Tracy and I are back from a visit to see Ryan in Providence, RI. We flew up there early last Friday day for some family time, geocaching (6 states in 5 days) and food adventures and got back in late Tuesday night. Oh Man, did we come back exhausted.
Our vacation started with a 3:15am alarm clock. Our first flight was at 6 am from Nashville to Charlotte, NC and then on to Providence with an arrival at about noon. Pretty easy flights but that getting up at 3:15am was rough.
Ryan met us at the airport just as we were headed over to Budget to get our rental car for the weekend. I'll give some praise to Budget Rental Cars for their customer service and the Toyota Corolla that we rented for the next few days. Pricing was good and the car was excellent for our needs. They get a gold star.
We put Ryan in charge of lunch that day and we headed over to the Warwick coast for our first food adventure. Let me explain something first- there is Chowder and then there is Chowda. Chowder is the umbrella term for a variety of soups/stews but Chowda is how the locals say it in New England. Second, chowder splits into types based on ingredients. There is New England Clam Chowder with a cream base, clams and potatoes and then is Manhattan clam chowder that uses tomatoes instead of cream. Yes, there are further nuances to the chowder but I'll keep it simple with the Types A and B as they are probably the most common. Here we have type A (cream based) and a variation on type B (tomato based). I am New England Chowder fan whereas Tracy leans to the Manhattan style which is why she was very intrigued by this style in which there is both tomatoes and cream. In the basket are some hush puppy-like things that the locals call 'clam cakes'.
Then, after walking around on the beach for a while, we indulged in our next Rhode Island tradition: Frozen Lemonade.
While the more famous shop is "Del's Frozen Lemonade", this quaint "New England Frozen Lemonade" was the one on our beach. Tasty Goodness! Our only regret is we did not have a chance to indulge more often in this wonderful treat. Luckily, Del's has a website and will ship you their mix to make your own at home.
After that, we hit the road for some geocaching and to see Newport. We were told that Newport gets alot of tourism by way of the cruise ships but on this day it looked like no ships were in harbor. As we walked around I spied this fresh oyster bar. Since we live in Tennessee we rarely get to enjoy fresh seafood but mostly we just do not buy it that often (Tequila Lime Shrimp being our main exception). When we started planning this vacation I wanted seafood whenever I could get it. This oyster bar was calling my name! I cannot remember the last time, if ever, that I had oysters like this.
Ryan was much more familiar with the fresh oyster bar scene so I let him pick for this snack. Since they had 4 kinds of fresh oysters we both ordered one of each.
Ryan and I got to talking to the bar tender/oyster shucker and he asked us if we were also interested in their 'oyster shot'. He went on to explain that they take vodka infused with jalapenos that has marinated for a few days and make a martini. Add to that martini a fresh oyster and a few splashes of Sriracha hot chili sauce and that is their 'oyster shot'. Ryan gave me the "I dare you" look. Challenge accepted!
The oyster shot was good as far as a spicy martini goes but the oyster was just a novelty. One was enough for the "Been there, Done that" list. The last place we checked out was a ice cream shop called Kilwins. The big sign in the window for Salted Caramel ice cream sucked Ryan and Tracy inside. I would put this ice cream chain on the list of places to stop and get a treat if someone ever comes across one in their journeys. We have on in Gatlinburg so next time we head out to Townsend and that area we will definately make a stop.
So this was the first few hours of our vacation in New England with Ryan. The weather got a little stormy but that was okay. Next stop was back to Providence for dinner at La Lupita, recommended in a Yahoo article: 10 Best Tacos in America.
We got various types of tacos
and Tracy enjoyed an order of fried plaintains as well.
Last was an early bedtime. This was a long day.
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