Road Weary Traveler has returned

Thank you to everyone for all your birthday wishes. I read all the comments on Saturday from Steve's laptop and your wishes made the weekend even more special.

Warning: I had fun with the camera.

We left Thursday right after work headed to Auburn Mass. and knew we were headed into the teeth of the storm which tragically killed several people in North Carolina. MFB spent most of the 2005 hurricane season riding out the storms and he said that the rain we drove through was worse than the hurricanes. We arrived at our destination safe, sound and thankful.

The next morning we met up with the Penn State Icers and went to Providence College where the team had a morning practice skate. After that we headed out on our own to meet back up with the team in Middletown RI.

We accidentally found our way to Westerly RI where MFB found this perfect cafe with terrific sandwiches and clam chowder. The hostess knew of a yarn store and directed me to Knitwits. It's a beautiful store with a nice selection. I came away with this Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK. It's 85% wool, 10% silk and 5% cashmere. It's very soft and I plan on using this for my Herringbone Rib scarf from Li and Life's a Stitch. The store told me it should block nicely to show off the ribs.

We headed out to our next stop which was Middletown and the hotel and started concentrating on the hockey schedule. This was a two game series against the URI Rams. It was well worth the trip as the Icers won both games 5-2 and then 4-3. I got to know some of the parents better on this trip and they were great fun. In fact one of them brought a gift for MFB and me. A pair of Clarks shoes size 9. Well that's what the box said, but the bottle inside shows a very nice vintage of Blackberry wine!!

During our weekend I hit two more yarn stores, one in Middletown and Knitting Needles in downtown Newport. At Knitting Needles I finally found some wonderfully soft wool in Penn State colors to knit up a scarf for hockey games. It's Cascade Yarns 220 and it's 100% Peruvian wool. Both sets of purchases are very yummy soft. Success.

On Saturday we went to a brew pub for an early dinner before heading back to the arena and I had a Caesar salad with fried calamari. It was fantastic!!! We also drove a short distance on Ocean Road and took a quick pass by the mansions.

On Sunday we headed back to Newport before heading home. We walked about 1 1/2 miles of the Cliff Walk and drove the whole of Ocean Road and took in the sights. We took a ton of pictures and passed by several others out enjoying the brisk ocean air. The mansions we saw from the Cliff Walk were striking. After that we headed home.

I didn't fall off any cliffs into the ocean so the Coast Guard was notified that they could stand down. LOL

At one point during the weekend MFB decided to take one for the team so to speak and the extent of first aid required was the team trainer breaking open some liquid adhesive and the bleeding finally stopped some time after. Messy, a bit amusing but nothing dramatic. For some reason he never let me behind the wheel of the car - most likely for the best. So we're home and back to life as normal.