Took a few days, but I’m back with another travelblog post. We are now on Martha’s Vineyard after a great stint in Nantucket. Here’s an update through today.

Nantucket is a perfect place to relax. The seemingly universal attitude on the island is one of easygoing, upbeat nonchalance. We spent two nights at the Union Street Inn, just off Main Street in Nantucket Town. The inn is newly renovated and perfectly run; we were most impressed with how simple and effective our stay unfolded. A lunch visit to the White Elephant confirmed that it is sophisticated, beautiful, and not for us until we have a few kids to keep busy (and perhaps a boat, and cousins named Chad and Muffy).

There’s not much to do on Nantucket, in a good way. We did plenty of damage shopping, mostly at Victoria Greenhood for jewelry and Marina Clothing menswear (surprise of the week: I outspent Amy so far). Provisions serves up great take-out sandwiches and Even Keel is lightning quick at lunchtime. We had one good dinner at Centre Street Bistro and one mediocre one at Slip 14, although the environment was fun.

We spent one day biking around the island, and can recommend Young’s for rentals. Down the block, Indian Summer Surfwear has good active beach clothing; more impressively, they sold me the world’s greatest backpack in 1990—I just stopped using it last year—and they still have a nice selection. Had we had more time we would have biked or shuttle-bused to the far side of the island, but that will have to wait for our next trip.

After two-plus days, it was back onto the high-speed ferry to Hyannis, and following a quick round of Pirate’s Cove miniature golf in Falmouth (David Wertheimer: 33 going on 12), we drove to Woods Hole and took another ferry to the Vineyard. We arrived in Edgartown, quaint and cozy as ever, just before dinnertime.

We are back at the Charlotte Inn. No words I compose on the fly will do justice to the feeling we get when we are here. The inn is impeccably gorgeous, upscale without being stuffy, comfortable without losing its elegance. We are currently sitting on a private patio overlooking a semi-private garden and yard with an intricate and immaculate floral display in front of us. Off to the corner is a converted shed that displays antiques and period pieces from the early 20th century. We had tea and snacks on the porch this afternoon with an endearing summer staffer (were I older I’d call her “just lovely”) and the innkeepers remembered us and welcomed us back with a smile. It’s our fourth trip overall, the second since we got engaged here, and we hope to return for years and years to come.

Next post I’ll run down our Vineyard explorations and food. We’re here for three glorious nights. Time to kick back some more.