The Search for Angry Seas continues.

Posted on November 2, 2012November 2, 2012 by Dusty Roads

After a quick lunch at an IHOP in Newport, RI I reviewed my options. There’s a lighthouse I’d been meaning to try to find so this seemed a good opportunity. The Lighthouse is on Goat Island. I don’t know anything about that island either so the whole thing would be an adventure…and maybe there’d be some surf there.

I pulled out my trusty GPS and plugged in the address. It began by leading me back toward the Claiborne-Pell Bridge. I didn’t want to go over the bridge again and have to pay another toll but I decided to trust the GPS and sure enough…right before the bridge entrance was a left with a sign “Goat Island”.

Taking the left took me into historic downtown Newport. There were lots of signs for Goat Island to support the directions my GPS was shouting at me. Right by the Newport Visitor Center and Terminal a right turn took me to “The Causeway to Goat Island”. There was a little park on the right and a place to pull off the road so I stopped . I could see the Lighthouse and a great view of the bridge.

It’s just a little lighthouse.

The seas here were pretty calm too but the sun was starting to go in and out. It wasn’t quite so bright and sunny and a breeze had sprung up. A sailboat was cruising around the harbor.

I wanted to see if I could get a different angle on the lighthouse but when I crossed the bridge it became clear that the Lighthouse is located on the property that belongs to the Hyatt Hotel. There wasn’t much parking except for guests so I decided to move on.

Retracing my steps brought me back to downtown Newport. I wasn’t that far from the Mansions so I decided to try Ocean Ave. On the way I drove into Fort Adams. I just pulled into the parking area but I have added it to my list of spots I want to return to on a better day. The sky was rapidly clouding up and it was starting to sprinkle. A large helicopter circled over the bay.

Leaving Fort Adams I took a right. When I reached Ocean Ave. there was a barricade but it had been moved to the side of the road. The car in front of me didn’t hesitate so neither did I. And that’s where I found them…those angry seas that I knew had to be out there.

As I took pictures it began to rain harder. I moved on along up the road to Breton Park.

Along here the ocean was even wilder.

What an adventure! This had my adrenaline pumping. The wind was really blowing now and it was raining quite hard. I do believe the waves were getting bigger while I watched.

But all things must come to an end. The Newport Police arrived to throw everyone out.

They were nice about it but made it clear that it was time to leave. Like the road in Jamestown to Beavertail State Park, the end of Ocean ave was closed while crews removed sand and debris so I had to take a twisty series of side streets to get back to Broadway. By now it was really raining hard as I settled in for what looked to be a long , wet ride home. But I was satisfied. I’d found the angry seas.

I wonder what it would have been like on the Newport Cliff Walk? Now why didn’t I think of that!

In Search of Angry Seas

Posted on October 31, 2012October 31, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Ok I was a good girl. I did not go out in the hurricane looking for storm photos. I stayed home. I was bored. But every time I’d think about venturing out I’d hear another horror story about tree limbs hitting cars or even whole trees falling… but one day is about my limit.

Hurricane Sandy: Tree crushes car

I was thrilled when I got up this morning and saw the sun trying to peak through. By 9 am it was shining brightly. There was a breeze but no major wind gusts. There was no reason for me to stay in today.

I had lots of places I could check out..The cape, Falmouth, Scituate, Jamestown and Newport RI??? No way would I get to all of them they were too spread out.

Scituate was on the news. Photos there looked pretty tame now so I headed south to Mattapoisett. Neds Point Light is pretty easy to get to and I figured it would give me an idea of what the ocean was like today. Getting there turned out to be the challenge. The Neds Point Rd. was closed with a huge tree down but one of the residents gave me directions to get around it. Those took me through a residential area with a lot of pine trees. It was easy to tell when you would see down branches because you’d smell that wonderful pine sent before you even saw them.

Once I got to the lighthouse in its little park I couldn’t believe it. It was like nothing had happened.

The sky was blue, there was no damage and the seas were calm.

I enjoyed the ambiance for a bit then decided to head to RI, specifically Beavertail Sate Park. That place can kick up a surf without any storm. I was sure I’d find some big waves there.

To get there I had to go over the Claiborne -Pell Bridge. It’s a beautiful bridge. It’s huge!

When I got to the toll booth I asked if it had stayed open during the hurricane. The collector told me he was only going to tell me once…they need SUSTAINED winds of 69 miles per hour. He said they only had sustained winds of 45 MPH during hurricane Sandy.

I mentioned that I’d seen quite a few boats moored in the harbor as I came over the bridge, did they ride out the storm out there? He said yes, not the smartest thing to do.

Then my time was up. Another car was behind me. I wished my toll collector a good day and continues on my way.

Along the shore you could see the debris left by the storm so it was easy to judge how far up the waves had come but the road was clear and before I knew it I was tuning down the road to Beavertail State Park. That’s when I saw the blue lights. Oh oh road block. I made a left and parked, grabbed the camera and headed down the hill to the corner. A women coming up the hill said I was a day late..I should have seen it yesterday. As I suspected the road had been completely under water. (This is what it normally looks like)

Today they were cleaning it up and had the road closed so the workmen could complete the chore.

On a side note I was told that IF I was able to get across to the other side I would see a car floating in the bay. A woman had run 2 police barricades because she didn’t want to be trapped on the “wrong side” of the bay. When she got to the low-lying section the water was too high and carried her car into the bay. Here the story changes depending on who is telling it. Some says she swam to shore and was rescued by the police others say she got out before her car went in the drink. Either way what she did after that was walk to the nearest bar and get drunk. Most of the folks I spoke with said they hoped her insurance turned her down. They were pretty irritated by her irresponsibility.

I hung around for a bit but by 1:30 it was pretty clear it would be several more hours before they opened the road so I headed back across the bridge to Newport, RI.

Finally, a Beautiful October Day!

Posted on October 19, 2012October 19, 2012 by Dusty Roads

I’ve been waiting for this..bright blue skies with puffy white clouds, a cool nip in the air, some wind to blow the falling leaves around…now that’s October and it gives me an excuse to share one of my favorite poems.

This was required reading for an English class I took in school. I think it was 5th grade English but I could be wrong. No matter when I was introduced to this poem, it’s stayed with me all of these years.

October’s Bright Blue Weather…by Helen Hunt Jackson

O suns and skies and clouds of June

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October’s bright blue weather.

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Goldenrod is dying fast

And lanes with grapes are fragrant.

Went gentians roll their fingers tight

To save them for the morning.

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning.

When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining.

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining.

When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing.

When springs run low, and on the brooks

In idle golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting.

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together.

And count like misers , hour by hour,

October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together.

Love loveth best of all the year

October’s bright blue weather.

One more food post

Posted on October 17, 2012October 17, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Ok, I get it. You like the travel posts better than the food reviews, Ahh if only I could afford to travel enough to keep you, my loyal followers, satisfied. Every now and then I have to unpack my suitcase and spend some quality time with my cats, work some overtime to replenish the travel fund, and recharge my own batteries.

I love traveling but I subscribe to the Go, Go , Go philosophy of travel..so much to see, so little time. I would never be able to hang out on a beach, I’d feel like I was missing too much. That’s not to say a beach vacation isn’t a perfect one for a lot of people…just not me. Since my vacations are so high energy sometimes I need to get home and back to my normal routine to recharge my batteries. That’s when finding interesting topics to share becomes a real challenge.

So the bottom line here is that I have one more food tale for you then I’ll leave that subject for a while.

The Sailing Cow Cafe has closed up for the winter season now. The last weekend was Columbus Day which seemed early this year. As part of the last weekend festivities they had a band and the invited me to come down to take pictures of their customers. They called it Photos on the Beach by Dusty Roads Photos.

My friend Nancy and I went down for 10 am and stayed until 3pm. It turned out to be a beautiful day, if a bit cool by the water. The Cafe had us put a sign in the window and gave us a table outside to set up a display. Nancy is a power house when it comes to talking to people. She was busy handing out my business cards and brochures while I talked to the people who stopped to look at the cards and pictures I’d brought for display.

Everyone was enthusiastic and we gave out a lot of information but that was as far as it went. No one was up for a picture of themselves. Oh well, as far as publicity it was a great success. We met 2 women trying to get a dog park off the ground. They were very interested in the pet photography side of my business. I got ideas of things to make another such event more successful.

Being at The Sailing Cow from 10:00- 3:00 meant we had a chance to sample the food. We had muffins for a quick breakfast and all I can say is WOW. They were great. The breakfast menu had all the usual breakfast items and they looked good too but we wanted to keep it light. Others must have felt the breakfast was good too because they had a full house.

After we finished our agreed time frame (10am-2pm) we stayed a little longer to listen to the band and have a quick lunch.

One of the owners had told us they made the best onion rings so I had to try them. They were great. Very thinly sliced and fried crisp… they were excellent. The side order was easily large enough for both of us.

On a more healthy note we shared a turkey wrap. Getting a jump on Thanksgiving. For once I remembered to take a picture before we dug in.

Well, that’s all the food reviews for now. I promise to try to find something more exotic to tell you about next time. 🙂

Remember: for all your unique greeting card needs visit: www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com

Holiday cards are coming. For a more “commercial style” check out the offerings at: www.dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com

Kinda Quiet These Days

Posted on October 15, 2012October 15, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Life seems to have slowed down a little. Cooler weather is starting to move in. We had a touch of frost a couple of nights ago but then temps rebounded back to the 70’s. We haven’t had much sun so far this October…no “October’s Bright Blue Weather“. Maybe the poem could be called September’s Bright Blue Skies.

The first half of 2013 looks like it may be quite busy for travel. On the books is a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico; a few days in Florida to visit the Everglades; and an 11 day cruise to Alaska in May. Because of all those fun but expensive plans, I’ve been staying close to home since I got back from the Balloon Festival in September.

Doing a bit of overtime at the real job while I can get it. It all helps with the bills and travel expenses.

Friday I posted some food pictures. I didn’t have time to say much about them then so I’ll update you now. When we went down to meet with the owners of the Sailing Cow Cafe it was on a Tuesday and the Cafe was closed for business because it was on it’s “Off Season” schedule. Since we couldn’t get lunch there we decided to go to the Kreme and Kone in Dennis.

There is also a 2nd restaurant in Chathem. This would be one of the last chances to enjoy a visit there this season as they are closing Oct. 21. until next summer.

Just about everything at the Kreme and Kone is fried, a typical seaside style restaurant, but as long as it doesn’t become a daily habit it can’t be too bad, right. The weather was nice (It was still in September when we went) so we took advantage to sit outside on the deck.

We watched kayakers and water birds in the tributary behnd the “Kone” while we enjoyed lunch. A light breeze made it comfortable in the sun.

Nancy had the Fried Shrimp.

Nancy ordered the shrimp as a “side dish” because we knew from past visits that there was more than enough french fries and onion rings on the “plate” for two or more people. So the picture of the Onion Rings and Fries is my “plate” and all that deep-fried yumminess is hiding the best part of the “plate”….fried scallops.