Funnest Weekend Ever

Since coming back to the States, Its been great being able to lie around all day in my parent's house, go out to dinner at my fav restaurants, and hang out at night with all my friends from here in Philly, but I have of course been dying to get back to Block Island and catch up with my summer loves. Thanks to the likes of Email, Myspace, and Facebook, I had kept in frequent touch with most of them while I was in Spain, perhaps even more so than my own family. Going on the internet to find a message from any one of them proved to me not only how extremely funny and insane they all are, but what good friends they are just to let you know they were thinking of you.

Luckily, in this month I have off, I was able to scrounge up some free time between eating, watching tv, and going to Towey's in order to plan a visit to BI for the weekend. I have never seen the island in the off season, when the thousands of tourists are gone and the harsh winter weather takes over, so I was eager to experience it in a whole new way. Several of my friends are living on the island year-round, so despite the drastic loss of people, I also knew I would have plenty of people to hangout with. With Sara recruited to come along with me, we quickly sent out massive messages to alert people of our arrival and encouraged others to meet us there. Soon enough our dates were set and Sara and I were more than ready to hit up little Rhody.

However, before we could begin our trip, we had the slight problem of figuring out where to stay. Sara's house had been shut down for the winter so, with no heat, electricity or water there, we needed to find somewhere else to crash. We called our friend Timmy to find out what hotels are opened this time of year, but were unfortunately told that everything was closed. I have a feeling that this wasn't exactly true, but am ok with it since he offered to let us stay with him for the weekend. Timmy's family has owned a house on the westside of the island for several decades now, and he has been living in it for the past few years. His parents are there only a few months a year, and the rest of the time it remains his own little bachelor pad. Though Tim lives alone, it is not uncommon to walk in and find his friends eating breakfast and watching TV long before he has even woke up. In fact it wasn't until two days into our trip, that Sara or I even figured out that Timmy's friends Nick and Baggie weren't actually staying with him this winter. Yet, despite his often juvenile behavior, Timmy always keeps the house quite clean and comfortable, and Sara and I were more than grateful to be able to stay there.

So Friday night, after a long car ride of anticipation, we reached the Block Island ferry. My friend Morgan, who had been off island for the day, met us there to take the boat over, and the three of us quickly opened some newly purchased booze to enjoy on the ride over. We laughed the whole way as we all caught up on our last few months and reminisced about the past few summers. With the heavy fog settled over the ocean, there was no way of telling how far we'd gone, and I was startled to feel the boat come to a stop in what felt like just minutes later. Faster than kids on the last day of school, Sara and I grabbed our bags and rushed for the exit. And as promised, there was Timmy and Baggie kindly waiting for us to arrive. With one look at those two boys,I knew instantly that I was in for trouble this weekend, a suspicion that was reinforced moments later when empty beer cans came tumbled out of the trunk of Baggie's SUV.

That night, after dropping our stuff at Timmys and having a little something to eat, we heading over to the Albion, the local bar on the island. Sara and I were surprised to find so many people out and about on the island. I had alerted many of my friends of our arrival, but I was surprised to see many others. And some- like Rick, who was bartending that night- were quite surprised to see us. We all had a few beers and some minderasers- the fav shot of the island- and then Sara and I invited everyone back to Timmy's for late night. Everyone except Morgan that is. Sara, TRYING to be sarcastic, told him he wasn't invited and silly Morgan took her seriously and unfortunately did not join us. Mostly everyone else did, and after a little drama with Nick's car getting stuck in a ditch, the party continued at the house. Typical late night, Nick pulled out his guitar for a jam session, Tracy starting doing boxed wine funnels, and Timmy and I played flip cup on the kitchen counter. My idea of heaven!

The next day, I was awoken by Timmy as he handed me a piping hot cup of coffee and a mimosa. The night before Sara and I decided with our friend John, that we would take a long walk to Sara's house on the other side of the island. So we called John and met him and his dog Honey, who Sara fell in love with at late night, in town for pizza. It wasn't a very nice day- the ground was wet, the sky foggy, and the air sticky- but the surroundings were still gorgeous. Free from my hectic work schedule, I finally had the chance to enjoy it all, taking pictures of all the things I never would during the summer. I couldn't be happier. The town was free of tourists and instead consisted of only locals, the friendly hippies who wave to anyone they pass and who are always willing to strike up a conversation. We walked all the way down Corn Neck, the long road that takes you to Sara's, without any worries of obnoxious Moped drivers or drunken white trash stumbling home from the beach. Everything was perfect.

Hours later, we returned home filled with euphoria, just in time to begin yet another night on the island. Timmy and Baggie were already there, just opening a bottle of wine with their friend Andy. Along with John and Rick, Andy is a member of the 007s, arguably the most popular band on the island and definitely the favorites of both mine and Sara's. Earlier the two of us had tried to convince John to get them all to play at the Albion that night so we were happy to see Andy so we could seal the deal even further. Luckily, it took little persuasion, as they all love playing so much, and our plans for the evening were set. We hung out at the house a little longer and then eagerly headed out to the Albion for round two.

As always, the 00s kicked ass, and even did some new songs we hadn't heard them play yet. Though they only do covers, the 007s put so much energy into each and every one of their songs, that you begin to think of them as their own. Everyone- especially myself- was up and dancing like the crazy white people they are. During breaks, we all did some minderasers "with the band". I had managed to stay somewhat under control the night before, but on Saturday these things really lived up to their name. All I know is that I was pretty much dragged out of the bar as I screamed "Late night at Timmy's!"

I sobered up at the house, but others seemed to go in the opposite direction as me. The boys-Tim, John, Cave Dave, Andy, and Baggie- together finished pretty much an entire bottle of Scotch on top of their beers. Soon enough they were having vicious arm wrestling matches on the kitchen counter and D.O.T- Timmy's drunken alter-ego- made an appearance and had to be put to bed. When I walked up stairs for bed, I found a toilet full of puke and a half smoked cigarette waiting for me. Lovely.

The next morning, we all woke up feeling pretty nasty, but the boys were insistent that we go get beers and snacks for the football game that afternoon. Sara and I, who had deciced to stay an extra day for the opening of Morgan's restaurant, had promised to be their "beer wenches" in return for taking us on for an extra day. Instead, however, we ate lunch and fell asleep until the end of the game, only to be periodically woken by screams of "Im thirsty!". When we crawled back downstairs at 4:30, they were not too pleased with us. I dont think I helped matters either by continuously asking them to open the beers I couldn't managed to open myself. But, hey, thats what they get for feeding me so much alcohol the night before. John and Andy tried to convince us to come to the Albion, but Sara, Timmy, and I decided it was probably best we stay in and recover fully.

Sadly the next day was the end of our stay in Block Island. Though still tired from all our fun, I was in now ay ready to go: The weekend was so fun, and it flew by too quickly. Baggie came by around 12 to drive us to the ferry, but first I needed to stop in at Swashbuckler's. the restaurant Morgan was opening that day. An addition to the Albion, Swashbucklers will provide food for the bar as well as for their own customers. Morgan was a chef at Harbor Grill, working breakfasts with me most days, but had decided to move on and open his own place with Phil, a bartender at the Albion. He's extremely talented, and I couldn't be more proud of him, though I am sad to see him leave the Grill. Anyways, I knew the opening was important to him and since I was fortunate enough to be in town for it, made sure I made an appearance. Unfortunately, we didnt have time to eat, but I did get a glance at the place and it looks like its going to be a hit.

After saying my goodbyes to Morgan, Colleen, and RIck at Swashbuckler's, Sara and I bored our ferry, sulking at the thought of leaving. Block Island is truly a special, unique place, and I'm so glad I have it in my life. Luckily, after this weekend, it seems I will be having a lot more of it in my life: Sara and I have decided to spend a year there after graduation. Rather then leave in October when our summer jobs end, we will try and find other work and remain island bound through the winter. The whole way home Sara and I discussed our plans with glee. It'll be a great adventure and I can't wait for it to begin. If I can have this much fun in Block Island in one weekend, I can't imagine what an entire year would be like! Until then, its four months until my return, and I will be counting down every minute while day dreaming of many, many nights like the ones that just passed.