Providence, Rhode Island – 4/5/2017 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

April 5, 2017 (Wednesday)

Like I’ve been saying (complaining I think), the weather here is really weird. One day it’s gorgeous and in the 60’s, and the next there’s 3” of snow on the ground. Well today was kinda clear so we decided to do our “last hurrah” in this area. We got up and left our home around 9:00 AM. The first stop (after our McDonald’s breakfast) was Cape Cod, Massachusetts – about 80 miles away. Clarece (our GPS) was getting a little gritchy at times, and her voice even got loud at some turns in the road. It’s a good thing we really need her or she would be fired.

We saw several of these and we think they are cranberries growing.

We got into Cape Cod and I think Michael and I were both disappointed. I’m sure we didn’t see the right areas but we did drive around for awhile and ended up at the ferry dock to Nantucket. A nice man told us where we could turn around and get out back to the main road. I think I was expecting more New England type cottages (not the Newport, Rhode Island kind) or something. I wanted to drive all the way down to Provincetown but we felt we didn’t have the time to do that as we still needed to get to the Capitol of Rhode Island. (Tomorrow is supposed to be another major storm coming in so we’re going to stay home and hunker down – again.)

Leaving Cape Cod, we asked Clarece to take us to Plymouth Rock, which was only something like 40 miles away. The roads were good and we went on major highways and smaller back roads. We got to Plymouth rock easily and found parking really close. We went to the covered pavilion where the rock is situated and looked around. It’s a really cute town, very much tourist oriented. Michael got to talking to a guy from Pennsylvania who said his mother lived here. He said the original rock was about three times the size, that it had been broken twice, moved several times, and people kept stealing pieces off of it. Very interesting. You can see that the rock has been cemented in at least one area.

Lots of these crab looking lobster things.

They build a protective barrier around the rock.

Cemented, broken, stamped. It has seen a lot.

The rock is caged to protect it from souvenir hunters.

We left and headed to the main goal for the day – the Rhode Island State Capitol in Providence – about 50 miles away. The traffic was a lot heavier and we just could not understand why, unless it’s because it’s most kids’ spring break? Who knows. We sure couldn’t figure it out. We both really liked Providence. Cute town with many beautiful buildings and lots and lots of church steeples. We lucked out (we thought) and found metered parking on a street near the Capitol (we thought). When we got Clarece to direct us walking to the Capitol, we found out we were over half a mile away. Oh well, good for us to walk. We got to see lots of fun things and several statues we would have never seen. We also saw that the Providence Cheesecake Factory was directly across the street from the entrance to the State Capitol. Must be fate.

Nice river area. Ever since San Antonio, we think every town with a summer and a river should emulate.

Two for the price of one, the Capitol and a Cheesecake Factory.

We went into the Capitol, through security, and then up to the Library on the second floor to see about a tour. We were told the next tour wouldn’t start for awhile so we decided to do a self-guided tour. It’s a lovely Capitol and not really flashy. They were having some kind of mother’s against guns meeting in one of the main rooms, and a couple of other areas were set up for something. Interesting. There were lots and lots of busts and statues in this Capitol, and some nice paintings. Also, they had some beautiful murals and the dome was lovely. If we hadn’t been in the metered parking spot we would have waited for the tour and gotten more information on the history but….

When we left, we went across the street and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a much smaller facility that was attached to the mall. Michael had his BBQ chicken salad and I had a salad and lunch pizza. Everything was delicious.

We left and walked back to the car to start the almost hour drive home to Newport. As we were walking back to the car, we were following a young woman, a child, and a man who was “sagging.” As he walked his pants kept getting lower and lower and he kept spreading out his legs to try to keep them up. I’m sorry but it’s funny and ridiculous. It just looks stupid. I told him he was losing his pants and he ignored me. Probably a good thing or else I would have offered to buy him a belt. I did, however, like his plaid underwear.

Edie was fascinated with this fellow’s sagging pants.

Traffic was bad going home but we made it. We are going to take a nap.

We made it back to our home for the last two weeks.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!