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| View from the front door of 76 Main. Gorgeous!! |
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| Charming house across the street. Notice the cobblestone roads?! |
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| Entrance to 76 Main. Could it be any more "Nantucket?" LOVE IT |
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| Hotel sign hidden among the lush landscape |
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| Street view of our hotel. Can I move in???? |
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| Entrance to our hotel's courtyard that is open for guests to enjoy any time of the day |
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| Picturesque courtyard |
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| In the mornings you can find freshly brewed coffee waiting in the courtyard |
Nantucket is a sleepy town where people do not get up early. Breakfast at our hotel began at 8am, and if you walk into town at that time, it's quite empty.
When I went outside to take photographs I was shocked at the warm temperature. I am very sensitive to cold, and the forecast was calling for a high of 78 degrees that day. I wore a sweatshirt outside assuming it would feel cool and and quickly discarded it! The air was so warm and muggy, it almost felt tropical! Based on the forecast, I never expected to feel this hot summery temperature. We mentioned this to the manager later that morning, and she confirmed it generally feels 10 degrees warmer than the forecast. Bizarre, but I'll take it!
I started to feel more excited for our first day at the beach, which was the plan for that day. I had been worried it would be cool and windy on this New England island, but that certainly wasn't the case so far!
Eric and I enjoyed our free breakfast downstairs in the kitchen, and packed up for the beach. A girl who worked at the hotel recommended we try Steps Beach, which is approximately 1 mile away. We asked the manager for directions and he provided several helpful tips, including a hidden spot to pick up lunch on the way.
We did not bring our car because Nantucket is a tiny island, only 14 miles long! We planned to walk most places or take a cab if necessary. Eric and I are very athletic so walking 1 mile to Steps Beach was easy. It was a scenic route and I enjoyed it. Thanks to the hotel manager, we stopped at Something Natural to pick up sandwiches for lunch on the beach later. The sandwich shop is set back from the street and the sign is easy to miss. It was very crowded with many cars pulling in to get sandwiches and bread for the day.
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| Something Natural - this place was packed before 10am |
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| Picnic tables at Something Natural where you can sit and eat if you'd like |
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| We could see why this place was popular! Eric thoroughly enjoyed his turkey BLT later that afternoon |
After picking up food, we continued our walk which took us through a prominent Nantucket neighborhood. The homes were as beautiful as you would imagine, all with perfectly manicured landscape. Gardening is big business in this town!
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| When we found the entrance to the beach, there was a couple who offered to take our picture. People on the island seemed very friendly :) |
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| They call it Steps Beach because you have walk down a lot of steps to get to the beach |
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| You can see the steps on the left side of the picture. Also notice the mansion perched on the edge of the cliff, probably worth about $20M... |
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| The cliffs provided a magnificent backdrop on the beach |
This day felt magical to me (more beach pics below). Nantucket was one of my bucket list destinations and it was thoroughly exceeding all my expectations thus far. Yesterday I arrived at the quaintest town I'd ever seen, checked into a historic luxury hotel, ate at an amazing restaurant with phenomenal food, and today I am enjoying the BEST BEACH DAY I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED IN ALL OF NEW ENGLAND.
Why the BEST you ask? Well for starters, Steps Beach does not have public parking and is located in the middle of an exclusive neighborhood which limits public access. Therefore, it was relatively uncrowded the entire day. Next, the weather was SUBLIME. PERFECT. UNREAL actually. There was barely a breeze and the temperature was comfortable. You have to understand how rare this is on the beaches we frequent back home, so I was loving every second.
The sandbar was the icing on the cake. This coastline has sandbars that appear depending on the tides. At certain times of the day, you can walk way out in the water and come across a sand bar with shallow waters where you can hang out. The water didn't get much deeper than my stomach as I waded out. I never swim in the ocean on the east coast because it's always uncomfortably freezing, and it rarely gets hot enough at the beach that I need to swim anyway. Well, I actually hung out IN the water for almost an hour, and I don't think I've done that since St. John last year. Needless to say, the water temperature was very warm!
Eric felt the same as me, and expressed that he was so happy I planned this trip. He was apprehensive at first (still not sure why), and now he was having an amazing time.
Nantucket is so close to Boston, but it truly felt like another world.
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| Eric enjoying the warmth |
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| The blue sky came out |
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| This was the busiest it got |
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| We took a walk and passed through Jetties Beach, which is adjacent to Steps |
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| Sand bars in the distance! |
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| The jetty protects Jetties and Steps Beach which made the water PERFECT for swimming |
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| This rocky side of Jetties Beach faces town. You can sit here and watch the ferries drive by |
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| THE LIFE on Nantucket! |
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| Elin is a popular author who lives in Nantucket. She was signing books in town the week before we arrived! Too bad I missed it |
We didn't want to leave the beach, but around 4pm we left to shower and get ready for our dinner reservation at Galley Beach. Galley Beach is another hot spot that is well known for it's sunset views at dinner. The restaurant is actually located right next to Steps Beach, and has a large outdoor area right on the beach where you can sit and order drinks/apps. I figured we should try the place out.
The cab ride there was only $10, which was refreshingly affordable. We were a bit early but they were able to seat us right away. The scene was very hip and pretentious, which provided free entertainment the entire night. It looked like the type of place you could spot a famous person. Again, very "Real Housewives of NYC" feeI, kept waiting for the Bravo camera crew to walk in...
I'm glad we asked a waiter to take our picture before the sun went down. Unfortunately we didn't get a sunset that night...
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| Just got to Galley Beach! Love Eric's outfit! |
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| Grapefruit Martini - heavy on the vodka but nothing special |
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| Eric's Negronie, which he thought was expertly crafted |
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| We don't get dressed up for dinner enough - it's fun and feels special! |
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| Eric looking quite handsome! You can kind of see the beach in the background |
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| Brussels sprout appetizer - great flavors but small serving |
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| We both agreed that this crab cake was slightly above average |
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| My jumbo shrimp entree - WAY TOO SALTY, which is totally unacceptable at a restaurant of this caliber |
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| Eric's halibut was cooked perfectly, but the flavors were average |
The couple seated next to us ordered the special, which was beef waygu for $30/ounce. They ordered 8 ounces for their appetizer...
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| Entrance to Galley Beach in the dark, right before we got in the cab after dinner |
Eric asked the hostess to call a cab, and we wandered around the bar/lounge area while we waited. Wow, the crowd at this place was hilarious. So stereotypical! We didn't mind though because it was fun to watch. To give you an idea of how expensive this place is, a glass of Clicquot will cost you $28 and cocktails are $19. Enough said right?
We saw so many tables ordering endless bottles of champagne all night, and were amazed at the money being spent around us!
We determined that we would come back to sit and have a few drinks on the beach, but never again for dinner.
A cab pulled up and Eric confirmed with the driver that it was for us. As we were getting into the cab, a group a women came running at the van saying we stole their cab. The driver told them, "Your cab is right behind me! Just wait a few minutes." They wouldn't stop hassling the driver and then they looked at us and said they couldn't believe we would take their cab. I have a knack for ignoring obnoxious people and I did just that as the driver said they were being idiots and we drove away. Fun times! There were a lot of drunk people roaming around the restaurant and entry.
The cab dropped us off in the middle of town and we came across The Juice Bar, which is Nantucket's most popular ice cream shop. The line was so long I assumed they were giving ice cream away for free!
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| Line at the Juice Bar |
We skipped the ice cream and strolled home, ending our second joyous day in Nantucket.
day 2 sounded wonderful wow the beach pics were so pretty... i have ready so many of her books all based in nantucket! great writing too nina
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