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Tuesday, October 21st to Monday, October 27th, 2008
We started our trip to Rhode Island on Tuesday morning. Big D drove first with the odometer reading 149,000 miles and drove without stopping from from St. Johns to Sandusky, OH. We stopped at a service plaza on the Ohio turnpike for a break, then I took over the drive until we arrived in Sharon, PA. We saw the most magnificant rainbows as we crossed the OH/PA border. They were much better in person then in the picture I took through the windshield of my vehicle. I commented to Big D that we should stop in Punxsutawny to visit the groundhog but then realized that he only comes out at the end of winter. :) The drive though Pennsylvania is very long so we decided that we needed a hotel to sleep. We were able to get a warm bed at the Budget Hotel in Strouburg, PA. We hit the road as soon as we woke up on Wednesday morning. Shortly, we crossed the New Jersey border and stopped at a senic outlook on the Delaware River. New Jersey seemed like a mini state after the long drive through PA. The Delaware River was breath taking with all the fall colors. Mapquest routed us around New York but we thought it would be more interesting to go through the Bronx. New York city's silhouette was on the southern horizon and I felt a tremendous pull towards it. Someday, we will plan a trip to ground zero at the former place of the World Trade Center, 9-11 is still so surreal to me and I can't believe it happened to AMERICA. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough quality time to spend in NY but we did stop in Greenwich, CT for a potty break. During a doctors appointment the receptionist at my doctors office recommened that I stop and visit Olde Mystik Village in Mystic, CT. oldmystickvillage.com. Big D spotted some new ideas for black smithing from two local shops "Whyever not" and "Company Craftsmens". Now, I have much larger honey dew list. I fell in love with a metal picture frame! Please... honey make me one! We arrived at the Yankee Peddler Inn in Newport, Rhode Ilsand wednesday night and decided to play backwards rummy in the common area of the Inn until bedtime. For the next couple of days I had the luxury of sleeping in late, taking naps, reading, and strolling downtown while big D attending the " Creating and Preserving the American Home" . The 12th annual conference on cultural and Historic Preservation at Salve Regina University. Friday, I drove to the university to meet my hubby for lunch. I parked just north of the university and took a stroll along the the "Cliff Walk" starting at "40 steps". The Cliff Walk is a famous trail along the Alantic Ocean with an amazing view of the Bellevue mansions. I wasn't able to see the masions from the cliff walk because I didn't realize that the "40 steps" start point was so close to the university, however I did see an awesome view of the ocean and cliffs. While I was waiting for Big D to break for lunch a dog ran up behind me and scared the you know what out of me and then proceeded to get into my backpack trying to eat my lunch. arggg! We enjoyed a romantic lunch on a bench facing the ocean. After lunch I went to the Newport library and surfed the internet with my laptop. One of my favorite things to do if you couldn't tell already. Later that night we went to Nikkolas for dinner and on our walk back to the Inn we stopped to look at the "Old Stone Mill" in Touro park. The "Old Stone Mill" is believed to be ruins of an old windmill built in the late seventeenth century. Saturday morning, Big D presented his speech at the conference on "The American Front Porch". I decided to take a walk to Fort Adams. I didn't realize how far it was on the map and it took me a couple hours to get there to find out it was closed. Big D called when he was done with the conference around lunch time and I told him if he walked down ocean drive and I walked up then we could meet at Brenton state park. I researched letterboxes before we left on vacation and found one located at the park and wanted to find it. Brenton is a beautiful state park with a view of the ocean. We had lunch at the park and did the Sky Scraper Letterbox named sky scraper because the park is a popular place for kite flying. The letterbox lead us by an enchanting abandon house with a mysterious tower in the back yard. We found the letter box under the monkey tree as the box clues instructed. After the letterbox we headed back towards the Inn feeling really tired and noticing the darkness. It felt like halloween night because during our hike back a man scared the be-je-sus out of us by practically plowing us down while opening a gate. Then a dog came out of nowhere running and barking at us. He ended up being harmless but we did hear other dogs howling in the background. What is it with dogs in this town? Not realizing that we had walked 10 miles we felt exhausted so we treated ourselves to an icecream at Cold Stone Creamery. Finally, we got home and I still had enough energy to kick Big D's butt in two or three (but who's counting?) games of backwards rummy. Ha Ha.. honey and you didn't think I would actually post this on the internet like I threatened. Sunday, before we left for home we wanted to see how far the walk was so we drove the route from the Inn down and around ocean drive. We stopped at the ocean to watch the roaring waves and it appeared that during the night the water
raised over the road. Luckily, we weren't caught in that last night! We left Rhode Island at 1:00pm on Sunday. We stopped at Riverview restaurant for dinner in Elmwood, New Jersey, a few times for potty breaks, and then arrived home on Monday at five o'clock a.m. Yes.. that is correct... I said 5 AM.
We had a very eventful trip and were blessed with wonderful weather the whole time. We ended up driving approximately 1600 miles in duration. Congratulations Big D on
your speech and "Happy 6th Anniversary".
Rhode Island Photo Album
