A Final Dash Of Summer Fun In Li’l Ol’ Rhode Island

In the spirit of “a picture is worth a thousand words,” I hereby present a blog crammed with photos of our recent travels. There are about 35 pictures in all, which equals roughly 35,000 words. That’s a lot of words for a blog. My debut novel “Voodoo Hideaway” (buy it here and here and here and here!) is about 97,000 words, so a blog with the equivalent of 35,000 words is downright novella length. And yet it costs you nothing to read! You’re welcome!

I was thinking that a blog with so many pictures will fill enough space that I don’t have to actually write a lot of words. One of the ironies of writing a blog that I don’t really have to write anyway is that I sometimes don’t actually feel like writing one at all — even though I’m the only soul on earth who keeps insisting that I write one. Writers be crazy, AmIRight?

Anyway, maybe we’ll keep the word count down on this one….

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This is a travel blog, and travel blogs are ripe territory for photos. One reason I started this blog in the first place was to chronicle our adventures as American expats living in London – including the many trips we took around Europe. You can read a summary of our European travels in this blog from a couple years ago, before we moved back to the States.

I wrote a lot of travel blogs when we lived in Europe. I haven’t written many since moving back. Only one I can remember. I guess blogging about U.S. travel is not as fun as blogging about European travel.

But: We just had a nice northbound road trip from our home in Jersey, so I thought I’d share the experience.

The trip was to Providence, Rhode Island. We stayed for three nights — a quick vacation. We spent part of one day in nearby Newport.

This was only my second or third time in Rhode Island. During the previous trips, I was only passing through on the highway.

You can pass through Rhode Island pretty quickly on the highway, by the way. It’s a small state — the smallest in the country, at about 1,545 square miles (4,001 square KM). The largest state, Alaska, has 665,384 square miles. You could fit about 430 Rhode Islands into one Alaska.

The main freeway in Rhode Island is Interstate 95, which runs north/south along the entire East Coast, from Maine to Miami. But Rhode Island’s stretch is only 42 miles long (68 KM). This means you can drive it in less than 45 minutes under normal driving conditions. That rarely happens, though. Up in this part of the country, I-95 is in a near-constant state of mind-melting and soul-killing congestion. It’s been that way as long as I have been driving it and will be that way long after I’m dead and gone.

Interstate 95 runs right through the heart of Providence, so I saw its downtown area while motoring down the highway many years ago. It always looked like an inviting place to stop off and spend some time. We finally decided to do so last week. Here’s my take…..

Providence

Providence is the capital of Rhode Island. It’s probably best known for being home to several excellent schools – Brown University, Providence College, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Johnson & Wales University (maybe the top culinary school anywhere).

The city itself is not huge. It has a population of 194,000 or so, with a metro area population of about 1.6 million. You don’t feel overwhelmed or overcrowded here. It has a very dynamic urban vibe, but there’s plenty of room to breathe.

My quick take is that it’s a great little city for a short trip. One of the best I have ever visited. It’s another one of those American jewels that punch above their weight and fly under the travel radar (others are Portland, Maine; Richmond, Virginia; and Greenville, South Carolina).

There’s lots to see and do in Providence. It has some great neighborhoods, some pretty scenery, and it’s not too expensive.

We stayed at the Omni Providence Hotel right in the heart of downtown. We were close to several cool neighborhoods and visited them all by foot – which, to me, is Rule Number One of great cities. You need to be able to walk everywhere and keep your car parked.

The hotel connects to a decent-sized shopping mall, which gave wife/daughters a chance to shop (back-to-school, etc.) while I enjoyed adult beverages in neighboring bars.

Downtown Providence has a very urban feel, but it’s also very clean, well designed, and makes excellent use of green spaces and open plazas. It doesn’t try to fill up every square inch with brick and mortar. More American cities – hell, most American cities – could learn from that.

Some quick highlights:

• The Providence River: It snakes through downtown — always a welcome feature in any city because it allows for scenic riverwalks, green riverside parks, and water recreation. One night we ate at a Capital Grille steakhouse located hard beside the river, and had a ringside view of one of the city’s regular WaterFire Providence events. These basically involve setting up dozens of floating “braziers” on the water, filling them with wood, and lighting the wood on fire. The result is a river of mini-fires, giving it a kind of ancient festival vibe. Lots of folks sat riverside to watch. You can read about them here. There’s a photo of it in the photo section below. Side note: We didn’t have a reservation at the Capital Grille, and this was a Saturday night, but we still took a shot at getting a table. Amazingly, we scored one.
• Thayer Street: This is located in the heart of Brown University’s College Hill neighborhood, maybe a 20-minute walk from our hotel. Lots of shops and eateries. Very chill. Brown is an Ivy League school, which means it has a lovely campus and a lot of brainiacs walking around. One thing, though: You have to climb a VERY steep avenue to get there.
• West End: A funky center city neighborhood that spans several square blocks and offers up a hip and artsy vibe, lots of independent shops and restaurants, and some cool old buildings.
• Federal Hill: We wandered into this neighborhood on our final night in Providence, with no firm plans on what we wanted to do. It turned out to be a genius move. Federal Hill is an old-school ethnic neighborhood that used to be a kind of Little Italy (and maybe still is), but now has a decidedly Latin flavor as well. Federal Hill has the right combination of charm and grit – but mostly grit (think row houses and weathered storefronts). We ate at an Italian restaurant called Angelo’s that opened in 1924 and serves the kind of working-class grub all Italian restaurants used to serve – plenty of pasta and red sauce, crispy garlic bread, and no frills. The food was very good and the atmosphere was decidedly mid-20^th century. The portions were not huge, though, so I later grabbed a slice of first-rate pizza at a joint that connected to a bar where a band was playing some damn good rock n’ roll. There also was a street festival that night featuring lots of food and merchandise booths, live music, and tipsy citizens making merry. A fun night to wrap up our trip.

Newport

Newport is a ritzy little coastal village about 30 miles southeast of Providence that has earned international fame for its annual jazz and folk festivals. These events have gone on for decades and helped kickstart or advance the careers of numerous musical heavyweights, from Bob Dylan and John Coltrane to Beck and Norah Jones.

Newport is also known for being a playground for the rich and famous, who park their yachts in the harbor and probably vacation in expansive oceanside estates. But there’s room for regular folk, too, so we drove there on a day trip from Providence.

I personally wanted to visit the International Tennis Hall of Fame, which (I guess) is located in Newport because it hosted the first U.S. National Lawn Tennis Championship back in 1881. Some of the original grass courts are still on the grounds. The facility itself is located on a commercial street, and it’s easy to miss if you’re just strolling along. In addition to the Hall of Fame, the campus houses the Newport Tennis Club and an ancient tennis stadium that still hosts pro events.

The museum itself is kinda cool. Lots of displays and history. Not as all-encompassing as the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. (which I visited for the first time last fall), but still worth a look. I went in hoping to see a 1960s-era Wilson Jack Kramer wood racquet, which was my first racquet when I began playing tennis 50-odd years ago. And I saw one! It’s front-and-center in one of the photos that follow. I loved that racquet, and used it until about 1983 or so, when I finally bought a metal racquet.

While I toured the Tennis Hall of Fame, the rest of the family kicked around Newport and hit its dozens and dozens (and dozens) of shops –from upscale to Tacky Tourist. After we all met up again we walked past the church where John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier (Kennedy Onassis) got married in 1953. It’s a very unassuming church. It’s not the kind of place you figured would host the wedding of maybe the most famous American couple in history. It’s also pictured below.

I’d say Newport is worth a visit. It’s easy on the eyes, very walkable, has plenty to do, and there are many restaurant choices (though we didn’t have a sit-down meal there because there wasn’t much time).

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Well, this blog got pretty long despite my determination to keep it short by filling it up with photos.

Below are some more photos. Nearly all were taken by me on my trusty Canon VI-T (or was it an iPhone?). Some have captions — at no additional cost! Enjoy.

Providence

Federal Hill street scene

Federal Hill alley

The West End

Providence River

WaterFire Providence

Newport

The Harbor. Our smaller yacht. Ha ha! (Photo by Eldest Daughter)

The church where JFK and Jackie got hitched.

The Harbor again. Our bigger yacht. Ha ha! (Photo by Eldest Daughter)

After looking through my photos, it occurred to me that my inner Tennis Geek took over and I took shot after shot of the Tennis Hall of Fame. They follow…..

The grass courts on the grounds are open to the public. I keep racquets and balls in the trunk of our car, and I would have loved to hit a few. But you have to wear all-white tennis attire. And I don’t have all-whites. Dammit.

The Wilson Jack Kramer racquet is center stage here. Looks a little worse for the wear…

Arthur Ashe, a favorite player when I was a kid.

A bust of 1930s-era great Don Budge, who was the first player to win a Grand Slam in a single year, meaning he won all four major championships (1938). Since then, only Rod Laver (1969) and Steffi Graf (1988) have done it.

Johnny Mac — my favorite player ever. Yes, he could be a real asshole on the court — loud, abrasive, abusive, whiny, pouty, his own worst enemy. But I used to live and die by his matches. These are how the plaques look for all HOF inductees. It’s the final exhibit before you exit. Several more will follow of players I either liked as a fan/historian or came to admire.

Chris Evert is my favorite female player ever (and yes, many of us lads had a crush on her). Her battles with Martina Navratilova were epic, and Martina held the head-to-head edge 43-37. That’s a remarkable stat. They played 80 times during their careers. Amazing.

My second-favorite female player ever. I just thought Kim went about her business with class, and she seemed to have a good time playing.

Stan Smith was probably my first tennis hero when I started following the sport. He lost some tough matches to Australia’s John Newcombe, a nice dude who I nevertheless came to detest because he held a 10-5 edge over Stan. As an adult I wrote a profile about Pancho Gonzalez (pictured earlier) for a business newspaper. The article provided insights on how certain successful people overcame great odds. I contacted Stan for his insights about Pancho, and he was exactly the nice, humble and gracious guy I always imagined he would be. Although I’m not sure he ever got back to me with his comments about Pancho….