Clare's Dad

Some people are drawn to mountains.  Others to lakes or rivers.  Some are drawn to wide open spaces.  Some cities.  But me—despite the misplaced city boy inside of me—I’m drawn to oceans.

Maybe my connection to the sea goes back generations to fishermen off Ireland’s western coast.  Maybe even near Clare Island off the county where my great grandmother was born.  Or maybe to fishermen in the warmer waters of the Gulf of Salerno off the Amalfi Coast near the town where my mother’s parents grew up.

Clare’s Mom shares this love of the shore.  And we seem to have passed it onto Clare too.  So, given our last free full weekend until sometime in January, we went back to the Ocean State for a weekend in Newport.  We walked the shore, visited some “cottages,” ate in a great new-to-us restaurant, and bleached our hair in the over-chlorinated hotel pool.  You may think I’m crazy, but I tested the ocean water too and it wasn’t that cold.  The water is definitely warmer now than it is in May or June—summer sun and storms driving tropical waters north take care of that.

It was a great but much-too-short weekend.  Only eight months until summer comes again.  How about you?  What’s your favorite place for vacations or a weekend away?