Curious George and the Man with the Broken Camera

Our first day without class was today, and instead of sleeping in like I had thought I would be before I got here, I was wide awake at 7 AM, ready to head off to Newport. Unfortunately, that also meant that just as I had expected earlier, my apple a day streak has been reset to zero. We waited in a surprisingly big line, and then we boarded one of the eight buses going to Newport. We made a beeline for the nearest Starbucks, and after a refreshing giant frappaccino, I headed off in search of a beach. Our navigator from New Jersey quickly steered us in the right direction, and in less than an hour we were on the same great beach we stopped by last time we were in Newport.

After a long game of catch in the ocean, which thanks to some unusual algae was dyed a deeper shade of red than the ocean at any point in any of the Jaws movies, and a near death experience where I almost managed to drown in knee-high water, I went back to the beach, excited to take some pictures of the scenery before we left. I took my camera out of the bag I thought it would be well-protected in, only to find that as soon as I would turn it on, it would shut itself off automatically. I assumed it only needed charging, and after we returned from Newport I quickly plugged it in, hoping that it would be fine by the time we went to WaterFire in Providence, where small piles of wood in the river are lighted on fire.

Unfortunately, it still has yet to properly turn on, but Emily was willing to let me borrow her camera for a few pictures, so I still can share some of the wonders of WaterFire. Before we went to WaterFire, however, our cohort met up with Mrs. Kaplan at Rick's Roadhouse, the self-proclaimed only one star restaurant in Providence. The casual restaurant had great food, but it was really great to get to meet up with Mrs. Kaplan and the group all at once again, so we could all exchange stories about the interesting people we've met and things that have happened. We drove back down to our old home, the Hotel Providence, and from there we walked to the river where WaterFire would take place.

A gondola ride between the small woodpiles that would be
burning brightly just an hour later

We ended up waiting for about 45 minutes before it actually began due to the fact that we wanted (and got) good seats for WaterFire. Those 45 minutes would have seemed like hours however, were it not for the presence of a magician in our midst, named George. He showed us multiple card tricks, each more astounding than the last, and every time I felt absolutely sure that I understood the trick and where it was going, he would do something even more spectacular than I could have imagined.

It soon became time for WaterFire to start, and while at first I must admit I felt some reservations regarding staring at flames floating on water for an hour, WaterFire greatly exceeded my expectations. The fires along the river when put next to the beauty of Providence was incredible and I wish that these events weren't so rare, as that will definitely be the last performance I will see this year. Today was a fairly busy day for a weekend, but tomorrow I plan to crank out all of my homework, so I can be relatively stress-free tomorrow night.