Rhode Island & Connecticut

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale. Pretty cool interior space.

Our next major stop along our journey south is New York City (more specifically, the Brooklyn borough). We could fly, but it's too expensive for such a short distance. A quick look at the Google map and it became instantly clear. As luck would have it, Rhode Island sits conveniently in the pathway from Boston to New York. We couldn't resist. I mean, who ever visits Rhode Island from California?

On the road again. Ridiculous glasses courtesy of the Science Museum

Our target for the first night was a cozy* New England cottage just south of Providence in a beach town called Oakland Beach (couldn't resist the name). But before we hit our target, we stopped at Target and Panera for lunch**. We have seen some pretty spectacular things over the past year, but stepping over the Target threshold for the first time in a year felt wonderful.

It's a thing of beauty when you've been without it for a year. 

How perfect is this tank top in Target. Yep, we bought it. 

Rhode Island is 1,212sq miles. Sort of meaningless until you consider that the 12 counties that ring the San Francisco Bay equates to 6,900sq miles. About 30 minutes after crossing the border from Massachusetts and we were already in the lower half puttering through Pawtucket and then Providence. By the time we arrived at our cottage, we had plenty of time to walk the shoreline and then dine at the local haunt, Iggy's, famous for their doughboys (basically just a doughnut hole they eat for dessert with more than a dusting of sugar... Yummy).

I loved the irony here. The largest coffee mug we've ever seen, for a map of the smallest state. 

Surprisingly good frozen lemonades.

Six pack with warm chocolate and caramel. 

Breakfast of champions on the East Coast.

We woke the next morning somewhat sad to leave as this was a charming little place. But as it were, we had reservations at a glorious Super 8 motel in New Haven, Connecticut. Before heading west, we took a quick detour to Newport, home of the summer homes of the filthy rich. It felt quite like the Cotswolds in England.

Zane and I had a gentlemen's bet on the name of this statue as we walked to it from the car. I guessed George, he guessed John. While neither of us was correct, the actual name made us both winners. 

There is a cool trail along the coast behind all the fancy homes. Newport is a bit like the 17 mile drive down at Carmel/Monterey. 

It's a Vanderbilt property.

Driving thru Rhode island and Connecticut is like going thru tunnels of lush green forests of birch. As I can no longer drive (my driver's license expired), and I now have a data plan again, I find myself googling random things while riding shotgun. I learned two trivial facts about Connecticut. It is 70% covered by trees and is 4th in population density. I began to wonder where all these people live, until I looked a little harder through the dense forests, and there they were... Flashes of stately two story New England homes were everywhere with lush lawns and open ended backyards.

We pulled in to our Super 8, our worst accommodation of the past year by a long shot. We dumped our bags and hastily headed back out without a clear destination, just a passive interest in visiting Yale and a strong desire not to be at the motel. Contrary to the weather forecast, the skies were clear and the temperature was grand. Yale is a beautiful old-world campus with old timey stone buildings that looked more like churches than halls of education. Two hours in to our stroll, the sky went from blue to black in less than five minutes. And that is how we ended up sheltering in the Yale gothic gymnasium during a freak tornado warning. Kids, I've a feeling we're not in California any more.

The main library is every bit as impressive as all of the cathedral in Europe.

All for now... Next stop: New York City!


* Similar to buying a home, when the word "cozy" is in the title of an Airbnb listing, it typically means "a total dump to be avoided at all costs". In this case, this place was, in fact, eminently cozy, cute, and expertly decorated with a beach cottage theme.

** The Panera food was as good as remembered, but I noted how good the water was. Nicole said it wasn't the water, but the fact that it had ice in it! Yep, ice is such a luxury around the world that I had forgotten how much I missed it.