5 Days in Rhode Island and Massachusetts
Day 1: Springfield
We started off the morning by grabbing a bagel before leaving NYC—we just had to! We were originally going to stay in Hartford, Connecticut but learned recently that the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was just about half an hour away in Springfield, Massachusetts. Obviously we (mostly Keon) wanted to visit, and hotel prices were actually better in Springfield, so we changed our plans and stayed in Springfield instead. Our hotel ended up being right next to the Hall of Fame so that would be convenient for our visit the next morning.
We kept the day low key and went grocery shopping before checking into our hotel. Hotel meals have been a little tricky. Our first night in a hotel in Joshua Tree, we bought frozen foods and regretted it almost instantly. Since then, we’ve tried thinking of fresh and balanced meal options that were still tasty and quick to put together. Those have been things like rotisserie chicken and salads or sandwiches. Today we opted for sandwiches and a salad. It’s not ideal to prepare sandwiches on a small desk or eat salads out of cups—and eat it in bed—but we make do and appreciate that it’s part of the experience.
Day 2: Hall of Fame and Drive to Providence
We spent a few hours at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame before driving to Providence, Rhode Island. It was a really cool experience to walk around and learn all about basketball history—there was even a Kobe Bryant exhibit during our visit that definitely made us emotional. I’m not a big enough fan to say that I’d go out of my way to come visit again, but since we were already on the road and driving nearby, it was worth the stop. Keon might say otherwise.
It took around an hour and a half to drive to Providence and we did our routine of stopping for gas and groceries before check-in. We bought enough groceries to have most meals at our Airbnb for the next few days since we had just eaten out a lot in New York and would probably be eating out again in Boston.
We found line dancing at a bar and grill nearby in Johnston and decided to check it out. We danced to a few songs but mostly played pool (which we later learned was not free and were charged for two hours of play). We usually stay for a few hours on dancing nights, but this time we left pretty early. Turns out we both individually felt uncomfortable being there. While we can’t say for certain the reasons behind the looks we got or people’s bad moods, we ultimately did not feel welcome and decided it would be more fun to hang out at our Airbnb.
Day 3: Day Trip to Newport
Today we discovered Keon’s heaven: frozen lemonade. Our friend who is from Rhode Island highly recommended a few places to us: Mr. Lemon and Del’s. Del’s is the original frozen lemonade and has many locations in the area. It was accessible and tasty. But Mr. Lemon was by far our favorite and we’d recommend it to anyone visiting Providence. When we got our cups, we questioned whether we should have also gotten spoons or straws. We looked around and no one else had either so rather than asking for some like noobs, we sat in the car and tried figuring out how to eat this frozen lemonade without chucking it all over our faces. We later learned that it involves some shaking… and practice.
We spent the afternoon in Newport walking around, popping in and out of shops mostly for air conditioning, and eating a lobster roll. It’s a quaint coastal town that a lot of people like to do summer vacation in. It’s also home to a ton of mansions and while we didn’t do a tour, which you can do, we still drove around the coast to take a peek at some of them from the outside. And then we Zillow-ed them later.
We had dinner at a clam shack where we tried famous fried clams. We actually ordered a few things and thought only the fried clams were fried. Everything ended up being deep fried so we weren’t feel great after—or even during—the meal.
Our last line dance night was pretty unsuccessful so went to a different place on our way back to Providence: Mishnock Barn. This one was much better, though the standards were pretty low after last night. We felt more welcomed here and the layout of this bar was pretty neat. There were 3 dancing platforms: 1 was primarily for beginner lessons while the other 2 were for open dancing. We’ve noticed that a lot of areas do certain dances slightly differently, or there will be multiple dances that go along with one song. At this bar, they’ll specify a dance for each platform and for each song, which we thought was pretty cool.
Day 4: Lowell and Boston
Our next stay is going to be in Boston. But before checking in to our hotel, we stopped by Lowell—a town about half an hour away from Boston—for their annual Folk Fest. . Keon’s old colleague is from Lowell and he showed us around the festival and shared the history of the city’s cotton mills and factories. Seeing the historical city center from a local’s point of view was fascinating, and it was fun that they close down the entire area for this large festival. There were a lot of food stands that served up foods from all over the world and most were run by churches or community groups. We tried Cameroonian food for the first time and it was so flavorful. We’d definitely eat it again.
We walked around a little bit more before hopping into a bar for a drink and some air conditioning. The timing could not have been better because it started raining shortly after. Next thing you know, the bar is getting pretty packed because everyone is trying to take shelter. We did need to start heading out soon so we waited the rain to calm down and walked to our car at the first “break” we could. This break lasted for about a minute before it started down-pouring. Our car was still a few blocks away and we just dealt with being soaked because it wasn’t anything we could have controlled. Fortunately it was hot outside so the rain sort of felt nice. We also had towels in our car so were able to dry up once we got there.
We stopped by a local brewery to pick up some beers to-go and then went to Yume Wo Katare for dinner. I’d heard and read that it was a popular spot so we thought that getting there before 6pm would have been early enough to not have to wait in line. The line was already long when we arrived but we didn’t have to wait too long before getting seated. It just felt like an extra long time because it was still raining at this point and our clothes never fully dried from the walk earlier.
The experience at this restaurant was extremely unique and enough so that I want to spend a moment recounting it. The inside of the restaurant is very small; it’s enough for a kitchen and 3 long tables for customers, one of which was the bar counter. Each of the 3 rows has 6 seats and parties are brought into the restaurant one row at a time. For example, the group before us had 3 people and we were a party of 2, so the 5 of us were called into the restaurant together and were seated in the same row.
Once inside, we were asked to line up along the side of the restaurant but facing the cash register so we can place our orders. There are two ramen options that come in two sizes each: regular or spicy and 2 pieces or 5 pieces. We imagined the “pieces” to be the thin chashu slices we typically get in our ramen bowls so we both ordered the 5-piece size (spoiler alert: each piece is thick-cut so 2 would have been more than enough for me since I gave the other 3 slices to Keon). And to no surprise, Keon ordered the regular ramen and I ordered spicy.
You then sit down in your seat and the chef goes down the row asking each person if they would like “delicious garlic”. The answer is obviously yes, and the garlic was indeed delicious. The noodles were chewy and the broth was rich and we both enjoyed it overall.
Throughout your meal, you start to pick up on what makes them unique and you realize that you’re among both first-timers and regulars. We caught on pretty fast and you’ll understand how in a second. Once someone finishes their food, the server asks them if they’d like to “share a dream” with the group. It’s optional, but if you choose to share a dream, they turn off the music and turn everyone’s attention to the “dreamer in the [first/second/third] row”. You introduce yourself before sharing your dream. Some people stand, some people sit. While we were there, dreams consisted of things like spending more time with family and friends, finally finishing an anime that’s long overdue, and opening an art studio. You can also choose to do their “dream challenge” of sharing 10 dreams in 30 seconds to spin a prize wheel and have a chance of winning things like free ramen on a future visit or a free soda. You can also win nothing like the two unlucky people that landed on a “not a winner” tile during our meal. The last fun bit is that everyone gets a public grade based on how much of their bowl they finished. I can’t remember the lower end of the scale, but most people got a “very good” for leaving just some broth (me) or a “perfect” for finishing everything (Keon… though he left 2 sips of broth which I said wouldn’t be considered perfect while he was sure that it would be. The server hesitated when she glanced at his bowl before saying “sure, I can give you a ’perfect’ for that”).
This dining experience ended up taking up way more blog real estate than I thought it would but it was a unique and memorable one.
We were really excited to check into our hotel for the next few days. Not only were we tired from driving around and still damp from being out in the rain, we had been relocated (read as: upgraded) to the Encore Boston Harbor after the original hotel we originally booked was reportedly closing. To no one’s surprise, it would turn out to be an extremely pleasant and comfortable stay that we wished we had more days in.
Day 5: Boston
Keon stayed up into the early hours of the morning watching the Women’s World Cup so I got in a morning workout while he caught up on sleep. I’d planned to do some exploring on my own during the day and see some of the areas he’s already familiar with from his previous visits, but he was well awake by the time I got back from my workout and we started the day together.
We kicked things off in Little Italy where we grabbed a sandwich from a small deli. It was a huge sandwich so we’re glad we shared. This is something that’s also been happening to us often so we’ve made it a point to mostly share things by default. We can always order more if we want to.
We then walked around Boston Commons and the Charles River Esplanade, taking in the scenery and enjoying the beautiful weather. After a month of sweltering heat and humidity, we were ecstatic to walk around in mid-70s temperature. Dare I say there were actually moments we were a little cold in the shade?
We spent the rest of the day wandering Newbury St, eating seafood at an oyster bar, getting drinks at a bar that overlooked Fenway Park, and line dancing at Loretta Lynn’s Last Call.
Today was an absolute blast. We’d leave Boston the next day and have the best lobster roll at Belle Isle Seafood.
