east coast: day one
this vacation is brought to by a 13-star rating system and doug, knowledge master extraordinaire of the trip thanks to a report on rhode island in 5th grade. RI is the 13th state!
the day started early with a 5:15 alarm for our 8 am flight. .5 stars. this would higher, since we are on vacation, but we had originally booked a 1 p.m. flight.
however, we got to MSP and had the breakfast of champions, a morning bloody mary/mimosa and coffee. (bloody for me, mimosas for others). grabbed a caribou and hopped on the plane for a normal flight (except everyone was masked and there were no weirdos making a scene, thank goodness). getting the rental cars was pretty uneventful, except our one rental smells like cigarette smoke. plus rental cars are just a pain in general – it takes so long! BUT we got our cars before we were supposed to pick them up, so that turned out ok. rental car experience so far, 8. this may increase after i complain to budget about the cigarette smell.
the drive through boston into RI wasn’t bad – the length was good. the drivers were erratic. merging was awful. there were tons of people just stopped on the side of the road. it 60 miles and took 2 hours, but the traffic thinned as we got closer to our destination. the roads aren’t as bad LA roads – definitely have room in the lanes, but the shoulders were minimal. and curvy! we’re giving east coast drivers a 3.
but the best part of the drive as the TREES. they were tall and right up close to the road, and they looked super awesome and old and leafy and beautiful – like driving up north on steroids! add in the older homes and history, and the tree experience was a solid 13 stars.
we stopped in foxboro, home of the new england patriots (per lori), for a jaunt around a weird roundabout around a town square and lunch. our first thought was a pizza joint that was clearly a one point joint, so doug made us leave. good call! we ended up at union straw for an excellent lunch:
- shrimp po’boy: 11 stars
- bbq burnt ends: 8 stars
- crab cakes: 12 stars
- duck and fig flatbread: 5 stars (too much fig)
then we got back on the road and made it to our timeshare condo. we all expected a sad condo with a parking lot overlook, but LO AND BEHOLD we got an ocean view!!
oh yeah. condo would get 13 stars, but it has a weird smell and not all bedrooms have a balcony. so, 11 stars for the condo.
first order of business was taking a nap. that, we went grocery shopping and came home.
we ended with a nice view of the bridge at night!
ok we’ll give day one 9 stars – traveling is hard, but getting here was good! and food so far is excellent.