A Day in the Ocean State

As I alluded to in my last post (and as you probably noticed by my lack of posts overall), the past few months have been busy. Work was busier than ever before, so I was working lots of late nights and weekends. Colin was busy with his dissertation and post-doc applications. On top of that, we were still getting settled in our new apartment, and we were starting to plan our wedding. We had also planned several trips to visit friends and family, which were certainly fun but didn't leave much time for anything else. Overall, this summer was great! Just busy.

I was going to just give you the highlight reel, but then I realized I had a bunch of photos from one particular trip when Colin and I spent the day in Rhode Island.

It started when Colin and I decided to visit his brother Ross, who was teaching the same program I did years ago--the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab. I hadn't been back to BELL since I last taught there in 2009, and Colin had never been to Providence. Both BELL and Providence have always held a special place in my life, and I was super duper excited to go back! We had also just started thinking about wedding venues and wanted to check out the Haffenreffer Estate (home of BELL) and another nearby venue on Mount Hope Bay as potential sites. So, with all these reasons to go, we picked a Saturday when Ross wasn't teaching and drove down to the Ocean State.

For the last half hour or so of the drive, my nose was pressed to the car window and I bounced with excitement at every landmark I recognized (and there were a lot). BELL looks exactly the same!

The BELL sign. When I first started as a student at BELL, it said "BELL Camp." After a couple years, the program director had the interns cut off the bottom plank with the word "Camp" in an effort to emphasize the academic nature of the program.

We hunted for crabs on the rocky shore, just as I did years ago.

The BELL beach

We even walked up the hill from the lodge to say hi to the former property manager, Rod. Rod was a huge part of BELL when I started as a student and continued to be throughout my years as an intern and instructor, although he's retired now. I still remember him taking me and a few other students out stargazing during my first summer there. I don't know many constellations, but the few that I do recognize (besides the Big Dipper and Orion), I learned from Rod. He insisted that I stand a step above him for this picture, to make sure that our heads were on the same level.

Me and Rod at his house on the Haffenreffer Estate

One of the big reasons I wanted to go back to BELL was to check on the tree I planted ten years ago in 2005. It was the summer after my high school graduation, and I was an intern. BELL interns worked closely with Rod, helping to take care of the property and the adjoining museum. That summer and for the next few summers after, Rod had each of us plant a tree somewhere on the property. Here's my tree now:

The deer also like my tree, which explains why its lower branches are so sparse and short.

I couldn't find a picture of my tree when I first planted it (I'm not sure I had a digital camera back then...), but here's a comparison of the few photos I do have. It's grown so much!! Look how little it used to be!

One of us grew since 2008.

I'm pretty sure it's a cedar, but all you botanists out there, let me know if you think differently.

Also just for fun, here's a photo of me with my fellow BELL intern Steph in 2005. Rod dug up this photo when Ross mentioned me to him earlier this summer. This is from "Interns' Night Out," the one night when we were freed from our responsibilities and Rod would take us into Bristol to get dinner, a movie, or whatever we wanted. He took this photo of us in front of an old house in town.

I was 17 in this photo. So young!

After chatting with Rod for a while, we walked through the woods to the best swimming beach. The trail through the woods had been one of my favorite spots to go as an instructor during my time off. It was always quiet (a blessing after hanging out with 30 high schoolers!), and sometimes there was interesting wildlife. Most notably, I remember the time I walked under a tree at the edge of the beach, startled an osprey or something sitting up top, and caused him to drop his freshly caught, half-chewed fish at my feet.

For the next phase of our Rhode Island adventure, we drove to Providence, but not before stopping for ice cream in Bristol just as a quick summer rain storm rolled in. Once in Providence, I played tour guide. We stopped at the garden outside the Urban Environmental Lab, which was where most of my environmental studies classes were. (They now have a flashy new building.)

Sunflowers outside the UEL

We also saw the main green, my favorite outdoor study spot on the quiet green, my dorms, and Thayer Street. We ate dinner at my all-time favorite Indian restaurant, Kabob and Curry. It was delicious, as always. Then, as we were driving out of town, Ross happened to say, "Hey, I've been wanting to go to WaterFire. I wonder if it's happening tonight?"

It was.

WaterFire, so pretty.

It was a full lighting, which meant there were street performers, vendors, creepy music--the whole shebang. We parked, extended our Zipcar reservation, and wandered along the river eating Del's Frozen Lemonade for another couple hours. I think the only Rhode Islandy thing I didn't manage to do that day was drink coffee milk. We'll just have to go back soon.