New England, New Me

This post is a bit overdue. However my trip to New England was so fantastic that "better late than never" is totally applicable! Also, bear with me, your favorite un-technologically savvy blogger. This is my debut photo formatting attempt. Though this photo map may be one that is a bit difficult to navigate, I am writing to you with a promise that I will get better!

I do believe in soulmates. Not in the romantic sense necessarily, but in an authentically human sense. I am certain that the human soul partakes in chemistry, that people brought together by some force of nature mesh in a beautifully perfect way, somewhat analogous to two atoms bonding to create one amazing thing. Personally, I know I have met four or five soulmates in this lifetime, and Hadley, the cutie pictured with me throughout this post is one of them.

Hadley and I met while studying abroad in Tanzania. We bonded hard and fast, then decided to venture out on our own for a month while carrying out a comprehensive research study on Seaweed farming. We always knew that if life together in a third world could be so fulfilling, life in the first world would totally knock us out of the ballpark. (I am not a sports fan, so not sure if that's the exact saying.) My senior year at Iowa, she came to visit me and her trip was everything I could have hoped for and more! After I'd decided I wanted to make the move to the sunshine state, I became determined to spend as much time as I could with those who matter most to me. Naturally, Hadley made the cut so I booked a trip to her hailing state, the smallest state in the federation, good ol' Rhode Island! I spent five days there; at the end I was definitely not ready to come home. I left with a great new dress, about eight extra pounds from all the delicious food, and even more great memories that I will cherish forever. :]

During my short five days, I got to experience the cities of Boston, Massachusetts, Newport, Narragansett, Providence and Block Island Rhode Island. One thing I particularly fell in love with about the East was the almost palpable history. I could not stop thinking about early American History and wanting to learn more. So I bought a book called "The History of News: How the World Came to Know about Itself." Updates to come.

I am 99% confident in saying my favorite thing in life is the deep blue sea and all the magical creatures it is home to. I am 100% confident in saying my second favorite thing is primitively hunting said creatures, from crustaceans to bi-valves, and everything in between! (Of course all the hunting I engage in is relatively safe to the marine eco-system.)

The clam pictured to your right is called a Quahog. It is a burrowing clam that lives in close proximity to razor clams and spider crabs. Hadley has been quahogging her whole life, and the day we went she had to show me the ropes, so to speak. These "ropes" were as follows: "If it cuts you, it's a razor clam. If it pinches you, it's a crab. If nothing happens it's a Quahog." In my case, this expedition did turn out to be somewhat injurious. My first grab was a crab and by my tenth go around my fingers were bloody. But I prevailed through the pain and by the time we exited the water, we'd captured a total of 119.

Our next stop was the shipyard pictured here, which is filled with fishing boats. It doubles as a fresh fish market. You go about buying your desired seafood simply by walking and asking the fishermen if they have what you're after. We were after lobsters! We showed up at the tail end of the day, most of the seamen had gone home already. I believe we managed to find the only guy who hadn't left yet, and he perfectly had the exact number of lobsters we needed! I spent some quality time with them on my lap the entire car ride home, then we boiled them up!

Maine lobsters are different than Floridian rock lobsters because they have claws, which have lots of delicious meat in them. Florida lobsters are eaten solely for the tail. Extracting the meat from the claws is actually quite fun, and I made it my goal to pull all the meat out while maintaining the claws shape. Full claw or not, you just cant beat a good Maine lobster (especially when you dip it in butter)!

My favorite day was my last day, we spent it at Block Island which is only reachable by Ferry. That night we went to Hadley's favorite bar: Ocean Mist. It was a full moon that night and high tide. When you go out on the back deck waves are crashing into the supports of the bar, you can literally feel small droplets of water misting your face. IT'S AWESOME. Hadley told me at one point a couple years ago, they thought the bar might actually fall in!


In the morning however, we woke up, hopped onto one moped and cruised down the side of the highway. On that ride, I am pretty sure I got more waves, puzzled looks, and thumbs up than I ever have in my life. It is true, Hadley and I were (and are) quite the site to see. When we arrived at our destination, the shipyard, we drove our moped onto the Ferry and then joined a bike gang, as you can in the picture below!

Block Island is the definition of quaint. It is quite small and easily circumnavigated by moped. Although we did take many roads that said no mopeds allowed, hehe. Here, the history was easily tangible, all the walls around the Island and fencing to keep livestock corralled are cobbled stone. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

We went to Mohegan Bluffs, which is a stone beach only accessible by climbing down about 40 flights of stairs. On our way down we heard these people talking about a whale they saw. Much to our dismay, we stumbled upon a young, dead, beached humpback whale. It was a heart breaking site, but the whale was still so beautiful. I was utterly intrigued with it. When I got home, I looked into the beaching of whales, and they actually beach themselves for a multitude of reasons. I highly encourage everyone to look into this phenomena and learn a little something about what you can do to aid prevention efforts!

                    

All in all, the trip was unbelievably exceptional. I know I will be visiting again as soon as time allows! Sidenote: During my flights and my downtime while Hadley was working, I entertained myself with a book called "The School of Essential Ingredients" by Erica Bauermeister, recommended to my by the lovely ladies in my Mama's bookclub. It was an encapsulating, sensational read and I highly suggest it!

Until Next Time!