This year Brett and I were celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary. He surprised me by booking a long weekend in Block Island, RI. I grew up going out there every summer and spending a lot of time exploring the island. I had also been begging Brett to go for YEARS. I was super excited to show him the place I had so many wonderful memories of and also re-explore the island with him, as an adult.
I have to say I was a little apprehensive leaving Ro for 3 days (he originally booked 4 days and I made him cut it down) but bringing her just seemed like such a huge deal. I wanted to go out “scope out” the island for myself before I made a plan of how to also coordinate a small child.
While leaving her was hard and every other minute you heard us say- “next year Ro will come”, “next year Ro will love this…” and “I can’t wait to show Ro this…” we were happy to have some time to ourselves. We hadn’t had much time alone since her birth and it was nice to reconnect like the good old baby-free days.
Day 1
Northern Light
We took the high speed ferry out of New London, which was an hour ride. Brett had booked us a room at the National Hotel which is right in old harbor. A quick walk over to drop our bags and we had lunch right on the porch. After a quick lunch we decided to rent some mopeds for a few hours to at least go and explore fast and get a good overview.
We went to the bluffs, northern light and back. Brett had already been discussing coming back next year with our whole family and spending a week. The atmosphere is just relaxing and puts you in such a good mood.
Brett had made dinner reservations at the Spring House for that evening. I originally wanted to stay there but they were all booked up that weekend! Dinner would have to do and dinner did do! As we walked up to the hotel from town I was brought back with a rush of memories of my sister and I playing on the grass in front of the hotel, rolling down the hill from the white adirondack chairs.
I was pretty excited to enjoy my first (and favorite) dirty martini in over a year! Perks to not being mommy for a few days. Dinner was delicious and fresh (they have their own garden and change their menu depending on what was harvested). We ate dinner on the back patio, front row and center for a beautiful summer sunset. After we gorged ourselves we walked back to our hotel, who has a nightly fire pit in back. We sat around in more adirondack chairs, enjoyed a night cap, and listened to the live music they had on the front patio (piped in through speakers in the back).
Day 2
Day 2 was our only full day on the island. I would have to say I was pretty proud of myself for not waking up with the worlds worst hang over, considering I hadn’t really had more than 1 drink in an evening since Rowan was born. Still we walked over to Persephone’s Kitchen for some good ice coffee to rally us for a full day!
I was also even more proud of myself for renting a bicycle and peddling all around the island. I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was a child (probably on block island was my last time) and I also have to admit really haven’t been exercising much.
The bike I rented was a bit wonky (kept changing gears on me without me touching it) and a few times I might have randomly just swung out into a street but I got where I had to go! THE BEACH! We opted for a little beach time and a nice mid-morning siesta. Something I haven’t done in years.
Then we biked over to The Oar, which is of course a must stop for lunch to those new to the island (Brett).They had the most amazing mudslide and we both got our obligatory lobster and some raw bar. Which in hindsight was a horrible idea since we then had to bike back to our hotel after stuffing ourselves with seafood and mixed drinks….
For dinner we couldn’t decide where to go. This night was actually our anniversary and I remembered walking by the newly renovated and reopened Hotel Manises.
Fun tid-bit- my parents got married on Block Island and this was where their wedding reception was. They have since been divorced but even if it is lacking the super-romantic notions it was a lovely meal with a beautiful view of Abram’s farm. I loved sitting under the willow tree, and even though it wasn’t an ocean view, like we had the night before it was still competitive with the Spring house in food and atmosphere.
After dinner we walked back around town and down the road a bit to check out Poor People’s Pub for a quick after dinner cocktail. The bars were lively and many had live music. I of course being back to the land of eating and drinking all night decided that one cider was good enough for me and then we hit the sack!
Day 3
Our last morning here I was more anxious to get back home to Ro than anything, but since we had an early afternoon ferry reservation we made the most of our morning. We walked around and had a casual breakfast at Aldo‘s. Brett wanted to check out the Block Island Historical Museum. We had some delicious Mexican food at Los Gatos (The Yellow Kittens restaurant during the day time) which was surprisingly very good. I didn’t expect much being out on a touristy island but the food was fresh, tasty and SPICY. My favorite combination. In fact- I had a spicy mojito that basically burned my insides, it was delicious.
Our ferry ride home was just as fast and it started raining as soon as we got back to the main-land! Couldn’t have timed it better! All in all it was a beautiful and fun weekend. I can’t wait to go back next year with my little girl in tow!
Add me to snapchat to see what I’m up to: alexismurda
(I promise its not just a ton of snaps of my kid….jk it is)
Leave a Reply