Tag Archives: Rhode Island

Did I Mention Newport?

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Two months ago, I posted about the first half of a Rhode Island van trip. We were headed to Newport for a wedding. The first attempt to blog about the second half of that trip got swallowed up by spotty wi-fi. We’ve taken a couple more short excursions since then, so let’s see if I can wrap up this trip in one tidy blog post. First, the wedding…

A scenic venue and great weather made for a perfect wedding day.

The ceremony took place outdoors at OceanCliff Hotel in Newport. We moved indoors for the reception.

Have you ever seen such tall centerpieces? No obstructed views across the table. Ingenious!

The setting sun provided a perfect backdrop at the end of the day.

I know Newport is supposed to be a tourist destination, but we weren’t feeling the whole crowds-and-traffic vibe, so we headed north the next morning. As usual, we scouted out a place for a morning hike/run. We found the King Benson Preserve near Saunderstown, RI.

After our morning exercise, we headed toward Providence. First stop, Tilted Barn Brewery in Exeter, RI, for lunch.

Then on to Roger Williams Park Zoo for the sunny and intermittently rainy afternoon.

After the zoo, the skies opened up and we had to navigate a torrential downpour to run from the van into The District in downtown Providence for supper. The food was very good, but the place was super air-conditioned, so I ate French onion soup with my raincoat on for warmth.

Our plan for the evening was to attend a Town Meeting show at Askew Bar and Lounge, just a few blocks away. No, not a town meeting. The three sons of our good friends, Beth and Dan, started a band several years ago. They called themselves Town Meeting, and we’re fans. They weren’t hitting the stage until late, so we actually napped in the van after supper, waiting for Askew to open. Good thing we got that nap in, since Town Meeting didn’t actually go on until about eleven p.m., after a couple of interesting opening acts. We played some cribbage and then some pool with one of the Town Meeting brothers while we waited.

We left Askew as the band was playing an encore. We thought the song before that one was a better closer, so we didn’t need to stay ’til the end. And it was past midnight. Way past our bedtime! At one a.m. we pulled into the driveway of other Providence friends, where we parked the van and hopped right into bed!

We spent the following day with our Providence friends, Mark and Kathy, and their children and grandchildren. All in all, an enjoyable day. And one more van trip in the books.

Any Excuse…

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We received a wedding invitation for a Thursday night in June in Newport, RI. So, of course, we thought, what a great excuse for a van trip!

We spent the first two days in Tiverton, RI, parking in the driveway of my husband’s boyhood friend. Len grew up two doors down from Mark in Wilmington, MA. They ran track together at Wilmington High School in the mid-seventies. He now lives on a steep hill of a street in Tiverton with a great view of Mount Hope Bay.

Len lives about halfway down the steep street. On our first day there, we walked down the hill and through the brush to the water.

Later that afternoon we checked out Tiverton Four Corners, a quaint area with shops, historical buildings, and an outdoor sculpture garden.

On the morning of our second day, we drove to Colt State Park in Bristol, RI. Mark and Len went off in one direction for a run.

I set out to walk along a path near the woods. But I kept stopping, distracted by the birds and the flowers. I got a few photos, but the woodpecker and the hummingbird escaped before I could catch them.

I changed course and chose a straighter path along the water instead.

Mark and Len finished their run (see the re-enactment photo below :)) And we headed back to Tiverton, where Len convinced Mark to try out his electric bike on the crazy hill in front of his house. Yikes!

We finished the day with a tour of Len’s basement workshop where he repairs glass lamps. He also showed us some of his stained glass pieces from his long career as a stained glass artist. He was full of stories about some of the church work he did. And he named all the different styles, colors, and textures of the glass he used.

Then we scooted over the state line to Fall River, MA, to eat supper at The Tipsy Toboggan. All in all, a nice visit. On to Newport tomorrow.