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This is the view from the third-story deck at The Grandview Inn on the first Saturday of our vacation. It was cloudy, a bit humid and a little cool, but nice. We had a surprise thunderstorm later that evening, the last bit of dicey weather until the Sunday we left.

The beach was beautiful everyday and we had a cool breeze until Friday. By Thursday, the water was calm and relatively warm (you could still feel your toes) so we could go into the water to cool off, though I never could get in past my navel.
Only three green-eyed fly bites. Not bad, but big ugly bumps.
Note: I’m posting this in bits and manipulating the post times to get this in some semblance of order.

As lovely as the vacation was, I feel like I slept through much of it.

We left NYC at 5:45pm on Friday, with a light drizzle all the way to the RI/Mass border. Three quarters of the way across CT, I had to pull over for a nap. The windshield wipers were hypnotic. I only needed 15 minutes.

I heard recently that Rhode Island has the worst drivers in the country. I suspect that its lousy illegible signage and lack of visible lane markings are a factor. The second we crossed into Massachusetts, the rain cleared, the road became dry and the lanes were clearly marked with reflectors.
We got into Ptown exactly at 1 am. Because of my earlier nap I wasn’t sleepy and stayed up until 2 reading. This was the latest I lasted all week. Most nights we talked about going out late (11:15 or 11:30) but found ourselves unable to recover from our after dinner naps. Thursday, after a particularly good meal with drinks, I was asleep before 10.
I also napped on the beach. But not much.
This is the second floor deck at the guesthouse, where I was alone knitting or reading before the rest of the world awoke a few times.

Mike, one of the owners, has a hand with flowers.

A cultural note: the second week of July is Bear Week in Ptown. For those who don’t know, a Bear is a large and/or hairy gay man who self-identifies as a Bear. Generally they like to hang around with each other and Bear Week in Ptown is a good time and place to do that. There are several other Bear characteristics which are generally assumed in regards to eating and drinking and other appetites, but within the form there is a range of variation.
I am not a Bear in any variety.
In fact, there’s nothing quite like Bear Week to make a small person feel smaller. While the Bears are perfectly nice and friendly, they do know I am not one; and the sheer mass of some is intimidating.

The lack of physical variety takes some of the fun out of people watching, particularly at the beach, and more than once I wondered if we’ve all gone to seed.

At the same time, I had no problem finding clothing in my size.
Last on this subject: Bear or not, naked on the beach is still preferable to a bad bathing suit. Think thong.

1. Walking to the beach. Helps work off all the food you’ve eaten.
2. Ryan Landry’s production of Cinderella Rocks, an original semi-drag musical of Cinderella shown only on Wednesdays. Screamingly funny and worth every dime and more.
3. Chester Restaurant: again a superb meal and experience. The house salad comes with an optional goat cheese and bacon cheesecake topped with caramelized onions. I could barely stand to let J taste it.
4. Edwige at Night, a restaurant. We ate there both Thursday night and Saturday night. J’s favorite is the salmon, mine the cheese plate. And Rocco, one of the owners, is so cute.
5. High-end margaritas at Lorraine’s. If they have Tonala (tequila) get that. If they don’t, then the wait staff is helpful. Sadly, we were not impressed by Lorraine’s new menu.
6. The burgers at Fanizzi’s, a long, long walk (or $8 cab ride) to the east end of town, but worth it.

More tomorrow. It’s late.