As we were driving to Worcester yesterday morning, I was contemplating what we would do the following day. I knew I wanted to go to Providence, because other than to take a van from the airport to a train I had never been to RI. As I was contemplating I passed Hartford on the Interstate. There was a sign there for this historic state house. Then I realized I would be 30 miles outside of Boston. Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks! That's it! Three State Capital buildings in one day! Day Thirteen Adventure was set.
This morning we set out with a belly full of delicious donuts from the cafe Jeff recommended to us and made our way into Boston. Having been to Boston twice before myself, and having done the Freedom Trail and all that wondefully historic stuff, I opted to not do any of that again. I feared it would cramp too much into my time for exploring other places. So, we quickly took Oscar's picture with the Capital.
I did decide to go in for a minute and see the inside. I was greeted by this lovely sign, and was really wondering what Boston was trying to tell me...
Until I realized that this gentleman's name is General Hooker. OOOOOHHHHHH! That makes sense!
The inside had a beautiful stained glass under the dome. I learned later upon skimming a book about state capitals that the glass has the seals of the original 13 colonies, with Massachusetts' in the middle.
I also learned that Massachusetts is one of only four states known as a Commonwealth. I knew Virginia was (Thank you "An American President"). The book explained to me why, but I don't really remember now. Look it up though. It's interesting stuff!
Moving on, we headed south to Rhode Island. As usual, New England states make it quite difficult for me to get my state sign pictures. I took quite the scenic tour of Historic Pawtucket in order to get this shot, but I got it!
Further in to Rhode Island (but not too far you know, it's not that big of a place!) we explored Providence a bit. And by explored I really mean to say that we got hopelessly lost trying to find the road that leads to the capital building. This is why GPS is handy, but you have to actually use it if you want it to help you! Alas though, we eventually figured it out, and lo and behold there was a metered parking spot right next to the capital just waiting for me! The grounds of the RI state capital are absolutely lovely! And the building itself is of course gorgeous. Here are shots of the Capital Building, the inside of the rotunda, and the state seal. All DG's will love the seal!!!
There are many things I remember about my family's vacation to New England six years ago. But one of my favorite memory's was my brother's successful attempt to have lobster at just about every meal and served a different way each time. The boy likes his lobster! Upon entering Rhode Island I was nostalgically reflecting on that trip and decided it was absolutely necessary to get a lobster roll (my particular favorite of the lobster delicacies we enjoyed). A quick reference to google sent me exploring a southern town outside of Providence called Warwick in a restaurant called The Crow's Nest. I can't even talk about how delicious the food was! I of course was unable to stop at just lobster roll. I opted for the 1/2 lobster roll with the New England Clam Chowder and a side of Clam Cakes (I think that's what they were called). These were basically the love child of a clam and a hushpuppy. Good Lawd! So good! Oscar considered this venture a major success!
And since were were in Rhode Island, we couldn't possibly leave without seeing at least one light house. You know how much we love those. God bless the godphone and it's abilities to locate such things for me. We were able to (without going too far out of our way) visit this one. Of course the Coast Guard has control over it and I wasn't able to really explore it, but Oscar got his picture. And let's face it, that's what's most important about these things!
We hopped back on the road, heading west this time. Our goal - Hartford, CT. Fortunately, there are no direct interstate routes bewteen Warwick and Hartford, so it was back roads most of the way. Re-entering Connecticut we actually had an easy sign to get a picture of, but since we already had a CT sign, we just shot this one as we drove past it.
The Connecticut State House proved more difficult to find than planned because they apparently have two of them! Ok, not entirely true. But, there is an historic state house and the actual Capital Building. Getting lost in downtown Hartford almost made us miss our chance to get pictures inside the Capital. But fortuantely we made it with about 10 minutes to spare. And we even made friends with the lovely security guard (Stu) who pointed out several places we could photo the state seal since I couldn't find one on my own. He was highly intrigued by our day's adventures. And yes, he met Oscar! I didn't make him take a picture though. So here is the Connecticut Capital building, inside of the rotunda and the wicked angel statue underneath it, and the state seal:
Finally, we got back on the road to NY. Tonight we lodge at Casa de Krista again before beginning the journey south. And we finally got our Welcome to New York sign! And as far as signs go it was relatively easy to get this shot, except that New York threw us for a loop by putting the sign on the left side of the road. So, I had to wait until traffic cleared before I could get it. Thankfully it wasn't too long. We don't particularly care for sitting on the side of interstates!
At this point the trip is about 2/3 over. I can hardly believe how quickly time is flying! I am eternally grateful for the adventures I've had thus far, and am really looking forward to "Sarah and Oscar take on Appalachia" starting Wednesday evening. Keep posted!
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