Gin and Sailboats

Welcome to New England, would you like a drink with that yacht?

We called our friends in Massachusetts once it became clear that the GPS had shot us directly into Providence, Rhode Island. After a few failed attempts at directions (which at one point had the small animated version of our car flying over a body of water) Liz and Andy decided to just meet us in Providence for drinks.

We bar hopped to several of their favorite places: The Local 121 (which serves local food and beer), The Cuban Revolution (whose legendary kitchen stays open until 2:00 am), The Avery (a cool, blue bar that glows out from the bottom of a historic house), and a Brown "dive." Afterwards we sat by the river and I thought about the last time I had been in Providence. I was sixteen, newly braceless, taking a summer course at Brown, and having the teen romance of my life down by the river. Ah, memories.

The next day we dropped Liz off at work and Andy took Seb and I to Newport for the annual Newport Boat Show. We squeezed through the maze of sails and white people, admiring the multicolor rainbow of visors and polos. Partway through we ran into a group of people in period dress setting up an elaborate tent with a bar. Thus begins the portion of our day spent loitering around the Hendrick's Gin tent. We dressed up in top hots and overcoats and got our picture taken. We tried the martini, the gin and tonic, the floradora, and the city by the sea punch. And then we tried them all over again, taking the precious little plastic cups from the french bartender and then squirreling away to our tent side outpost. Feeling pretty good, we moved on down the harbor to find a cheese table right next to-- lo and behold-- the Barefoot wine tent. We tried all of these as well...naturally.

By 1:00 we were feeling fantastic. We walked a mile and a half to the beach and laid out on the rocks. Sebastian fell asleep face up as small children with expensive khaki pants pointed and Andy and I watched the tide come in. That night Andy, Liz, Sebastian and I drank wine and watched the Red Sox crush the Orioles.

...and New England, as for your yachts and your martinis, don't mind if I do.