Preparation, Anticipation and Transportation

In a few weeks my husband and I will be on our way to the Vineyard. Once we decided we could make the trip I got busy and started setting the preparations in motion.

First step is where to stay, then the second step which is securing the all important ferry tickets.  I actually enjoy the process of getting the ferry tickets..there's something satisfying when everything comes together.. the date, the time, the correct number of passengers accounted for and poof, the prized tickets are yours,

If luck holds true for us though we’ll make an earlier ferry then the one we have reservations for… extra time on MV is always a good thing.  

For me the third step is the hardest…packing.  I hate to pack, even when going to MV.  I make myself crazy, initial packing at least a week before trip, then rethinking, repacking, redeciding what to bring and checking several MV weather websites to find who has the forecast I'm happiest with. Somehow after much self imposed aggravation I manage to get it all together. Besides, if I forget anything, or the weather changes then I have an excuse to do more shopping.

It's about a 5-6 hour drive from NJ to Woods Hole and I'm always up early and ready to leave by dawn. My traveling companions, whoever they are, are never willing to leave that early. Interestingly, even when I travel to MV by myself I've never left that early. Must be a traffic thing...everyone tells you commuter traffic on I-95 is horrendous in the early morning, mid-morning, late morning, mid-afternoon, late afternoon, all evening and into the wee hours.  There's actually a 10 minute chunk of time when traveling I-95 is clear, thing is no one knows when that 10 minute chunk will be. Traditionally there's always a stop at Mystic, CT for a quick lunch and switching of drivers...then it's on the road again.

With the Vineyard as the destination and the final leg of the journey being the less frantic, and scenic road between Falmouth and Woods Hole, I always arrive at the ferry in a happy mood.

Arriving in Woods Hole wasn't always by car for me, back in the olden days of the 1940's and '50's, we used to travel by train to Woods Hole.  Yup... train, ALL the way to Woods Hole.

When I was growing up my mom and I would go to MV for the entire summer. We didn't have a car so we would take a train from Penn Station in Newark, NJ to Grand Central Station in NYC where we would change trains.

We would have to run from one end of the station to the other to board the New York/New Haven & Hartford's train on the Old Colony line called the Day Cape Codder. 

The train stopped in Woods Hole at what is now the staging area for cars waiting to get onto the ferries. The tracks ran under the overpass, it was literally only steps from train to ferry. A comfortable and luxurious way to travel in the days when lots of people didn’t have cars and the road system left a lot to be desired anyway. The trains had dining cars with each table dressed in fancy tablecloths and crisply ironed napkins. The waiters and conductors were always the same and seemed to remember me from year to year… made me feel special and grown up. Train service to Woods Hole ended in the 1960′s.  Does anyone else remember the trains to Woods Hole?

It doesn't matter that I've been visiting the Vineyard since I was around a year old, my heart flutters the closer I get to Woods Hole... I'm almost giddy with excitement.  Many people wax poetic about the Vineyard being 'home'... I can relate to that entirely...my heart and soul are going where they feel the most comfortable and peaceful.  My mother was raised on the Vineyard and my grandmother is buried in Oak Bluffs...the Vineyard holds a very special affinity for me as it does for many others.

So...off to get the suitcase out, start checking the weather for next month and get ready for a bunch of new Vineyard memories.