I joke that I had a past life in Rhode Island. For some reason I had a profound internal desire to visit this state. I had this resounding urge and anticipation to see it. Honestly, this is also true for Massachusetts, but we were preparing to spend the next 2 days in Rhode Island and I couldn’t have been more excited. We had left New Jersey, and were driving through Connecticut, planning on at least one stop in the beautiful Constitution State before arriving in the Ocean State. I have a friend that grew up in Connecticut, so I had asked her for advice on a cool place to check out. Laura sent me a to do list of which included Gillette Castle State Park. The park wasn’t too far out of our way, and looked like it would be a fun spot for a quick stop.

Our drive through Connecticut was absolutely beautiful! I would not have minded staying here for longer but it just wasn’t going to work out that way. We drove through lush, green forests along rolling, twisting roads. The homes we passed along these roads were stunningly quaint, visions of New England style and flare. We arrived at the castle just after the park closed, which was fine, we weren’t planning on doing a guided tour of the grounds anyway. The castle was named Seventh Sister, sitting upon the most southern hill in a chain of hills known as the Seven Sisters. It had been designed and owned by William Gillette, a famous actor from the early 1900’s until his death. We walked around the property, admiring the castle from the outside and peeking in the windows. The backyard garden overlooked the Connecticut River which was stunningly gorgeous. A thick, deciduous tree line bordered the wide river bed that wound around a large bend, flowing out of our sight. After meandering along some of the surrounding trails we decided it would be best to be on our way.

John-Hilton had another solar buddy named Dan who was living in Johnston, RI. We would be staying at his home for the next 2 nights as we wanted to have a whole day to explore the small state and all it had to offer. Dan and his fiancé, Lisa, graciously offered us their spare room for this adventure. Bella, John-Hilton, and I arrived at their home shortly after leaving the castle. We ate on a delicious pizza from a local joint, and I headed to bed while the guys hung out, drinking whiskey and catching up.

We awoke early to a foggy morning, but headed to Newport hoping the clouds would lift by the time we got there. Laura had recommended the cliff walk in Newport, saying it offered incredible views of the ocean and several old mansions, and that it was dog friendly! Well, luckily for us the fog cleared and “incredible views” was an understatement. Spring flowers were popping with color, and the water near the rocky cliffs was a turquoise blue. Unbeknownst to us, the cliff walk was a 3.5 mile one way trek. We had parked at the paved end (the other end turns into a rocky pathway) and had only paid for 2 hours of parking. Plus, we were not dressed for a 7 mile hike. We looked at the map of the walk and decided to do the paved part, turn around, repark the van halfway, and start again from there. The mansions on this part of the walk are enormous. It seemed that most were built as summer homes for families that had come from old tobacco money. A few have since been donated to the local university and you can tour most of them. After we turned back for the van, we decided there was no way we could continue without eating first. John-Hilton had never eaten fried clams before, so we drove over to Anthony’s Seafood to remedy this unfortunate lack of tantalizing, taste bud euphoria. That might be a bit of an exaggeration but I grew up eating fried clams, and I think they are delicious. So, we got a large thing of fried clams and a container of clam chowder, and drove off to find parking for the second half of the cliff walk. I’m not sure if where we parked was technically allowed, but it was the off season so the lot that was typically designated for those touring one of the mansions was nearly empty. We decided to go for it, devouring our lunch and changing our shoes before walking up to the cliff’s edge. Oh and John-Hilton gave a big thumbs up mid mouthful of his first fried clam taste!

The second part of the cliff walk was breathtaking. The mansions were more dispersed and there were much fewer people walking around. The paved path had turned to gravel and eventually began to take you out on the rocks beside the ocean, where you could venture down and admire the pebbled pools full of colorful yellow and green sea plants. In one area of the rocky section, a horseshoe crab had gotten beached by waves that were thrashing him back to shore every time he would try to make it out to sea. He would swim out only to have a wave crash in and fling him on his back, stranding him on the rocks. I was finally able to flip him upright in perfect synchronicity with the receding waves, enabling him to dive down and escape the perilous trap he had found himself in. We wound further along the cliff walk, eventually coming to its end near a road that we were able to use as a shortcut back to the van.

We were determined to see as much of Rhode Island as we could in the remaining hours of daylight. There was so much we still wanted to do and experience, but we would have needed a week to accomplish it all. After taking the scenic Ocean Drive through and around Fort Adams on the southwest corner of Aquidneck Island, we headed to Beavertail State Park. This state park sits at the southern tip of Jamestown on Conanicut Island where a lighthouse stands guard over the Narragansett Bay. It’s actually the third oldest lighthouse in America. We walked along the rocky shoreline and relaxed for a bit, watching a few birds dive in and out of the waves hunting for their dinner. Speaking of dinner, John-Hilton had been obsessing over this burger place he saw on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It’s called Crazy Burger, and I swear he watched 20 videos on the place throughout our drive up the coast. It was all Hilton could talk about when we discussed food and where we wanted to eat while in town. Crazy Burger is located in Narragansett and there was one more place I wanted to stop before the sun set that was sort of on the way there.

Rome Point was our final destination for explorations. It is a known seal sighting area and although it was a little late in the season to spot them, I couldn’t give up the chance that we might get lucky. It was only 6 pm and Crazy Burger didn’t close until 9 so we had plenty of time. Well that is until John-Hilton locked his keys in the van. Thankfully he figured it out before we left for our 3 mile hike instead of afterwards. We decided to walk and call for roadside assistance as we knew it would probably take a while for anyone to get out there and help us out. This was another good call. We made it out to the point which was beautiful, but as we figured would be the case, there were no seals to be found. We tailed it back to the van, passing through dense brush, spotting old cars and building structures along the way. Time was ticking and it was nearing 8pm, putting Hilton on edge that we wouldn’t be able to fulfill his burger dreams. Just as we were beginning to accept defeat, the locksmith arrived! Our hero! He had us back inside the van and on our way to Crazy Burger in no time.

I must say that Crazy Burger did not disappoint. The menu had so many options, there was something for everyone. I eagerly settled on the Wild and Crazy Mushroom Burger, which was a mouth watering vegan “burger.” I’ve actually come to find that I really enjoy the vegetarian and vegan options of burgers as they are usually incredibly unique, and dripping with succulent and diverse flavors. John-Hilton couldn’t decide between the Whassupy Burger, a wasabi coated burger topped with melted Brie, and the Luna-Sea Burger, a salmon pistachio pesto mix baked in a crispy phyllo wrap. So he got both. They were both delicious, but he liked the salmon burger the best, because as I was saying earlier, the unique flavors were unmatched. We were floating on Cloud 9, the day had been long and adventurous. After totaling over 10 miles trekking around and filling ourselves with good food, we headed home, blasting sing alongs on the radio with a tired pup, full bellies, and smiles on our faces.