Rhode trips

Or, travel in the time of COVID…

After a childhood filled with summer vacations on the Atlantic in Maine, for over fifteen years of my life, I lived within about half an hour of either the Atlantic Ocean or the Irish Sea. Twice, I had the good fortune to live a couple of blocks from a beach – in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in the late ’90s, and in 2001 in Killiney, Co. Dublin (Ireland). In 2012, I lived two miles from Wollaston Beach, in Quincy, MA. For the past six years or so, I’ve lived in upstate New York – just outside of Albany. And as much as I love the canals and the many lakes and ponds – there is simply no replacement for the ocean, and the smell of the salty ocean/sea breeze.

Last year we got really spoiled: almost every other weekend we were away camping, more than a couple of times to Burlingame Campground in Charlestown, RI. We got used to regular access to jonnycakes, and AwfulAwfuls, and the Rhode Island state drink. Over the winter we were already occasionally plotting our summer trips, looking forward to fishing at Charlestown breachway and stopping at each of our favorite diners for breakfasts complete with jonnycakes (our favorites, for anyone interested: Beacon Diner in East Greenwich, which happens to be right up the road from Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle; Bishop’s 4th Street Diner in Newport; and Jigger’s Diner, also in East Greenwich).

And then… pandemic. To be clear: we’re very lucky (thankfully). We’re fine work-wise, we have a home and garden we love, we enjoy each other’s company (and are able to entertain ourselves), and we have a grocery, pharmacy, convenience store, and post office within about 15 minutes’ walk from our house. But working from home in the middle of a pandemic, with only a small likelihood of a vacation this year for various reasons, gets to wearing on a person after a while. So I started looking at Google maps, and it claimed that we could get to the Beacon Diner for a jonnycake fix in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Doable.

Now, I cannot stand driving on the Mass Pike. We’ve done it so many times when there have been situations where traffic comes to a complete standstill with no warning and no visible reason whatsoever. Last summer it got to the point where we would gladly take additional time on the journey if it meant avoiding the Mass Pike. But – if it means I can have jonnycakes, and we can go to Charlestown State Beach, and stop at Dave’s Fresh Marketplace to load up on local goods (and Stonewall Kitchen products), and hit Newport Creamery for dinner and AwfulAwfuls – it’s worth it (especially since traffic is a bit down, what with the pandemic and people not taking normal breaks, and all).

The way we do it, a day trip to Rhode Island is about as safe as staying local: we get (masked, sanitized) takeout brunch at the Beacon Diner that we eat in the car, go fishing-and-knitting along the breachway with a good distance between ourselves and anyone else, and get takeout for dinner at Newport Creamery (masked, sanitized, eaten in the car). It’s not the same, but it’s so much better than missing out on all of it this year. I’d do the drive just for the jonnycakes, but I’m not sure I’d be allowed to leave Rhode Island that quickly- or want to, to be fair. And given that we’ve had a much higher incidence of actually catching striped bass at Charlestown rather than on the Hudson (in the sense that one is always greater than zero), it’s likely we’ll be repeating our Rhode trips more frequently than I initially envisioned – and that’s alright.

New York or Boston?

photo of Boston by J Stephen Conn on flickr

So, earlier today @EimearMcCormack mentioned on twitter that she was planning her first-ever trip to America this year and was trying to decide: New York or Boston? I immediately responded Boston ftw, obviously, because although there are a million sights to see in NY, my heart would go for Boston every time because it’s a city that feels more like a town, whereas NY is very definitely a city. Boston to me has a more relaxed feel to it. Of course, being the map and travel geek that I am, I can’t help myself and must make suggestions for where to visit in each city- and as an honorary Rhode Islander, suggest that time be made to stop in Li’l Rhody for a day or two…. 🙂

If I had two weeks for a trip to Boston/New York, these are some of the things I’d be thinking of doing:

photo of Faneuil Hall by Zoonabar on flickr
Boston has loads of things to see and do. Top of the list, of course, is a visit to Faneuil Hall, a beautiful building and important part of American history, it being where protest initially started against the Stamp Act in 1764, as part of the first rumblings of what would be the fight for American independence from the British empire. While there it’s definitely worth taking in the Faneuil Hall marketplace, a wonderful buzzing market full of lovely shops and places to eat.

If you have any interest whatsoever in American history, the Freedom Trail is a must. To quote from the website, The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic American treasure. The Trail takes in Boston Common, America’s oldest public park; the Old State House, which was the seat of British government before the American Revolution; and Paul Revere’s house, the oldest building still standing in Boston and from where he would have departed on his famous ride to Lexington to warn the “Sons of Liberty and specifically Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British troops were on their way to arrest them.

As a maps geek, I personally think the Mapparium would be an awesome thing to visit – it’s a three-story painted-glass globe from 1935, which also gives some idea of the historical changes since that time.

There’s also the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, which is a pretty incredible place to visit even if you only have a passing interest in Kennedy. Located on a ten-acre park overlooking the sea, it “portrays the life, leadership, and legacy of President Kennedy, conveys his enthusiasm for politics and public service, and illustrates the nature of the office of the President.” Well worth a visit.

There are some other fantastic museums in Boston. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts and excellent Museum of Science are all well worth a visit.

The city of Boston website also has excellent tips for shopping, sports (Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots for baseball and football, of course), parks and shows and concerts.

Top Tip: The Go Boston card (like the equivalent iAmsterdam card in Amsterdam, for instance) gets you into 71 top attractions, including some excellent-looking tours all listed here. And boston.com has some excellent descriptions of Boston’s neighbourhoods.

Finally, The Wicked Good Guide to Boston English is both entertaining and genuinely informative (some of it looked familiar, alright).

The other thing about Boston, of course, is that there are many interesting places that can be visited easily from it- Cape Cod, Salem (location of the infamous witch trials), Plymouth (landing place of the Mayflower), Lexington and Concord (site of a famous battle in the Revolution, as well as home to Thoreau and Emerson, apparently) to name a few.

Wonderful photo of Narragansett Pier by rbglasson on flickr
And then, of course, there’s the wonderful state of Rhode Island (aka the Ocean State) right nearby. Visit Rhode Island has a wonderful site complete with suggestions of things to see and do across the state. I highly recommend Providence, with its art galleries, museums, Thayer Street etc; Newport, with its historical houses and beautiful seafront; and of course Narragansett, with its spectacular beach and lovely little shops. Another fantastic site chock-full of information is one of my very favourite sites on Teh Intarwebs, quahog.org – which includes one of my favourite restaurants in Teh Entire World for breakfast or lunch (only), the Station House in West Kingston. Best johnnycakes in the entire state. And if you time it right, you can catch WaterFire in Providence, which is a wonderful evening event in the city.

Obviously there are a million things to see and do in New York City, but if it was me- and especially if planning a trip in the heat of the summer, for instance- I’d go for Boston and Rhode Island, without a moment’s hesitation. (It would, of course, also be easy to do Boston *and* New York in two weeks…)