down with upset stomachs, requiring me to dig through my bag for the ice water I knew was somewhere inside. I gave them water, which seemed to help, and half of a Bonine pill, which I knew they would need on the ferry ride back. David came back just as I was packing my backpack to search for a bathroom. He was successful in changing our ticket, but we had to be at the ferry with our bikes in half an hour.
We walked half a mile to find a bathroom, made a quick stop at the ocean to cool off our near-heat-exhausted bodies, and by some great miracle, made it back to our bikes and to the dock in time to catch the earlier ferry. Although the girls still felt queasy when the boat started moving, by the time we docked they both felt fine. We biked back to the hotel, where we had Snack Dinner and laughed about how the day was nothing like we planned.
But despite being the complete opposite of idyllic, it was a day we learned how to communicate a little better, a day we made lasting memories, and a day we will always remember.
From my Bookshelf
I read The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba while on vacation. I love anything by Chanel Cleeton and this latest book was no exception.
I’m spending a lot of time with poetry lately and devoured Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. She, along with the amazing women of my recent critique group, have inspired me to look back on my own life and turn it into poetry. It’s hard work, but I’m finding the act of writing poetry to be extremely therapeutic. There’s something very redeeming about turning bad circumstances into a work of art.
If you need encouragement to go on some adventures, I highly recommend Adventuring Together by Greta Eskridge. Although I found it lacking in storytelling—I longed to read more stories about her own adventures—it did help me remember that it’s often the adventures that turn out terribly that create the most lasting memories.
For the kiddos, check out The Vanderbeekers Lost & Found. We finished this as a family read-aloud last month and it may rival The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street as the best of the series. The Vanderbeeker family members have become friends of ours over the last several years and I’m eagerly awaiting the next book.
What to Eat
Our Farm Share is in full swing so we are thrilled to be eating fresh produce once again. Last week I used beet greens to make green rigatoni (pictured above) and pesto from kale stems and overgrown basil. It sounds way more exotic and difficult than it really was. Sneaking greens into pasta has become my favorite “We don’t know what to eat” meal.
We always eat a lot of salad this time of year, and I’m loving this Italian Pizzeria Salad right now. I leave out the artichokes (because I don’t have them), use kalamata olives (because it’s what’s in my fridge), and add salami and chickpeas.
For a fun way to eat lettuce, I made these Chicken Lettuce Wraps for dinner last week and my kids devoured them. I was a skeptic when I made them, so I told them they had to try one before eating rice and raw cucumbers for dinner. After just one bite they said, “These are delicious! We love the tiny lettuce cups!” I made a note and am adding it to the regular rotation.
Did you know I started sending out a weekly email with recipe ideas? I share what I picked up from the farm each week and some recipes to try. If you want to try eating seasonally, you should check it out.
Around the Web
This story about a man being swallowed by a whale made me want to spend some time re-reading Jonah. It’s really too bad the guy doesn’t lobster dive with a Go-Pro attached to his head. What a viral video that would be!
This is a fascinating story about the history of Martha’s Vineyard.
This essay On Communion resonated deeply with me, especially in light of what’s happening with the Catholic church.
In Case You Missed It
I’m spending a lot of time writing this summer, but not a lot of time publishing. I hope that means many publications in the future, but for now, it’s slow going. Editing my own work is not my favorite thing (although I love editing for others) but it’s a necessary part of the writing process. Here’s what I did put out in the world this month.
I have a new website! It’s not professionally designed like I dream for one day, but sometimes you have to take the easy and free route. It is a one-stop place to find all the stuff I’m writing and even has a contact form. You know, in case someone wants to collaborate.
I wrote about our summer plans. And about how sometimes all the tiny things add up to equal something greater than I could ever imagine.
I loved this poetry prompt so much that I spent a week researching the name “Crystal”—discovering things I never knew—and wrote my own name poem. I was so honored when Callie featured it in the next week’s prompt.
I am taking a break (mostly) from social media this summer and have been using the time to do intentional journaling. I discovered I was using social media as a way to process my days, and I want to be more intentional about when and how I share on social media in the future. But not being on social media means I miss you, my friends! I’d love for you to reply to this email and tell me—What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this summer?
The World Slowly Wakes Up
I wrote this poem using a pencil in my poetry journal back in April as part of a Poetry Workshop. This month feels like the world is really waking up from our year of hibernation—at least here in Massachusetts. As the world wakes up around us, I leave you with this to sip on.
Until next month,
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