6/25/17, “Woods and Waters”
En route, I-95 S, Rhode Island
And so our trip winds to a
close. It has been another excellent
adventure for Stu and Steve, our sixth one now.
Like always, it entailed a visit to a state’s “most iconic restaurant,”
which was achieved by our visit to Haven Bros Diner here in Providence, Rhode
Island, one that has long eluded me due to its late opening (and closing)
hours.
The main event of today was
visiting the newest National Monument in the region, Katahdin Woods and Waters
NM, which really exemplified inland Maine, what people think of when they think
of camping or summer camp: the woods and the waters. Our time, there, however, was probably more
appropriate to the song, “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,” Stu playing the role of
Allan Sherman’s son Robert. This was
really the only thing I wanted to do during the trip, other than this dinner at
Haven Bros. What mattered for me was
that I was back in Maine, that I had my blueberry pancakes, and that I got to
see the woods and waters.
After I closed
last night, I went inside to publish.
Once I finished publishing, a woman who was clearly drunk came up to me
and asked me if she would get in trouble if she went in the pool. “Not with me,” I quipped, proud of the
quick-witted nature of the remark. She
then asked if I thought she would get “kicked out” if she did. I asked her if she meant kicked out of the
pool or of the hotel. She meant of the
hotel. I told her I did not think she
would.
She then asked if I would join
her. I asked her why, wondering if what
she had in mind would be unpublishable, and she said that, if she got in
trouble, she wanted someone else to share the punishment. I was ready to go up to my room and get to
sleep, so I was shocked to hear the words, “All right,” come out of my mouth. She then said she was joking, and we both
went up to our rooms.
Stu and I woke up
around 7:30 AM, and we took far too long getting ready. Around 8 AM, we headed down to breakfast, but
the spread was so disappointing that I took a hard pass, other than
coffee. There was no meat, not even
cheese or eggs. I found a highly-rated
place right next to the VC, by the name of Appalachian Trail Cafe, so we drove
there. It was 9 AM, which put us already
behind schedule, as we were supposed to be at the VC when they opened at 9
AM. They had a house specialty, which
consisted of chopped up tater tots, shredded cheese, eggs, and toast. We each got one of those, and I also got two
blueberry pancakes with local maple syrup and coffee. It was every bit as good as it sounds.
It was 10 AM by the time we got to the
VC. They didn’t have the unigrid yet,
but they did have a different brochure and a stamp. They also gave us all the information we
needed, though it wasn’t what we wanted to here. We would have to drive about forty-five
minutes on a paved road, then another forty-five minutes on unpaved roads with
no cell signal. When we got there, we
could walk about a mile to a stream and another mile back. It was as adventurous as it sounds.
When we got to the unpaved roads, we had to
rely on the physical map they gave us and the limited amount of posted
signs. It was not easy. At one point, we started to hear a rattling,
followed by a loud thud. We put it out
of mind until we reached the parking lot, at which point we examined the car
and saw that nothing was loose, so we got on the trail.
I lit up a Trinidad, and we walked to the
stream, where we took our ceremonial picture, and I was able to announce,
again, “Maine Complete.” It was not, “New
England Complete,” as it turned out that I am actually missing an NHP in Rhode
Island, which I only recently discovered I had been conflating with a different
unit. The NHP was created in 2014, and I
did not realize it was separate from the larger site from which it had been
carved. We continued on the trail until
we got to the lean-to, and then we turned around, being eaten alive by bugs,
though my cigar worked as a repellant.
We got back to our car and continued back to the paved road, which we
greeted with much cheer. From there, it
was a straight shot to Canobie Lake Park, the second amusement park Stu wanted
to see in as many days. I fell asleep on
the ride, which was over four hours, and I wanted lunch after I woke up, though
we were both kinda full from breakfast.
In the end, we probably should not have stopped, but that is not the
point. This was what led to our biggest
fight of the trip.
Stu was concerned
because we were behind schedule, and we would not get to the park until 6
PM. It closed at 10 PM, so he did not
think four hours would be enough time to do all the rides. My reader will bear in mind that Katahdin was
literally the only activity we did all trip that I wanted to do. We had made a deal that I would not smoke in
the car, like I had done all day yesterday, if he would not complain and badger
me, like he had done all day yesterday.
It was a fair deal, and we had both been honoring it. Until now.
The moment I said I wanted to get off the road for lunch, he started
complaining. We went to a Dairy Queen
that was about five minutes off the road, and that was five minutes too far,
not to mention the time the food would take.
Well, this was when things got bad.
En route, I-95 S, Connecticut
We have now entered into
Connecticut, which necessitates a change in the dateline. I do not need to get into much detail, but
the long story short is, the first DQ didn’t have chicken fingers, so we had to
go to a second one further down the road, the right direction, but just a
slower road. Stu was not happy about
this detour, to say the least. We got to
the second DQ, in Kennebunk, where it all began, and they just had ice cream,
no cooked food.
If I knew this in
advance, I would have skipped the DQ altogether and waited until we got to the
amusement park, but, since we were here, I got a large Blizzard. This was a big mistake, and I paid the price
for it later. Our deal no longer in
effect, I lit up a Prensado, which brought us to Canobie. The entire detour only added twenty minutes. It was around 6:45 PM when we got there due
to some traffic en route. It would be
tight to do the three coasters, get a snack, and do the water rides before they
closed at 10 PM.
We started with the
highest thrill ride, their newest ride called Untamed. It started with a vertical climb followed by
a few inverted loops. It was scary
af. The next ride was the wooden
coaster, and as we were waiting in line, it started to rain. Badly.
It let up by the time we went on the ride, and the rain actually cleared
the park out. We never had to wait on
line again, so the rest of the park went quickly.
We went to the last coaster and then got a
heavy snack, chicken fingers (finally) and fries for me, just fries for
Stu. After that, it was the two water
rides, followed by the dark ride. We
then played two rounds of Skee Ball before heading to the gift shop and
leaving. I lit up a Bull & Bear for
the ride, which brought us to Providence, after a brief gas scare.
We found the iconic food cart that goes by the
name “Haven Bros. Diner” and is considered the “most iconic restaurant” in
Rhode Island. We went into the cart, and
we each got a “murder” burger with a fried eggs and a shake, along with bacon
cheese fries to share.
We went outside
to the plastic tables and ate our dinner there.
It was exceptional, and I understood how they managed to stay in
business with their little cart for almost 130 years now. After dinner, we went to 7-Eleven, and I got
a soda there for the road. We went back
to the car, and, I lit up Camacho. As
soon as we were on I-95, I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now
close, along with closing out this trip.
Next stop: Newfoundland and Labrador to at last say “North America
Complete.”
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