Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Block Island




We went to another island called Block Island. There is a hotel there named the Spring House Hotel, that Jim ran for a season for the bankruptcy court before he auctioned it off and he wanted to show it to me along with the island. We had to take a ferry ride to the island. It is off the cost of Rhode Island near Long Island NY.

This is the down town part of the island. We rented bicycles to ride around the island. It was great fun and I enjoyed seeing the sights and eating at the places that Jim once enjoyed with his children.The buildings with the red roofs are the hotel that he and his children ran for the summer season. Jim loves telling the story about how the staff (about 20 people)were so rude to him when he first came and when he told them to knock it off. They said "what are you going to do fire all of us?" and of course, Jim being Jim, he said Yes!! and did. Each and every one of them. Then he called Melissa, Jimmy and got them with their friends to come and work along with John, Laura, and Ben. Twenty plus people showed up the next day. They all worked and lived in the hotel for the entire summer. This is us outside of the hotel. The chairs are original from the time that the hotel first opened. The inside was so neat with all of the original furniture and bar area. We stayed here for a while before going on to the lighthouse and the beach. Us outside of the light house, the beach is right behind us. It was a beautiful day not to hot and not to cold.This is the light house. About ten years ago they moved it back from the cliffs because of erosion. They didn't take it apart they just jacked it up and moved it. That was really interesting. After riding up lots of hills and feeling like my legs were going to fall off we reached the beach but to get to it you had to descend the stairs. I thought that this is okay but I wasn't sure about coming back up. Jim assured me that it would be worth it to be at the beach. Jim immediately ran into the water diving into the waves and loving every minute of it. He looked like a little kid body surfing. I on the other hand went out to touch the water and found it too cold for my taste and just as a wave hit my feet I turned around and ran. After a long day of bike riding, and swimming in the ocean it was time to go home. While on the ferry we both fell asleep on the bench. We stopped at Jimmy's home for a belated Father's Day dinner. Melissa was there with the kids. It was a great day.

3 comments:

Julie said...

What a fun trip. You seem to go a lot of great places. That hotel looked awesome and HUGE! The lighthouse was fancy too I can't believe they just picked it up and moved it.

Dave & Katie Butler Family said...

It is great to see you having so much fun. And great suit. I love it. :)

Heather said...

Love the pictures. It looks gorgeous up there.