Nantucket Travel Diary

We just returned from our annual summer trip to Nantucket and I wanted to recap our vacation while the memories are still fresh. We spent the week in a pretty shingled home, down a crushed shell lane, with a big wrap around porch, full of green painted wicker furniture and rocking chairs, with banging screen doors, rooms full of antique pine furniture and a garden of climbing roses and purple hydrangeas. We had early sunrise wake up calls, promptly followed by walks to get warm sugar donuts, sticky morning buns or, our favorite, ham and cheese croissants. If you climbed up the attic stairs you could take in the pretty panoramic views, dotted with sail boats and summer cottages, from the widow’s walk. The front yard was always littered with our bikes and whiffle ball gear and at any given moment we could expect to hear laughter and 90s music coming from the home with a pool next door. The misty, salty air was heavily scented with honeysuckle and roses and we fell asleep with the windows wide open every night.

I believe this is our sixth or seventh summer staying on Nantucket instead of the Cape and it was the first time I came without an itinerary or list of things I wanted to do. If that meant a few hours sitting in the backyard with a good book and my face toward the sun, then so be it. I no longer felt this need to maximize each day to the fullest and it was refreshing. Maybe this is the new post pandemic me? Just allowing ourselves to relax and be swept up in the nostalgia and classic summer charm of the island was sufficient. Each lazy day just melted into the next, full of spontaneous bike rides, beach trips, lobster roll lunches and sunset dinners. Jimmy and the boys played a lot of golf, Andrew spent a few days with friends on the Cape, I read a couple books and did some shopping on my own (including a yard sale). We didn’t follow any sort of schedule, except for maybe the daily, “mandatory”, visit to the Juice Bar. The weather was surprisingly warm for June, the roses were at their peak and hydrangeas were spilling over picket fences everywhere, we played a lot of beach football and backyard whiffle ball and spent chilly evenings in sweaters with the fire on and every candle lit.

It was sad to see a handful of favorites not survive the pandemic (Peter Beaton’s Studio on Federal (you can find his hats at Murray’s now - but it’s not the same), Brotherhood of Thieves restaurant and Parchment stationary shop are a few from my past list of favorites that you will no longer be able to find.). The island was definitely more crowded that usual for June, which gave it a bit of a different feeling. Most nicer restaurants required reservations, made several weeks before arriving. Our best dinner was at The Ship’s Inn, a long time favorite, for both the food and the atmosphere. You must order the chocolate soufflé if you go! (tip - I wouldn’t recommend dinner here with very young children. It is small and intimate and not the sort of place you would bring out a phone or iPad for entertainment. Nor is there space to let restless diners stretch their legs.) Jimmy and I had a wonderful date night eating outside at Galley Beach. The food is good, not great, but the location for a sunset dinner is the BEST. I had a shockingly good lobster roll at BYB - the best I’ve had on Nantucket. Pi Pizza still makes my favorite margherita pizza of all time and there is nothing better than Millie’s tacos for a sunset picnic at Madaket Beach. We also discovered a couple new favorites on this trip: Board and Bread Bakery - there is always a line and they do sell out everyday. Their sourdough bread is amazing, as are their blueberry, lemon and thyme scones, plus they offer a great breakfast + lunch menu! Cartolina Nantucket is a clothing shop with home good items located where the old Goop pop up used to be - think eyelet, gingham and shoulder tie dresses on one side and lots of rattan and block print home goods on the other.

This was our first vacation since the pandemic that felt like a normal vacation and we appreciated everything a little more than before because of it. It is crazy to look back at pics and video from our trip in 2019 - and see how much has changed. Charlie still had a little boy voice last time and now it’s much deeper. We still did everything as a family 2 years ago and now the boys ventured into town on their own. It’s a little bittersweet, I feel like they have finally reached the stage where they are becoming closer as brothers, when the 6 year age gap feels less significant, and now Andrew is leaving. They are both going to miss each other more than they realize next year. I can imagine them traveling together when they are older. They both have an adventurous spirit and love to discover and experience new places.

For now, I need to settle into some sort of summer routine, the ever delicate balance of juggling some work with a little more leisure that is summertime. I have a couple other blog posts planned for the coming weeks, plus another summer trip to look forward to, and lots of orders to package up and ship to their beautiful new homes, so stayed tuned!