Paul & Jenn's Adventures

We have been saving up to take a trip to visit relatives who couldn't make it to the wedding in Taiwan and China, and we finally found a good deal for airlines tickets for April 8-26th. Paul and I took most of our vacation days for the year to make this trip happen. We were able to forget about work and obligations at home and enjoyed 2.5 weeks of packed meeting, greeting, eating, and having as much fun as we could. Here we will share some highlights.

Sunday was the last day of our honeymoon. We booked a flight back to New Bedford in the afternoon, but we still have many things that we wanted to do. In the morning we went on a Van Tour by Gail. She said her mother started the tour business on a buggy in the 1920's, and she took over the business many years ago. She drives the van around the island and tells stories about the buildings, landmark, the people who lives around there, and where are the things worth seeing later. One interesting thing we learned was that Nantucket has a cranberry industry. The way they harvest them is to flood the growing area with water so the berrys float on the surface and that makes picking them much easier. Gail also explained that the island is constantly being eroded away and many houses on the edge of the shore either get washed away or had to be relocated. Those houses are very expensive, and sometimes they will pay another owner to move their house so they can move the house from shore to th...

In the morning we went downstairs to get breakfast served by the inn. They actually have a menu for breakfast, so we get to pick from among a few different choices such as sausage or pancake or fruit platters. I forgot what we ordered but it was delicious. I asked if we could stay one more night there, but the inn was all full. The innkeeper helped us find three other bed and breakfast places and we picked Centerboard Guest House as our next lodging. Because we cannot check-in at the Centerboard until 3 pm, we put our stuff in the Union Inn lobby and went out to tour the town. We got a map from the Union Inn and the innkeeper had told us about a walking route that will take us to see different parts of the Nantucket town. We followed that route and went towards a historic light house on the beach. People were waiting in line to go up the tower. We also waited in line and got up there to see the view from the higher vantage point. For lunch, we walked to a sandwich place that the...

The flight to Nantucket was in the early morning, so we got up at around 8 AM, grabbed a quick breakfast, and rolled our luggage towards the bus station, which was a short 5 minutes walk. We got on the bus, paid $2 each person, and took a nice ride to the airport, which is located in the middle of the island. The airport is as simple as can be. There was no security check, no bag check, because everything is carry-on. The Cape Air counter agent told us that the fog is forcing the airport to be closed and no plane can fly until the visibility picks up. There are people who waited since 6 in the morning to fly to Nantucket. We waited for about an hour before they told us to board. The plane is a 7 passenger 1-engine turboprop. The luggage gets put in the wings and in front of the cockpit. I was sitting in the front row, right behind the pilot, and looking at the pilot working with the flight controls was interesting. The small plane and the fog made me nervous, even though I ...

After another night with calming ocean sound, we got up on Thursday morning and had breakfast again on the Balcony. That morning was slightly colder, but we still finished the breakfast looking out to the beach. We walked on the beach a bit but not many people were there. The water was too cold to go in for a swim. We took the bus to Edgartown, got our bike and continued our journey south towards the south shore. Just before reaching the beach on the south side, we saw the resort Winnetu, which is kind of out in the middle of nowhere but has nice access the the vast shoreline and beach on the south side of the island. We stopped the bike and went lie down on the beach for a while, just relaxing. It was a perfect day to bike. Afterwards we took a different way back towards Vineyard Haven, which is another town slightly north of Oak Bluffs. This bike path passes by the airport. On the way we eat a lobster roll in a diner next to an airfield that usually takes people on a biplan...

In the morning, I got up and got breakfast from the dining area down stairs and brought it to our room to eat on the balcony while looking out to the beach. I thought that would be a nice thing to do to have our private breakfast together. The meal included orange juice, muffins, bagel with cream cheese, cheerios with milk, and waffle with syrup. It's not as fancy but we had enough food. We took a nap before heading out of the inn. We walked to the town center of Oak Bluffs and checked out the several bike rental places to see what they offer. We decided to rent from King Rentals mostly because they are cheaper and the bike looked newer. We got the tandem bike which was bright red and looked like brand new. They gave us a chain and lock and off we went. Jenn was sitting in the back and she couldn't see where we were going because my back was blocking her view. It was scary for her in the beginning, but she got used to it after a while. We biked to Edgartown, which was...

Like I wrote last time, the bed at the Melville House was very comfortable. We had a good night's sleep. Breakfast was served at 10 am by the innkeeper Stan. We had muffins, banana bread, cereal & milk, orange juice, strawberries, and scrambled eggs. Everything was fresh and tastes organic. Stan says they try to be as organic as possible, which suits our style. Stan also gave us a tour of the house, which has a couple rooms used for their massaging service called the Bradley Technique. The house has more bedrooms on the second floor, which look out across the street to see other magnificent houses that were built in the 1800's. After we packed up our luggage, put them in the car, we drove to the ferry service to see what time they have ferry to Martha's Vineyard. The ferry leaves at 6:30 pm, so we decided to walk around downtown and visit the whaling museum, one of the main attractions in New Bedford. The Whaling museum tells the history of the town, showing i...

We drove on I-90 East towards Massachusettes, passing by many little towns along the way. Paul drove the whole way, and Jenn couldn't help but fall asleep. Paul took pictures of Jenn falling asleep; she wakes up occasionally and wonders where she was. We arrived in New Bedford, MA in the evening. The bed and breakfast place is nestled within a historic residential neighborhood. We took our luggage inside, then went out to look for dinner. Few restaurants were still open at 9, but we found Freestone Grill and dined there. We ordered salmon and scallops and fish chowder and beer. The chowder was very good. They also had live music playing in the background very loudly; we couldn't really hear each other, plus Jenn had a sore throat and couldn't really talk. We used gestures and noise to communicate. The room we stayed at is called the Garden Room, at the Melville House, which was a wedding gift from a whaling merchant to his daughter in the 19th century. Herman Melvi...

On December 15th, China and Taiwan will open 54 direct flights per week . Isn't it cool that China and Taiwan are being more friendly to each other also around the same time as our engagement? Maybe we can take some credit for this... =) In any case, this might also save time for us on our honeymoon if we choose to visit both China and Taiwan.