Exploring New England: Rhode Island

We are moving...

Somewhere inside I sense a bit of peace at these encounters.

We had spent the previous day driving through some of the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside, even sharing the road with horse-drawn buggies. 

We turned 10,000 miles on the new truck in a corner of New York before stopping for the night at a nice KOA campground with full services.

The Lady welcomed us home for the night.

It had rained heavily before we got in.

Sunday, June 28, Day 12

55 degrees

 On this day, we only had 179 miles to travel through Connecticut and to our destination in West Kingston, RI.

Our hosts Roy and Judi

June 28 was Daisy’s birthday, and we celebrated by visiting our friends Roy and Judi for a couple of days at Wawaloam Campground in Rhode Island, where they are spending the summer. 

Sounds authentic doesn't it?

They had made our reservation just across the road from them, and after setting up we skipped across to have drinks and dinner at their place. 

 

Judi made a great birthday dinner of salad with beets and feta cheese, pork chops, roasted potatoes, corn, and peach cobbler with whipped cream for dessert.

A table full of happy hearts and smiles

Monday, June 29, Day 13

I started my day doing what I used to do with Roy and Judi when Daisy was not in my life--sharing a cup of early morning tea. Over a decade ago, we work camped together and met up at various locations in the NW, SW, and S.


 On this day, Roy and Judi were our guides as we explored Newport, RI—a popular seaside resort.

The bridge to Newport

The town’s picturesque harbor is known as the sailing capital of the world for the America’s Cup sailboats and yachts. 

 
We had some striking ocean views at Brenton Point State Park, where there are scattered Adirondack chairs just for sitting and watching the kites flying. 

Rocky shores of the Atlantic

My honey is behind the camera.

A biplane kite

They hold kite festivals here, including one a week before.

Heading home to port

One of the pluses was a shoreline drive through an area of big mansions.

This is one mansion

Some of wood

Some of stone

We were told that this area of RI was a lot like Kennebunkport, Maine, which we would be seeing later on this summer’s trek.

The back door to Flo's and two kids

We got "photobombed."

Flo's Inside

Flo's Outside

  







We had lunch at the highly recommended Flo’s Clam Shack. We tried the stuffed quahog clams, or “stuffies.”  This appetizer is made of diced clams with bread crumbs, sausage, green peppers, and seasonings, baked and served on the half shell.


To tell the truth, this particular preparation of the dish we found to be dry and bland. 


However the highlight of this meal was Judi gesturing and making physical contact with the straw in her coke glass and turning over her drink—not once but twice! First toward Daisy's handbag and the second time in her own lap. (She will get me for telling this.) 

Narrow streets are made for walking.

It was a warm, touristy, sunny day in Newport and we walked around the shops and seafood market stalls.   And of course we found a magnet to document our visit. We don’t have much space in the truck camper, so we have found that refrigerator magnets make excellent souvenirs that are small and not breakable. 

Highly popular form of local transit

Newport was a bustle of activity where people were traveling by car, by bike, by boat, and even by two-passenger scooters called Scoot Coupes, which look like small 3-wheeled tricycles. 

A weighted photo op

Notice the feet in the wave!

The store name says it all.

We discovered a great happy hour place called the Red Parrot and stayed there to dine on delicious pan-seared, caramelized scallops on wilted greens, drizzled with a spicy plum sauce.

These scallops were very tasty.

This second choice for a food stop was the best of the day.

 Of course the ladies had to sample a couple of the happy hour specialties.

One is a Mango Mango Colada with Parrot Bay Mango Rum, Myers Rum, banana liqueur, mango fruit puree, pineapple juice and Coco Lopez.

The other is a Raspberry Lava Colada with Stoli Razz blended with pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and raspberry puree. Topped with Chambord liqueur and whipped cream.

Remembering our snack episode earlier, we did not let Judi have any drinks until we had removed all straw hazards!

Tuesday, June 30, Day 14

This was a quiet day for us. We shopped for groceries, did laundry at the campground, and enjoyed time with our friends. One highlight of the afternoon was finding coke cans with “better half” on them to use as props for a photo.   It doesn't take much to amuse us!

Continuing with the relaxed mode, I made a pitcher of a favorite beverage called “Skip-and-Go-Naked.” Then we had grilled brats with baked beans and salad, which we also shared with Roy and Judi’s son Bob. 



I had known Roy and Judi for many years and it was nice to finally get to know their son. 

In the later hours we sat around the fire pit, talked about our future travel plans, and observed the almost full moon rising over our truck camper. 

Life is great: good times with good friends and a slow pace.

Full moon arising