Sunday, August 15, 2010

It's so fluffy I'm gonna die

We left early in the morning to try to beat traffic and get on board
the 10:00 ferry to Martha's Vineyard. There was a little Saturday
market along the way and we learned the names of the different
vegetables, and bought some peas and carrots.

Traffic was unbelievable. We were barely moving for maybe 20 km. Lots
of rich people and french Canadian tourists were headed to the island
for the weekend. Parking was a nightmare too.

We got dropped off at Oak Bluffs, one of the little towns on the
island. The houses were covered in worn grey cedar shingles, or white
siding and dark shutters. Above the door were dates of construction.
Some were from the 1860s, and others more recent like 1930s.

Part of the reason why I put Martha's vineyard on the list was to go
to Island Alpaca, an alpaca farm that has tours and of course a store
that sells roving and yarn and knitted things.

We figured out how to get a bus pass for the day. It turns out that we
were standing amidst a very helpful, but very francophone group from
around Montreal. They had mastered the bus system, and helped us out.
Hooray for French I suppose. I'm using French so much that Evan has
picked up a few new words and phrases. Before the trip he could only
say hello and hot air balloon in French.

Once we got away from the beach traffic, the busses were more empty,
and the friendly driver dropped us off right where we needed to go.
They are very patient with the throngs of confused and clueless
tourists.

The alpaca farm charges an admission of $5 and provides a very
educational self guided tour posted on the fence that encloses the
young male alpacas. There were lots of them in the field, some eating,
others biting each other and wrestling in the dirt.

Walking through the barn, we could see some from up close as they ate
and sheltered from the sun. The store was next, and poor Evan has
never seen me near fiber or in a yarn store before....I'm glad he is
so easygoing and eager to learn about anything and everything.

There were knitted hats, mitts, scarves, toys....mill spun yarn,
handspun yarn, and roving. It was behind a door, maybe there aren't so
many spinners that come through, but wow, what amazing roving it is.
There was some superfine black that I couldn't resist. It's the stuff
that you'd have regrets about not purchasing the whole way back on the
ferry. Living with no regrets, I bought 8 oz of the stuff. I got some
white wool roving too, and Evan and I are going to dye it over the
campfire.

As if the store wasn't great enough, the tour continued to see the
females, and the new cria (babies). It was here that we got to touch
them and watch them close up as they fed. Evan, perhaps to prove that
he didn't sleep through ALL of despicable me, quoted the movie saying
"it's so fluffy I'm gonna die". They really are beautiful in an odd
camel-like way. If you are ever near Martha's Vineyard, check out
Island Alpaca. It is a great place to unwind, with friendly people and
fluffy alpaca.

Next on our trip was to return to Oak Bluffs because we noticed that
there were so many people lined up at the bus stops, trying to get
back and take the last boats back to shore. We didn't want to be
stranded so we returned and walked a bit around Oak Bluffs and saw the
fancy houses with large wrap around porches and gingerbread. We must
have taken a wrong turn or three because we got lost a bit. Many
people were happy to get us headed back in the right direction, and we
ended up at the dock early. I had misread the schedule, but we were
early rather than late for the last boat.

It was lovely to see the sinking sun from aboard the ferry. As we
approached Falmouth harbour, we saw so many luxury boats, many from
Florida. They were almost as big as a small ferry!

Our return journey included a stop at a grocery store to get graham
crackers, food colouring, vinegar, and other food. We tried to get
more butane cylinders for our stove, but a regular walmart doesn't
carry them. Maybe we can get more at a superwalmart on the way to
Boston. Evan learned how to pump gas here. In Korea it is all full
service at gas stations!

There are very few street lights here, even the fast highways are
dark, so i was glad that there was a steady stream of cars to show me
where the road was all the way home. There was no "recalculating"
involved!

We got back to the site at 10:15 and we had to extinguish any fires by
11:00 so we were impressed that we could light and sustain our fire
and cook our hotdogs on sticks (a first for Evan) and our s'mores and
even baked apples before we were told that it was time. My watch still
said 10:58 when I dumped the waterbucket on the coals. We ate by
candle light, and headed to bed pretty late. It was a very busy and
fun day.

Sent from my iPod

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