La Vita, a Volte, è Molto Dura, Vero Provvidenza?

Thursday, August 13, 2026 

THREE-THIRTY A.M. came very early, but Ms. B. and I had a plane to catch. It's the weekend of NecronomiCon Providence, and our flight departed from Greensboro at 6:30 a.m. We had a connection in Charlotte (yes, we had to fly south before we could fly north), but things went off without a hitch, which was kind of surprising, given our semi-frequent flying woes. We landed at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport right on time at 10:30 a.m. and picked up our rental car lickety-split. It does indeed seem rare anymore when air travel goes so swimmingly — and on American Airlines at that, which for some years I'd refused to fly after a series of serious flight snafus.

Once in Providence proper, our first order of business was locating food, since we'd each had only half a hard-boiled egg at home before we left. We ended up polishing off some fine vittles at Murphy's Providence, a nice Irish tavern we've visited in the past — satisfying burgers and libations for the both of us. We then headed over to the Graduate Hotel (formerly the Biltmore) and checked into the con. We've got a room for one night at the Omni Providence, where much of the con is being held, but we couldn't check in until 4:00 p.m. Still, we wandered con area for a while, ran into Lovecraft eZine compadres Mike Davis, Alan Hughes, Kevin Joiner, Mike & Bridgette Brenmark, and Chaz Mena, and shot some shit for a bit. Then we stumbled over to a random bar called Rogue Island, where we encountered a lovely Irish bartender named Kevin, with whom we struck up a nice conversation. He suggested we check out Weird Providence, a marvelous little bookshop filled with Lovecraftian and cosmic literary treasures. The proprietors were keen on adding some of my books to their shelves, and I had just enough copies on hand to provide them with a few.

At last, it was time for us to check in at the Omni. For the rest of our time here, we'll be staying at a nice VRBO on nearby Federal Hill, but it had been erroneously double-booked for tonight. The owner kindly refunded two nights of our stay there for the one night we'd have to miss, which worked out nicely, given our schedule. Once settled in, we showered and rested for a while, thinking we'd go to the con's opening ceremonies at 5:00 p.m. Alas, we were still pretty exhausted and didn't quite have it in us to deal with southern-style heat out there again.

 

There had been some clamors among the eZine group about going to The Red Door, where there was music and Necronomicon-sponsored goodies, and so Ms. B. and I made our way there, but alas, it was so packed, we couldn't get inside. On a lark, we poked our heads in next door at Needle & Thread, a speakeasy-style restaurant/bar that appeared very appealing. Indeed, the atmosphere was great, but there was only one fellow on duty to look after patrons, and he was stretched pretty thin (not to mention his basic organizational skills needed some work). The food however, was fantastic; Kimberly had chicken empanadas, and I had fried calamari.

 

Out in the street, we ran into a bunch of friends and familiar folks — Jeremiah Dylan Cook, Patrick Barb, Carol Gyzander, Kevin Joiner, John Langan, Paul Tremblay, Pete Rawlik, and others. We shot some serious shit for a while, then Ms. B. and I set out in search of liquid refreshment. Very nearby, we found a cool-looking bar called Moonshine Alley and sampled a few of their wares. Then we moved to The Oberlin, where they were running Clueless on an outdoor screen — kind of a "walk-in drive-in" feature. We sat in their very pleasant bar for a time, then set out for our lodgings. On the way, we ran into Mike Davis, Alan Hughes, and Chaz Mena yakking on a street corner, so we spent some quality time with them for a bit before hoofing it back to the Omni and crashing.

 

One hell of a long but satisfying day in what what has become one of my favorite cities anywhere.

The view from our lodgings at the Omni Providence

Crowd watching Clueless on the screen at the Oberlin bar

Clueless at the Oberlin bar

Jolly old dude & Mike Davis

Ruffians on a street corner

Would you hang out with these people? Yes? How brave! Old Dude and Chaz Mena

---

Friday, August 14, 2026

We bounded (read: straggled) out of bed fairly early this morning, since it promised to be a somewhat chaotic day. We snagged copious amount of caffeine from the little coffee shop at the Omni, checked out of our room, and then checked our bags with the concierge, since we couldn't move to our new digs for several hours yet. Then we hung out for a spell at the Lovecraft eZine table in the dealer's room.

 

At 11:00 a.m., I made my way onto the dais for the Appalachian Gothic panel, which attracted a bigger than standing-room-only crowd. It was a lively and fun discussion with moderator Mike Allen and panelists Tonya Monteforte, Shanna Germain, and Luke Dodd. We then joined a passel of reprobates for Japanese treats at Yamato Japanese Restaurant. Lemme see if I can remember the crew... we had Mike Brenmark, Alan Hughes & his daughter, Kevin Joiner & his wife & 2 kids, Chaz Mena, and Pete Rawlik, It was a damned fine time, and I tore up a superb plate of not-very-dead fish, though I wonder if our servers ever want to see us again, for there was merriment (and even silliness) on occasion here.

Appalachian Gothic panel: Old Dude, Mike Allen (moderator), Tonya Monteforte, Shanna Germain, Luke Dodd

Standing room only at the Applachian Gothic panel

"I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about it."

Lovecraft eZiners: Alan Hughes, Matt Carpenter, Mike & Bridgette Brenmark

I needed to fit in some geocaching, because it just hadn't happened (yet) on this trip. And Ms. B. was thirsty. So, we went after a cache that I ended up unable to find (pretty sure it's missing), though I did complete a handful of Adventure Lab cache stages. We found a sweet little spot called Congress Tavern, had a drink, and then returned to the Omni to collect our rental car and shift our temporary domicile to our VRBO on Federal Hill — an insanely short distance from the site of long-demolished St. John's Church, which served as the inspiration for a crucial setting in H. P. Lovecraft's pivotal story, "The Haunter of the Dark." Our place is an old three-flat house that likely dates back to the turn of the 20th century. It's been reasonably modernized, but it has a lot of character and is comfortable.

 

Once settled, we walked over to a nearby wine shop to check out their wares. Since Federal Hill is basically Providence's Italian quarter, it was no surprise to find that they specialized in Italian wines, and we found a couple of bottles to bring back that proved quite good. For dinner, we visited Pane e Vino, which had an extensive and appealing menu of Italian vittles. Both Ms. B. and I decided to go for smaller portions this evening, so it was Polpette (meatballs with cheese in marinara sauce) for her, and beef carpaccio for me (it's one of my favorites, though a very rare treat). She rated hers decent but unremarkable; mine was fantastic. Today was pretty much Mark Uncooked: raw fish for lunch and raw dead cow for dinner. Hey, I loved it, though I can just hear Melinda Dillon in A Christmas Story hollering, "You'll get worms!"

For the rest of the evening, we made it mellow. She worked on art, and I worked on the blog. Tomorrow, we've gotta be up and at it pretty early.

Till then.

---

Saturday, August 15, 2026

I had a panel to moderate — "Drifting Down the River of Night's Dreaming: Karl Edward Wagner" — at 9:30 a.m., so we got up and going post-haste to make sure we could get back to the Omni and find parking, which can be difficult in the area. We opted for the parking garage at Providence Place, just across the river, which we'd done on a previous trip — but the place is so big and so damned... non-Euclidean... that once we'd secured a parking place, we had the devil of a time getting out and across the river. Eventually, we managed this, though with no little confusion. Kimberly headed straight to the coffee shop, and I made it to the panel with scant minutes to spare. She kindly brought me a large coffee just before the panel kicked off. What would I do without you, Ms. B.?

Have I mentioned that I detest moderating panels? Point of fact: I detest moderating panels. However, this proved to be an excellent bunch of folks to panel with — Jordan Douglas Smith, Doug Winter, Brett Cox, and John Langan — so it went swimmingly. Once it was over, Kimberly and I wandered down to the dealer's room and hung out with the eZine crowd for a while. About 11:30, she and I snagged eZiner Matt Carpenter and meandered over to Murphy's for a spot of lunch — chicken wings for Matt and me, and a breakfast plate for Ms. B. All were quite decent. We quite enjoyed conversing with Matt; that was probably the most face-to-face time in person we've ever had. When we'd checked in at the Omni, Brugger and I had received vouchers for a free drink at Fleur, the hotel restaurant, so we availed ourselves of this thing upon our return.

Old Dude, Brett Cox at the Karl Edward Wagner Panel

John Langan, Old Dude

Douglass Winter, Jordan Douglas Smith

To my surprise, while we were in the bar, I ran into F. Paul Wilson, who is one of my favorite living writers and a long-time acquaintance from many cons in the days of yore. He's had some serious health issues these past few years, so I was happy to see him up and about. We chatted for a while, and then Brugger and I returned to the dealer's room to mind the store. I'd brought a handful of my books for the eZine table, and I'm happy to say I sold out of them. I wish I'd been able to bring more, since I obviously could have sold them as well.

At 3:30, I had a reading over at the Graduate, along with writers Julie C. Day, Adam Golaski, and Jacy Morris. It was very well received, and I quite enjoyed reading the tale. Unlike moderating panels, readings make me smile. And once that was done, Brugger and I headed downstairs to Reiner's, the restaurant/bar at the Graduate. Soon, Mike Davis and Chaz Mena joined us, and we enjoyed excellent drinks and conversation with them until Ms. B. and I had to leave to meet friend/fellow writer, Jeffrey Thomas and his daughter, Jade; writer Tim Burrall and his wife; and a couple of Tim's friends at Mokban Korean Bistro. What a fabulous dinner! I had fiery chicken udon, which really was fiery. And fantastic.

 

By now, Brugger and I were fairly exhausted (we're getting very old). Somehow, we managed to retrieve our rental car without issue and returned to Federal Hill, where we fell down and went boom. After a long, hot shower, I settled down to write the blog, and Ms. did a bunch of artsying. We're thinking that we're going to forego Newport tomorrow and hang around Providence. After going non-stop for such long periods, a somewhat slower pace — and not having to drive a goodly distance — felt like more the ticket.

 

We've still got a visit to Salem, MA, ahead of us on Monday. Ciao.

L: F. Paul Wilson & Old Dude; R: Old Dude reading "Night Crier" to a marginally terrified audience

Fiery chicken at Mokban

A fiery mob at Mokban

---

Sunday, August 16, 2026

I woke up a bit before Ms. B., so I coffeed and breakfasted (a single egg) and worked on the blog. Once she straggled out of bed, we debated whether to head back to the con for a short while; but as most of the regular crowd was preparing to return to respective domiciles and such — and since parking can a huge hassle — we opted to roam around Federal Hill for a while and get in some geocaching (at least for me). I found four fun ones, and we discovered a handful of very scenic spots. I found myself smitten with the architecture of the Church of the Holy Ghost (shown below). It was not the church Lovecraft used as the setting of his story, "The Haunter of the Dark" (that was St. John's Church, which is long gone, though the site is very near here, as I mentioned above), but it might as well have been. It's impressively large and and moody, with the perfect atmosphere for the church in the story.

For lunch, we checked out The Screaming Unicorn, a fun little establishment attached to Buttonwoods Brewery, located in what one might take to be a sketchy, semi-abandoned industrial area, but it's clearly being restored. And dang if we didn't find some mighty good foodz and drinks here. I had a Screaming BLT — hot-honey bacon, greens, 'maters, pickled onion, and chipotle aioli — and it was good enough to rouse a holler out of me. Kim killed a killer smashburger. From there, we ambled on back to our lodgings, got clean, and mellowed for a time before it was time to head out again to the Brown University area, a little southeast of here.

Since we'd decided not to go to Newport, we made dinner reservations at The East End, down on Wickenden Street. We'd seen it on our last trip here, but at the time, it was too crowded to get in. We headed down mid-afternoon, went after a nearby geocache, and stopped at a couple of nice taverns —The Point Tavern and Wickenden Pub — both of which we enjoyed a lot. Then we made our way to The East End, where I had fresh oysters and a mushroom kabob, all of which was delicious, but my god... so expensive. When we get back home, we're gonna need to eat grass out of the yard for a few days.

 

Once back at our place, we sat out on the nice front porch, which overlooks Tell Street, and finished the night with a last glass of wine. A lovely day, all in all, though I'm kinda sad that we didn't manage another chance to see some of our good friends again on the con's final day.

On the geocaching trail near the Newport Ferry launch

This table at Wickenden Pub has seen a lot of history

A damn fine martini at Wickenden Pub

A damn fine young woman at Wickenden Pub

The bar at East End Tavern

Late night on the porch

---

Monday, August 17, 2026
Today's agenda was traveling to Marblehead and Salem, Massachusetts. Kimberly had been to both places way back when she was of sound mind and body, but I never have. We set out mid-morning, wended our way through a handful of traffic jams, and arrived in Marblehead just about lunchtime. The town is beautiful, and by New World standards, really quite old, dating back to the 1600s. We found lunch at a wonderful little market called Shubie's, where you can buy made-to-order food to eat in or take out. We got a couple of sandwiches, which we ate in their little dining area. They also had a pretty extensive wine department, so we picked up a bottle of Nero d'Avola to bring back with us for tonight.

 

Our next stop was Old Burial Hill Cemetery, founded in 1638, which we wandered for a while. It contains many historic Puritan gravestones, some featuring stone carving artwork (much of which has almost completely weathered away). H. P Lovecraft mentioned the burial ground in his story, "The Festival." And speaking of HPL, we then drove over to the much larger Marblehead Town Cemetery, where a Lovecraft-themed geocache lurked ("H. P. Lovecraft: Kingsport" GC2WD74). It's a pretty old cache, and it bore the singular aspect of age, squalor, and dilapidation. Marblehead served as the inspiration for Lovecraft's town of Kingsport, so how apt for us after a lovely weekend at NecronomiCon.

From there, we moved on to Salem and proceeded to explore the downtown/historical area. They really do play up its "witchy" history for the tourists, some of which is cool, though it mostly feels kind of tacky (notice Brugger hanging out with Elizabeth Montgomery here). Regardless, I enjoyed the character of the place. Lots of shops, restaurants, taverns, and a historical graveyard in the middle of it all. I went after a few caches, including a couple of virtuals, adventure lab stages, and traditionals.

 

Amid our wanderings, we stopped at The Village Tavern, where I tried a very girly drink called the Lavender Empress, which was actually pretty good. Fear not, though; at the subsequent tavern we found — The Dire Wolf — I had a much more traditional concoction called the Wild Hunt, with bourbon, vermouth, ginger, and bitters. Finally, we went to dinner at the very nice O'Neill's Irish Pub, where I killed an incredible beef stew and Kim mangled bangers & mash.

 

Then it was time to return to Providence, where we again sat out on the front porch and watched the neighborhood go by. Very relaxing, and the perfect way to end a fun but long and fairly exhausting day of roaming.

 

Tomorrow is Last Day, and we're heading out late morning for the airport. NecronomiCon was a most wonderful con, among the most enjoyable such gatherings I've ever attended. Selling out of those books didn't hurt either. No doubt, I'll be returning — hopefully along with Ms. B. — for NecronomiCon 2028. And I think we'd both love to stay at this apartment on Federal Hill again, if it's available at the time. It's been a most comfortable and convenient base of operations.

 

So, until next time...

Salem's famous "Witch House"

Rear view of the "haunted" Ropes Mansion

Witch Museum

Those people again

---

View Mark's Photo Album Here

---

OUR SHADOWED PAST III Is in the House

During the month of September, I spent my days hard at work designing, laying out, and creating graphics for one of the most intensely detailed projects I've ever undertaken: the third in a series of books about the legendary TV series, Dark Shadows, titled Our Shadowed Past, created by the legendary Bob Issel, Dark Shadows devotee and mastermind of many evil things. (See "Our Shadowed Past III In the Works," September 16, 2025). It's a 256-page volume of essays by fans, interviews with show's stars, fan fiction, and—as the book's centerpiece—a retrospective of the many fan gatherings, all organized by Mr. Issel, at Seaview Terrace, a.k.a. Collinwood, in Newport, Rhode Island. There's also a detailed look at Dark Shadows: Sanctuary, which would have been the fourth Dark Shadows audio drama I wrote for Big Finish, had things not gone south prior to its production.

This book is a big, sturdy monster, with around 750 photos throughout, about half of which comprise the Seaview Terrace retrospective section. Alas, I've never been to any of the Seaview gatherings. Brugger and I were planning to go last year, but HBO tossed a monkey wrench in that plan—see "A Weekend in Providence," November 19, 2024 for details. But the in-depth essays and photo albums from the gatherings are so detailed and immersive, it really makes me feel as though I were a part of it all. We're still hoping we can get there for a gathering at some point, though the Carey family, who owns Seaview, has put it up for sale (at a cheap $29.5 million). We'll just have to see how things pan out in the coming days.

If you're even a casual Dark Shadows fan, I don't think you could ask for a better, more compelling volume to draw you into the world of Collinsport, Maine, and the big house on the hill known as Collinwood.

 

Our Shadowed Past III, like its predecessors, is a very limited edition, so few copies will be available beyond those who pre-ordered the book. However, I can't recommend this big honking love letter to Dark Shadows highly enough, so if you are interested in a copy, email Mr. Issel at bobubas59@gmail.com right now, and I mean NOW. You'll not regret it.

A Weekend in Providence

Old Dude paying a visit to H.P. Lovecraft

For many moons now, Ms. B. and I had planned to attend a Dark Shadows gathering at Seaview Terrace in Newport, RI, this weekend, but a while back, event organizer Bob Issel regretfully announced that, due to HBO using the mansion as a staging area for the series Gilded Age, and their shooting schedule running overtime, the Dark Shadows event would have to be postponed. Well, boo. We had nonrefundable plane tickets, so we decided there was nothing for it but to spend the long weekend in the Providence area anyhow.

Friday, November 15, 2024

These days, the only flights you can get at reasonable prices are the ones that depart for your destination before the ass-crack of dawn and return you home barely in time to catch the Late-Late Show. Brugger and I hit the road for Greensboro's Piedmont Triad International Airport well before sun-up this morning, bound for Providence by way of Detroit on Delta Airlines. Fortunately, our flights went off without a hitch, and we arrived at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport a good half-hour early. Once we'd retrieved our bags, we picked up our rental car and went on a desperate quest for lunch, for the Great Starvation was upon us. We found acceptable fare — fish & chips for the Old Dude, mac & cheese for Brugger — at a little Irish pub called Sullivan's Publick House in Pawtucket, not far from our lodgings. Upon checking my geocaching app to see if any caches lurked nearby, I discovered there was one just across the street! Needless to say, I zoomed straight over and made quick work of it.

The only hitch of the day came when we arrived at our AirB&B in Pawtucket. Check-in time was 2:00 p.m., and we arrived at 2:45 p.m., only to find the place hadn't been cleaned. We immediately messaged our host, who figured there must have been some miscommunication with AirB&B regarding the timing, so he saw to it that everything was promptly set right. We planned to head into Providence proper anyway, and it wasn't very long before he let us know everything had been taken care of. Yay! This was a disconcerting greeting, to say the least, but we were pleased that our host rectified the situation before it could become a serious issue.

For our part, we made our way southward to Swan Point Cemetery, to the resting place of H.P. Lovecraft, which I figured I ought to visit at least once in this lifetime. Some thoughtful geocacher had designated the grave a virtual cache (a cache with no physical container; instead of signing a log, you answer questions about the specific location). Upon our arrival, we discovered a passel of turkeys madly running about the graves, perhaps hoping to have the place renamed "Turkey Point." Probably not gonna happen.

Once done, we made our way into downtown Providence, where I led Kim on a little tour of the area where NecronomiCon 2024 had been held a few months ago. Our first destination was Reiners Bar & Game Room at the Graduate (formerly the Biltmore) Hotel. It's a lovely bar, and their dirty gin martini rocked. After a little roaming around, we drove back to Pawtucket, where we settled on Rasoi Indian Restaurant for dinner. Since I've consumed more than my share of dead critter recently, I decided on the Vegetable Biryani, which was good, but I sure did miss the lamb, which is my preferred protein in the dish.

I found one more cache on our way back to our AirB&B, which — true to his word — our host had thoroughly cleaned and otherwise prepared it for us as it should have been.

And now, exhaustion sets in. At least this kind of exhaustion, unlike the brand of exhaustion we've been otherwise suffering lately, is quite welcome.

Turkeys run wild at Swan Point Cemetery

Providence by night

Saturday, November 16, 2024
Our B&B is generally comfortable, the bed in particular, but the walls are thin, and some of the noises from the surrounding environment are a bit more than one might care to hear in the middle of the night. Still, when I woke up this morning, I felt generally well-rested, for which I was glad, as we had a busy day of winging it planned — well, winging it but for a highly anticipated lunch appointment with a certain New Englander of our acquaintance.

 

Ms. B. needed a new computer mouse, so we set out about ten o'clock and picked up a mouse at a Staples just down the way. Then we drove over to nearby Benefit Street, specifically to visit number 135, which served as the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shunned House" (1924). The house was built in 1763 by Stephen Harris and owned by John Mawney, for whom it is named. Lovecraft's connection with the house came by way of his Aunt Lillian Clark, who lived there from 1919 to 1920.

135 Benefit Street: H.P. Lovecraft's "Shunned House"

We took some photos of the house and wandered around Benefit Street, where I also claimed a very cool virtual cache in the graveyard of the nearby Episcopal church. Kimberly and I both loved the atmosphere of the neighborhood, especially since many houses were still decorated for Fall and/or Halloween. A few already had Christmas decorations up.

From there, we proceeded down to Wickenden Street, near Brown University, so Ms. B. could fit in some shopping and I — yes, you guessed it — some geocaching. We both ended up very pleased with the results of our respective endeavors.

A little before 1:00 p.m., we headed back into downtown, where we met longtime friend and fellow writer, Tony Tremblay, who so kindly drove two and a half hours just to visit with us. We had settled in advance on dining at Durk's Bar-B-Q, where we now enjoyed a lengthy lunch and some great conversation. Then we migrated a short distance up the road to have drinks at 110 Grill, which I'd enjoyed visiting when I was here back in August for NecronomiCon.

A portion of the graveyard behind the Episcopal Church

Mr. T., Old Dude, Nice Lady

Once we had bid Tony a fond farewell, Brugger fit in a little more shopping at Providence Place Mall. We then decided to head back toward Wickenden Street, as it offered lots of options for drinking, dining, and geocaching. We had hoped to hit a coffee shop for a shot of caffeine, but the couple we found had just closed for the day. So we drowned our coffee woes by way of a Chardonnay for the lady and an Old Fashioned for the Old Dude at a nice little joint called The Point Tavern. Once done, it was still a hair too early for dinner, so we took a nice stroll out to the pedestrian bridge over the Providence River, where I snagged a couple of more caches. Then we walked back and found a fine dinner at Champa Thai/Laotian restaurant.

That was about all we had in us for the evening, and Kim had some work to catch up on, so we returned to our lodgings, where Kim worked and I blogged.

Till tomorrow, friends...

Another beautiful evening in Providence, viewed from the pedestrian bridge over the Providence River

Sunday, November 17, 2024
Brugger and I have noticed over the past couple of days that, wherever you go in Providence, the air is filled with the distinctive aroma of pot smoke, even when you're in a car. Mind you, this is not a complaint.

Our target this morning was Newport, about 45 minutes south of Providence. As mentioned previously, our original plan for this trip had been to attend a Dark Shadows gathering at Seaview Terrace, but HBO's filming schedule squashed that event. Since neither Ms. B. nor I have been to the house before, we decided to make our way to it and at least check out the exterior. So, we set our sights on the Ruggles Avenue address and headed out fairly early this morning. Sure enough, the property was closed off to visitors, but there are several areas where one can take decent photos, and so... many photos I took. I hope we'll manage to attend some future DS event there and can look forward to visiting the interior whenever that might happen.

After roaming about Seaview for a while, we headed into Newport proper. Ms. B. needed to find a CVS, so that we did, and once she'd accomplished her mission, it was lunchtime. We happened to see La Forge Casino Restaurant just across the street from the pharmacy, so we decided to give it a try. We both had burgers, which were pretty good, and I had a bloody mary, which was very good.

After that, we needed some exercise, so we set our sights on the Cliff Walk along Newport's eastern coastline. There was easy access at the end of Ruggles Avenue, near Seaview, so we parked there and started walking northward. A short distance on, we arrived at the clusters of rocks in the ocean that appear in the Dark Shadows opening titles. Several geocaches hid along the walkway, and I managed to claim the ones along our route. We hoofed it for several miles, so I figured that maybe we managed to work off a french fry or two from lunch.

Some of the rocks that appear in the opening titles of Dark Shadows, seen from the Cliff Walk

Old Dude and Ms. B. not quite on the rocks but still cool. Sort of.

One of the many mansions in Newport's Gilded Age area

Salve Regina University uses many of the Gilded Age mansions for their academic and administrative buildings as well as student housing

But wait! Oh, no! Ms. B. wanted to check out a local winery/brewery not too far away, so after our walk, we ventured up the road to Newport Vineyards & Restaurant, where we likely undid any calorie loss from our walk. She had a Riesling, which, unfortunately, she found unimpressive. Rather than wine, I sampled one of their IPAs, which was quite good, though — like so many items in the area — way overpriced for what you actually get. 

Heavens! We still had plenty of time to kill before our evening dinner reservation, so we ventured to the southeast end of the peninsula and found an interesting beach (and several geocaches). While I hunted caches, Ms. B. wandered the beach to hunt intriguing shells. We both found what we sought. This activity took us till about 4:00 p.m., and since we had a 5:30 dinner reservation at the Black Pearl restaurant (whose exterior doubled for the Blue Whale bar in Dark Shadows), we headed in the direction of the waterfront district to see what kind of trouble we might get into there.

As it turned out, a couple of Adventure Lab caches awaited us, one of which led to a few locations used in the movie Hocus Pocus 2, which both Ms. B. and I find fun to watch. The second AL took us on a little walking tour of the area, which we enjoyed.

Come dinnertime, we wandered over to Black Pearl, a cozy and atmospheric nautical-themed restaurant — very apt for the Blue Whale's real-life counterpart. We considered the numbers in the menu's price column mighty high, but we had counted on this and bit the bullet. Ms. B. had shrimp & pasta, which — rather sadly — didn't quite meet her expectations, especially since it's a dish she's very fond of. I had shrimp cocktail and Clams Casino, both of which were excellent, but I'd say that, for the price, the quantity came up a bit short. Still, for something like this, we figured we were paying for the experience as much as the food, and we did very much enjoy the experience.

Just down the way, we'd seen an Italian place that served gelato, and since we both love gelato... that is where we ended up. Giusto was its name, and yeah, that was some mighty fine gelato.

After a satisfying day and evening of mostly winging it, we made our way back to our Pawtucket lodgings, where we repeated last night's procedure: Ms. B. got some work done, and I blogged.

Try not to breathe too much of that pot smoke out there!

Looking down Newport's Thames Street

The Oliver Hazard Perry, docked in Newport

The Black Pearl Restaurant, a.k.a. The Blue Whale in Dark Shadows

Old Dude and a lovely ale, spinning Dark Shadows yarns for the nice lady

Monday, November 18, 2024
"On the far horizon were the open countryside’s purple slopes. Against these, some two miles away, rose the spectral hump of Federal Hill, bristling with huddled roofs and steeples whose remote outlines wavered mysteriously, taking fantastic forms as the smoke of the city swirled up and enmeshed them."

—H.P. Lovecraft, "The Haunter of the Dark"

On our last day in Providence, we still had some time to explore because we needed to check out of our AirB&B by 10:00 a.m., and our flight didn't depart until 7:20 p.m. Once we had fulfilled our clean-up duties and checked out from our lodgings, Brugger and I drove over to Federal Hill, first to claim a couple of caches — one being another stage of the Hocus Pocus 2 Adventure Lab cache (nothing more than a Walgreen's store, which had been done up for the film). Then I got it into my head that we should find the location of the long-demolished St. John's Catholic Church, which had served as the inspiration for the Starry Wisdom Church in "The Haunter of the Dark," which is perhaps my favorite H.P. Lovecraft story. This endeavor proved not at all difficult because, once I determined its actual address (at Atwells and Sutton Street), we found St. John's Park and an inlaid panel in the sidewalk that gave a brief history of the church. It's been over thirty years since the building was demolished, but I can't say I didn't feel touched by the "Shadow From the Steeple," to use the title of Robert Bloch's follow-up story...

Brugger in St. John's Park, the site of the old church that served as HPL's inspiration for the setting
of "The Haunter of the Dark"

Old Dude hanging with Roger Williams, founder of
The First Baptist Church

We found lunch at a little Italian grocer/eatery called Roma which was so Italian it felt more like being back in the boot than in Providence, Rhode Island. A Caprese chicken sandwich for Ms. B. and a pork loin sandwich with grilled onions and provolone per me, both excellent.

There was a virtual geocache at Providence's First Baptist Church, the very first Baptist church in the United States, established by Roger Williams in 1638; the present building was constructed in 1774–1775. Back in August, the opening ceremonies for NecronomiCon took place at the church, though I did not go after the virtual at the time because, after the festivities that day, the skies opened up and dumped a big old gullywasher upon us mere mortals.

With a good bit of time still to kill before hauling ourselves to the airport, we parked ourselves at Murphy's Tavern downtown, where the Lovecraft Ezine guys and I had several times parked ourselves and sank all manner of drinks during NecronomiCon downtimes. Brugger and I sank some fine spirits here, and I provided her with a few shivers by reading to her the first few paragraphs of Lovecraft's "Haunter of the Dark," which described the locations we had visited today as they appeared back in his day.

And then it was off to PVD. After returning our rental car, we checked in and settled ourselves at the airport's Providence Provisions restaurant (which I had seen a lot of back in August when I was stuck at the airport for two days) and fortified ourselves with a decent meal. Thankfully, this trip, our two flights were not only on time but early, so instead of 2:00 a.m., we arrived home at a little after 1:00 a.m.

For a trip that turned out to be something altogether different than what we originally anticipated, this one goes into our personal annals as one of our most enjoyable ventures — other than the fact Brugger was plagued by a lingering cough even after she'd gotten over the previous week's cold. Now, given the direction this country has taken, who knows if she and I will have the resources to indulge in such excellent outings as this in the coming days; hell, if she loses her medical insurance, thanks to at least half the country's fierce and foolish battle against any kind of universal health coverage, almost every penny that we've previously been able to pump into the economy will be going straight to healthcare. If this kind of thing is what "making America great" means to you, then you can go get fucked by an orangutan, and thank you very much.

Adieu, until next time.

Our last round in Providence, at Murphy's Tavern