xo, Amanda: Rhode Island: Take One

Finally, the long-awaited Vacation recap begins.

Rhode Island Day One (July 22):

Woke up, no joke, at 2:30 am. Oh, it was painful. *yawn*

My Mom and I got snippy with one another about 5-10 minutes into the airport drive, and it was a little touch and go if the vacation would even be on for a second there. Luckily, I was able to keep my mouth shut, no matter how hard it was (it was 3 am and I was NOT in the mood to hear her chat nonstop the entire way, especially because half the stuff she was talking about she was telling incorrectly lol, but I digress).

Made it in time for our 5:15 am flight.

I don't think I had a drink on the first flight, as I was most likely passed out cold.

When we got to Charlotte, NC, our connecting flight airport, we had to find us some food. After much debate, I finally convinced my Dad we HAD to try out the crab cake place. He got a crab omelet, I opted for lobster bisque & a crab cake. The ONE crab cake cost $12. What?? $9 with an entree, but neither breakfast nor soup counted. LAME, but that was their specialty, so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get a little crab around there. I almost went for their ($9) mini crab cakes appetizer, but the girl told me those were deep fried. SO not the same. Yuck.

BTW, I guess you could possibly blame it on time zone changes since we were in an airport, but something tells me that's not the reason....two people were drinking at the bar. At 9:30 am. A little early guys, eh? But hey, no judgment :-P.

Anyway, it was alright. By no means the best crab cake, as promised, but still tasty. The lobster bisque was edible, but nothing to write home about. I also split a bag of Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips with mi padre. Luckily, we ate those before we got on the flight, because the IDIOT who booked our flight and insisted she had all 3 of us sitting together, put my Dad in a different row for EVERY. SINGLE. FLIGHT. And we had to pay extra for booking on the phone where we had so many screw ups it's unbelievable? Give me a break. And on our first flight my Dad ended up with his own row, so it doesn't add up at all. But anyway....

On the second flight I asked for a club soda, but to my horror they were out. What if I had wanted a vodka soda? They would have lost my $7. Bastards. Being put on the spot, I blurted out I'd have a coke instead. I don't know where that came from, but alas. Pressure, I tell ya.

When we FINALLY got to Providence a little before noon (11 am my time), we had a liiiiitttle bit of a problem. OK, a potentially huge problem. Somewhere between the Charlotte restaurant & the plane to Providence, my Dad lost his cell phone. He's pretty sure he remembers turning it off while on the plane, but can't be certain. We called everyone to no avail. It was an old, crappy phone, but still. This is where the huge problem comes in: it had his friends (that we were staying with and who were picking us up) phone number in it. That was his only way of contacting them. No problem, we originally thought. We called the office to have our receptionist retrieve it from our office address book. Turns out she had decided to work that afternoon instead of morning. Our other therapist also wasn't in for the day, nor was our massage therapist. Well, shit. We couldn't get in touch with ANY of them for a long, long time. Finally, both Ryli (receptionist) and Myra (therapist--both friends who live near each other, about 45 min from our office) got in contact with us, both on their way to the office. But for the time being we were shit outta luck.

Oddly, I thought it was kind of funny (well not funny, but I wasn't that upset about it, call me crazy), so while my Dad freaked out and my Mom tried to be the rational one (talk about a role change...), I mosied on over to Starbucks. What? It's not like we were going anywhere, heh. I got stuck behind a guy who was arguing with his family, a very slow-ordering family to boot. Again, not a big deal because we were stranded for the time being, but annoying nonetheless. So I FINALLY got my iced soy latte and added a few shakes of cinnamon. DE-LISH.

I know, I know, how dare I be in New England and get Starbucks over Dunkin D's, but I don't think DD has soy milk. Excuses, excuses.

While my Dad searched the baggage claim area for his friend, my Mom and I were given the duty of looking at the cars outside that drove by. Only, um, I hadn't seen this friend since I was a baby and my Mom hadn't seen them in, oh, 18 years. Greeeeat. Of course, as these stories always end, JUST as Ryli got to the office with the number PLUS my Mom found the number via the wonder that is the internet, Dave (said friend), pulled up. Found as at long last! OK, like an hour later. He said he'd circled around once already and was going to do it just one more time before he thought about heading home. YIKES, what would we have done then? Waited 'til we got his number, I guess. But good thing timing was on our side at that moment. Phew.

He played polite host & asked if we were hungry, but no one was. We went straight to his house (riiiiiight next to the Univ. of RI in Kingston, RI), where I met his wife, Candace, who was very nice. It turned out Dave had a conference call to tend to (kind of funny, because Dave and their other friend Howard ALWAYS get on my Dad's case every Summer for working through vacation, but Dave had work from the start). We unpacked (*gasp* I never unpack, I live out of my suitcase usually, but felt like going with the crowd this time) and lounged for a bit. Soon after, Candace gave my Mom and I a tour of the house/backyard/front yard and then we all hung out inside and ate mixed nuts and sat around for awhile.

Around 3:30 or so, we decided to get some food. My Dad had told Dave I don't really eat meat, so he said he knew just the place, as he has a vegetarian daughter (not that I'm vegetarian, but still). We went about 15-20 minutes away to Narragansett, a beach town. We ate outside on the patio of a little hippy-ish restaurant. I LOVED the menu. Despite being super veggie/vegan friendly, it's called the Crazy Burger and Juice Bar. I almost went for an ahi tuna and watermelon salad, but in the end couldn't resist the spinach crepes (filled with cheese that I couldn't taste, sun-dried tomatoes, and pine nuts) with a balsamic reduction drizzle & sweet potato corn chowder. Neither were AMAZING (the crepes were tasty, but tasted more like a quesadilla...by spinach crepes I assumed they'd be regular crepes filled with spinach, but no biggie), but everything was still really, really good. I'd love to go back. I also had a DELISH freshly made juice of apple/pear/ginger. YUMMY. I could get used to this. I wanted to try (almost) everything on the menu.

THEN, we went to walk on the beach. OH YEAH. The weather was perfection. We walked basically the entire beach perimeter (and back, obvi). We were all COVERED in sand, but super happy. Well, except my Dad who was beyond tired. He'd had the least sleep of us all, poor guy. Maybe 2.5 hours total? Ouch. (Not that I was much better, around 3.5, or my Mom around 4 or 5 hours maybe). My Mom and I could have walked the beach forever, but all good things must come to an end *sigh* We promised we'd go back before returning home, but *spoiler alert* (lol), we didn't. Damn. Next time fo' sho. Loved it.

Candace & Mom bonding

Candace & Dave

Tired Dad & Candace

Dad & Mom

Dad & I

Me + Mum

Went back to D&C's house to shower and relax some more. My Mom and I weren't very social while we barricaded ourselves in the room (with my Dad snoring next to us for part of the time), so we could watch BIG BROTHER (and I could munch on a yummy quinoa bar I picked up in Charlotte)!! Hey, it was eviction nite. We started to watch the So You Think You Can Dance results show, but soon after everyone started gathering in the kitchen to eat a little something. They all pretty much just made sandwiches, but Candance gave me some leftover meat-free pasta with marinara that was pretty good. She also insisted I try a slice of toasted olive bread w/ olive oil. Also pretty good.