With the ertire day off, and nothing really planned, I grabbed the camera, jumped in the Jeep (just a touch too cold to bring Stormbringer out of hibernation, so the Jeep got the nod) and decided to explore my little Ocean State a bit.

First stop: Pomham Rocks lighthouse in Providence.

This little lighthouse was first lit in 1871, and for the next 103 years helped keep drunk tanker pilots from crashing on to the rocks, and also guided the way to Cheaters, a local… err… ballet.

While I am a big supporter of the performing arts, there just wasn’t time, and besides, I was on a mission! Undaunted, I continued on to Warwick, and the Conimicut Shoal Light House.

A ‘spark plug’ type light, this fifty five foot beacon was activated in 1883. In 2005, the state devoted over half a million of my tax dollars to refurbish this spark plug. You’d think with that much cash to waste, there’d be a bar, or at least bridge out to it. For five hundred large, there should be something more convenient than a silly little dinghy.

Staying in Warwick, I found the aptly named Warwick Lighthouse next.

The original tower was built in 1826, but thanks to Prohibition, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Great Depression, or whatever convenient disaster they blamed these things on at the time, by 1930 the lighthouse was in danger of falling into the sea. A new lighthouse was built further back from the ocean in 1932. The great hurricane of ’38 once again threatened to knock this poor lighthouse into the sea. Intrepid Coast Guardsmen jacked the entire building up, light still burning, and moved it to it’s current location.

Moving on, I headed back to Providence, hoping to get a picture of the sun setting behind the State House. Sunset was scheduled for 4:16, and with rush hour traffic (yes, there is traffic in Rhode Island, believe it or not!) I wasn’t sure I’d make it if I took the highway.

I detoured down city streets, and happened to notice this church while stopped at a red light. The way the setting sun reflected on the giant Jesus antenna screamed out for a picture. The light turned green just before I snapped this shot. I had to laughabout the honkin’ mad road rage of the stupid jackass stuck behind me when I didn’t accelerate the instant the light changed. To put it in proper Rhode Islandese, he musta been in a wicked pissa hurry to move his caah.

Relax, dude.

And finally, the Rhode Island State House, located on Smith Hill in Providence. My favorite fact about this majestic building – really the ONLY fact I know about it – is that the dome is the fourth largest self-supported marble dome in the world, after St. Peter’s Basilica, the Minnesota State Capitol Building, and get this, the Taj Mahal. WOO! WE’RE NUMBER FOUR! WE’RE NUMBER FOUR!

And after sunset, I decided the best thing to do would be to support the arts community by stopping at Cheaters for some good ol’ fashioned culture.

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