A Look Back At Our Time Here, Part 2

Here is a picture of a landscaping job that Nicholas and his brother, Jeremy, did the summer before we got married. Nicholas missed his first New England summer so he could be in Texas with me. Awww.

We didn't get married in Rhode Island, but we did get married after Nicholas had been living in Providence for a year.

We spent our first Thanksgiving away from family and as a married couple in Plymouth, MA. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Plimoth Plantation and stayed at our very first bed and breakfast. This picture is taken on the beach in Sandwich, MA which is at the inland start of Cape Cod.

Our first snowball fight at our apartment complex, after a "surprise" snowstorm.

This is Nicholas' first time skiing. We went to Wachusett Mountain in Massachusetts, which is considerably lower in elevation than Colorado, my first skiing experience.

Our first New England summer on "The Cape." We spent the week of July 4th with friends and rented a house near the beach. This picture was taken in the Atlantic Ocean on our whale watching adventure.

This is me in Boston near the University of Massachusetts on the 3rd day of my 3-day 60 mile walk for Breast Cancer.
This is us in Central Park, one of our many jaunts to "The City." We will miss being just a short drive away.

Kayaking

I voted for the "Best of Rhode Island" for Rhode Island Monthly magazine. Now I get a weekly email of the top 5 things to do each weekend. We have done a few of the things listed and been less than impressed. However, when I saw a "festival" with free kayaking, I knew that (being a the good wife I am) my husband would be overjoyed to attend.

So last weekend we ventured to Kenyon's Grist Mill in South Kingstown, RI. During the summer, they have 3 or 4 "open houses" with free tours of the grist mill. In July, a local kayaking company had free kayaking on Queen's River.

Nicholas has really been wanting to go sea-kayaking. I have never been kayaking before, and the thought of getting carried away in the ocean has been less than appealing. The opportunity for free river kayaking was a great way to try out kayaking. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up spending about 45 minutes on the water. And no one tipped over. :)

After enjoying the kayaking, we had some clam chowder and bought some fresh ground red corn meal.

New Bedford Whaling Museum

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is the largest museum in America devoted to the history of the American whaling industry and its greatest port. Through exhibits, publications, and programs, the Museum brings to life the whaling era and the history of the local area. It houses the most extensive collection of art, artifacts, and manuscripts pertaining to American whaling in the age of sail - late eighteenth century to the early twentieth, when sailing ships dominated merchant trade and whaling.

We took a visit to the Museum last week utilizing a buy one get one free Entertainment Book coupon. It was interesting. There were a lot of paintings about whaling which I felt became a little redundant. I thought the Museum was very well put together and would be a great place to take an elementary school aged kiddo.

We enjoyed the observation deck and the view of the Mount Hope Bay.

Seafood Extravaganza

We literally live a few yards from the ocean. You would think that would me that have a plethora of seafood restaurants. That, however, is not the case. In Riverside, our tiny town, we have a pizza place, Dunkin Donuts, and liquor store on every corner. Nicholas and I both love seafood, but despite living near the ocean, we haven't found that it is any cheaper here than it was in Texas, especially if you do not want fried seafood (which I do not). We can, however, go to the fish market and get nice fresh seafood at a pretty reasonable price.

That being said, it is always nice to have visitors that want seafood as often as possible during their visit. Here enter the Aunts. We had some kind of seafood with just about every meal while they were here. One day we went to The Lobster Pot in Bristol, RI. It is located right on the water, and we were able to sit on the patio and enjoy the patio menu. Nicholas had clams with pasta; I had lobster bisque and seared tuna/scallops; Aunt Sharon had baked scallops, and Aunt Judy had the best crab cakes ever!

On their last day here, we had a seafood extravaganza. Nicholas took them to the local fish market where they brought how goodies for day. We had steamed lobster, clam chowder, and crab cakes for lunch, sitting around our dining room table.

For dinner, we invited ourselves over to the Eide's to use their fire pit and had a clam bake with littleneck clams and mussels.

Mini-Liz was very helpful in preparing the clams and even tried some!

We also took a little trip to "Secret Beach." It is called Secret Beach by our 4 year old friend, Tater, because you have to walk down some steps to get to the beach. The Aunts walked around in the water, and Nicholas searched for shells.

Green Animals Topiary Garden--Pretty Flowers

Here are all the pretty flowers we saw at the Green Animals Topiary Gardens.

Green Animals Topiary Gardens

The small country estate known as Green Animals, overlooking the Narragansett Bay in Portsmouth, RI, was purchased in 1872 by Thomas E. Brayton.

It consisted of seven acres of land, a classic white clapboard summer residence, farm outbuildings, pasture and a vegetable garden. Mr. Brayton was treasurer of the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company in Fall River, MA from 1879-1920. His daughter, Alice Brayton, inherited the estate and made it her permanent residence in 1940.

Upon her death, she left Green Animals to The Preservation Society of Newport County. Today, Green Animals remains as a rare example of a self-sufficient estate combing formal topiaries, vegetable gardening, former orchards, and seasonal bedding.

There are more than 80 pieces of topiary throughout the gardens ranging from animals (elephant, dog, reindeer, giraffe, duck, etc.) to geometric shapes to ornamental designs.

We had a beautiful day exploring the gardens, admiring the beautiful flowers, and gazing at the Narragansett Bay.