The drive from Wickford down route 1A toward Point Judith was right along the ocean. The light (almost nonexistent) traffic made for a relaxing and easy trip through the small towns of Saunderstown and Bridgetown — white sails on the open ocean peeked through the trees. We passed Narragansett Beach and arrived at a pier packed with people strolling along the boardwalk and lolling on the decks of seafood restaurants. We drove under a large stone arch, and here we should have stopped to take some pictures, but it was already late in the afternoon so we kept moving.

Just past the pier, route 1A becomes Ocean Road, but you can’t see the ocean much at all because it is blocked by the gigantic, envy-inducing mansions, most of which are surrounded by high gates and/or shrubs. No, you cannot see the ocean, and no, you will never live in a house like this. I even saw a fucking Rolls Royce pulling out of a driveway, I swear to you.

Anyway! We eventually arrived at Point Judith, which is pretty great. I don’t usually get excited about the history of places, but the sinking of the SS Blackpoint and the ensuing chase and destruction of the attacking U-boat is spelled out in grim detail on a display near the lighthouse, and it reads like the stuff of WWII legend. The Judith Point Light itself is protected by the Coast Guard, who have a house on site. Here’s a couple of them pitching and hitting fly balls near the lighthouse.

Coast guards near the Judith Point Light

And here’s a shot of the water behind the lighthouse.

From the Judith Point Light

There may be better ways to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon in June, but I can’t think of one.

The drive south out of the city along route 93 includes some nice highway decorations, like a giant windmill and a gargantuan watertower painted in a bright array of colors. Once you get past those things, it’s a race to route 95 and on down to Rhode Island, where the cities of Pawtucket, Providence, Cranston, and Warwick are densely packed together along the highway.

Our destination was vague, although we were thinking somewhere near Point Judith, which I saw on Google maps. When we came to Wickford, we just had to stop for lunch. Wickford is the picture-perfect New England town, almost stunning in its quaintness and calm, topping even Exeter, New Hampshire. We had no trouble finding a place to park, right along the water.

Yeah, this place is pretty

We also saw this duck

There are a few different places to eat along the water. I can’t remember the name of place where we ate, but I had my first lobster roll of the summer, and the ratio of lobster to mayo was just right. Then we walked around town; here’s a picture to give you an idea.

Wickford: It's Kind of Perfect™

As we were driving out of town, J read aloud from the guide book that the fictional town of Eastwick from Updike’s Witches of Eastwick was based on Wickford.

In the next post, I’ll describe our drive down route 1A: beaches, baseball, and a lighthouse.

Our first stop was Exeter, where we had lunch at The Loaf and Ladle. We had about twenty soups to choose from, which was incredibly exciting. We passed up more adventurous options like strawberry and went with mulligatawny (super yum) and veggie veggie (so-so). We also had homemade cinnamon bread, which went perfectly with the curry-based mulligatawny. We sat on the back porch overlooking the Exeter River.

The Exeter River

Exeter is the home of Phillips Exeter Academy, a fancy-schmancy boarding school. We didn’t stop to see the campus, but just drove on by. Before we left, we saw a blue heron.

The Blue Heron Slumming with the Gulls

Some stuff happened in Salem, but I can’t remember much more than the rain and the arcade. Maybe they put a forgetting spell on me.

The Salem Willows Arcade, with Rain Closing In

And this old baseball pinball machine, which I am considering going back to steal.

The little men run around the bases and everything