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Get acquainted with the seriously adorable inhabitants of Island Alpaca Farm.
(Photo: Peter Simon) |
You’ve eaten your share of the island’s bounty; now take in the outdoors on two wheels, traversing an easily navigable network of flat bike paths and lanes. After a round of banana-cinnamon-spiked pancakes ($9) at the ArtCliff Diner, pick up a hybrid or road rental from Martha’s Bicycles, whose Vineyard Haven outpost is at the foot of the ferry (they’ll also deliver bikes anywhere on the island). From there, head south on Edgartown Vineyard Haven Road to visit the adorable Island Alpaca Farm, home to a furry, playful herd of curly headed Peruvian wonders. For just $5, visitors can wander the grounds, while a $25 discovery session allows you to feed and walk the animals each morning (call beforehand to find out if a birth is likely—if you’re feeling intrepid, you can watch it happen). Pick up a pair of soft alpaca boot-socks ($25) before striking further south to Long Point Wildlife Refuge, a nature preserve with two miles of trails running past the heron-filled ponds. Take out a kayak for a self-guided tour, or sign up for their duck decoy scavenger hunt (no dynasty required). From there, pick up the bike path and pedal on to West Tisbury and grab lunch provisions at 7A, whose menu of to-go items was created by Daniel Sauer, the chef who helped Tom Colicchio open his Craft restaurants (the Liz Lemon sandwich—a pile of housemade pastrami, turkey, Swiss, and coleslaw—is a local favorite). Cruise past the Robert Frost–worthy stone-walled farms that dot Middle Road, then make a pit stop at Chilmark Chocolates, whose ridiculously addictive handmade candies come with a feel-good factor: The shop invites developmentally disabled children and adults from nearby Camp Jabberwocky to work in its kitchen. If you’ve still got fire in your legs, keep heading west to check out the cliffs beneath the lighthouse at Gay Head, then circle back north above Menemsha Pond to take the bike ferry from Aquinnah across the basin ($7). Ready to lay down your wheels? Head north from Chilmark to Menemsha Harbor and snag a lobster from Larsen’s Fish Market, where your catch was likely just plucked from the ocean, then find a stretch of sand to take in the Technicolor sunset over the Atlantic.