For those of you who know me or have read my essays in the book “Write for the Fight:  A Collection of Seasonal Essays”, you know that Nantucket is one of my favorite places on earth.  I try to renew my love affair with the island by visiting it on an annual basis as I did this past weekend.  As usual, it was a magical weekend thanks to the following ingredients:

1.  Good friends.  Here is a picture of the Nantucket Girls I took on Saturday morning.

Hmm…. not the best likeness?  Let’s try this one from Saturday night.

2.  Beautiful Beaches:  We generally spend the first day just walking the beach.  Since Nantucket is an island, we have a number to choose from, but our favorite is Jetties beach which is a short walk from the cottage where we stay.  We pack provisions for the day in our backpacks and walk the beach until we get tired, then plop down with a book, listen to the waves or watch the numerous dogs who frequent the island romp through the sand and surf.  When we’re bored of watching or reading, we pick up and start walking again.

3.  Good food:  Nantucket is an island of wonderful food.  One night during our trip we go all-out and have a decadent, don’t-look-at-the-prices meal.  The rest of the time isn’t gourmet, but we never feel like we are scrimping.  Every meal in every small corner of the island is made with care.  For example, I had a cup of butternut squash soup that would make you cry and one of my friends had what she considered the world’s best hamburger at an unassuming little lunch spot.  One sad moment of our visit, though, was our annual visit to DeMarco’s restaurant only to discover that they had closed.  An institution on the island, DeMarco’s is where my girlfriends and I had dinner with Brian Williams and Seth Meyers last year.  Okay, so they were at the next table… so what?

4.  A slower pace:  There is nothing to get stressed out about on island.  For instance, we wanted to take the 12:30 fast ferry home, but it was sold out.  Oh, well.  We took the slow ferry.  We spent longer at the beach than we planned which meant we were late for… absolutely nothing.  Sunday looked like it was going to rain so instead of going biking one of us took a nap and two of us took our kindles to Middle Earth and hung out with Bilbo Baggins.

People say hello on Nantucket and stop to scratch the ears of the many labs and retrievers and boxers they meet along their way.  Hardly anyone is in a hurry, but if someone is rude or tries to push past you, the other folks around you just share a smile as if to say, “Poor thing just got off boat.  Hasn’t had time to acclimate.”

Really, how can you be rude or stressed out when surrounded by the following?: