Road Trip

August 5th-9th, I took a road trip with a friend to visit another friend who works in Providence, Rhode Island. I’d never done a road trip before, so I was pretty excited…to spend 12 straight hours in a car!






The drive really wasn’t all that bad. Just long. We caught some traffic after getting on the Massachussets Turnpike, so that slowed our trip down substantially. I guess it’s easy for me to say that the drive wasn’t bad, I wasn’t the one driving. After arriving to Providence, we were both pretty excited to be out of that car.



It was a great reunion with the three of us. Catching up with everything that had been going on in our lives, planning our next couple of days. We really wanted to do as much as possible, but honestly, it was all about spending time with friends and living up our fabulous lives.


The next day, we walked up the hill (phew!) to catch the bus to Newport. So we were either late or overestimated our hill climbing skills (maybe a little bit from column A, a little bit from column B), but we were very close to missing the bus, so a perfectly timed psycho taxi driver saved the morning. The weather was beautiful. We walked through the town, stopped for lunch and had some New England clam chowder (naturally!), and continued walking toward the beach.
Before getting to the coast, we walked through an area where all the mansions are. Whoa big houses! Afterwards, we walked along the water towards the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, the wind smelled of salt water. I hadn’t swam in the ocean in a LONG time, and all I could remember was how much I hated getting salt water in my eyes, so I was a little paranoid about it for awhile. The water was a lot warmer than I thought it would be. I never really enjoyed swimming in non-pool environments (wading is different from swimming); mostly because I was chicken of cold water, but I think I’m starting to get over it.
I swam in a lake at a cottage once, and it wasn’t bad, and swam in the Neuch Lake a couple of times last year. The beach was a lot of fun. The waves were great, and we had a great time goofing around.

That night, we headed into downtown Providence to see Waterfire.
The canal running through the city would have hundred of floating bonfires set up on it, and there would be vendors, street performers and music playing. It would be a happening place. Before seeing the bonfires, we went for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
It was packed, even though the typical dinner time had long passed. Was the cheesecake worth the wait? UH HUH! Boy did I miss cheesecake while in Europe. Switzerland may have amazing cheese, but they don’t even try putting it in cake form. Makes me sad just thinking about it. After our meal, we headed down to see Waterfire.
It was pretty neat. A great atmosphere. Lots of people walking around, sitting, relaxing and enjoying the sites and sounds of the event. One little square was set up with a big platform stage with a DJ playing Latin music. It was packed and the vibe was kickin. Just hearing the music made me want to dance. After a bit of apprehension (definitely not on my part!) we headed out on the dancing floor and got our groove on. Unfortunately for us, the night was just about over, so after a couple dances, everything shut down and we had to head home. No biggie though, we were going to have another long day to come.


The following day, we headed to Boston. Where whale watching, the New England Aquarium, Newbury Street and Harvard were on the agenda. It was so fun being a tourist again.
We got to ride the Boston subway…so great! I love subways!

Whale watching was a riot. Everyone would crowd to the front of the boat to try to get a glimpse of any whales that may surface, and as soon as our guide spotted one on whichever side of the boat, everyone would rush to that one side and start snapping photos. It was pretty funny how was all just flocked to whatever side of the boat was being called out by our guide. People crowding, straining their necks, hoping for a glimpse of a whale. I felt like part of the paparazzi. It was great. I wonder what the whales think of us.

The New England aquarium really made me rethink my career plans. During my job at the Toronto Zoo, I really started to regret not getting into a profession that worked with animals. The relationship that the keepers had with the animals and the conservation and research efforts really made me wish that I could be right there with them working with the animals. It was the same at the aquarium. I was really enviable of the facilitators that interacted with the public and witnessed the “eureka moment” of the visitors and seeing their eyes light up at their exciting experiences and moments where they’d learned something new. I really do love my job, but something about seeing those facilitators in the Aquarium really made me jealous. Or sad. Or longing. Or…I don’t really know. It is true that people change professions an average of 7 times in their life?
The cylindrical tank in the middle of the aquarium was great to see. It was tall enough that the animals in it segregated to their feeding levels and you could see each of them from different angles. I can’t even put into words how excited that place made me. All the opportunities to interact and learn. To explore and discover. It was absolutely incredible. There was a special exhibit on jellyfish.
Cute little penguins, a glass wall looking into the animal hospital and research area. Wah!







After finally tearing ourselves away from the aquarium, we walked into town toward the market. The streets were filled and there was so much activity happening. We decided to take advantage of the coast and sample some seafood. I hadn’t had lobster in over a year, so a seafood platter was just what I needed to get my fix. Sure I can get mussels from Brussels quite easily, but other types of seafood aren’t as easy to come by. I passed on my wisdom about how to disassemble and eat a lobster and we were taught how to eat some clams. I don’t think I’d eat those again. By the time we’d finished our feast, and wandered through the rest of the area (including walking through a park in which they had a Shakespeare show – so sad I missed the show in High Park this summer), and walked along Newbury Street which really made me miss Europe for some reason, it was getting dark. And we new we should head towards Harvard for one last glimpse of Boston greatness.
I know I want to return to Boston again soon. To revisit Harvard and to see MIT, to see more animals, to visit more stores. The list goes on.


The following day was a relaxing one. We were pretty tired from two days filled to the brim with excitement and events, so we decided to sleep in and just enjoy the loveliness that is Providence. By the way, loveliness tended to equal shoppingness. Some of us had certain “goals” for the shopping trip. Certain things to sample, try, experience, what have you. Let’s just say there was some Coach, “flouncy pants”, Puma sneakers, Victoria’s Secret, J. Crew, Abercrombie (& Fitch) and chocolate things (among others) going on.
Of course, when there’s a shopping excursion, there’s indecisiveness. This time around, my indecisiveness came out in a Puma sneaker dilemma. I came out victorious, ending up with black and white ones (yes, I decided to give up on my dream of black and pink ones – it’s okay, I’ve made peace with it.) The mall was great. It was a different kind of vibe for some reason compared to malls in Toronto or something. One kind of interesting thing that I noticed was that the floors of the mall were carpeted. I’m not even talking about the stores themselves being carpeted; I mean the actual mall itself. Now, I don’t really know anything about winter weather in Providence, but if there were carpeted malls in Toronto, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. The carpet in the mall was really clean too. It made the whole mall seem homier. I love carpeted floors. I think my love of carpeted floors corresponds with my love of being barefoot. Barefoot on a carpeted floor is wonderful.
We ate lunch at the food court of the mall (some kind of uber-American sounding burger joint) and dinner at the mall as well (we went home for a bit in between). The trip was winding down to a close so it was pretty sad. Boo-urns. We’d all be going our separate ways soon. Back to non-summer life. We’re big kids now.


The next morning, we’re up way too early (but employment and long car rides take precedence) and we’re ending our road trip. We say our goodbyes and head to the car for our 12 hour trek. Better traffic meant that was would get home a lot faster (even though we took a couple nap stops). Customs was pretty quick (no searches) and we stopped in Kingston, Napanee and Oshawa along the way home. Boy was I glad to get out of that car and soon into my bed where I would sleep for a darn long time.
Road Trip 2005 was fantastic, however I was wiped.


Road Trip 2006 – New York edition anyone?