Hiking the Big Mountains: September 2012

Today, I had a meetup event to go biking on Block Island, which is the town of New Shoreham in Rhode Island.

In order to get there, we had to take the Block Island Ferry, located at Point Judith in Narragansett RI.

I arrived a little early, hoping that the current misty weather would end and not start raining, so I went around a bit on my bike after parking my car at one of the lots near the ferry area for $10. One interesting structure was the Fisherman's Memorial Monument, which apparently is supposed to have a steeple, but did not when I saw it. I climbed up the stairs to the top to take in the views from there.

St. Mary's Star of the Sea

Fisherman's Memorial Monument

A few of the people who were supposed to go on the event were already at the station when I arrived, so I decided to leave my bike with them to go and get breakfast at Bess Eaton nearby.

I decided to get the Garden Vegetable Egg White on Flatbread with bacon, which had spinach and basil mixed with egg white.

It was small, but not too bad.

I took back my bike and went cycling to the Salty Brine State Beach to take some pictures of Port Galilee.

Mouth to Port Galilee

Soon, it came time to leave, and I met up with everyone else to board the boat. While it was leaving the harbor, I took several pictures of the place we were leaving behind, including Port Judith Lighthouse. There were also people fishing at the entrance to the port.

Approaching the outlet

Port Judith Light in the distance

The views of Block Island as we approached were excellent as well, especially because the sun had come out.

As we approached the Block Island harbor, I took more pictures of buildings I could see from the boat.

National Hotel

Spring House Hotel

Harbor Church

Approaching Old Harbor

After we were done getting our bikes, we started off toward the Southeast Light, passing by several scenic areas along Spring Street.

Memorial, Spring Street and High Street

The Southeast Light is a pretty interesting structure. Even though it was open, there was a fee to go up, so I decided not to.

The views from this area are great as well.

We next headed to the Mohegan Bluffs area, where the walk down to the beach below was very steep, although the views here were simply awesome. The waves here were strong, and there were many piles of stones stacked up here as well. In the fun that we had here, including trying to escape the strong waves, which I failed to do so miserably, my biking helmet became part of the stone art here.

Down at the beach

Rocks Stacked on high

The Strong Waves

My wet pants

The cliffs above

My contribution to the art world

After lunch, we headed out toward the North Light in the northernmost part of the island, passing by a few places like Trims Pond and the Fred Benson Town Beach and even an old car show at Veterans Park on the way.

Block Island State Airport

Memorials, Legion Way and West Road

Old Car Show at Veteran's Park,
West Road near Legion Way

Trims Pond,
West Road near Beach Avenue

Fred Benson Town Beach,
~7 Corn Neck Road

At the northernmost edge of the island, we had to park our bikes to proceed toward the lighthouse. Pictures I took as I walked towards it follow.

I continued walking toward the northernmost point, taking more pictures of the lighthouse and of the beach in the Block Island National Wildlife Refuge where the waves met on both sides.

Northernmost point of Block Island

Heading back to the entrance

Finally, it was time to head back to catch the last ferry for the day. I do not know why, but when I started biking, my thighs immediately started cramping out. It also happened to 2 other friends of mine. I tried to continue cycling, but soon it became too much to bear. I had to stop at the side of the road while my friend help me to massage my legs. After eating some biscuits to get back some nutrition, amazingly my legs became good to go again. Back near the start, I took one more picture of cormorants resting on a rock in the harbor.

After arring, we still had some time, so we went to get ice cream from Old Harborview Takeout, where I got the bubblegum flavored Super Burst while my friend got the pistachio one.

After making a mess eating my melting ice cream, it was time to board the boat back to Point Judith. Back on the mainland, we decided to head to Buster Krab's nearby for a seafood dinner.

Apparently, it was their last weekend open, so they were out of a lot of stuff. Thankfully, I was still able to get my order of Rhode Island Clear Clam Chowder, which I never had before, and a lobster roll entitled "The World's Most Expensive Lobster Roll". It definitely was. But it was excellent as well, with the lobster meat being really fresh, and the roll being a French type of baguette completed the dish.