Nantucket is an island off the Massachusetts coast, near Martha's Vineyard but further out.
It was the center of the whaling industry in the 19th century, and the setting for Moby Dick.
That's your geography lesson for today.
Family friend Mary Margaret owns a 150-year-old house on the island and since she was currently in Paris visiting family she graciously invited us to spend a week housesitting in this beautiful locale.
Our noontime flight to Pittsburg was uneventful enough. I absorbed myself in a magazine, reading that some of the better lawns and gardens are moving aside to become low-maintenance "meadows" subsisting of various leaves and plants. I dream of a day when slaving over a hot mower in the summer sun will be a happy memory.
The next leg of the journey -- the flight to Boston -- was bumpy but made tolerable by favorite songs from Camelot playing on the inflight radio.
(Travel tip: Bring headphones when you fly. My kids pack some anyway, for their Walkman. On airplanes that offer radio channels, you can plug yours right into the armrest and enjoy. The programming is listed in the back of the in-flight magazine.)
On another channel I heard a discussion of how parents today are more stressed than earlier generations were because advancing technology leaves us constantly feeling behind and we try to compensate by making sure our kids are involved in every new thing that interests them. I pondered our family's hectic schedule, my demanding workload and that aforementioned lawn, and realized that I really need this vacation.
I should mention that this flight didn't leave Pittsburg on time and that we arrived at the Boston airport with mere seconds to spare before our connecting flight to Nantucket was to depart. It wouldn't have been a tragedy, as there would be another flight in a few hours, but I was ready to get this vacation underway and therefore grateful for our fast footwork.
This flight to Nantucket was on an 18-seat island hopper, and Adam and I sat in the very front of the plane. From there the engines were loud and our seats vibrated like rebellious Maytags and I joked to Adam that first class isn't what it's cracked up to be. We weren't complaining, however, because we had an excellent view of the cockpit, which was amazing to watch considering there are so many knobs, gauges and buttons and so little window. In spite of the noise and the poor visibility, I was confident that we were in good hands, providing the engines didn't suck up a seagull.
As I mentioned before, we barely made this flight; however, our luggage didn't, as we discovered when we arrived at the Nantucket airport. To make matters worse, at the moment we arrived a departing plane had just been cancelled so the whole airport was in a fluster and our missing suitcases were not a high priority. No matter; our luggage showed up 15 minutes later via another plane and we were back on track.
The quaint island airport is about as big as your typical Shoney's, or maybe Cracker Barrel. It included a little restaurant, a gift shop and more than one dog.
Two unique things about the Nantucket airport:
1) It was the setting for the 1990s NBC-TV show Wings.
2) Its airport code is ACK.
