Summer Vacation 2010 Day 4

Back to Narragansett,  we tried the famous NTB (Narragansett Town Beach) this time.  Spending the afternoon like a couple of beach bums and topping it off with a good dinner…  Mm, mm…

Tourists at The Narragansett Tower by NTB

Hachi says “Let there be waves for all to enjoy...”  Farmer’s tan is “in”, btw.

Happy Dawn at NTB & other vacationers who tolerate us…

Seagulls fighting over Dawn’s french fries…

Dinner at “Coast Guard House”, an old Coast Guard headquarters converted to a restaurant, located right by the Tower.  My Clam Bake, Dawn’s Chicken Franchaise were wonderfully delicious.  The view to the ocean was also nice.

A near-perfect day.  Sadly, we will be heading back to Kentucky in the morning concluding our vacation… : (  Well, at least, this has been a good idea, and we will definitely do this vacationing thing again!

Summer Vacation 2010 Day 3

Today, we did Boston.  Traffic jam and drizzly weather slowed us down, but we got there in the end.

My idea of getting the most out of a short day in a strange city was a “Duck Tour”, an 80-min tour on a modified WWII amphibious bus with a wacky tour guide or a “ConDUCKtor” (how clever).

Our ConDUCKtor, Ace Bandage

Our guide did a good job keeping us entertained throughout the tour with his wit and wealth of knowledge about the city and its history while we inched our way forward through the city traffic.

Copely Square

After the tour, we raced through the famous Boston Museum of Science.  We purchased the “Combo” tickets for the Duck Tour and the museum, but by the time the tour was over, we only had a couple hours until the closing time…  Good planning, I know…  I think we did a pretty good job covering most of the exhibits.  I do wish that we were able to view everything without being rushed…

Full scale T-Rex model and full scale Hachi

Dinner is at the Daily Catch.  The restaurant is located at the water-front and most of the seating is outside under a large covered  area.  The breeze felt a bit chilly at times, but the view of cityscape, marinas and ocean was spectacular.  Calamari for appetizer, Monkfish Marsala & a glass of Valpolicella for Dawn, Swordfish with a vinaigrette sauce for me, and obligatory Tiramisu for dessert.  Probably the best dinner of the trip so far!  The restaurant was rather busy and the server’s service was disappointingly sporadic.

View from our table.  Even the clouds were starting to clear just for us!

Another good day!  It’s so easy to get used to a good thing.

Summer Vacation 2010 Day 2

A seagull on a rainy pier

We had a slow start today, but still made it to Scarborough Beach in Narragansett, RI, before the rain started.  The water was rather cold, and sun was elusive this afternoon.  I think we will make a return trip on Thursday if the weather is better.

George’s at Galilee was the restaurant of choice for the dinner tonight.  I had a “scrod and scallop” and Dawn had “seafood pot pie”.  While we enjoyed the dinner, it left us wondering, “are there anything better around here?”  We are still waiting for something that would knock our socks off, but perhaps, our expectation might be a tad high…

Summer Vacation 2010 Day 1

We don’t travel much.  Well, not as much as we would like to.  Mostly because I don’t know how to plan vacations like normal people, but thanks to the worse-than-sluggish economy, my employer is requiring its employees to take a week off in July as they did last year, and we have decided to travel to Providence, Rhode Island, of all places.

We were watching a HGTV show one day (I think it was House Hunters, or something…), and it was about Boston area.  It was briefly talking about fresh seafood in the area, and we were, like, mmm…, and then, oooh…, then like, “why don’t we travel to New England for some good seafood?”.  We’ve lived in Midwest for the last 2 decades (almost 3 for Dawn), and good seafood is hard to come by.  And we LOVE seafood.  After some researching, we decided that Providence would be a good balance between budget and objectives.

I hope to post some pictures as a live journal of our trip for the next few days.
Here are a few from Day1!

Starbucks breakfast at CVG Airport.  Let the spending begin!!

Legal Sea Foods, right by Providence Airport.  I said she could have anything she liked, but jeez!  Look at that plate!  And this is just the starter!

We checked into a hotel, played with Dawn’s newly purchased Nintendo DSi (who knew making faces at a camera could be so hysterically funny), and called it the first day.  So far so good!

Our New Arsenal: Kitty Cat

Dawn & Cat: Ready for Attack

The war against terror in our backyard ensued as our archenemy mole decided to open an all-out offensive over the weekend: 5 mole mounds in 2 days!

As we were trying to plant the poison peanuts to battle the bastard, this neighbor cat snuck up on us (I think the whole subdivision heard Dawn yelp when she sensed something approaching behind her).

I am severely allergic to cats so I don’t care for them at all, but this cat quickly assessed what we were doing and went into hunting mode for the mole! It aggressively reached into the mole hole trying to claw it out. The cat didn’t really get anything, but I’m pretty certain that the burrow was filled up as the mole pooped itself.

I don’t know the name of this cat yet, but it has already earned my recognition as a “friendly” despite it being a cat.

 

UPDATE: Click here for a video!  It’s my first attempt to edit a video clip… (8/4/2010)