On Saturday afternoon downtown Newport, RI was packed. Cars were bumper to bumper and as Becky and I were preparing our boat, a 31 foot Grady White Canyon, for departure from the Newport Yachting Center, we both agreed that “summer’s here.” And after the winter we had in New England, it’s not a second too early.
As we passed Castle Hill off to our portside we set our course for a beautiful afternoon cruise through Buzzards Bay to Mattapoisett, MA—where I grew up—for a cookout at my sister’s house. Our children arrived by land thanks to generous grandparents offering to drive them over by car—a beautiful afternoon on the boat can be two and a half hours of boredom to a kid.
Over some ribs and burgers the adults decided that on Sunday morning we would head over to Martha’s Vineyard for breakfast at The Black Dog.
We left Mattapoisett around 9:30 cruising over a dead flat Buzzards Bay, Woods Hole, and Vineyard Sound arriving in Vineyard Haven just after 10:00. After tying up at the Black Dog Wharf we walked down the pier to put our name in for breakfast. Anyone who’s been knows to expect a wait. Ours was 45 minutes—great news for the local economy.
My Newport and Vineyard weekend is anecdotal evidence but it certainly feels like a better economy than what’s being reported. My guess is that most people just don’t go to the Vineyard on a whim. It’s a summer vacation destination. It takes planning. And those like us that do come over on a whim could not have had better weather. At any rate, families were out enjoying themselves both on the Vineyard and in Newport this weekend.
That’s a great start to the summer on many fronts.
