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ridaily - Travel

2009-11-05

I Heart Portland

Words can’t quite adequately describe how much I love Portland. The coastal Maine city is perfectly compact enough for ditching the car and walking everywhere, the people are warm and welcoming (imagine that?) and the dining scene is second to none. Seriously, you wouldn’t think it, but walk a block in any direction, pick a restaurant and you’re guaranteed a good meal. I try to make it up there at least once a year (spring and fall are the times to go; crowds are nil and hotel rates are low) and just returned from a quick visit there this past weekend. I had an awesome meal at The Front Room, which riffs on comfort-food classics. If you haven’t been, you don’t know what you’re missing.

P.S. I’ve written about Portland before, so read that for more info.

Posted at 12:00 PM in Travel | Permalink | Comments

2009-06-01

Looking for License Plates

It’s a fact of life that when Rhode Islanders travel, whether it’s to New Hampshire, or New Guinea, they inevitably run into…other Rhode Islanders. In my case, I’m not finding other Rhode Islanders while I’m on vaca; I’m encountering their license plates. Turns out many of them have fetched up in the Florida Keys as a different kind of colorful bar décor, presumably left behind by their owners as a reminder of little Rhody.
Take Snapper’s, for example, a fun and very retro tiki bar in Key Largo, where Rhode Island plate “F 47,” basic white and blue circa 1980, is wedged in along the ceiling among the plates from Kentucky, Texas and Virginia, as well as one from the Yukon, and another from the Northwest Territories in the shape of a bear.
A hundred miles further south, in Key West, Capt Tony’s Saloon, Hemingway’s favorite dark and divey hangout in the thirties, is similarly crammed with plates. But the motherlode, it turns out, is the Half Shell Raw Bar, a casual waterfront resto and one-time Key West shrimp-packing plant. There are hundreds here, but these Rhody ones caught my eye: “EJT,” “SOLD 1,” and “SOLD U 1.” (Sound familiar? Is one of them yours?)
If, on your travels, you’ve donated a plate as a bar souvenir, tell us about it here, and next time we venture out of state, we’ll be on the lookout and report back.   

 

Posted at 09:40 AM in Travel | Permalink | Comments