Not Your Average Island Shuffle

On being grateful for options

We just returned from a week off island, having vacated our year-round home in Vineyard Haven so my partner’s daughter and family could have the place to themselves. Ours is a pretty small house and the 3 kids are all under age 7. You get the picture.

We are lucky that our move was our choice, not like it is for so many residents who have to relocate, somehow, for the summer to make way for people who can pay more rent. For us it was just to get out of the way for the family.

We’ve done this before, but this year we couldn’t find anything affordable on the Vineyard. Am I crazy or does it seem to anyone else that half the places available this year are owned by real estate companies or some kind of investment firm? We needed a kitchen, so a hotel wasn’t an option, even if there was an affordable one.

So we looked off island, and reconsidered our approach. Usually we’re around (just not under foot) to hang out with the family. But this year we decided to think of this as a vacation opportunity. We lucked out with finding a charming cottage in East Falmouth and headed out for our “Cape Cod vacation.”

Cape Cod decor (photo K. Altman)

This makes us laugh because some people unfamiliar with MV think it’s on Cape Cod. It is very close. Our rental house, as far from Woods Hole as could be yet still in Falmouth, was all of 9.6 miles away. I appreciated the easy commute because I didn’t want to miss the Islanders Write event at Featherstone, and the launch of the Washashores Review (to which I proudly contributed).

Cape Cod sentiment (Photo K. Altman)

We chose a place that is as far from the stereotypical Cape Cod shore as could be, so it was quiet. Except for the rooster at the nearby farm, the music of slowly-rolling wheels on the gravel road, the cheerful noise of neighborhood gatherings, the whir of late summer bugs - all sounds that filled me with happiness.

Of course lots of people asked, if you’re going to take a whole week-long vacation, wouldn’t you want to go someplace special, like Paris? But no, we just wanted a little break in our routines, someplace different enough.

Practically in our own backyard, it turned out to be plenty far away. Everything was different and new to us. The roads were unfamiliar, we had to find the grocery stores, and everything in the house worked in different ways. Rest was our main goal, but I read somewhere that it’s the change of routine and environment that makes a vacation good for you, not so much the distance from home, and that seems to be true.

E Falmouth kitchen still life - I only brought the oil & garlic. (Photo K. Altman)

The house was perfect for us. We loved the décor, which included a lot of excellent art, and though it was a smallish house, there was so much more space in it than what we’re used to. The host left lovely goodies and colorful zinnias to welcome us. I spent every morning on the kitchen patio writing and listening to the birds – so many because we were surrounded by mature woods.

We were so comfortable, I kinda hated to leave. But that’s part of what makes vacation so beneficial, too. It’s temporary. You change up your ways (except morning coffee which I cannot bear to change at all), do things a little differently, hear new sounds, see new sights, walk different paths. In this very subtle way, it was stimulating and indeed rejuvenating for us.

It’s worth noting that given the choice, paying an individual person for our vacation rental rather than a corporation made sense, at least to us. Our host had lived in this house (the growth chart on the door jamb to the basement warmed my heart) and was still a neighbor, so we were helping them to keep the house in the family, and that felt good.

If you’re lucky enough to have options when you need a vacation or just a break, I highly recommend looking near your own backyard.