We had one day in Caldwell, New Jersey before embarking on the Great Donadio Road Trip. Having rained extensively for the previous three days, it decided to continue today. Fortunately, we had at least somehow managed to arrive at these inhospitable environs the previous night. With such gloomy weather, Nicole and I went out for a hot tea…in the middle of summer.
We had some Earl grey teas with a bit of steamed milk and cinnamon. I thought it was okay, but Nicole barely touched hers. She is very particular about her teas and this new upstart in the Caldwell coffee/tea scene did not deliver for her on this day. We returned to the car where a tree limb had thrown itself onto the hood, but didn’t appear to have done any damage. Gradually, the weather made way to a bit of sun, but it was never especially warm.
When you spend the night with folks from the boomer generation, you can never expect to actually sleep to the previously designated time. Prior to the infamous Margaritaville 10k last year, Salt (everyone’s favorite senior travel couple) unceremoniously woke me up more than an hour prior to the agreed upon time. Gath, the stereotypical (and slightly offensive) New Jersey couple are not much different. 10am they said! And that’s why we heard footsteps and rustling and other unexplained noises starting at 6am. Eventually there was someone singing “Get up, get up” outside the door in a truly subtle kind of way.
In the end it was Bricole, not Gath waiting at the car and ready to go. We settled in for the long car ride up to Rhode Island. This is a state that I, Brian, visitor of 104 countries have never been to. We briefly stopped at a rest stop for some food before continuing up the highway to Watch Hill in Westerly, Rhode Island. We are staying in a sort of condo situated close to the beach. It is a very small coastal town, but quaint looking with the sort of typical buildings that one would find in New England (or so I’m told).
This is the neighborhood where Taylor Swift aka T. Swizzle aka Tay Tay has a house. In fact, we walked right by it as it is just around the corner from the condo. We were very busy, however, and did not have time to do a pop in. We did walk along the beachfront in front of her house, where we could see numerous security cameras. This particular stretch of beach was free, but the section closer to our condo costs $17 per person. Unbelievable. That just goes to show what a mensch T. Swizzle is — subsidizing her own beach.
At the end of the peninsula was a lighthouse. I do like a lighthouse. It seems very New England-y. It did look a bit ominous in the distance as the sky became darker. I took the opportunity to do some slow shutter stuff with my camera to make it look eerie and spooky. As everyone knows, New England is totes haunted and I was trying to capture that mood.
The rain started coming shortly thereafter. We hastily made our way back to the condo for refuge. T. Swizzle didn’t come out to offer us a car service or even as much as an umbrella. Not as much of a mensch as I thought. The rain was luckily short-lived and we went back out to check out the town. It is quite small and didn’t take us long to see everything. It consists of small boutique shops, sandwich joints, and a very popular ice cream parlor.
We had dinner about 15 minutes outside of town. It was a nice atmosphere and we were the only people eating outside and were able to enjoy a comfortable evening temperature without rain. Nevertheless, after standing up, I discovered my arse was quite soaked from the seat cushions which had evidently accumulated a sizable amount of rain over the course of the day. Gath laughed at me. That wasn’t very nice. I don’t think Taylor would have laughed at me. We returned to the condo with some provisions for s’mores from the local Stop & Shop. I successfully ignited the fire pit on the rooftop deck and we settled in for a spell. The moon rose behind Taylor’s house and I thought I caught her trying to catch a glimpse of Bricole with her binoculars — hard to say for sure in the darkness though. No definite plans for tomorrow, and hopefully we can sleep a bit.
passports & pepto bismol 