Block Island or How to Lower your Blood Pressure
The view from my hotel window of a beautiful home overlooking the ocean.
I’ve been on islands before. I really have. So please know that I’m not impressed only because it was my first time having minimal land separating me from ocean on all four sides. From Hawaii to the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Greece, and a short layover in Iceland, which pushes the current definition of an island for these purposes.
A family wedding took me and my sister to Block Island, Rhode Island. I’d heard casual mention of it once or twice in my more than twenty years living in the D.C. suburbs, but the noise about Virginia Beach, Dewey, and of course the Outer Banks all muted any real information about the Rhode Island destination. After a nine hour drive we arrived at the ferry, left the car on the mainland and walked onto the big boat. The wind was whipping on the upper deck so we retreated to a booth inside and relaxed for the hour-long ride.
Walking off the ferry on the other side, we were met with the small town with the usual shops of beach themed T-shirts and restaurants with seafood filled menus. But it was the quiet and the friendliness and the comfort that really made it special. It was early in the summer season so the day tripping crowds weren’t there yet, which made it all the more special. We rented scooters and toured the island with my camera bag tucked under the seat. We visited with cousins we rarely get to see and laughed so hard my voice was strained the next day, just in time to read Bob Dylan lyrics at the wedding ceremony on the beach, the waves behind us surely obscuring most of my words.
The North Lighthouse was a standout visit. After parking the scooters it was at least half a mile on loose sand and large rocks. As a photographer, getting too close to the building held less interest than when I could frame it with the wildflowers and sand and perfect blue skies that surrounded it. A large dead seal carcass on the beach only offered interest and a brief singing of The Circle of Life rather than any gags or glances away, even by a seven-year-old girl we were walking behind as we passed it. A true National Geographic educational moment.
I’d return to Block Island in a heartbeat, though know it will never be the same as those three and a half days spent with my sister and our cousins, laughing and eating and drinking and celebrating the marriage between two of my favorite people. If the opportunity arises, I will go, but if I never do, it will always be one of my favorite destinations I’ve visited. I truly feel my blood pressure was lower those days and the stress of work and driving and real life were left behind, 13-miles across on the mainland.
Check out the photos here.
A few photographs are available in the Print Shop.