Our East Coast Whirlwind Trip – Part 1 – New England

We are BACK! Let me just reiterate (for anyone who might not be aware) that traveling is my love language. The sights, sounds, hustle and bustle…all of it! For this trip, we had time in Boston, Providence, Martha’s Vineyard, Harrisburg and Philadelphia before heading back to the islands. It was a trip we had been anticipating for a long time for two reasons – 1. my brother-in-law’s college graduation and 2. my sister’s wedding!

We started out with an overnight flight straight into Boston (side note: we stopped in Minneapolis and were offered over $1,000 each to get bumped off the flight! But, we had events to get to or else I would have totally taken the bait!).

Dane’s parents picked us up at the airport and even though we were really exhausted, we tooled around the city for the afternoon with stops for cannoli, Paul Revere’s house and a few other historical sites. Let me just take a second here to point out that for the majority of the trip – Dane and I did not pack correctly. I think between the time we checked the weather on Wednesday and packed and the time we arrived on the East coast on Friday – the weather did a 180. We brought a lot of shorts, sandals and sunshine-wear….and the weather theme for most of our trip was “grey” LOL!

Freezing, but enjoying the historic walkways with my mother in law!

After cruising around Boston all afternoon, we headed toward Providence where the rest of the family was waiting for us! Dane’s brother graduated from Brown and the university puts on an entire weekend’s worth of activities for friends and family in town to celebrate. Initially I was like – man, this is a ton of activities, but they ended up being awesome. On Friday night, we had what is called “Campus Dance”. It’s basically a huge party set up for graduates, friends, family and alumni to attend and..well, dance, plus they have a couple different bars and live music. Admittedly, we had gone to dinner and did a little college-style pregame so I was definitely ready to party!

Saturday morning waking up was rough, but thankfully during the day we didn’t have any set agenda. Dane and I took a stroll around the local mall to find some more appropriate clothing (we bought nothing, but did score some Panera!), before heading back to our hotel to get ready for Water Fire, an amazing event where the river is lit on fire just as the sun sets. It sounds kind of weird, but it’s actually magical! We ate dinner at Jacky’s, which is delicious if you’re ever in Providence! Lots of fresh seafood to choose from and amazing sushi rolls 🙂 I had tofu lettuce wraps and they were definitely amazing, but not nearly as good as the rolls.

And just like that…it was time for Erik to graduate on Sunday! The graduation at Brown lasts all day and is steeped in tradition. It begins with the graduates parading all around the campus with one another, passing through historic gates, continuing on to the Main Green for a large ceremony and finishing in individual college ceremonies where they get their diplomas. It’s A LOT (I won’t sugarcoat that), but it was really cool to see all the graduates together and of course, be there for my brother-in-law.

Thankfully, my in-laws packed me a delicious snack for survival – peanut butter cannoli!

After his ceremony, we all took photos together and then headed back to our hotel rooms for naps – it had been a long day!

Dinner that night was my favorite restaurant we visited in Providence – Parkside Rotisserie. Holy amazing! There were nine of us at the table and I don’t think anyone had a single complaint. The food and drinks tasted amazing and the service was second to none. I enjoyed gnocchi and a spicy cucumber margarita – both were excellent!

Shoutout to our hotel for always supplying superior mirrors for selfies!

The next morning we got up super early, because we had a super fun side trip planned! Come back tomorrow to see where we went, what we did and more about our trip – including my sister’s wedding and delicious homemade pizza!