Checked It Off My List

Many people have a list of things they'd like to do or see at some point in their life, and I do, too. Last week, I accomplished one of them. I circumnavigated Rhode Island! Now, some definitions of that term reference traveling on water. However, it generally means to "travel all the way around" a location. So, actually I did both. I did travel all the way around Little Rhody, and I did travel over water quite often.

As you can see, it is a very watery state. Another of its official nicknames is The Ocean State, and as one drives around, it's very evident that this is an apt choice. I started in Mystic, CT, just next door, and drove on Highway 1 along the southern edge of the state. Suddenly, in the middle of a town, it became Rhode Island. I stopped to chronicle this event, and also send a photo to CoolGuy so I could share my groovy trip.

 

Rhode Island is not only small, but it is old, being one of the original Thirteen colonies. In fact, I think it was #3, because it was founded as a place of refuge by Roger Williams for people who were exiled by the Puritans from Massachusetts in 1636 over religious differences. Someone was always unhappy with someone else when you study history.

It is a place of old placards and historical markers, and really old, very beautiful historic buildings. The first thing I did was go to the ocean. I love the ocean! It was a gorgeous June day, hot as the blazes for the East Coast, and the beach is the best place. It was packed. It was also private. I just pretended I was a local (hah! Not dressed in beach clothes! But, I was just looking...not staying.) Then I got some lunch, and got back onto the highway to keep driving east.

This looked like a fine place to chow down. It was delicious, too. I was waited on by a 13 year old boy, whose mom was back in the kitchen stuffing lobster into rolls for the customers. I chose the over-stuffed version--hey! When in lobstah land, you should chow down.  I didn't get any chowda, however.

And,  yes, it was super yummy.

So, pretty much Rhode Island is all about water and trees. Like many places in the east, you don't really get "scenery" as  you travel along. You just see trees. There are houses along the small road that I was driving on, so I saw houses, little stores, some schools. It was small town RI. Many signs directed you to turn here for this park or that beach, or this resort or that bed and breakfast. But, again, like Maryland, most of the coast is privately owned. California was my norm, with the coast mostly public land, and all the beaches open and free. Not the east coast.

Then, I got far enough east that I was on the edge of the Narragansett Bay and a huge bridge loomed ahead. If  you refer to the map, you'll see a medium sized island (St. James) that is in the middle of the lower part of the state. The bridge connects you to this island, then you drive across that island, take another enormous and beautiful bridge to a bigger island with the city of Newport and then cross again to the mainland to go north. 

Everything was breathtakingly beautiful. The blue, blue water, the greeness of the islands as you travel over the high bridges. There are stunning mansions in Newport. There are sailboats dotting the bays. Everything was just gorgeous. I know they have wicked winter weather, but June is just fantastic.  

My biggest reason for wanting to take this crazy tour was just that Rhode Island is so small. I've told my students here in Nevada, that the whole state could fit into the valley where Las Vegas is. So, I just had a craving to drive all the way around it, one day. CoolGuy refers to "driving across Texas, one day for a week" and so I wanted to drive around Rhode Island, one afternoon. It took about 3 hours. And it took three hours, because most of the roads I traveled on have a 35 MPH speed limit. Really: RI:  1544 sq.miles.  Las Vegas valley: 1600 sq.miles. Clark County is 8091 sq. miles. How could I resist??

 So, I've done it. I guess I can focus on something else now. Hmmm...Four Corners monument?