Hello everyone! Gwyn and I both have contracts in the North East. She was able to land a contract in RI and I’m working in CT. It sounds like a long drive, but it isn’t too bad since RI is such a small state. Driving around and exploring on the weekends we’ve been able to enjoy all of the fall colors and charm New England has to offer.

For some time, New England has been a place I’ve wanted to stay an extended time but never had the chance before now. I had been lucky enough to visit Maine and check out Arcadia National Park in the past, and have gotten to go to Massachusetts a couple of times. With my few visits to the states, I fell in love with the views in those areas.

In my opinion this placement has been pretty magical. Almost everyone we’ve interacted with have been incredibly nice or helpful, from recommending places to visit to letting us over in traffic. Don’t get me wrong, there have been good people everywhere we’ve visited but New England has been a bit different. I haven’t really run into anyone aggressive in the last 1.5 months, and many people have gone above and beyond in interactions. Gwyn and I have talked about possibly coming back after the contract or even settling down in the north east at some point in the future.

So far we’ve taken weekend trips to Cape Cod MA and Newport RI, with a few local trips to Providence in between. I just got off the phone with her, and we’re going to head out to Boston this weekend for a book festival (Boston is only about an hour away from our location). Last weekend we went to Newport and enjoyed a seafood festival, parking at a local park and biking to the fest. I’m so glad we biked because the festival was super busy. I was able to enjoy the shellfish while Gwyn ate some delicious birria tacos from a local food truck.

There are actually a lot of designated bike trails in CT and RI. It may be in other states around here, but these two states are the only ones we’ve experienced so far. She has been taking bike mechanic/repair classes once a week and volunteering at the shop to learn how to tune up our bikes and maintain them. She found a nice antique bike in a thrift shop in Rhode Island and we’ve been riding 1-2x most weeks. I always wondered why everyone in movies biked around in New England, and it seems like it’s because so many people ride theirs regularly.

It’s been fun so far, and I’ll post again soon since we’re seeing and doing so much.

Over and out,

Whit

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