Rhode Island

It's not enough that Providence has Del's and clam cakes

Of all the KFCs in the world, only the ones in Providence and Omaha, Neb. are serving "Double Down" sandwiches, which consist of bacon, two kinds of cheese and a special liquified saturated-fat sauce sandwiched between, no, not two halves of a bun, but two deep-fried chicken patties:

... God clearly did not mean for humans to eat chicken, bacon, and low-quality, gelatinous cheese at the same time. I was suddenly struck with a strange urge to keep kosher. Each bite became a grueling endurance test, as the cheese and grease began to override the chicken breasts, and the sandwich grew more revolting-looking with each bite. ...

Taking the train to the airport - the other airport

The Globe reports the MBTA board of directors is expected to vote today on whether to approve an extension of the Providence Line to T.F. Green Airport. Rhode Island's spending a boatload of money getting the rail line and airport ready for the extension (which would actually continue onto North Kingstown).

Providence is pretty snappy

Gag me!

The other day, the kidlet and I took the train down to Providence because, well, we could (also, she wanted to ride in a double-decker train). It was a pleasant 45-minute ride from Hyde Park, and only $9 roundtrip (she still being at that magical age where trains are free) - $13, if you include the parking at the Hyde Park train stop.

At the Providence Place food court, there's a Rhode Island food stand where you can snap some gaggers - what we'd call eating some hot dogs (Massachusetts has different definitions of 'snappin' gaggahs'). They also sell Del's Lemonade, which is one of the two drinks Rhode Islanders obsess about (the other being coffee milk), although it's really more of a lemon slushy (kidlet loved it, wondered why we can't get them in Boston).

We walked along the Providence River, which proved something of a mistake since it was early afternoon and wicked hot and there was almost no shade. Still, we got to see some interesting things before we collapsed from the heat: