the vineyard

saturday we took a day trip to martha's vineyard with our friends chase and ashley.

we took the ferry over to vineyard haven, bought an all-day bus pass, and took a bus to oak bluffs to visit our first stop: the flying horses - america's oldest running carousel. we of course had to ride it and this is was one of my favorite things of the day! they have this game where you try and grab rings from the side while you are on your horse, they have a brass ring in the mix and if you get the brass ring, then you win a free ride.  we didn't get the brass ring and we were certainly amateurs at grabbing the rings, but we had a blast.  we were laughing the whole time!

those horses were OLD.  they are hand-carved, have glass eyes (which look a little bit creepy), and they have real horse hair for their manes and tails.  wild!

 then we walked down circuit ave to hit up some of the souvenir shops on our way to see the colorful cottages.  they were adorable and there were sooooo many.  we ate our packed sandwiches as we walked around and dreamed of living in the little homes.

after we got our fill of oak bluffs, we hopped on a bus to edgartown.  we were originally going to rent bikes, but it was an overcast blustery sort of day and we weren't up for getting blown over on our bikes.  the weather did work in my favor though because it was the perfect excuse to drink hot chocolate all day.  my goal at the beginning of the day was 5...  sadly i only ended up with 3.

we walked the streets of edgartown and visited the cute shops.  edgartown had such a different feel compared to oak bluffs.  oak bluffs was touristy and bright, edgartown was elegant and pricey.  the homes were incredible!  they are all built to specific codes that include cedar rain gutters!  crazy!  and they are all white with black shutters and gorgeous gardens.

 we ventured to the edgartown lighthouse after checking out the harbor and meandering through the streets lined with the million dollar homes.

ashley and i attempted to take a jumping picture, which was hysterical.

after i touched the lighthouse, we said good bye to edgartown and headed back north for some grub.

 we wandered around vineyard haven for a bite to eat and found that oak bluffs was the place to be around dinner time, so we hopped on another bus.

we enjoyed some thick burgers and shoestring fries while we warmed our bones at a local tavern.  then we took the ferry back to the mainland and drove on home.  it was the perfect fall adventure!