Rhode Island, Part 1!

I’m in Rhode Island!
I’m staying with my friend Lauren and her fiancé, Matt, in their apartment in Woonsocket, where they are kind enough to put me up for the next (roughly) three days. I haven’t seen much of the town yet, but apparently it used to host a thriving textile manufacturing trade. Some of the old mills remain, now converted into condos and studio apartments and maybe office spaces; when you drive past you can see curtains and air conditioning units poking out into the open air, anachronistic leeches sucking onto the tender sides of history.
Woonsocket has its nicer neighborhoods, like the one that contains a charming purple and green cottage-like house that Lauren and Matt hope to buy after they get married (though they’re not sure just yet when that will be), but it apparently also houses a lot of hobos and the occasional prostitute. Lauren says the winos and whores even wander right in front of their building sometimes. Still, Woonsocket has its charms, like the millrace that ends in a medium-sized but impressive waterfall as you leave (or enter) town.
After they picked me up from the airport yesterday afternoon, we drove into Providence for an early dinner. We ate at a small tavern that makes its own beer, but as I’m trying not to spend too much, I devoted my money to food instead of beverages. Plus I was chilly, and Lauren’s suggestion of hot chocolate to drink was a good one. We spent the rest of the evening in their apartment, watching the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, accompanied by a commentary that turned into a drinking game. As if you didn’t know already that we’re all geeks.
This morning we slept in — me on an air mattress that takes up half the living room — and took our time showering, so it was after noon by the time we got on the road. On our way out, we drove past that charming little house that Lauren and Matt are after (I can see why), and then I suddenly saw myself staring at a sign bidding me welcome to Massachusetts. I thought it was a joke. But no, we had just crossed the border into Mass to get gas, where it’s cheaper. Once that was done, we were quickly back in Rhode Island and bound for Galilee, on the coast, home to Lauren and Matt’s favorite seafood restaurant: George’s. Galilee is quite proud of its easy access to such tasty bounty; I counted numerous seafood shacks and restaurants on the way in (and on the way out). The Port of Galilee also boasts a ferry service to some of the state’s large islands, and once we were seated in George’s, Lauren and I watched as the large ferry glided smoothly past the windows, taking up all of them, on its way out to sea.

George’s has a few take out windows and outdoor seating at plastic tables that overlook the sea, but it was really windy when we got there, so we opted to sit out of the weather. The dining room doesn’t look like much either — lots of stained wood, a treasure chest full of tacky prizes for children, faded seaside décor, an older waitress with a tendency to linger, chatting, at her other tables — but oh man, the food in the place!
Lauren and I started off with an appetizer of lobster artichoke dip, served with blue corn chips. The dip itself was quite interesting. It was thick, with a cream cheesy taste and consistency, and served cold. The first bite was quite a new experience, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it; Lauren felt the same way. However, the more we kept eating and digging into the bowl, unearthing the bits of promised artichoke and lobster, the more we enjoyed it. Meanwhile, Matt was enjoying a cup of George’s clam chowder with tomato; apparently in Rhode Island, clam chowder comes in a clear broth unless you ask for it with cream (resulting in white chowder) or tomato (red chowder).
Then our meals came: Lauren ordered a half basket of clam cakes with a cup of chowder with cream to dip them into; Matt tucked into a lobster quesadilla; and me, I began to tear apart a bowl of mussels with great gusto. The broth was absolutely delicious, a combination of local beer, butter, scallions, tomato and garlic. The mussels were probably the freshest I’ve ever had—I felt like I could still taste the salt water in them. When I was finished with them I asked for some dinner rolls, and I broke one apart to soak up the mouth-watering broth. Matt joined in too, and couldn’t stop raving about it — he hadn’t tried it before, and never would have thought to soak up the broth with bread, but now says he’s found his new favorite dish there. All in all, it cost me a little bit more than I had planned to spend on lunch, but was it worth it? Absolutely. Utterly wonderful and delicious.

From George’s we walked out of the parking lot onto the beach to admire the view; it was a cloudy day, but the sun broke through there on the sand, and we joined the seagulls in happy basking in those warm rays until they were gone a few minutes later. To my delight, a building on the edge of the island had a windmill right on top! I’m a big fan of wind energy, so that just made up my mind that Galilee was a pretty cool place to be. After a few minutes, we left and made for Newport, driving through some very pretty seaside towns before merging back onto the highway. From there we crossed a bridge, and then a toll bridge that cost us $4, (ugh) before gliding down the ramp to “Scenic Newport.” Oh, how I missed this city. Its proximity to clear blue water, the healthy breeze, the historic buildings, the abundance of galleries, pubs and restaurants, the old mansions lining the coast — everything. I spent two days there during spring break of my sophomore year when we were staying at a condo in Westerly. We originally intended to visit just for one day, but ended up driving back the next because we’d enjoyed it so much and still had so much to see. Ever since then, for two and a half years, I’ve been wanting to go back. And then, there I was!
We parked on a side street and walked back toward the center of town, where we popped into a chocolate shop so that Matt could buy a latte. He said it wasn’t very good, but Lauren ordered drinking chocolate. This was an entirely new concept to me—on the menu there was drinking chocolate as well as hot chocolate. What’s the difference? Well, Lauren’s beverage came in a four-ounce cup, for once thing. Secondly, it had a thicker consistency and more of a baking chocolate taste—I know this because she let me try it. It’s very good! Lauren says it’s more of a European way to drink hot chocolate, but this was my first encounter with it.
We then decided to drive along Ocean Avenue while it was still light outside, so we made our way back to the car. From there, it was a cruise along Bellevue past the mansions—some of them museums, some of them not—including the Marble House, which I’d toured during my last trip. Once past the mansions we were on Ocean Ave, curving along the edge of the island and admiring sand, surf, and more (modern) mansions. We pulled into a state park right on the edge of the ocean, and I took Lauren and Matt back into the woods to show them the abandoned mansion we’d discovered two years ago. It’s still there, graffiti’d and crumbling, and I was elated. The old tower is still back there too, as well as the cozy tree we’d all posed for pictures in.

We then made our way back across the field and right to the oceanfront, where we sat on a park bench, braced against the wind, enjoying the air and the view until we were too chilled to sit any longer. Then we climbed back into the Explorer and were on our way back to town.

We were still pretty chilled when we got back to town so we ducked into Starbucks—Matt in search of a better latte—and ended up staying until we were warmed up. This made me happy too, since my spring break companions and I had sipped quite a few warm drinks in there during our very frigid “spring break.” After finishing our drinks, we still weren’t hungry, so we weren’t quite sure what to do next. We ended up just wandering uphill into a different part of town, back and forth a couple of restaurant and store-lined streets, until we decided that the time for dinner was now or never.

We ate in Yesterday, a large, low place with an atmosphere like a higher-end European pub. I ordered a fish sandwich with salad instead of fries, and was thrilled but intimidated when presented with a sizeable chunk of breaded cod perched atop a fluffy Kaiser, surrounded by a sea of vegetables and balsamic vinegar. But the fish was white and moist and fluffy and delicious and I ate every bit of it. I had to leave bits of bun and salad behind, but the battle was won.
After dinner we poked into a couple of shops on our way back to the car, but by now it was after dark and we were warm and sleepy and ready to go home. I half expected to fall asleep in the car, but we all kept each other awake by laughing, mostly at the expense of our Boston-accented alter egos (mine is called Maude Brickley, and she apparently has returned to New England after a fling with an Amishman called Ezekiel), and we were home before we knew it. We had planned to watch a movie when we got home, but we’ve all just been sitting on our computers in silence since we got back, absorbed in our own tasks. Oh well. We had a fun, talkative day, so this is acceptable. Tomorrow’s another day.
Tomorrow we’re supposed to go to King Richard’s Faire in Massachusetts, much like the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, where I was on Monday. I’ve never been to a ren faire in another state before, so I’m pretty excited! Bring it on!