AvecLion
August 20th, 2007, 02:22 PM
OK, time to confess. We don't do vacations. LOL...we never have the money to go away for an extended period. But we do go on day trips. Most of the things we stumble across on accident. Some of them become annual traditions (Salem MA in October, Atkins Farms in September for apples).
We added a new one this year. Waterfire (http://www.waterfire.org/) over in Providence RI. Heard about it, figured it was a good way to kill a summer Saturday, so J and I went. We had no idea what to expect, so we were floored. I guess I should mention that J and I are the type of people who can sit at a campfire for hours, just watching the flames, not making a sound. So this sounded like it was right up our alley.
We walked around Providence for an hour or so, then my knee gave out and we sat down for a while to watch the street performers and the gondola rides passing by. And people started crowding around where we were sitting, so we figurd it was a good site. Just after sunset, music came over the PA system and a procession of boats came into the basin where we were sitting. The first boat had a gong that a woman kept hitting every couple of minutes. The other boats were filled with wood and one person had a torch. There was one boat with buckets of carnations on it. Eventually the torches were all lit and those boats started lighting the bonfires. The carnations were handed out randomly to people sitting on the edge. Origami cranes were handed out to children. And the whole time, the fires were burning and you can smell the wood and feel the heat. It was a zen moment, if that makes sense.
J and I held hands and watched the fires. We heard commentary in Russian, Spanish, and Japanese behind us. But mostly, we just chilled out and watched the fire burn. We didn't say a thing to each other. Unfortunately, we had to leave - we had plans the nex t morning - the sad part of not knowing what to expect when you go someplace. J said we'll go back when we can stay longer. I'm looking forward to it.
Here's some of the pictures we took. It's hard to see, but in the third picture, the gondola rides continued even after the fires were lit. And sorry about the pixelation in the last picture, the batteries were dying.
We added a new one this year. Waterfire (http://www.waterfire.org/) over in Providence RI. Heard about it, figured it was a good way to kill a summer Saturday, so J and I went. We had no idea what to expect, so we were floored. I guess I should mention that J and I are the type of people who can sit at a campfire for hours, just watching the flames, not making a sound. So this sounded like it was right up our alley.
We walked around Providence for an hour or so, then my knee gave out and we sat down for a while to watch the street performers and the gondola rides passing by. And people started crowding around where we were sitting, so we figurd it was a good site. Just after sunset, music came over the PA system and a procession of boats came into the basin where we were sitting. The first boat had a gong that a woman kept hitting every couple of minutes. The other boats were filled with wood and one person had a torch. There was one boat with buckets of carnations on it. Eventually the torches were all lit and those boats started lighting the bonfires. The carnations were handed out randomly to people sitting on the edge. Origami cranes were handed out to children. And the whole time, the fires were burning and you can smell the wood and feel the heat. It was a zen moment, if that makes sense.
J and I held hands and watched the fires. We heard commentary in Russian, Spanish, and Japanese behind us. But mostly, we just chilled out and watched the fire burn. We didn't say a thing to each other. Unfortunately, we had to leave - we had plans the nex t morning - the sad part of not knowing what to expect when you go someplace. J said we'll go back when we can stay longer. I'm looking forward to it.
Here's some of the pictures we took. It's hard to see, but in the third picture, the gondola rides continued even after the fires were lit. And sorry about the pixelation in the last picture, the batteries were dying.