April 21st 2014: Spending Patriots Day with Friends in Providence RI

In order to stay away from the madness in Boston today because of the Boston Marathon, my friends decided to go to Providence RI for the day, and I decided to go join them. Before that, I started my day off visiting the new Franklin Sculpture Park in the town of Franklin, a small outdoor park with a few sculptures.

My next destination was the DelCarte Open Space area, where I parked at a lot along Pleasant Street way before the official entrance, which is still partly under construction. The path I took from here to explore the water bodies here is shown below in pink.

The views of the ponds here were pretty nice, especially in this beautiful weather.

In order to get back to my car, I walked along the road. The next hike I went on was at Joe's Rock Conservation Area at 1487 West Street in the town of Wrentham. The rough path I took to get to the rock and back is shown below in pink.

I first went to view the water body here.

The view from the rock itself was beautiful.

I also tried to head north to find more views, ending up at a private farm property.

Heading back to my car, I headed next to the North Attleborough National Fish Hatchery, passing by the Christmas Tree Shops in town.

It was cool to see the fish in the visitor's pool.

I also checked out the nature trail behind the hatchery,

But there wasn't anything much to see here.

At this point I realized that it was a perfect opportunity to go check out the Massachusetts Golf Museum in the town of Norton. This place is free to visit, and has some interesting exhibits about the history of golf in Massachusetts and the various trophies.

Finally, it was time to head into Providence RI for the day. I parked right beside Prospect Terrace Park, where there were awesome views of downtown Providence.

There is also another small park at ~14 Congdon Street with similar views.

Along the way to Burnside Park to meet my friend, I passed by a few interesting buildings.

Congdon Street Baptist Church

First Baptist Church in America

RISD

Woonasquatucket River

St. Stephen's Church

Burnside Park itself is pretty nice with several monuments here.

The Kennedy Plaza is next to the park,

The Providence Rink is right beside it as well.

Here, I met my friend and went to check out the food truck located here at the time, Mama Kim's Korean BBQ truck.

We got the Kimchi Dumplings,

the Kimchi Pajun,

the Beef Bulgogi (shaved sirloin in signature marinade, grilled with onions, served with wasabi aioli sauce) Slider and the Pork Kimchi (pork loin in signature marinade, grilled with fresh house kimchi) Slider.

Not bad actually.

Our next truck was the Lotus Pepper truck which serves Vietnamese food.

We got the Thai Iced Tea,

the Fresh Summer Rolls (shredded lettuce, bean sprouts, mint, vermicelli, shrimp, wrapped in clear rice paper and served with homemade peanut sauce)

and the BBQ Beef Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguette filled with fresh cucumber, carrot and daikon pickles, cilantro).

the tea was a little sweet for me, but the rest of the food was pretty good.

Nearby was the City Gyro truck,

where we got the Lamb and Chicken over Rice.

Not bad, although I still prefer the sauce from the Chicken and Rice Guys.

Our last truck for the day was the Plouf Plouf Gastronomie truck, which serves French cuisine.

Here, we got the Truffled Mac and Cheese,

the Gnocchi ala Parisienne (fresh gnocchi, speck, parmesan cream sauce) and Fresh Hand Cut Frites (parmesan, parsley, truffle oil).

Not bad, though a little on the expensive side.

After our lunch, we decided to head to the Providence Place Mall to play at Dave and Buster's for a bit. This branch is a little larger than the one in Braintree, but the games were pretty much the same, that is boring.

The only game I found fun was the 4-way Disc Hockey game, and the Pac Man, but it was all over way too soon.

After finally leaving the arcade, we walked around the mall for a bit

before finally deciding to call it quits for the day.

After everyone had left, I was left to my own devices, so I decided to walk around town for a bit.

Omni Providence Hotel

Donald Gerola Sculpture,

Memorial Boulevard and Exchange Street

111 Westminster Street

City Hall

Superior Court

Old Stone Bank Building

Old Union Station, 1 Union Station

U.S. District Court

One Citizens Plaza

Department of the Attorney General

First Unitarian Church of Providence

First Church of Christ, Scientist,

71 Prospect Street

checking out Memorial Park on College Street and South Main Street,

Brown University,

and Waterplace Park is definitely beautiful even without the Waterfire performances taking place.

Finally, I decided to head back into Massachusetts to resume sightseeing in the town of Attleborough.

Allard Memorial Park, 147 May Street

Arbour Fuller Hospital

Luther Reservoir,

Old Post Road and Allen Avenue

Dodgeville Pond, 66 Thacher Street

The last place I visited today was the Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary in town. The last time I was here, the path to Lake Talaquega had been flooded, so I had to hope that it would not be the case. Thankfully, it wasn't. The path I took to walk around the lake is shown below in pink.

Pictures I took of the lake follow.

Finally, it was time for dinner. I decided to do something local, heading to the Colonel Blackinton Inn, which has simple yet elegant decor.

For appetizers, I decided to get the Stuffed Artichoke Hearts (Stuffed with prosciutto, salami, mortadella, provolone and mozzarella cheese, topped with a light marinara sauce , then baked).

Not bad, not too sour, just nice, the prosciutto perfecting the dish for me.

I got a special for my main course, the Veal T-Bone, which came stuffed with cheese and lobster meat, topped with a mushroom marsala sauce.

The meat was excellent, but I was a little surprised on seeing the hefty price tag on this dish: more than 40 bucks. I guess it was worth it, with the lobster meat and all, but I really wasn't expecting to spend over $60 here. Oh well. Still, this place is pretty good overall.

With that, my long Patriots Day weekend finally came to an end. Back to work tomorrow.