“What cheer?”
Motto of Providence, Rhode Island

I woke up in Rhode Island this morning — Providence, Rhode Island. Yesterday’s flights from San José (we had a stop-over in Denver) were quite pleasant, as far as air travel goes these days. From San José to Denver, the woman sitting next to Kathy engaged her in lively conversation from take-off to landing. 

On the flight from Denver to Providence, I noticed right away that there was a young mother with three children, ages 10, 8, and 17-months, sitting directly across the aisle from us. I knew right then that it was going to be a chaotic three hour flight. It wasn’t. The kids, all three of them, were angels. It was a military family. Dad was driving a U-Haul with all the family’s belongings from Colorado Springs, where they’d lived for several years, to a town near Providence, where his new assignment took him. The 17-month-old boy would have been a great playmate for my grandson, Henry.  

Enough about yesterday. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives, right? So here we are in Providence, preparing to board our New England Islands cruise, which will take us to Block Island, Newport, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket Island, New Bedford (MA), and Bristol. We have a lot of sightseeing to do in the next week.

Did you know that Rhode Island is not an island? Just aking.

Our adventure today begins with breakfast here at the hotel, followed by a bus tour of the must-see sites in Providence. We will board the American Star around noon time before it sets sail (no, it’s not a sailboat) for Block Island. I’m looking forward to a relaxing day.

Now, about the American Star,… the ship in the photo above is NOT our vessel for this cruise. It’s simply the justification for it. Tomorrow, June 29th, Kathy and I celebrate the 40th anniversary of our marriage. 40 years! More on that tomorrow.

For now, it’s time to head down to breakfast in the Mozart Room, located on the Mezzanine Level of the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel. The window of our room looks directly across the street to the Rhode Island State House. Impressive structure, especially last night when it was all lit up.

As for the motto of the City of Providence quoted above… maybe someone will explain this to us today. I don’t get it.