Nomadic Neen Long Island, New York to Providence, Rhode Island
Sometimes, in life, it feels like things just cannot go right, but there is one thing that is pretty much guaranteed to put everything back into a positive perspective: a road trip with girlfriends.
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My friend, Cara, and I both managed to catch the same train home from work one night. Conversation flowed as it usually did, and we decided a getaway was exactly what we both needed. We immediately started planning right there on the train. While looking for the perfect destination, we figured it would be fun to extend the girls’ trip, and reached out to two of our other friends, Katherine and Shannon, who both almost immediately said yes.
It was important that we pick a town that was within driving distance from home, but still full of fun and adventure (and affordable). We settled on Providence, Rhode Island, and booked an adorable Airbnb, all while still on the train. Over the next couple of days we started planning what we would do, and Cara, being the amazing planner she is, found a bunch of fun Groupon activities for us.
What was on the agenda for the weekend, you ask? Wine and cheese, mead tastings, adventuring around the city, a relaxing dinner, a night out, and a trip to the zoo.
We arrived in the Providence area, around lunchtime. Thank goodness, because we were ravenous. The first stop was at Edgewood Cheese Shop & Eatery, one of Cara’s Groupon finds. If you love cheese as much as we do (which is a lot) this is a must stop! The shop is absolutely adorable, and is filled with an assortment of cheeses and knick-knacks. We walked in, and there was a board behind the counter with all different cheese options and meat options. The gentleman who helped us explained each different cheese in detail and gave us a little synopsis of how each was made. After he went through them all, we couldn’t decide on just five. He ended up giving us tiny tastes of each to help us pick which we wanted to add to our cheese and meat board. The meats were a little easier for us to choose. We had plenty of options, but based on all of our likes and dislikes we were able to narrow it down a bit faster. After everything was prepped, the four of us grabbed a bottle of white wine, and enjoyed our delicious board.
After lunch, we hit the road to continue to our next stop, which was at Crave Mead – another Groupon find! If you haven’t heard of mead, it’s essentially a wine made with honey instead of grapes. (I’m no expert here, and I’m sure it’s more complicated than that but that’s my simplistic definition) We walked through the door and to our left saw shelves filled with all different bottles, jars, and some apparel. In front of us there were giant barrels, which we later found out were filled with fermenting honey. Crave Mead is a family-owned and run business, so it is a small operation, but they had so many different flavors for us to test that it did not feel (or look) like a small operation. We did our tasting with a lovely woman, who wasn’t a family member, but had been employed by them for a decent amount of time. She was so knowledgeable about the process of making mead, what went into each bottle, and all of the flavors they offered. We tasted four or five different flavors, and even got to keep the adorable tasting glass (Groupon perk!). I have to admit, mead isn’t my favorite type of beverage, but the other girls really enjoyed it, and even bought some bottles to bring home.
Next stop, Airbnb! We got our keys from the host, and checked out the space to decide who was sleeping where. The place was immaculate, and adorably decorated. It was walking distance from the city center, so we were confident we picked the perfect spot. We got ready to go exploring and find a dinner spot, and we head out for the night. On our walk out, we realized we booked our Airbnb on Friendship Street. How cute and how fitting! It made our pick even more perfect than it already was.
We walked down to the city center and decided to have dinner at Trinity Brewhouse. We got beer and cider samplers and a bunch of different food to split while we laughed and made unforgettable memories together. After dinner, we wandered around enjoying all of the street art we saw, tried a few different bars, and even stumbled upon live music in a park! It was a beautiful night, and we enjoyed every second of it together.
After we used every ounce of energy we had that day, we made our way back to Friendship Street for the night. I don’t think I mentioned that the weekend we went to Providence was Cara’s birthday week, so when we got home from our night adventures, we made sure to celebrate. We pulled out a little cake to surprise her, and sang “happy birthday” while in our PJs. It was a fun, carefree girls night that ended in the best way it possibly could have.
The next morning, we packed up our belongings and prepared to head back to New York. Before we did that, we took a trip to the Roger Williams Park Zoo. This zoo is all about conservation and a sanctuary for many different endangered species. The four of us are all animal lovers, so we were really excited for this! The day was rainy and chilly, but we made the best of the entire experience.
The ride home was another one filled with exhaustion, lots of chitchat, naps, and of course a bunch of snacks. We reminisced about the memories we had made that weekend, and we made a million more plans for where we should go next. This trip was everything we hoped it would be and exactly what we all needed. Road trips with your girlfriends are never a bad idea; so make sure you get those in whenever you can!
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Great post 😁
Thank you!