More New England Adventures - Waterfires and Ipswich

A few weekends ago, my parents came to Boston for my 30th birthday!  Travis, who had been in Vermont the week prior, came back to Boston Saturday to spend some time with us too (awwww),  Saturday morning we decided to go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in Boston (check out some of my others here).  You can't take pictures inside, so if you want to see it, you'll have to go yourself!  :)

Saturday night we headed south to the Waterfires in Providence, Rhode Island.  Travis and I had been there once before (read about it here!) with some friends, so we knew mom and dad would love it.

If you think that's pretty, check out some pictures from our last trip to Waterfire.

Sunday (my birthday), we decided to spend the day in Ipswich, MA.  Ipswich is another little town on the north shore of Massachusetts (in addition to Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, and Newburyport).  Ipswich is a much different from its north shore counterparts - there are lots of really old homes and properties you can tour, wildlife reserves, and places to eat.  We decided to take a walk around and look at some of the old homes - most were from the 1660's to 1750's.

After walking all over downtown, we went to lunch at the Clam Box.  The reason we picked this place was because of it's shape - it looks like a clam box!  We were pleasantly surprised at the food - it was fantastic, so it was no surprise when I saw the Clam Box won best clam shack in MA.  I had fried shrimp...mmmmmm.  Honestly, the fried shrimp were better than The Lobster Pool, but The Lobster Pool's atmosphere is far better.  Go to either and you'll be happy.  :)

After lunch we went to the Crane Estate.  There was a wedding going on later that day, so we couldn't go in, but there was plenty to see around the estate.  We took a loooong walk up the hill to the home, walked through the gardens, and then down their huge lawn.  The lawn had three huge hills, and at the end you were rewarded with a beautiful view of the water.  So pretty.

Later that night, Travis went back to Vermont to finish up his conference, and the three of us went out to dinner.  Such a fun day!  Check back later and I'll tell you about our trip to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Museum of Science!

WaterFire Providence

Last Saturday, Travis and I traveled down to Rhode Island for the Providence WaterFires.  We've been meaning to go since we moved up here, and this year we made it just in time – this was the last one of the season!  Our friends, Christian and Laci, were in Providence celebrating their anniversary, so we met them for dinner and to enjoy the festivities.

WaterFires started as an art installation (sculpture) by Barnaby Evans and is made up of over 80 floating bonfires down the middle of the river in the heart of Providence.  Now, each lighting is sponsored by a different group.  With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it was appropriate that Saturday’s Fire was dubbed “Flames of Hope”.

We ate at a cool burger joint that had great sliders and sweet potato fries.

After dinner, we walked further downtown and sat down along the river to wait for the lighting of the fires.  Throughout the night, there were lots of boats traveling up and down the river.  One group of these boats did the initial lighting and replenished the fires all night long.  The people in these black boats wore all black and unless they were tending to the fires, were very solemn.  So solemn in fact, it seemed like something you’d see in a film set during olden times on the way to a funeral!  Weird…

Floating bonfire before it was lit.  

Volunteers lighting the fires

Once the fires got going, we walked along the river enjoying the sights and music.

There were also special things going on along the river, like a luminary/memory garden , fire twirlers (probably not their technical name), and a Pierrot character that sailed along the edge of the water, handing our flowers all evening.

After we walked the length of the river, we made our way to the “basin” – a large round area at one end.  They were supposed to have a basin lighting ceremony a little before 8 (which we were planning on missing), but when we got there a little before 9, it still hadn't happened!  Luckily for us, things were (way) off schedule, so we watched the basin lighting ceremony, which was beautiful!

This was also the point in the evening when I stood up to take a picture (found out that Providence doesn't fill in the holes around their sprinkler system), fell down, and took a chunk out of my foot.  BUT we trudged along for the State House, which was flooded with pink lights, inspirational words, and search lights!  It was AWESOME! 

Travis and Christian had a lot of fun playing with the spotlights...if you couldn't tell.

It was an awesome evening!  If you've never been to WaterFires and live in New England (or plan to visit), you MUST go!