After many adventures across the United States, one of the few states I hadn’t yet visited was Rhode Island. I’d been close, but never across its watery border to see what its New England charm.
Due to flight costs and other logistics we did not fly to Rhode Island, we flew into Hartford, Connecticut. As the flight came into its final descent I looked out the airplane window and had to acknowledge that New England leaf peeping really is a thing.
From Hartford to Portsmouth, Rhode Island it is about a two hour drive. In the car we all agreed we felt like we were driving through an episode of Stranger Things, or the beginning of a 1980’s slasher movie, depending on where we were on the winding New England roads. It wasn’t until we started crossing the system of bridges past Providence that things began to feel like the seafaring clam chowder filled oasis that I recognize as New England.
We thought that there would be oodles and oodles of fresh and amazing seafood at our foodie disposal in Rhode Island. What we found were plenty of local pubs with variations on fried things, strange unrecognizable Portuguese concoctions, and clams stuffed with everything but clam. We made due and had a lot of deep fried things.
Day one in Rhode Island summary 1. It can be small on a map but a really long way across 2. Just because you have a lot of clams, doesn’t mean you eat them in expected ways. 3. Decks are great no matter where in the world you are or what time of year. 4. There is something to the whole New England leaf peeping thing.
