Ghosts, gulls and a gaggle of geese! How Rose Island Lighthouse Captured Our Hearts!

I will love the light...For it shows me the way!! 

Anticipation.  Take a moment to reminisce about moments in your life that brought you complete and utter joy.  Perhaps it was when you were a wide eyed five year old opening each window of your advent calendar in hopes that Santa Claus would get his toy packed sack down your chimney without getting his chubby belly stuck amidst the soot.  Maybe it was when you were in middle school and you began counting the hours, minutes and seconds until you could throw the mangled contents of your locker into the oversize trash can located conveniently near the janitor's closet, in order to  to get your summer on.  It could have been signing on the dotted line for that cherry red sports car you always longed for, or an event you had been daydreaming about since before forever.  Maybe, just maybe it is something you still dream about. (enter batting eyelashes and a sheepish grin here)   The best part about anticipation comes just as you are on the very threshold of wondrous fulfillment.  For the two of us, it comes as you hear the churning of brisk ocean water in the gurgling motor of Chris's boat. 

You see, Chris is the captain of the most wonderful boat on the east coast, for it is the boat that guides you, depending on the swell and surges of the chilled Atlantic Ocean, onward toward, in our completely unbiased and never strong willed or stubborn opinion,  the most beautiful lighthouse in the whole wide universe. 

Marcel is a bit of a veteran at visiting this historic and ever beautiful treasure that is nestled so snuggly between Jamestown and Newport Rhode Island.  His eyes sparkle when he talks about his prior visits and his excitement for all of the mystery and intrigue the island itself holds.  It was through his adoration of this location that I became completely enamored myself and, in turn, experienced that nostalgic feeling of anticipatory elation when we began to plan our own adventures there.  If you have read our other blogs, you have a bit of an insiders view on the places that we are drawn to.  The magical and completely marvelous thing about Rose Island is that it is an unabridged (no pun intended....see photo...lol) compilation of almost every single thing we love.  Okay, so it doesn't have cascading waterfalls,  honey seeking black bears,  a dilapidated mental hospital, the Liberty Diner and it's famous salad dressing, or the entire Boston Bruins hockey team, including the ever cool, calm and hardly ever angry Bruce Cassidy, but it does have a plethora of our signature must haves for our completely amazing explorations! 

Now if you take the time....and we know that you will take the time (nudge, nudge) to watch our YouTube videos at Rose Island, then you will see Marcel (the natural in front of the camera...sigh) and Jennifer (the goofy one who spews out way too much, but not enough to be completely and 100% accurate history)  wandering and exploring many of our favorite places around the island.  A bit of a disclaimer for our recent visit....Rose Island is not only home to historic remnants of Revolutionary War bastions and hauntingly mysterious bunkers that hold the secrets of the soldiers that lay sickened within it's bomb proof walls.   It has much more than the weathered and worn skeleton of a Naval torpedo station and the magnificence of the lighthouse itself with it's narrow stairwells to the lanthorn where you can feast your eyes on a gorgeous sixth order Fresnel lens that still illuminates Narragansett Bay.  It even has a Geocache for all of our geofriends!!   And here after all of our (ok, my) yapping is your disclaimer....  Rose Island is also a wildlife refuge for many shoreline birds including herons, egrets, sandpipers, seagulls and....Canadian geese...a great gaggle of geese to be exact.  If you come for a visit....and we encourage you with every single ounce of adventure in our exploring hearts to make your way out there...please make sure to watch where you walk during the spring and summer seasons.   There is no shortage of goose poo and you will find yourself two stepping around the fowl (see what we did there) droppings with a great amount of skill and resolution.

Now we (ok, it's the J of J&M) find ourselves going on and on...and quite honestly, we could go on forever because this is literally one of our favorite places on planet earth , but you came to this site to read a short blog not the War and Peace of adventure novels.  Our intent, as always, is to inspire you to get out and enjoy this life!  We highly recommend that you see for yourself all of the wonder that Rose Island holds!   

You can come for a day, a weekend or even stay as an honorary lighthouse keeper for a week!  Make sure you plan your stay in advance because this amazing place fills up speedy quick and for good reason!  You will have incredibly romantic views of the sunrise and sunset, soft ocean breezes outside of your window and a peaceful serenity that is hard to come by in this day and age.  You could even consider leaving your electronic devices at home and if you visit between the months of September through March, you can explore parts of the island that are off limits during nesting season.  As adventurers, this is our favorite time to come.  Not only could you possibly have the island to yourself, but you will see all of the abandoned beauty and ghostly structures that adorn the entire island.

Check out this website for a day visit:  http://jamestownnewportferry.com/

and this website for overnight accommodations and information on supporting this beloved location of ours: 

https://www.roseisland.org/

Thank you  for taking the time to read this blog and....for the love of lighthouses, secret abandoned places, ghost infested mental hospitals and diners with really awesome food...."Do whatever makes you feel alive!!!"

-Jennifer and Marcel