the damp adventurers

When planning our trip, I knew we would have to visit the alpaca farm on Martha's Vineyard.  When I heard the weather was coming in, I was more worried about it ruining the alpaca plans than anything. Today was was fun despite the weather, and because of the weather.  

The girls slept in a bit today which was nice.  You all know how fun it is to rush around in the morning with kids.  I don't even think we headed to breakfast until 9 or so. We expected some weather because of the warnings we had heard about.  We were bundled in all our warm clothes yet Mack was the only one with a wind/water proof shell.  I guess at least it was her. We got wet on the way to breakfast, on the way back to the hotel, and very wet on the way to catch the bus to the alpacas.  The bus was a nice heated place to dry off our faces, glasses, and prepare ourselves for the next part of our rain walk to find the alpaca farm.  Mind you, the bus driver told us to go the wrong way.  Thank goodness for Google Maps.  We were a wee bit chilly in the 56 degree windy rain when we arrived, but alpacas made it worth the little walk.

We walked up to a barn with the door closed and were a little confused about where to go.  This is where the weather was in our favor.  Apparently, alpacas hate the rain so they were all inside this barn.  We walked into a barn full of the softest looking little creatures ever.  There were 2 babies.  One was a month old (Cassie) and the other was 2 months old (still unnamed).  They were not super friendly and were not free to mingle with us but that's probably good because they spit.  That's the last thing we needed today.  The lady did pick up the one month old one and we got to pet her.  That was a soft treat for sure.  

A family favorite today was a cute black alpaca name Aquina. She smiled the entire time we were there.  I couldn't decide if she was happy or kinda like the weird family member.

We stayed there for a while and I knew once we hit the gift shop we would need to buy something furry.  Mack has a thing for soft and furry.  Like a huge obsession.  We left with "Cassidy".  An alpaca made with baby alpaca fur.  She has been kissing it, talking softly to it, and protecting it from rain ever since.  Sometimes a $39 stuffed animal is worth its weight in gold.

We timed our visit to the farm with the bus schedule.  Knowing the bus bench had no shelter, we stayed as close to the bus arrival as we could.  We walked up the rainy drive toward the bus stop and ended up with a 10 minute wait.  In the rain.  We huddled under a tree and were really good sports about how darn cold and wet we all were.  The bus ride was a warm and welcome break from the weather.  It also gave Mack time to whisper sweet nothings into Cassie's ear and make the elderly lady on the bus smile big.

We got off the bus in beautiful Edgartown.  Well, it was beautiful a few days ago in the sun.  Still pretty...but pretty wet today.  We dodged raindrops up and down the streets popping in and out of shops.  By this point the girls and I were just plain cold. Wet. Hungry.  Found a cute sandwich shop and sat for a bit. After lunch, it was time to find our way back to the bus and back to Oak Bluff where we are staying.  It's not very far.  This island is only 87 square miles...

We ventured out once again for a late dinner after convincing ourselves to go back out in the cold. Tomorrow we are hoping to take the ferry back to Woods Hole so we can make our way to Boston.  Please keep your fingers crossed that the ferry is running again as it was too windy today.  I guess we will know more tomorrow...