Nantucket Trip Review- Part 1

Nantucket is a place we have always wanted to visit.  It's just a part of the country that we hade never travelled to.  So this year we decided to make a quick trip.  We were scheduled to leave on a Sunday and return on a Friday.   Now getting there was the interesting part.  We drove to Nashville to catch a non-stop flight to Boston.  When we arrived in Boston we had a driver pick us up and drive us the little over an hour to the Hyannis Ferry.  We then boarded the Ferry for a nearly 1 hour ride to Nantucket.
Are you worn out yet?  Yes, getting there was part of the adventure.

Even though it was the first of June the weather was chilly.  Robyn, one of my good friends, had advised me on what to take.  She said jeans, sweatshirts and sneakers.  So that is exactly what we took.  I made it through the whole week with these shoes

Shoreline Converse

Black Adidas

JBU Sandal

Let me be super clear here.  You cannot wear heels or wedges or any other manner of shoe in Nantuket.  Those adorable, quaint coblestone streets will take you down.  You must be sure footed.  I did see one person in a wedge and let me just say she was on the struggle bus.

Yay Cobblestones!

When the Ferry arrived in the Nantucket harbor we simply pulled our suitcases straight up main street, took a right and arrived at our lodging.  We stayed at The Robert's Collection.  They have several different options but we chose the Gate House.

No Key Cards....real keys

Flavored water was always on the porch in the courtyard

The first night we decided to grab a quick dinner at the Rose & Crown Pub.  We had Swordfish with a salad and Fish and Chips with slaw.

We were off to a very good start.

The next morning we grabbed a continental breakfast at our hotel.

We did a ton of walking.  My FitBit was on fire.

We grabbed lunch on the Harbor at a little place called the Fish Market.  We split a grilled flounder sandwich and quite honestly the best clam chowder I have ever had.  We also had a great view of the harbor.  The weather was cool.  It was a little drizzly but we enjoyed all the same.

Here's a few fun facts about Nantucket.  It has the nickname of the Grey Lady....partly because of the fog and partly because of all the grey buildings.  The island is only 3.5 miles by 14 miles.  Approximately 10,000 people live year round on the island.  The high tourist months of July and August will find 100,000 people there.  I cannot imagine that.  There are no chain stores or restaurants allowed on the island.  Everything is mom and pop style.  There is only one grocery store, the Shop and Save, but it has two locations.  All the buildings are either gray shaker or red brick and the island limits the trim colors you can use.  I think there were either 6 or 8 trim colors to choose from.  A common question is "have you ever been to Nantucket?" if you say yes, the next question is "has anything changed"......they want you to say no.  The island goal is to stay Nantucket and not change regardless of the year.   I learned most of that on the one hour island tour we took the first afternoon. We saw some very historical sites like this old windmill and the oldest house on Nantucket.

For dinner we went to the Brotherhood of Thieves.  I had a chicken parmesan sandwich with fresh mozarrella.  My husband had some kind of wrap that had way too many greens in it for me.  But he enjoyed it.

The next day was our worst weather day.  The high was barely 50 degrees, it was raining and there were 25-30 mile an hour winds.

Fortunately, the Whaling Museum was just around the corner from our hotel.  We spent 4.5 hours there.  They had several guided talks and tours and we did them all.  It was so interesting.  Amazing how this little island was the whaling capitol of the world.  I had no idea that the oil used for the street lamps and lanterns in people's homes was whale oil.  We really enjoyed this museum visit.

Although the weather was bad, we would not be deterred from a good meal.  We literally walked about 15 minutes off of main street to a Seafood Market.  We got the best Seafood platter and clam chowder and hiked back to our room.

 This was one of our favorite meals of the week.  There was every kind of seafood you can think of.

The weather turned in our favor the next day and I will show you the rest of our trip on Wednesday.  I hope you will come back to see how we wrapped up this great vacation.

See you Wednesday!