Colt State Park - Bristol, Rhode Island

During my recent trip to New England I had the chance to revisit Colt State Park in Rhode Island. The park is located in Bristol along the shores of Narragansett Bay. It's a beautiful location.

There are walking and biking trails that pass along the bay...

...as well as picnic areas, an historical museum and an open air chapel.

It would be very easy to spend a day in the park strolling along the trails, admiring the views and just enjoying the natural beauty. There is also a lot more to see in the area. The park is about a 25 minute drive away from Newport with its great beaches and lovely mansions. And there is also downtown Bristol. 

Bristol, Rhode Island is home to a charming downtown that features shops, restaurants and historical homes. You can enjoy the beauty of the park as well as some shopping and grab a bite to eat. 

For those of you who enjoy bike riding, Bristol, nearby Barrington and Warren, share the East Bay Bike Path. The path starts in Providence and winds its way 14.5 miles past many state and local parks. The path is paved and runs along an old railroad line.

You can visit the park any time of year. While some parking areas are closed during the winter, Colt State Park is open year round. There's something so peaceful about the beach in winter.

There are lots of places to enjoy all that Rhode Island has to offer. Beautiful beaches, charming historical cities and fantastic state parks are just a few.


If your travel plans take you to New England be sure and take some time to visit Rhode Island. The miles of coastline, charming historic cities and breathe taking natural beauty make it a must see for everyone.

Happy travels!

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Willie G's - Galveston, Texas

Willie G's is a small chain seafood and steak place. They have three locations in Texas and one in Colorado. We stopped in for lunch when we were visiting the Galveston, Texas area.

This statue is called High Tide and features a boy with seagulls

Galveston is a popular destination with both tourists and locals. There's the beach of course, some nice resorts and lots of places to eat and drink.

We decided on Willie G's due to its proximity to local attractions we were visiting. Willie's has nice open spaces and a large deck that overlooks the water. We skipped the deck and had lunch inside the sunny dining room.

After drink orders were placed we took a minute to look over the lunch menu.

I went with the Willie Burger and the Dining Companion had seafood salad on a croissant. The food was good; typical lunch fare.

Seafood Salad Sandwich

Willie Burger

We enjoyed our lunch but with so many other places to try it might be a while before we make our way back to Willie G's. If you plan on visiting the Galveston area you'll have no trouble finding lots of good places to wine and dine.

Future plans will take us back to Galveston. There's the awesome Sunday brunch at the hotel Galvez, harbor boat tours, an old submarine and lots of other local attractions. Watch this space for more.

Happy dining!

Of Date Shakes and Goodbyes

One of the last things we did on our visit out to the West Coast was stop at Ruby's Shake Shack for a Date Shake. It was something I just had to try before we headed home. Ruby's is a picturesque place located on the Newport Coast near the Crystal Cove State Park. You literally swing in right off of the PCH and then wait in a line of cars to try and secure one of the scarce parking spaces along the front of the lot. It was not unusual to see a line of cars backed out along the Pacific Coast Highway waiting to park whenever we drove by the area.

Ruby's serves burgers and fries and other typical beach shack fare.

It was definitely worth the stop. The shake was a real ice cream milk shake served at the perfect drinking consistency with a large bore straw that was up to the task, date pieces and all.

So we say farewell to Southern California with its beautiful beaches, sparkling sunshine and perfect blue sky days. It was a great trip. We had a lovely and awesome tour guide in my SIL and can't thank her enough for hauling us around and making sure we had an awesome visit. We will definitely be returning. I was promised a trip to Hollywood and I wouldn't miss that for the world.

Happy travels!

The Blackboard Bistro - Seal Beach, California

We visited the Blackboard Bistro on a recent trip to California. My lovely SIL, who was kind enough to act as our hostess and tour guide on this journey, took us there for lunch one afternoon. The Blackboard Bistro is in a building that originally housed a school that opened in 1903. Sadly the original Bay City Grammar School was destroyed in an earthquake. According to their website the school reopened a year later under a new name.

A panoramic photo of students of the school

Lucky for us the building is now home to a fun little bistro serving up healthy, fresh options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or as their menu calls it, Homeroom, Recess and After School.

While the interior was very pleasant with its deep booths and exposed brick we opted to eat outside on the lovely shaded patio.  

We sat outside enjoying the gorgeous day while we looked over the menu. 

Lots of great options but we all finally made a decision and placed our orders. We enjoyed very nice weather for our entire trip. So nice to be able to sit outside on a beautiful sunny day. The light was amazing.

After a short wait our food arrived.

Turkey, Avocado, Jack Croissant

Popeye Stuffed Burger (stuffed with spinach, bleu cheese, mushrooms) and
topped with crispy string onions

Chicken Cashew Salad

Lunch was great. Wonderful weather, the best company and a beautiful blue sky day. It's nice to find a good locally owned place to try. It's a bit easier to do now with the internet and so many people sharing not only their travel experiences but their favorite hometown spots as well.

What is your best source of information for dining and entertainment recommendations when traveling? Or even just around town? Please share your secrets. I'd love to read all about them.

Happy dining!

OC Wildlife and Beach Tours - Laguna Hills, California

  

OC Wildlife and Beach Tours has closed

When the Dining Companion and I were visiting Southern California we took a tour with OC Wildlife and Beach Tours. They offer both group and private tours and we ended up with what amounted to a private tour that included me, the Dining Companion, my sister in law and our tour guide Cheri. Our 4 hour tour (we did the Orange County tour) took us to Dana Point and Laguna Beach (the California Riviera I was told) and also included the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.

Cheri picked us up at the hotel and we were off to the Mission. (More about that in a later post) Having seen some of the many Spanish missions in Texas I was very interested in getting to see one of the most iconic missions in California. The Mission that the swallows still return to each March 19th. 

After we toured the Mission at San Juan Capistrano we headed over to Dana Point. There is a trail/walkway that follows a bluff that sits high over the beach. It's such a beautiful area and the views are amazing.

This part of the bluff trail was known as the Hide Trail. As I understand it cow hides were thrown off the ridge and gathered below to be loaded onto waiting ships. There's a statue showing a sailor tossing a hide and a plaque that explains why.

Houses line the ridge and the trail passes along beside them. At one point a business man, S.H. Woodruff, got the idea to build a resort along the bluff. Sadly his timing was off and all that remains of his dream are three arches that still stand on the spot today.

 

After our walk along the Bluff Top Trail we headed to Crescent Bay Point Park in Laguna Beach. Crescent Bay Point Park lies along the bluffs of Cliff Drive in North Laguna. From this vantage point you can view cormorants and California sea lions on the rocks. Cheri brought along binoculars so that we could get an up close look.

 

Although just about impossible to see in these photos there are sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks

Also located in the park area a couple of life sized statues of the California Sea Lions and Cormorant.

If you plan to be in Southern California and are looking for a fun group or family activity I would recommend that you check out OC Wildlife and Beach Tours. Our tour guide Cheri was knowledgeable about the area, came prepared to answer all of my dumb tourist questions and even provided us with cold drinks and snacks. It was interesting and I learned about the history of the areas we visited.

To risk sounding like a broken record (funny, "sounding like a broken record", that really isn't going to mean anything to a good many people in the not too distant future)...anyway, there is more to come. We visited the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, ate at some good local places and just had a flat out good time.

Happy travels!