By Shelby
Monday
To start this week our plan was to work from the McKillop Library, part of Salve Regina University. It was a beautiful old-style building right across the street from seaside mansions. Work went smoothly. I awkwardly heated up a can of soup for lunch from our street parking spot while Spencer ate a sandwich.
For dinner, we went to Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant where I had New England clam chowder, which this area is known for. It was pretty tasty. It started to rain and we drove to Planet Fitness for a night in the parking lot. Spencer continued work on the website later that evening while watching the Yankee game.
Tuesday
Upon leaving the parking lot the next morning, our troubles continued. When attempting to reverse the Prius, we encountered what felt like the car backing into something. On further inspection, there was nothing there. It seemed like the emergency brake, which we had been using at night, was stuck. Since we were unable to get the Prius to move, we had no choice but to call AAA to have us towed to a nearby auto repair shop.
While the mechanic looked at the Prius, we worked on our laptops in the lobby. They didn’t have good news for us. It turns out the emergency brake was seized like we had suspected, but also one of the rear calipers was bad. Since these are replaced in pairs, this left us with a hefty bill. While deciding what to do, we called around to other shops in the area to get an idea of what this should cost. We decided we had to go ahead with the repair. The work would take all day so we decided to walk to a nearby Dunkin Donuts to continue working.
That evening, after the car was repaired, we drove down to the beach to make dinner. We brought our folding table out to the sand and used our micro stove to steam some broccoli and make pasta. It took a ridiculously long time to boil the pasta water, but it was worth it to have a mostly home-cooked and healthy meal. As our food cooked, we watched a couple of surfers in the water.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we worked from the library again. After work, we went to Fort Adams to walk around. The fort, built in the mid-1800s, never saw action and is used as a historical museum today. Entry into the fort was closed due to weather when we arrived, but the grounds were open. We walked around the peninsula enjoying views of the Newport Island and Bay.
At the fort, we saw a really cool ship called Oliver Hazard Perry, which is used to teach sailing. It happened to be very foggy that evening, which offered unique views of the area. Luckily, the fog cleared up before we left so we were able to get photos that looked completely different from earlier.
Thursday
The next day, we decided to do the famous Cliff Walk and see the cliffside Gilded Age mansions. We parked at Easton Beach and paid $15 to park there the whole day. I was surprised to see young kids playing in the sand. It was cold and windy. The Cliff Walk is a 7 mile round trip hike that offers beautiful views of both the ocean and the mansions.
The walk did not disappoint. We saw elaborate houses built in the 1800s and got stunning views of the ocean waves breaking upon the rocky cliffs. Fortunately, the weather greatly improved and it was sunny all day. Unfortunately, we both forgot to put on sunscreen and got sunburnt. After the hike, we decided to leave Rhode Island and head toward Cape Cod.
Friday
On Friday, we drove to the very tip of Cape Cod near Provincetown and did a 4-mile round trip hike along Race Point beach. Along the hike, we saw pristine white sand beaches, beautiful blue water, a few fishing boats, and even a seal poked its head out of the water. We were warned that the water wasn’t suitable for swimming due to the hundreds of great white sharks that live in the area.
At the end of the hike, we reached Race Point Lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for tours, but the outside was beautiful. We hiked back along the sandy road. It was quite the workout since it was basically walking through sand dunes.
Our next stop was Nauset Lighthouse, which is the lighthouse featured on the Cape Cod kettle chips bags. We saw another group of people posing with a bag of chips in front of the lighthouse. After getting our picture with the lighthouse, we drove to a nearby mall to relax and see the latest Marvel movie.
Saturday
Saturday was predicted to be cold and rainy, so we decided to go back to the mall and walk around for a bit. It was nice to take a break from being a tourist and just experience a city going about its business as usual.
For lunch, I wanted to try the famous Cape Cod seafood. We went to the Skipper Chowder House, a well-known seafood restaurant known for its clam chowder. Skipper Chowder House was established in 1936 and is one of Cape Cod’s oldest waterfront restaurants. I wanted to try raw oysters since I’d never had the chance to try them before. I ordered 3 of them, all of which were local. They tasted very salty, like seawater, with a slimy texture. They tasted okay, but I think they must be an acquired taste. We also tried fried clam chowder, which was very good. For my main meal, I got 1.5 lbs of steamers clams. They were very good. Spencer got a burger. After lunch, we decided to move on to our next stop, Plymouth.
Sunday
The next day we drove into town from Planet Fitness where we stayed and checked out Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower. Interestingly, the replica was built in England and sailed from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts where it is now.
The weather turned out sunnier than we had expected but the wind was crazy. We fought the wind every step of the way as we climbed up Burial Hill to see the graves of the Pilgrims. It was very neat to see graves from the 1600s. After exploring Plymouth, we headed north toward Boston, our next stop. We plan on staying in one of the suburbs while we work next week. Thankfully our second week was better than the first.
Fun facts from week 2:
- The Breakers, a Gilded Age mansion on the cliffside in Newport, RI, was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt and his wife in the late 1800s to be used as a summer getaway.
- Nauset Lighthouse, the lighthouse on the Cape Cod Kettlechips bag, was moved 4 times away from the coastline due to erosion of the cliffside. It will be safe from erosion here for at least 30 years.
4 responses to “Week 2”
Love this!
Wish I could save the pics and add to Frameo
We will look into this or send them ourselves 🙂
Sounds like a fun adventure. Looking forward to reading more.