First Person: Rhode Trippin’
A mother-daughter duo spends an entire day exploring every city and town — all thirty-nine of them — in Rhode Island.
The writers, Robin Kall, and her daughter, Emily Homonoff, ride the Block Island Ferry with dog Ronan. Photo courtesy of Emily Homonoff
One of the things you need to know about this mother-daughter team from the start is that once we get an idea in our heads, we follow through. This makes us partners in all things fun and more than a little optimistic, even if some ideas seem undoable. We often use the tagline, “what started out as a wacky idea,” to describe our projects, and those who know us would agree.
The Block Island ferry arrives at Old Harbor. Photo via I Stock/Getty Images Plus/TW Farlow
The concept of visiting all thirty-nine cities and towns in Rhode Island came to us last summer during a trip to Iceland, where we drove the 820-mile Ring Road in five days. In summer, when there’s nearly twenty hours of sunlight, you could, in theory, drive the entire country in a single day. It would be ill-advised, and you would miss everything, but it could be done. This got us thinking … could we do the same thing in Rhode Island? Surely we could, since our state is smaller than an entire country.
Fast forward a year. We finally sync our schedules, the weather seems decent, and we’re just delusional enough to make this wacky thought a reality. Because we make the decision the night before, we don’t sit down with a map and pen to outline what the trip will look like. How hard can it be? We decide to start with Block Island because we know that we might be too tired to visit at the end of the day. The rest we can fill in as we go.
Our journey starts when we depart Newport around 6 a.m., where it’s slightly overcast with a light drizzle. Crossing through Jamestown under low clouds, we make our way to Point Judith to board the high-speed ferry for Block Island. The ride over is a daily occurrence for many, but for us, it’s a visual treat. Traveling under a cloud of fog it’s easy to imagine we are anywhere in the world.
We have about ninety minutes before the ferry will return us to the mainland. It’s just enough time for a delightful breakfast at Persephone’s Kitchen, where we observe the summer visitors and watch the clouds part.
Westerly’s historic downtown. Photo via IStock/Getty Images Plus/Peeterv
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When we return to Narragansett, we trace the South County coast, moving through South Kingstown and Charlestown before reaching Westerly. Without realizing just how long this adventure will take, we grab a leisurely lunch at Cinder, a favorite of ours.
The Towers is a Narragansett landmark. Photo via I Stock/Getty Images Plus/Dan Logan
Once we realize what time it is and how much more there is to do, we start to worry. We hop back in the car and begin to zigzag inland, riding through Hopkinton and Richmond, which give way to Exeter and West Greenwich, the landscape shifting to winding roads and lush greenery.
It’s important to mention that we do in fact get out of the car at every single stop, whether it’s to take a picture or walk our furry companion, Ronan. We pass through East Greenwich and North Kingstown before picking up a steady pace and driving through Coventry and West Warwick, then Warwick and Cranston.
Usually, when we find ourselves in the car for an extended period of time, we’re either listening to a podcast (typically old episodes of Normal Gossip) or the Hamilton soundtrack for the zillionth time. But on this day, we’re both so captivated by the changing scenery that the conversation never lags and there’s nothing in the background to distract us.
Food remains both a practical concern and a running joke. As the afternoon slips away, it becomes increasingly clear that a sit-down dinner is not in the cards, no matter how enthusiastically we debate where we would eat if time allowed. We stop at Confreda’s Farm in western Cranston to pick up provisions. Hummus and chips stand in for a proper meal, as we eat in the car.
The middle stretch of the day sends us on a curving route again, carrying us through Scituate and Foster, then Glocester and Burrillville. Passing through Scituate sparks a vivid recollection of a fourth grade field trip to the Philip J. Holton Water Purification Works. (Care to guess whose memory that was?)
The Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket. Photo courtesy of the Museum of Work & Culture
Then we’re off to North Smithfield and Woonsocket, where we visit the Museum of Work & Culture. This is a real gem for the state and we can’t wait to return. In Cumberland, we stop for coffee and to feed Ronan. At this point, we’re feeling the pressure of completing the other half of the state. It originally seemed like an easy feat, but we feel otherwise when looking at the map.
Miss Lorraine Diner in Pawtucket. Photo by Jamie Coelho
We work our way back toward the center of the state: Lincoln and Smithfield, then Johnston and North Providence, where we gladly stop for coffee. Then we drive through Central Falls and Pawtucket. In Pawtucket, we take time to admire the iconic Miss Lorraine Diner at the Lorraine Mills (also home to Rhode Island Monthly’s offices), which feels like a quiet nod to how far we have come. Pawtucket quickly blends into Providence and then East Providence.
This is the point when we both know we’re going to accomplish our goal, even if it feels impossible. In East Providence, we pause for a scenic look at the Providence River. Driving through Barrington, Warren and Bristol goes by in a flash as we envy those taking advantage of the East Bay Bike Path.
The East Bay Bike Path. Photo via IStock/Getty Images Plus/Dan Logan
Queen Anne Square in Newport. Photo by Discover Newport/Corey Favino
While we don’t get to stop for a proper dinner, we don’t turn up our noses at the thought of getting Gray’s Ice Cream instead. From there, we continue through Tiverton and Little Compton before circling back up toward Portsmouth.
Roads start becoming more familiar as we reach Middletown, where St. George’s School stands nearly empty in the late evening. And then we find ourselves back in Newport to drop off two of our travelers and the day is complete.
Rhode Island has been home to both of us for most of our lives, and while we’ve each been to every city and town before, this adventure gave us an entirely new perspective. This experience doesn’t make us experts on Rhode Island; if anything, it makes us more aware of how much there still is to know.
We may have driven certain roads hundreds of times but have never truly looked at them. And then there are other roads, in towns we know very well, that we’ve never seen (and likely couldn’t find again if we tried). This jaunt proved to us that proximity doesn’t equal familiarity, and that you can live in Rhode Island your entire life and still find new corners if you’re willing to look for them.
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Mother-and-daughter duo Robin Kall and Emily Homonoff host can’t-miss author events, including The Cardigan Connection, which is celebrating ten years on March 18.
