I’m quite exhausted after this fun weekend with my mom. She flew into the Providence (Rhode Island) airport on Friday night at 8:45 pm. Initially, she was going to arrive at 11 p.m. and then at 7:30, but anyway, that is a whole other story and the good thing is she got a free ticket on Northwest airlines to come visit again! We came back to my apartment and she met Morgan for the first time and adored her, as we do. On Saturday, it was raining, and we set off for Sturbridge, Massachusetts, at 9 am. Sturbridge is a small town about an hour west of Marlborough, which has a lot of tourist appeal because there are several antique stores and a place called Old Sturbridge Village, which is a quaint historical village where buildings have been relocated from other places (notably Connecticut and also towns in Massachusetts) to resemble a town in the 1830’s. I remember that Professor Green once said it was like Disneyland. Anyway, it’s a cute place (although not exactly historically accurate) and Mom enjoyed going for the day. We saw a play at one of the homes and were able to give our feedback on it, so that was something different. After we left OSV, we went to the Publick House (where I was once thinking about having my wedding) in search of seafood chowder. We didn’t find any there nor at the Sturbridge Baking company, but we did get a chicken wrap, cupcakes, and a whoopee pie. Mom and I went back to Marlborough at four, picked up Brian and then went over to the Wayside Inn (where we are getting married), the Marlborough Country Club (Mom said it smelled) and the Wildwood Steakhouse (we want to have the after-wedding dinner there). Anyway, we ended up going to the Wildwood later for dinner with Gretchen and Andy and I had monkfish for the very first time, which was great (the fish resembles a lobster in texture and somewhat in taste). I hope that Brian’s parents like my parents, and I know my mom is too talkative at times, but I think that is okay.
After a totally restless night of sleep (being awoken by Mom’s yelling at the UK/UL football game and my constant thinking at night), we woke up at six am and got ready to go to Martha’s Vineyard. I was really excited about going anyway, and I was fine throughout the day. Martha’s Vineyard is one of the two main islands located south of Cape Cod, Mass. The other island is Nantucket. Both islands are populated (in the summer only) by very wealthy people (including many celebrities) and their families. However, there are still people who live in the islands all year round, and living there is becoming very expensive. Anyway, the only way to get to the islands is by boat or plane, so we took a forty-minute ferry ride from Falmouth, Mass. to Oak Bluffs, on Martha’s Vineyard. When we got there, we decided to take a bus tour around the island. First, we walked around in Oak Bluffs, and went shopping and sightseeing. There is a Methodist settlement containing many homes, which are called Gingerbread cottages. They are very colorful and have interesting lattice work on them. We got on the bus around 11:30 and toured the entire island, which took about two hours. Also, we stopped in the middle of the tour at Aquinnah, formerly the Gay Head Cliffs, which are these amazing cliffs on the west side of the island. The view was amazing. There are also nude beaches on this part of the island…haha. The tour was interesting and even though obviously intended for tourists, I’m glad we went. Heck, I am a tourist and sort of am proud of it. Paul will forever make fun of me because every time I go to New York City, I look like one. Oh well. I will never wear a fanny pack again. Before departing the island, mom and I finally found our bowl of seafood chowder, well, actually, lobster bisque, and then got back on the ferry to go back to the mainland, or "going to America" as the locals call it.
Mom left for home on Monday afternoon. I miss her a lot now. It is always nice having a guest come and visit.
