Nantucket 2011

Nantucket - Tuesday, August 16, 2011
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Not much to add for today's posting. I did jog out to the farm this morning, finished unpacking the RAV4, & made a shopping run. I left my jogging radio home, so I stopped at Radio Shack (yes, the island has one) for a cheap replacement. The only problem is instead of headphones, it comes with ear buds. Ear buds don't work for my ears. I have a wide outer opening, but a very narrow inner opening & all the buds I've tried don't stay in. I do have a set that have added hooks that go over the ear - I hope they will work.

Nantucket is just as busy as ever. The island goes from a population of a few thousand in the winter to over fifty thousand during the summer. There are two major grocery stores, a Stop & Shop and the Grand Union. They both have almost always full parking lots, and although the Grand Union is not as busy as the Stop & Shop, it has less stock & more difficult parking. Prices are on the high side, at least compared to Oswego, particularly fish & meat. The Stop & Shop has just about anything you can think of - it is a large store with many specialized items.

If you drive, you will end up waiting at most major intersections for 10 - 15 cars to get through the all way stops. The island has no traffic lights, and no one wants to add any. They do have a couple of traffic circles that speed things up a bit, but you still have to wait to get into them. Lots of people ride bikes instead of driving, but many roads don't have adjacent bike paths - since the roads are narrow the bikers often bring traffic to a halt. The speed limit is generally 30mph or less with the exception of one road that runs the length of the island to the somewhat remote community of Sconset (how remote can a community be on a 47.4 square mile island) where the internal speed limit is 20mph.

One of the things I like about Nantucket is the limited amount of night lighting. I only found one place that was dark enough to take photographs of the stars (Craters of the Moon in Idaho) on my trip earlier this summer. Nantucket isn't as dark, but I've had pretty good luck in the past. It probably won't happen tonight - it has been cloudy all day, and it isn't getting any better as the sun goes down. Of course I have to wait for the moon to set but it is past full moon so it is getting smaller & later every night.

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Back to Jon Vermilye's Photo Page
Other Trips:
Nantucket Trip August, 2005
Nantucket Trip August, 2007
Nantucket Trip August, 2008
Nantucket Trip July 2010