Good night Rhode Island

What a day! The drive this afternoon was 4 or 5 lanes sometimes and
the cars were all going about 20-30km over the limit. It all got a bit
much when I realized that I was missing a potentially lovely quieter
drive near the ocean.

I set off to find water and take a break from the insane interstate. I
found a beach, but you had to be from that city to use it-- I didn't
have the car sticker so I was turned away. Other places were gated so
I could see that there was water but not get close to it. Another
beach was public, but there was no parking anywhere--all streets were
no parking zones. Some people ran parking lots on their lawns, but I
wasn't about to pay $15 for a ten minute glimpse at a crowded beach.
The water was Long Island Sound, not even big ocean water. On this
detour I did see some very lovely rural homes. Wooden siding and short
rubble stone walls, with doors and yards all decorated a la Martha
Stewart.

My GPS kept getting mad at me for ignoring the directions, but I
couldn't resist following signs for a boat launch site. I saw a marsh
and several kayakers who told me several places to go to see big
water. One of the kayakers did a highschool exchange in Perth On. what
a small world.

So on I went to Watch Hill to see the ocean. It was just what I was
looking for. Free parking at a yacht club, a nice walk (2 hrs) along a
very empty beach with a protected bird habitat on the dunes. Waves
attacked me, I found cool rocks and shells, watched little sand pipers
evade the incoming surf, saw the sun set, heard a fog horn and saw two
distant lighthouses.

Exhausted from sand-walking, I headed to Providence, making a stop at
Tim Hortons for dinner. It's not as good as in Canada.

Very thankful for GPS, I got safely to the hotel and now I'm
recharging my camera, iPod and very soon I'll recharge myself too.

Good night Rhode Island!

Sent from my iPod