We had a short trip to Asbury Park on one of the hottest weekends of July, the 19th through the 22nd, to see friends. Great to see friends but it was so hot we only made it to the beach one afternoon for a couple of hours, danced around to cool off in the waves, and had ice cream on the Boardwalk.
Even though it was the Asbury Park Circuit Party weekend, with lots of eye candy around--though mostly tattooed to excess--we didn’t venture out to a disco or club. Just too hot. We read, watched movies and generally conversed with our friends, whom we regrettably see only once or twice a year.
We had one fun dinner at a down-home Italian restaurant, Vic’s, south of Asbury Park in Bradley Beach. Excellent pizza.
We did our normal slow run home, even wandering around Cherry Hill looking for the local H Mart Korean Market. We eventually found it, about two mile in the wrong direction from where the maps said it was!
Our next trip was north to Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts to see family and friends. We didn’t eat out or visit anywhere in Fairfield, Connecticut, except for falafel at Layla’s on Black Rock Turnpike. The Fairfield Town Museum, showing an excellent collection of photographs and a small collection of clothes from the Revolution to World War I, was a good way to spend a rainy afternoon. The weather was fabulous and the sunset---well:
From there we traveled north to Providence to stop by the Rhode Island School of Design Museum’s show on the The Dandy, which was excellent. It had been well written up in the Wall Street Journal and several other publications so it became a must. We only had two hours but could have spent longer looking over the development of high Dandy style from the days of Beau Brummell during the reign of George IV through recent Dandies, including both the late Fred Astaire and George V. Cartoons, swatches of cloth, designs, and models were very interesting.A quick run around Providence, looking at old sites from John’s childhood, including the old office building where his dad sometimes worked now acquired and being remodeled by RISD, and lunch from a food truck on the banks of the river, which was a slum part of town 60 years ago, now totally changed. Who would have ever thought there would be gondolas on the Providence River.
Further south we spent four days with friends from New Orleans who rent a house in Tiverton every summer. Great weather, with lows in the high 50F’s and beautiful sunsets. We enjoyed clams, oysters, lobsters, fish...salads...and some good rum drinks. And of course martinis for Elaine and John. No swimming but some good walks through the town of Bristol along Hope Street and coffees at a favorite hole.
We also did a quick day trip to New Bedford for lunch at the Antonio Restaurant, famous for its Portuguese cuisine. Good paiella, great clams, langostini, and mussels. Very down home kind of place, but the food is good, the portions enormous and the local accent a strange noise to the ears.
We spent a morning doing a walk through the historic district of Fall River, once a huge cotton town. Now it’s not much of a place, and the architecture of the historic district can’t compare to Providence or Bristol, which were both ports. Mostly large late 19th century buildings, built more for show than merit. The warships are good to see--the old USS Massachusetts from the Second World War, with three others--a destroyer and a sub among them.
We finished off the trip with a day in Arlington, Massachusetts with our grandson. Lovely way to finish the trip.
