New England is made up of six states; Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. These states have a combined geographical area that is just a little larger than the state of Missouri, with more than twice the amount of people. The smallest of these states is Rhode Island, in fact it’s the smallest state in the nation. Fortunately it’s only a couple of hours drive for us to go to Providence so that made it the perfect destination for a Saturday getaway. I didn’t want to get there without a plan so I did some research and found a river cruise that looked interesting, and made a reservation for the 12:30 slot.

 

The entire state of Rhode Island has a little over one million people, so Providence isn’t a terribly large city like Boston.  Commuter rail trains even run from Providence to Boston so it seems almost a suburb, but not. I’ve driven through Providence before and noticed a huge mall right in the downtown area with a multi-story parking garage next to the interstate. This looked like a great place to park and would provide us a great vantage point to see the city.

The capitol building was only a couple of blocks down the street and we drove past it as we made our way to the garage.

Exiting the mall, we found the river walkway that goes right through the heart of town. I have to hand it to Providence for creating this beautiful area right in the middle of the city. Eventually we walked along the east side of the river by Brown University. We found a nice little restaurant for lunch and recharged before finding the river cruise.

For people going to Chicago, I always recommend the architectural river cruise. I don’t know if this cruise was to that caliber, but it sure was a great way to get to know this city. It turned out that the beautiful river and walkway was no accident. The city underwent a major cleanup of the rivers and walkways to make it look this beautiful. The rivers house an art installation called Waterfire on which bonfires are lit on the water at certain nights during the summer and fall. We were able to see the wood for these fires stored under the city’s bridges. It sounds really interesting and we both would like to come back and see it sometime.  The cruise took us out past the flood wall that closes off the river during a hurricane. The river is deeper here and large tugs were docked to the side waiting to assist barges and other large vessels through the channel.

After the cruise we chose to walk the other side of the river to make our way back to the mall. This side was just as nice as the other and beautiful flowers graced the sidewalks in large planters. Providence has a nice charm to it that is definitely east coast without all the combustion of the larger cities. I am eager to see what more adventures we can find in Rhode Island.

 

 

 

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller