A Wonderful Weekend in Rhode Island

     On a beautiful sunny day, sixteen travelers met at the Arc parking lot to enjoy a wonderful weekend away. Our three chaperones and one parent escorted twelve very excited participants to the vans to begin our ride. Almost everyone was sporting Red Sox gear of some sort – hats, t-shirts, pins – you name it, someone was wearing it. The mood in the van was high and many choruses of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” were sung.

     Our first stop was at Wright’s Chicken farm where we all enjoyed our fill of pasta, chicken, potatoes, salad and dessert. The food kept coming and the conversation kept flowing. Our waitress was really nice and enjoyed talking about baseball with the group. Once full, we left and headed to our hotel in Pawtucket to check-in.

     After cleaning up and relaxing a little, we headed off to the McCoy Stadium to see the Paw Sox play. We enjoyed a typical stadium supper of burgers, sausage sandwiches and other ballpark treats. We watched the lighted scoreboard to show each player; the women on the trip “ooh’d and aah’d” over the “cute players”, each deciding on a favorite to cheer for. That was almost as much fun as the game itself. The Paw Sox lost but we had lots of fun rooting for them. We even saw the team mascot for an up close and personal visit.

     Tired now, we headed back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep. As we were packing up Sunday morning, we had an unexpected treat. It turned out that the opposing team was also staying at our hotel. They took time to meet our group, sign autographs and pose for a picture or two. This definitely made Kathy, Karen, Lisa, and Jill’s trip very memorable! We finally loaded up and headed to Bickford’s for breakfast.

     From there, it was off to Sunday’s activity, a trip to the Roger William’s Zoo. That was fabulous. We saw elephants, tigers, monkeys, giraffes and more. We even had lunch in the Safari spot at the zoo. We of course found time to visit the gift shop and pick up a few souvenirs before heading home.

     It was a quiet ride home as many folks napped after all the excitement of the weekend. During conversation though, may favorite things were recalled – the game, the “guys”, meeting real ball players, the animals and of course the fun time spent with friends. It was unanimous that folks would love this trip to be repeated.

About the Author: Eileen Ganong

Eileen has managed residential programs, worked as staffing coordinator, presented staff trainings, qualified families for Shared Living/AFC placements, been instrumental in designing new program models and has participated in developing an array of services within the Family Support and Recreation program she currently directs.