A New Year, A New City

So, with the global pandemic, I cheated a bit on this. When I try to visit a new city on new years I do try for it to be new. Well, back in New Years 2009 – 2010 I actually was in Middletown, RI to visit a friend who moved there. My boyfriend of the time and I went up and we were all supposed to go out to Newport, RI for the night. Well it turned into a house party, but my boyfriend of the time and I still went out to Newport to ring in the New Year. This time however, I had my tot in toe so I stayed put in Middletown, RI for New Years Eve. So technically I may have stepped foot in Middletown, RI before, but I never actually experienced Middletown, RI before. So it was a bit of a cheat! Over this month I’ll tell you more about our New Years adventure. But first let me tell you a bit about our New Years!

I personally love beach towns in the winter. I love the beach all the time. Granted the beach in the summer is great, but the crowds are a bit much for me, so shoulder seasons are my favorite. In the winter there is a calm you cannot find in the summer. Sure, it’s cold, but it’s still calming.

We stayed at the Atlantic Beach Hotel. When I pulled up I thought, wow maybe I made a mistake. But the gloom of winter perhaps gives the hotel a eerie appearance. Perhaps, it’s the lack of people crowding the area that allows you to see it’s flaws and imperfections. Either way, this was our New Years getaway so we’d have to make it home. The hallways we’re no better than the exterior, but once we got into our room that was freshly renovated. The room I chose for us had 2 bedrooms with a galley kitchenette in between with a full bathroom off the kitchenette. There was no place to really sit and eat so we used the front room and bed to watch TV and eat while the back bedroom was for sleeping. The back bedroom had a view of the water and you could hear the waves and the geese in the early morning stillness. It was quite peaceful.

With a small child I got in and immediately used an entire tub of disinfecting wipes to not just wipe the handles, switches, knobs and things, but random things that housekeeping probably doesn’t normally clean, like walls, and under sides of things that kids like to climb around and touch.

I then got to unpacking and stocking the kitchenette with snacks and meals. Yes we’re on a getaway but it’s still a pandemic and it’s the middle of winter. We’re not dining outside nor sitting inside a restaurant. From there I unpacked the rest of our numerous bags which with changes of clothes, winter clothes, toys and books to occupy the child, etc it’s not so light to pack with a kiddo. But such is the life of travel with a kiddo. That night we ordered food for the restaurant across the street and we rang in the New Year by watching a live stream of the fireworks from Reykavik, Iceland since they hit New Years eve at 7:30p our time and that’s a far more appropriate “Happy New Year” for a 3 year old than midnight. I got the kiddo ready for bed and I was ready to chill with Ryan Seacrest and watch Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve but thanks to the remote not working and not being able to figure out how to turn the TV down on the actual TV itself the kiddo rallied until sometime after 9 pm but before 10 pm and here in March is still singing “Partyin in USA” Thanks Miley!

All in all it was a pretty good way to end a pretty bad year, being by one of my favorite places (the ocean) with my favorite person, the kiddo… not Ryan Seacrest.