Beachin'

I thought you could use another dose of Dionis Beach... everyone could use more beach in their lives, right?

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda

Sunday Brunch : Even Keel Cafe

Nothing beats some good ol' fashioned bacon and eggs for breakfast. We hit the Even Keel Cafe for brunch (Ben really liked their logo, so that must mean the food is good, right?) They nailed my over-medium eggs - I like them dippable, but not runny - something that can be kinda hard to find. We sat on the patio out back which was nice and quiet, over-grown with big trees and ivy, very relaxing. What a great way to start the day!

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda

Harborin' Around Town

Here are a few shots from the harbor in Nantucket Town. The water is just so clear and blue, it really is quite a sight. The lighthouse in the last shot is the Brant Point Lighthouse, it's short and squat... very cute.

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda

When the sign's on the door...

...don't come a knockin'.

Sorry, I just couldn't pass that one up. The "Do Not Disturb" sign in our room was just too cute to not post here. Rarely do you find a hotel that has something other than the boring standard, so I wanted to share. Here's the other side...

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda

Saturday Dinner : The Club Car

Ben and I hit up The Club Car for dinner Saturday night. We figured that we would start off our honeymoon with a "fancy" dinner...

We started with cocktails - Ben had a side car, I had my usual bourbon and seven - followed by a braised rabbit loin appetizer. We decided to have salads, a mixed greens salad and a baby arugula salad... they were huge for starter salads! Ben chose the dry-aged center cut sirloin (mixed peppercorns, grilled Pinot Noir reduction, smoked portobello mushroom, savoyard potato) for his main course, where I chose the house favorite, roast rack of Colorado Lamb (fresh herbs, honey mustard glaze, minted Madeira sauce) - both came with fresh veggies. Our server, Bob (who really looked like he could be Ben's boss' brother...) knew what he was doing and really seemed like he had been working there for quite some time. We also had a lovely red wine with dinner, although I don't recall what exactly it was we had (Ben would need to chime in here...)

We had originally landed on The Club Car for dinner that night because we saw they had live piano at the bar. By the time we finished dinner, the bar was PACKED, so we decided not to stay, but we definitely got a taste of the piano (and a few local drunks.) All-in-all, we had a nice time and the food was fantastic.

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda

The Veranda House

Just wanted to share the outside awesomeness of our hotel... and
another view from the third floor.

Who shrunk my beer...?

We're sitting at the Cisco Brewery, about half-way through the tasting
flight. Let me tell you, it was SO worth the walk! All the beers (so
far) have been excellent, the atmosphere is sweet - there's a
bluegrass trio playing at this moment - and the bartender is pretty
neat too. We're enjoying ourselves... and we still have the distillery
to see/taste... :^D

My feet hurt...

Ben and I are currently sitting on the bus waiting for our stop to get
off to head to the local Cisco Brewery. This is the one thing that
every "local" has told us to go see/do. Needless to say, we're both
pretty pumped for this. I am, however, NOT pumped for the half-mile
walk we're about to do. Now, I realize that a half-mile is not that
far... but you have to realize that we walked 4 miles round-trip to
the Sankaty Light House (2-miles each way) and another, maybe, 3 miles
to and from Jetties Beach last night. My dogs are barkin... so I'm
sure you can understand my lack of excitement to walk to the brewery.
At least the carrot at the end of this stick is served cold, is a
golden-amber color, and is loaded with alcohol...

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda
---
Sent from my iPhone :)

Dionis Beach

We did manage to rent a couple of bikes on Sunday and ride to Dionis
Beach. It's early in the season, so the beach was pretty empty (the
water was freezing!) The ride was quite nice - breezy, warm sun, just
the slightest hills - and we rode a total of about 7 miles round trip.
All in all, a great little adventure!

Room 22

Here are a few shots of our hotel room. There's not really much to say
here other than we are very happy with this room (and the hotel all
together!) The bed is comfy and the rainfall shower is divine!

Look out below!

This is the view from the third floor veranda at our hotel... I see
why the hotel has won "best harbor views".

Boston to ACK (Nantucket)

We arrived in Boston sometime Saturday morning (I'll be perfectly
honest here, I don't know what time it was...) and let me tell you,
the Boston airport is aggravating! I'll keep my rant short by saying
that if you have a connecting flight in another terminal, you have to
actually leave the secure area and go through security again. Epic Fail.

Anyway, we connected with Cape Air and hopped to the island on a Cessna
(it was pretty darn small...) The plane sat 7 passengers, plus
the captain, and was actually quite an enjoyable ride. The majority of
the plane is covered by windows, so the view was really nice... as you
can see by my photo of Boston from the plane below. We made it in one
piece, and arrived to very sunny, cool, breezy weather.
More updates to come soon, so stay tuned!

Lunch time

Ben and I are currently sitting in a joint called Captain Toby's
enjoying a glass (or two) of some local brew after crab cake sliders
and fries. We actually stopped in for lunch here on Saturday, but I
must say that this time is much better. First off, the crab cake
sliders are really, really great - nice and greasy, topped with cole
slaw and chipotle mayo - and they have real fries... I'm happy with
this. Period. BUT, we decided to sit at the bar this time... a really
great bartender can really change a restaurant experience. Johnny is
pretty cool - he won my approval when talking about bourbon, described
a local brew as not "tasting like burning"... I of course followed
with the Ralphie quote from the Simpsons only to be mimmicked by
Johnny as well. Thumbs up. So as we're hanging out at the bar, I drop
a "honeymoon" in there, and somehow we end up with sippers of
whiskey... on the house. Double thumbs up.

So now I'm going to go finish my abundance of alchohol, and probably
go stumble around the island.

Not your mamma's continental breakfast

Ben and I managed to wake up early enough to make it downstairs in
time for the Veranda House breakfast. I'm not going to lie, we both
expected your standard continental fare - little boxes of cereal,
muffins, toast-yourself-bagels, you know, the norm. That was not at
all what was presented... Not only did we get seated, but we were
surpised to find that we were getting a 3-course breakfast... First
came the coffee and juice smoothy (orange juice with banana and
strawberry) with a basket of blueberry muffins and bread sticks. It
was the presentation of the "toppings" that was a real wow... 5 little
square containers held raspberry butter, raspberry preserves, sea salt
and chive butter, honey, and plain butter (left to right in the first
photo.) The raspberry butter was absolutely delicious!

Next up was the fruit shooter - canteloupe, peach, and something else
- with a few pieces of neatly arrange fruit along side. The main
course followed; we had our choice of a few basic breakfast
selections, Ben had a plain bagel with cream cheese while I had the
granola with vanilla yogurt. If breakfast like this is included daily,
then we are even happier with our choice of hotel...

As for now, we're off to check out the whaling museum... Ben is pretty
excited... I plan on uploading the amera this afternoon, so keep an
eye out for some more blogging!

A glimpse into our future...?

As Ben and I stood outside our gate in Boston waiting for our carry-on
bag, I glanced up and saw this couple also waiting for baggage. They
were standing against the wall, matching iPhones in hand passing the
time. I looked over to Ben and realized we looked just like them... 25
years younger. I'm just bummed that my iPhone case doesn't match my
outfit like hers does...

We're off!

Let the honeymoon begin! It's official... Ben and I are in the air and
on on the way to Boston. We spent the night at my parent's house last
night (they literally live 5 minutes from the airport) so we had a
very quick and efficient morning that didn't require us to be up *too*
ridiculously early (we're not exactly what one might call "morning
people".) We got a nice send-off from Mom and Dad, the Delta ticket
ladies were running a quick counter, neither of us got the "special
treatment" in security, and our arrival time in Boston is earlier than
scheduled. Plus, Ben and I are super excited, so that makes everything
so much better :)

See you in Nantucket!

Only one day to go...

We leave for Nantucket bright and early tomorrow (yay!) Now for the
fun part of packing and prepping the house (cleaning, mowing, you
know, all that 'fun' stuff...) But first, coffee... sweet,sweet coffee.

If I can just get through today...

Ok, so I realize that we don't actually leave for Nantucket until
Saturday (still a solid 2.5 days away) but I am itching to go so badly
that today is moving slower than a garden snail. I can't stop thinking
of all these things that need done before we go, and after sitting
down witht the travel book again last night, I can't stop thinking
about all the good seafood to come. Thankfully, I have both tomorrow
and Friday off (normal days off) to really dive in and plan, pack, and
generally prepare. Here's keeping my fingers crossed that I get good
(preferably nice) people on the phones tonight... I'd really like to
leave the office for my 9 day vacation on a happy note...

Happy Honeymooning!
Amanda
---
Sent from my iPhone :)