Providence, RI

We had been talking for awhile about doing a get-away weekend in Providence, a city I'd always heard about for its history and more lately its food but I'd never been (went to a ballgame in Pawtucket, which is very close).  So when I heard the NCAA hockey regionals were going to be played there (another bucket list item), it seemed the perfect time to go.

We had a fabulous but way too short weekend there, which really amounted to about 24 hours.  We walked around the city, which is small enough to easily walk around in three spurts over a 24 hour period.  Like some other cities, Providence has some painted lines on the sidewalks that related to different trails of interest throughout the city.  We walked a good bit of the Green Line, which gets you around to see many of the historical sites in the city.

The one thing we missed was being able to take a gondola ride (how romantic!) down the canal.  It doesn't start running each year until the end of April, first of May.  The weather was good enough Saturday (in the 50s) to have been comfortable on a gondola ride.

But the food (AWWW THE FOOD!) was the big story:  The first place we stopped at was a place called Luxe Burger, where you can build you own.  I was tempted to try to beat their challenge and earn a T-shirt (look at the picture below) but we had a nice dinner planned for the evening and I wouldn't be able to enjoy it.  Around 4:00 we decided to go downstairs in the Biltmore (we stayed at the famous old Biltmore) where there was a nice seafood restaurant with a bar to have a cocktail.  We ended up have Happy Hour appetizers -- I had mussels.  Then we had a 7:00 reservation at a "new American" restaurant called Local 121, an upscale modern restaurant that uses all local ingredients.  I would love to describe my meal but my entrée was a special that is not on the online menu and I can't remember the ingredients...suffice to say it had a few I'd never heard of.  It was a porkchop (seems ridiculous to call it a porkchop) and it was devine, as was my bacon wrapped scallop appetizer.  Shelly hopefully will describe her meal in the comments but I will include the restaurant links.
Finally, still being full in the morning, we didn't eat until brunchtime and we decided to go to a chain finally, one I'd never been to, The Cheesecake Factory.  I was very impressed with my meal, an appetizer of Vietnamese tacos and a Navajo sandwich.  Bought two slices of cheesecake as we left;  one for more darling daughter, Kim, who dogwatched Todd while we were gone.  She told me hers was yummy, a vanilla bean slice and mine is still sitting in the frig.

Then there was the NCAA Northeast Regional game last night.  You can read about that at BoSox Tavern.  Enjoy the pics below:

Out our hotel window at the neat old roof of City Hall

My darling, then the canal and then the Capitol

County Courthouse

The very first Baptist Church in the US

Across yet another canal at a neat building but I forgot what it is

City Hall with the Biltmore behind

Thought this was a neat shot down the canal of that bridge with windmills

From Luxe Burger...maybe next time but my Kobe beef bacon cheeseburger was excellent

State Capitol building