Friday, day one in Rhode Island was off to a very troublesome start. First, neither Ted nor I packed the night before. There were a few chores around the house that needed to be done such as vacuuming and dropping off the garbage. Those were put on hold. We ended up scurrying around and leaving late. Here are a few of the other problems encountered as we set out on our trip.
- I left my cell phone at home.
- Ted left the name, phone number, and confirmation of our B&B at home.
- After turning around and retrieving the 2 items above, we grabbed some CD’s for the trip. Half way through track 2 of Toby Keith’s Greatest Hits, little “sporty” decided “NO CD FOR YOU!” and shut off. So Toby is still in the jaws of the CD player, not to be freed until we take the vehicle in for it’s next maintenance check. 🙁
- By about 12:30 pm, we made our first pit stop. Ted said, “Congratulations! You’ve never sat so long in the car before”. You see, I usually have to make several pit stops. Some how car rides make me have to …ah…”go”. You know…nature?…Anyway, Ted grabbed a slice of pizza and was eating it while I took his coffee from him. In so doing, he bit into the pizza and a drop of tomato sauce flew from the slice, into the air and eventually landed on my thigh. Crazy…we were standing up! Stain on pants.
We finally made it to Newport by 3pm.
Here is the our day: Coming into Rhode Island..
Playing with pictures: In the follow photo of the water and sail boats, the first one was too over exposed on the histogram (according to my camera). Instead of playing with settings, I put my sun glasses over the lens… 😎
photo one: no shades
photo two: with shades
Ted had a Michelada: Dos Equis Lager kicked up with spices. This was a bloody mary made with beer…he sent it back.
We HAD to try the Apple Pie Margarita … it was too strong, very cinnamon-y. I ended up with a nice glass of Zinfandel.
Our lunches were great. Ted had a Fish and Chip Sandwich and I had a Greek salad with Grilled shrimp.
After the terrific lunch, we wandered around Newport. Such a pretty town. The boat show was in full swing however our tickets are for tomorrow and today was the official shop til you drop day for Joanne. I had to drag Ted away from the gates as he gawked at some of the boats we could see from the sidewalk.
We bought 3 great paintings for our kitchen. We should have been buying seascapes but instead got some great canvases of a chef enjoying his wine while he cooked. I’ll have to take a photo when we get them on the walls, right now they are wrapped up and in the car.
We came back to our B&B and changed for dinner. The weather was getting a bit cool at this point so we put on our sweaters and light jackets and ventured out again. Our destination was Bannister’s Wharf where the revelry was in full swing. We found The Black Pearl, a restaurant known for its clam chowder. We stopped at the outside deck (the Black Pearl has 3 dining areas: The Tavern, A Gourmet Restaurant, and Outside Patio dining) and enjoyed a bowl of clam chowder. It was good. But our restaurant choice for dinner was Clarke Cook’s. What a great choice it was. Wonderful bread, a great mixed green salad, and both of us had the swordfish. Ted’s was grilled staight up – nothing added. I had the chef’s special version over tomato coulis with a savory-sweet salsa on top. Delicious.
Following that great dinner, we took off to see what the night life had to offer. Just outside the restaurant, we found the local talent….
We found Blues Club Cafe where the cover was only $5.00. The band was just starting. We simply enjoyed the music and a little dancing. It wasn’t Blues music. The band was playing quite the old mix from Air Supply to Madonna. Some Michael Jackson as well! It was fun but getting a bit late for me.
We finally hit the sack at 12 AM to get ready for Day 2 at the boat show.
