1986 Thanksgiving (11/27-28/1986)

Friday, November 28, 1986

Kent’s parents arrived Wednesday evening to spend Thanksgiving Day with us.

Kent carving the turkey

Turkey centerpiece courtesy of Kent's mom

Kyle pets the turkey (photo by Ada)

Erich pets the turkey (photo by Ada)

Today Kent's parents went to Fall River, MA to go shopping on their own. After a turkey & rice soup lunch, we decided to take Walk and Ramble of RI #33 Harborview Trail. Drove up I-195 and turned off after crossing Washington Bridge into East Providence, heading towards Veteran’s Memorial Parkway. Suddenly saw the Mauran Avenue we needed, and followed it to the end, turning left on Pier Rd. At its end was Bold Point Park, a tiny park with wood chip and gravel road, bicycle path signs, picnic benches, and a boat ramp.
We walked back across the railroad tracks and began to follow them along the harbor.

Harborview Trail view at the start
of the I-195 bridge over the Seekonk River

We had a scavenger hunt list, and the first item was quickly found: a railroad spike. We were also looking for a pillow on the railroad bed! Didn’t find one. However, we did find a comb, toothbrush, mattress, rug, and underpants!

Railroad signal

We passed the oil tanks, and much of the walk was uninteresting.

View of oil tanks and the Providence skyline

There wasn’t much harbor traffic. Later we did see one tug, and a cargo ship high in the water across the way. We saw several seagulls, but none of the other wildlife: rabbits, doves, killdeer (a small bird with an imitative cry). After about a mile we saw the cranes for unloading at the port farther along the other side. We did find wild plant seeds, many of which stuck to us. We came to an isolated high concrete wall with a gravel road up the other side. Kyle and Erich were now moaning, so we turned around. Climbed the hill to Veteran’s Memorial Parkway and walked along that. We wanted to climb back down to the railroad bed a couple times, but the kids said, “No way!” Finally convinced them to climb down so that we could go back to the car. We drove along the Parkway to Bullock’s Point to see the carousel and only saw the boarded up building. We took Forbes Avenue to Seekonk, MA to the Susse Chalet, but the Stumpes weren’t there. Kent took the boys to play basketball while I did laundry. Kent’s parents arrived at 15:30, and the boys came later. We ordered fish and chips, and clamcakes from Carrie’s for dinner. Then mostly playing with the computer.