Rhode Island

As we entered Rhode Island night was falling. And although I could appreciate the dense foliage and the absolute intensity of green everywhere I was a little disappointed to not be able to see so many ocean views as the state declares itself the Ocean State and is notorious for it's coastlines. We got to our hotel and checked in. La Quinta of Warwick Rhode Island was living up to the reputation of most La Quintas and provided a very solid and stable hotel atmosphere. All the amenities I needed including a continental breakfast-this is something our family has learned is well worth the extra cost of the hotel because most often we couldn't feed our family breakfast going out to eat in the price difference between a hotel stay that includes this and one that doesn't-, Wifi access, a mini refrigerator, and a microwave either in the room or in the breakfast area but free accessibility 24 hours a day. Tourists buzzed all around us and the night's check in flow was pretty solid. Most were heading to the Cape the next day and although I have heard about how amazing the Cape is I would be lying if I didn't tell you that a lot of these people ooze a small degree of superiority that turns me off to the location purely because of the people who flock there.

Our first and only real problem in Rhode Island was the discovery that I had forgotten my contact solution. And with dry and scratchy eyes I made my way to two gas stations, one Rite Aid, and 2 CVS's before I found one that was 24 hours and carried it. With the kids firmly in bed I spent my first night of vacation staying up more than half the night reading in the hotel lobby. I love vacation; I love reading. The next day we decided to explore Rhode Island with our actual destination being Newport. In our exploring I wasn't so impressed. Warwick and Providence were cities that seemed poorly planned and maintained. The construction of major roads in Providence lacked detour signs and other signage to direct the flow of traffic and it seemed to be one hot mess of confusion. Eventually as we headed out toward Newport I started to see the idyllic images of Rhode Island. Every little bay was filled with sail boats, and the ocean came right up to the highway and made me contemplate the shear devastation that could occur if there were to be a storm.

Rhode Island cleaned up significantly once we entered Newport. The roads were better maintained, the area more manicured. Huge mansions were everywhere and this was not even the road of the Historical Preservation Society that maintains 13 mansions of varying reputation and size although we did drive by those. The city walk is a great touristic endeavor as you are assaulted by views of the ocean roaring into the cliffs and the mansions back yards. All very breathtaking. I was in awe of the homes and could have spent the day just gawking. Eventually the mansions became further spread out and one side of the road turned into jetties of rocks jutting into the ocean filled with fisherman all foreign and mainly beautiful both in their looks and with their accents and flirty nature. One Italian beauty(far left of Travis and kids picture) lovingly offered me a fish he had just caught. I declined but the language barrier didn't seem to help my attempts at politeness and so eventually I eyed Travis to come over and dispose of this man's offer of fish. Along the back side of the jetties grew these bushes I had never seen before which contained some kind of red fruit and huge thorns.

We wondered out onto some jetties with the kids and they got their first glimpses of tide pools and all of their natural beauty and wonder. I showed them how to scout out the wild life predominantly crabs and how rich the tide pools were in recently vacated muscle and snail shells. We frolicked on the jetties, the kids begging the whole time to be allowed to swim. After denying them repeatedly and posing for some pictures, we decided to head out and make our way to Boston.

The drive out of town was equally gorgeous and grand. Tons of inlets drew my eye as they were filled with small boats, ski dos, kayaks, and other fun outdoor equipment. My overall consensus of the state is to visit Newport but the rest was just ho hum for me. Between the views, the coastline, huge homes, and idyllic kite flying, lemonade/ice cream trucks, its totally worthy of one day of exploring.