We left on Sunday, May 25, drove to Waterbury, Connecticut, ate at Spartan's Restaurant then watched Recount (which we enjoyed a lot) on the hotel's HBO. The next morning we drove the remaining 2.5 hours to Providence where we hooked up with Abbie and Benedict, went out to lunch, loaded some stuff into the Hyundai and went to see the latest Indiana Jones movie at a big screen theater. We all liked it, especially the refrigerator scene. We went out to dinner and made plans for meeting up the following morning for breakfast and to travel to Point Judith to catch the ferry to Block Island.
On Tuesday morning, we went to breakfast at the Meeting Street Cafe where we all got the largest breakfasts of our lives. The drive from Providence to Point Judith is under an hour and we budgeted two hours, so arrived with plenty of time to park, walk to the ferry terminal, buy our tickets and look at the back of the ferry.
The ferry ride to Old Harbor on Block Island is 55 minutes. It was drizzly and slightly choppy -- just enough to make me queasy and poor Abbie seasick. Benedict and Frank were pretty much unfazed.
When we reached Block Island, it was cool, breezy and no longer drizzling. It was a short walk to the Spring House Hotel.
We checked in; Abbie took a seasickness recovery nap, and Frank & I walked off in search of caffeine. After our caffeine fortification, we went back to the hotel to start exploring the island.
Block Island is quite small, ~10 square miles, so walking and biking are the obvious and preferred forms of transportation. We started our island exploration on foot. The hotel is near one of the many beaches, so we found a trail down, looked at the ocean, the shore and watched Benedict fly his kite, then watched the kite dive into the ocean (it was gustier than optimum for kite flying). It was recovered and the line was un-knotted. We walked further along the perimeter of the island, around to the Southeast Lighthouse. The kite-flying conditions were much better here.
After Frank hit a golf ball into the ocean and Abbie & Benedict flew the kite and climbed the many stairs to and from the beach, we walked back to the hotel, then into Old Harbor and ate seafood for supper.
That evening Frank and I learned how to play Betrayal at House on the Hill. Lots of fun. Those Brown students are good company.
Wednesday was bike riding day. We rented bikes and started riding up the eastern side of the island. We stopped at some sites along the way -- a family graveyard, a plaque, a labyrinth. We made it to the end of the bike trail and continued along the walking trail, up to the North Lighthouse. Abbie and Benedict walked all the way to the most northerly point and came upon some island deer. Both deer and people were startled at the encounter.
We biked back down to Old Harbor and stopped into the Harbor Grill for some award-winning clam chowder and ciabatta bread; then back to the Spring House for a round of Settlers of Catan.
We finished off the afternoon with more hiking, exploring, and kite flying. We looked over a couple of restaurant menus and settled on eating dinner at Finn's Seafood Restaurant. Great food, great beer, great company.
Back to the hotel for more fun with Betrayal on our last night on Block Island.
Thursday morning was clear and calm. After breakfast and packing up, we walked down to the pier for the ferry ride back to the mainland. Fortified with Dramamine and blessed with smooth seas, the ride back was beautiful.
We loaded up the car, drove back to Providence, unloaded the kids, re-loaded the car with a different batch of stuff, ate a late lunch together then Frank and I hit the road. We spent the night in Waterbury, Connecticut (again) and ate at Spartan's Restaurant (again). Back home in Murrysville by Friday evening.
You can check out my Picasa web-album here; you'll find more pictures of kite flying, plaques, beaches, food, gulls, deer and lighthouses.
