Carousels are wonderful. Little kids love them for their grandeur. Folks of a more genteel age love them for their grandeur. Little kids love to ride the horses and pretend that they’re real. Kids at heart love to ride the horses and pretend that they’re kids again. And unlike other amusement park rides, you go […]
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Forty-eight miles north to south and 37 miles east to west. How many of those miles are marked by stone fences? Magnificent stone fences. Some with ferns, most with moss. Some round, some like sheets of granite with pointed edges. All a feat. And despite this presence of stone, Rhode Island is the Ocean State. […]
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The Green Animals Topiary Garden in Rhode Island is the perfect combination of whimsey and talent. First of all, they simply grow plants, and to me, that’s a feat. Then they’re lush. And ultimately they’re shaped like a giraffe, spot the bird, or even a boar. Of course there’s a boar; that’s an obvious topiary […]
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There’s no heartbreak quite like that of a 38-yeard-old woman who finds out that the vintage flying horse carousel only offers rides to children. No adults allowed. Insert woeful sigh. This is the oldest in America, built in 1876, and located on the Rhode Island shore. It was part of a traveling carnival that ultimately […]
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The Newport Cliff Walk was touted as a Rhode Island must-see. The opportunity to ogle mansions—true mansions—in all their historic opulence. At the same time, take a stroll along the ocean. Well, turns out these mansions turned my stomach. They felt gluttonous and a massive game of one-upmanship. They were more than gated, they were […]
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