Marthas Vineyard | Camping on Marthas Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard was the first trip I took with my husband and our then 6 month old daughter over July 4th holiday. As everyone living in the United States knows that every July 4th travel arrangement requires advance booking. This is especially a case if you want to camp on Martha's Vineyard. Even more so if you want to travel by car and transport it using Martha's Vineyard Steamship Authority Ferry.

I believe all the reservations were booked in January. Now we just needed to get there, which is quite a ride from New York and with the baby in the car seat. Fortunately there was no traffic and the drive went smoothly.

There is only one campground on Martha's Vineyard. We rented a cabin, considering a tent might not be suitable for the baby and not knowing what to make of the weather. (it was pretty hot that weekend) Nothing wrong with Martha's Vineyard - it's nicer/better then most of the campsites I stayed at in United States. I must say in general though that camping in the US is somewhat different than what I'm used to coming from Europe. It's far too organized and expensive. I long for privacy, all night long bonfires, singing, eating and drinking as long as you like. Shouldn't camping be the ultimate freedom accommodation?

But back to the subject - after 5 hours in the car, dinner while waiting for the ferry and the 45 minute ferry ride from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven we were quite exhausted. After checking in we went right to sleep in our little log cabin.

We got up early everyday. We found a nice bagel store in nearby town of Tisbury and after a nice breakfast we drove around visiting other towns, beaches and other attractions. First day, we introduced our daughter to the waves at the Joseph Sylvia State Beach. We were surprised how clean and empty it was comparing to NYC state beaches for instance.

We really liked the upscale Edgartown - mostly for nice old houses, shopping, marina and restaurants. Katama Beach was great for fighting waves and the Squibnocket Beach was the most scenic in my opinion. It's private so I had to smuggle myself in while my husband drove around with a napping baby.  Town of Oak Bluffs was a happening place as well - the baby really enjoyed the historic Flying Horses Carousel and we really like the colorful and beautiful old houses.

Of course the most impressive were the famous Gay Head Cliffs, but we found lots of beautiful landscapes and nature everywhere while driving around. Truly amazing were some of the houses in the typical New England architecture. I'll be adding more pictures when I find them.