We are in the middle of a hot humid heat wave, but there was a doozy, but quick thunderstorm today and it looks like things have cooled down a lot, what a relief. We were cycling in around 100 degrees Fahreinheit yesterday, when we got off the ferry (about 38 degrees Celsius). People were being warned to stay indoors. We were totally mad, and for once were really happy to get off the bikes after only about 20km!
We have had 3 fascinating days since the last blog, a total contrast again, from day to day. We are already missing the cycling, but I have to say that for me, I'm not entirely sure on the camping experience.
There are times I've really enjoyed the camping and other times when I've just longed for an air conditioned room, proper shower (where you don't have to wear jandals), and a nice soft bed. The things that have made the camping possibly more challenging than anticipated have been the heat wave. It really is difficult getting a good nights sleep in a hot little tent, with two people breathing (maybe if one of us didn't breathe the other one could sleep....).
The neighbours being so close together and hearing everything they are doing was another continual problem. How significant this was as a deterrent became really clear at the last campsite where we were at the end of a row, the neighbours were all a long way away and we got good nights sleeps (so I was thinking, yeh, this camping lark isn't all bad!!)
I can deal with having to walk over to the camp office to use the internet, with sharing showers and loo's, and even paying astronomical prices for cold milk in the morning to eat with the cereal. However, the other two things that made for a less than delightful camping experience were: 1. the dirt and 2. packing up and moving every day.
We worked out that all except one of the USA campsites were on gravel or dirt. No grass to be seen (in contrast in Canada, they were all nice grassy sites). The one grassy site in the USA was by far the equal worst campground we stayed at, so we aren't counting that one!!! If anyone has camped in France/Germay/Croatia/Italy please let us know whether the campsites are grass or dirt.... We have worked out that to make the dirt and gravel work, we just need to get a groundsheet made to fit the whole area of the tent and the entrance areas on both sides. We get to clean the tent on Tuesday, lots of nice soapy water to get rid of the squashed bugs and dirt!!
The last campground we were at was probably the first equal best, and we were there for three nights. It showed how much nicer it is to be somewhere for a few days in a row and not have to pack up and unpack each day. We even treated ourselves to a campfire on our last night camping. We now know that this is something that we should have done more regularly. All of the campsites have a fire pit (most of them being rusty old truck/car wheel rims), and good quality firewood is sold at the camp office, or houses on either side (we could always tell when we were getting close to the campground as the firewood stalls started advertising.) But it was $5 for a fire for a few hours, but it was a lot of fun. There are a lot of rules in Maine in particular where you aren't allowed to bring firewood into the area because of the risk of transferring bugs.
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| Last night camping, finally a campfire, should have done it more often |
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| Tent site at Martha's Vineyard, last camping |
The cycling will definitely be done again! But if I am going to study for the next 4 years, we are thinking we will need to investigate organised bike tours to fit them in to the short amount of holidays that I will get in June each year.
Our last day on Martha's Vineyard was classic in two ways. The first was the weather. They have 'smoky souwesters' a lot of the time. But this was one of their 'foggy' days. These can last for days, or fortunately for us, just the one day. It was stinking hot and foggy as anything. We got our flashing reflector lights out, even though we were riding on bike trails most of the time. I tried to get a photo to show the fog, but it was too hard (but I've tried below...).
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| Katama Beach, on the south side of Martha's Vineyard, trying to show the fog |
The meetings were for a week, and the families had 'family tents'. They would arrive by steamship with all their fine furniture and accoutrements, set up their tent, then pack it all up and take it away when they left. Over time, people would arrive earlier to set up the tents, and eventually the tents with canvas, were transformed into 'tents with timber', These 'tents' has the original wooden tent poles, and had tongue and groove timber nailed on. These were adorned with 'gingerbread' as was the fashion at the time.
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| Gingerbread houses at the Marthas Vineyard Camping Association, Oak Bluffs, Marthas Vineyard |
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| Gingerbread houses at the Marthas Vineyard Camping Association, Oak Bluffs, Marthas Vineyard |
These houses were unheated and 'temporary'. But they are still there today. The camp association eventually purchased the land, and there are 315 of these houses remaining. They are built in concentric circles around the 'tabernacle' and they now have 2 months of prayer meetings, entertainm ment, and bible study (we picked up a programme, as it is the middle of the two month season.) Of these houses, 51 have been 'winterised'. It is virtually impossible to purchase a house, they are passed down in families, and there are many rules and restrictions that come with being an owner. When houses are available for sale, they sell for between $300,000 and $500,000 and the land is leased, not owned. If the owner or any of their tenants break any of the rules, they can lose the lease (and therefore the house, but I think houses can be moved away, as there are a number of the houses around Oak Bluffs, but not in the campground area.)
We didn't realise until talking to Helen about it, but it makes a lot of sense that most of the attendees were black. We read afterwards that many successful and prominent black people vacation at Oak Bluffs, we met and talked to a nice lady (about her cool UnderArmour running outfit and she was admiring our 'ugly' but really really cool and comfortable Keen cycling sandals.) Oh, and before I forget, Whoopi Goldberg was sitting two tables away from us at breakfast yesterday morning before we left Martha's Vineyard.
So, to the last phase of our holiday. (comfortable beds and showers!!) We are really enjoying catching up with Helen and her family. Last night we went to an Art Exhibition opening, organised by Kim Goddard (Helen's daughter in law). There was some fantastic art there, a stand out being the art by Laurie (Helen's daughter). But it was fascinating watching the people. I had to take a photo of this guy. We all looked at the photo last night and fortunately no-one knew him. There was quite a bit of discussion over dinner about how this clothing was NOT the norm, nor required, and not representative of the people of Nonquitt (please take note!!).
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| Pink shirt and navy pants with green whales..... |
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| Dressed up for night out, dripping with sweat, long hair, which has gone red, at Helens |
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| Dressed up for night out, dripping with sweat |
Had a lovely dinner and quick swim in the ocean last night (with phosporesence in the water, which was really cool).
Today was the New Bedford Whaling Museum and a fascinating tour of the 'Lagoda'. A half life size whaling boat. The life at sea for these sailors must have been miserable, not for us... Did you know that Whales have 'fins' which look like hands with five fingers, and that their lungs aren't connected to their mouth, (as they would drown when they eat), but only to their blowhole - probably everyone else did know that, but we didn't!
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| Lagoda, half size model of the actual whaling ship, absolutely fascinating, New Bedford Whaling Museum |
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| Chimneys where the oil blubber was rendered to oil on the Lagoda |
This reminds me though, I've been meaning to comment on recycling. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, everywhere you went it was assumed that you would recycle. There were containers everywhere and it was logical to do it. As we got further south, it has become more and more uncommon to have recycling options in public areas (apart from Martha's Vineyard). NZ has a long way to go to get anywhere near the two Canadian provinces.
Well, looking forward to another enjoyable evening, and to catching up with Carolyn tomorrow night in Newport. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENZ.
Some other photos, a couple which were on my iphone that I just downloaded.
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| Gorgeous dinner setting before a lovely meal at Helens |
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| The wonderful Lobster Roll at Side Street Cafe, Bar Harbor (still our favourite place to visit on the trip) |
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| Peter, Beth and Brent, Durham, New Hampshire |
Enjoy soft beds and air con, was that a month in a tent? well done!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about grass, we found the same in US and France (by the way) I think we only had one with grass in France, I remember commenting how nice it was to rub my feet in it!