Martha's Vineyard 2006

Martha's Vineyard 2006 was a blast!!!  This year we had Jael (the host of course), Eric and his girlfriend  Nikki, Ryan and his girlfriend Erin, Leigh and his girlfriend Lindsay, Katie and Nat, and of
course myself.  We went shopping in the morning on Friday at BJ's near Marlborough, MA and bought wayyyyy too much food!  We ended up with two of the giant BJ's carts full of food that we then loaded into the cars and the back of my truck (See pic).  After grabbing the three kegs of Molson Ice, Sam Adams Summer Ale and Harpoon Pale Ale for the back of the truck we picked up a few sandwiches and headed back to Nat and Katie's place to finish up packing.  We took off around 4pm to make the 7pm Ferry from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard.  We ended up driving down in pouring rain the entire way on 495.  Luckily we had thought to wrap up the food in garbage bags in the back of my truck but my bike got drenched.  We hit construction and crawling traffic most of the way but got there by 6:30.  We had forgot to grab Nat's speaker wire for his speakers so Eric, Nikki, and I made a side trip to a Radio Shack to save the day and suprise Nat who we met up with at the restaurant near the ferry for a few drinks on Nat's tab (what a great guy).  We then loaded our cars onto the ferry.  Nat and Katie ended up on the big ferry but Jael (who drove from Nat's with Erin and Ryan) ended up with us on the small ferry (short bus ferry).  Lindsay and Leigh ended up on our ferry as well.  Eric and I had picked up two six packs of microbrews at a gas station on the way down (road soda's) for the ferry ride to the island and we were crackin' them open the entire way and eating glazed cookies we had picked up at BJ's.  A woman in her late 30's or early 40's knocked on our window and informed us that people on the ferry were inquiring about the kegs in the back of my truck and were wondering if we could tap them and share the wealth.  She even said we could charge
about 10 bucks a cup... unfortunately both the cups and the taps were in Nat's car on a ferry about a mile away from us in stormy weather at sea... haha.  The woman had a bottle of vodka which she was sharing with two older men in suites who had to take the ferry across because their plane was grounded due to weather so we gave her an empty diet coke bottle to use... haha.  Great people.
    When we got to the vineyard we pulled into a grocery store parking lot to meet up with Nat and get some ice for the kegs.  While we were sitting there a young cop walked towards us and I quietly handed the "road soda's" back to Nikki in the back and rolled down the window a little freaked out.  He asked, "where's the party?".  I lied and said, "Oaks Bluffs" to which he replied, "cool man, I'm following you guys tonight!" with a big grin on his face.  Island cops - gotta love 'em.  We took off and encountered one more cop on the drive to Jael's cottage but my radar detector let me know and I slowed down to below the speed limit until he turned onto another road... probably just checking out the kegs in the back of the truck... Glad he didn't know about the other 6 handles of booze back there as well.. haha.  We made it to J's camp around 10:00pm. 
    Jael's camp is called Bratta Hlid and was given that name back when her grandparents first started visiting the island in 1925.  Before the trip Kate and Jael had found a guy to design a label for us and stitch it into clothing so we all ordered vests and hoodies and shirts with the logo stitched into it for the weekend.
    What ensued the first night for me was a complete shit show.  I had already downed a 6-pack since the ferry ride and then began slamming down Summer Ale from the keg that Eric had tapped
(Eric is a brewmaster from Dragonmeade brewery just outside of Detroit and we had managed to get a CO2 canister hookup from the liqour store to properly and professionally hook up the kegs with the guidance of Eric).  I'm not even sure what happened the first night but it involved a bit of rapping "I got a man", "busta move" and other shinanigans... such as trying to institute the "double 3 clear card" rule in asshole to no avail...   I vaguely remember running out the back door because I couldn't put the children to sleep (I puked). 

    I woke up on Sat and was told that I was a complete mess which made me smile because it meant the beginning of a great weekend.  I also woke up with cookies next to my head... apparently I had randomly become the cookie monster on Friday night and had gorged myself on frosted cookies.  It
was a beautiful day on Sat and we didn't see rain again the entire trip until we got off the ferry on
the way back to Nat's.  Ryan of course became the weekend Chef which we all owe him a big for.  He cooked literally all the meals!  He also provided the laptop which we used in combination with my portable media drive to DJ all weekend with great music.  Saturday was a day of relaxation and I
took a quick drive down to the beach to check out the surfers who were riding pretty big breaks that day.  Sat night after a great dinner of kabobs that Ryan cooked up we went into town to meet up with J's friends at a bar.  We had a few $6.50 drinks.. (yeah, you read it right) and then decided to head back to
the cottage where we had much more booze and continue to drink.  I let Nikki drive my truck that night because I was too shitfaced to do anything.  When we got back I taught everyone the dangerous card game "Bullshit Pyramid" which got everyone very hammered.
    Sunday was once again a day of relaxation.  I took Nat and Katie down to the beach so they could kayak around the bay that J's cottage overlooks.  I then went back and picked up Leigh and Eric with the girls and returned to the beach.  Nikki and Erin decided they needed to buy a bathing suit so they took off with my truck and promised to be back in 30 mins.... 3 hours later they came back with my truck and told us a story about having to walk 5 miles to a shop because they thought a woman said it was 5 minutes away by foot but really meant by car.. .haha.  While they were gone Leigh took a walk down the beach and Eric and I got to watch Ospreys dive bombing into the water for fish over and over again.  I was so sunburned after about an hour and half that the ocean felt warm to me although it was only about 50 degrees and I was the only fool swimming in it!  Eric and I started tossing the ball around and a young kid with a better arm than both of us joined and made an ass out of Eric and I!  haha.  Finally when the girls returned and Nat and Katie showed up we packed up the Kayaks in the truck and went back to the cottage for a late lunch and chilled there for the rest of the evening.  Nikki, Katie and Lindsay meticulously (took about an hour it seemed)
set up a croquet course on the lawn and the lovers all teamed up with
me by myself (being single I felt it appropriate to take the blue ball... haha).  I don't want it rub it in too hard but... I AM THE KING
OF CROQUET,
HERE ME ROAR.  hahahaha... maybe I've found my lame hidden
talent? (See pic above).   This night again
turned into a complete shit show for me but this time there were multiple videos taken of me and I apparently decided that it would be a great idea to eat a blue marker.... maybe I thought it was a cookie..
who knows!?  I must have been drunk by dinner time because I don't even remember ripping apart the grilled chicken that was given to me with my bare hands without a plate. 
    Monday was yet another beautiful day and we all basically just stayed at the Bratta Hlid (the cottage) for the day and hung out.  We spent a lot of that day up on the roof of the cottage which is accessible via a window on the 2nd floor.  Last year I got so drunk up there that I was afraid to climb down... this year I was so drunk that I decided to climb down the chimney instead of go back in threw the window... haha.  Jael had gone into town for a bit to visit some friends and while she was gone a bit of drama unfolded but I chilled us all out with a nice game of pantless football (we had all
seen enough "brains" and "lobster claws" all weekend but when Leigh had to drop his drawers and revealed that he was going commando that day.. it pretty much took the cake).  Leigh and Lindsay had to leave on monday night because they both had
work in the morning so Jael brought them back to the ferry. We ended up having lasagna and veggies for dinner which was fantastic along with watching "40-Year Old Virgin" which someone had brought for the tv (first time it was turned on all weekend).
That night we again played Bullshit Pyramid but Eric was too drunk and passed out early.  This left Jael and Nikki to challenge the master in drinking (now remember I had been a sloppy mess for 3 nights in a row now....).  About an hour into the game Jael was almost passed out face down on the table and no one could remember what cards they had in front of them!  I ended up helping Jael into bed and passing out next to her in my sleeping bag for the night. 
    Tuesday we woke up to find Jael a little hungover and Nikki VERY hungover AND sick.  We decided to head down to town for a bit to walk around and to go to Menemsha for some Lobster and

steamers... mmm mmmm... if anyone has seen me eat a lobster they can attest to my addiction for the delicious little critters.  When we got back to the cottage the satellite tv guys were they installing the dish network and Ryan was trying to cook up the rest of the sausages and other food for us and the cable guys who of course were hours late...  After a few hours of cleaning we said our sad goodbyes to Jael and headed off to the ferry without any car accidents this year... hahahaha (I had to say it Nat..).  Both Nat's car and mine were on the 7pm ferry across to Woods Hole and we had an uneventful yet
rainy ride back to Nat and Katies that night.  As you can see from the pictures we had a lot of trash  left over from the weekend.  I ended up taking home about 40 hamburger patties, rolls, OJ, meat and a full keg of Harpoon :).  We ended up watching Anchorman and a bit of Sin City from my Ipod over Nat's tv while Eric, Ryan and Nat dumped the media from my hard drive on to their computers.  After about 3 hours of sleep Katie and I woke up and drove the two couples to Logan Airport at 4am so they could make their 6am flight.  After that I drove home barely awake.
    It was another great year on the Vineyard with perfect weather!  Everyone that goes on the trip are wonderful people and we all owe Jael a lot for allowing us the privelage of spending the holiday weekend at her family getaway.    We all have busy lives and some of us have had a very rough year but for those 5 days of drunken bliss we can forget about everything.  While I was there I literally turned off my phone ( I had no reception anyway.. haha) and just forgot about the rest of the world.
  I know that I really needed the break from it all and I'm sure everyone else did.
The pictures below are the view from the porch of
the cottage over the ocean and the other is a view of the cottage from
the bay that Nat and katie took while kayaking.  It will be hard for me to find time during my graduate work in Oregon next spring to go on the trip but I will try my best to get out there again, even if it means not having my truck.  I had a great time and I met a lot of great people that I hope to stay in contact with.  Miss all you guys already!  Whhhaat!!! Yeeeaaahhh!

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