Sunday night in Vineyard Haven

No, that's not a painting: It's an actual photograph of a Sunday night sunset in Vineyard Haven, located just to the west of Oak Bluffs. It's a community with a detectable down-to-earth attitude. There's none of the "let's party" atmosphere of Oak Bluffs, that's for certain. This is a far mellower environment.

Its streets are lined with bookstores, drug stores, a fudge emporium, a grocery store, Beetlebung (which serves delicious, creative pizzas and an assortment of teas, coffees and other beverages) and a sweetly old-fashioned movie theater that shows the latest films at impressively reasonable prices: If you can get away on a weeknight, you can see "Angels and Demons," "The Hangover" or "Land of the Lost" (but really, why would you want to see "Land of the Lost"?) for a mere $5, about half what you'd pay at most cineplexes. Although I haven't stopped in yet to see what the interior of the theater is like, I certainly plan to do so in the near future.

Vineyard Haven also has a sprawling combination inn/workout facility with a stunning indoor swimming pool you can see through the windows. I didn't want to shock myself by looking at the prices for memberships, but I would certainly be willing to shell out a little money to swim there, if nothing else.

If Edgartown is sophistication and Oak Bluffs is come-as-you-are, Vineyard Haven seems to be somewhere in between, perhaps a little more working-class and unpretentious. It's also the first part of the island most people will get to see, since it is the primary dock for the ferries and boats that come over from the mainland. This was where I arrived on the car ferry Thursday night, although by the time I got here it was dark and I didn't have a chance to see very much until Friday afternoon (and then it was raining, which wasn't exactly desirable for a peaceful stroll).