Tuesday evening delivered us to Martha's Vineyard, although Vineyard Haven where we docked closes up shop pretty early so we didn't really get out and about until Wednesday morning. Some relatively nice small boats were there to greet us in the harbor.
Out first stop was East Chop adjacent to the village known as Oak Bluffs.
The village itself had a wonderfully decorated house with some beautiful gardens in the backyard.
We proceeded on to Edgartown although didn't stop since it was a busy village with lots of tourists. We opted to head out to the beach nearby which was mostly abandoned. There were some crazy families enjoying the frigid cold temperature of the water. Tina and I weren't getting anywhere near it.
The dunes adjacent to the beach.
Adjacent to that was Edgartown Great Pond.
Heading west on the island and going inland we came across a trail called The Fire Trail. It's an area on the island they've done some controlled burns while allowing other parts of the trail to remain untouched, thus providing a teaching mechanism for the benefits and changes of occasional fires.
Then it was on to our final destination of the day down at the far west end of the island named Gay Head Clay Cliffs. One of my engineers (thanks Paul) recommended this location and it was definitely worthwhile.
The cliffs were formed by the upheaval of land due to this being at the southern most tip of a glacier back in the last ice age some 18 million years ago. That accounts for the mixed colors of black, red, orange and white clay.
Due to erosion of the cliffs this lighthouse had to be moved some 150 yards back (to the right) from it's first location. This is an ongoing story for several lighthouses on every island we've been on so far.
On the way back to the eastern end of the island we came across several marshy salt pond fields.
And so with one last peak of a Martha Vineyard bay, we cranked the top back onto the car and turned it in.
Until tomorrow, sleep well everyone!
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