Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape and Long Isl.

Our ride back to Providence airport offered the opposite of last night's driver. Joe has led a long and fascinating life. "I like the seasons," he offered. He loves living and working in Providence, and going dancing with his girlfriend. He also seemed to enjoy flirting with the desk gals at the hotel, so there's life in Providence after all.

After much discussion we decided to fly out and have lunch at Martha's Vineyard. Along the way, RI offered some intricate interactions of wind, sand, sea and hardy plants. We wondered what would cause the shapes in the lagoon.

It turned out the airport is a long ride (when you can get one) from the tourist areas, so we grabbed a sandwich to go at the airport restaurant and then became captivated with the WWII memorabilia and stories from the days when this was a stalwart guardian of the north Atlantic and a training base for pilots. Now it seems to have become an outpost of the FedEx flocks from Providence, and a stop for tasteful tourists.

Then after more discussion we decided to go out and have a quick look at Nantucket. "It's probably just like the Vineyard." On the other hand, "It's so close and something we've heard of since childhood." Turns out it was completely different, and the rewards for our excursion were many. The lighthouse seems the epitome of courageous guardian, standing on a spit clearly overwhelmed by storm seas flashing its warning to seafarers.

Cruising back over the Vineyard, their light seems tame and protected until you contemplate the ferocious storms.

We crossed over to Woods Hole, and went up Cape Cod to Hyannis before turning into the wind for our dash to Islip before dark. None of our photos over Long Island came out due to smog and sunset, but the images sit sweetly in our memories. We were surprised at how few houses there are in the East Hamptons, until we realized they're all cut directly into little squares of the forest.

Tomorrow we plan to skirt any TFRs and all the myriad airliner playgrounds, and slip into Linden, NJ for the Staten Island Ferry into Gotham.