Providence

James and I have discovered that we need to get out of town for at least a night or two every 6 weeks or so—otherwise we get tired and cranky, and neither parish ministry nor retail guest service can be done effectively when in a tired and cranky state.  So this past weekend we got out of town to Providence, RI, one of our favorite getaway places.  It's an easy 2-1/2 hour drive, and it's a great little city.  We were blessed this trip with beautiful weather so we were able to do our favorite thing:  Walk Around.  No plan in mind, we just started out from our hotel and let our feet take us where they pleased.  Not surprisingly, our feet first took us to our favorite restaurant there (McCormick & Schmick's), and then to our favorite Providence bookstore (Symposium Books).  Really—we had no idea where we were and hadn't gotten oriented yet, when suddenly we turned a corner and there was McCormick & Schmick's.  We'd agreed we weren't going to spend the money to eat there this trip, but apparently Providence had other ideas.  And the next day we wandered around equally cluelessly and soon found ourselves at Symposium.  We definitely have a radar for bookstores!

Friday night we had dinner at the Harvest Buffet (or "Barbecue" as they called it, even though there wasn't a barbecue in sight) as part of the Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.  The buffet was terrific, and buffet tickets bestowed upon us VIP status, meaning we got escorted to the head of the Very Long Line for the pumpkin tour—well worth the extra cost even if the food hadn't been as terrific as it was!  It was a hoot to be there with hundreds of young families, and the pumpkins were otherworldly.  I could see this becoming an annual jaunt…

It was a wonderfully restful day and a half, and we both returned to full workloads this week so the break was perfectly timed.  Providential, one might say.


Photos are in the slideshow at the bottom of the page.  Links of interest:

Occupy Providence
Grace Episcopal Church
Local 121 pub
First Baptist Church in America
Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular