cresecent beach, block island & happy birthday ian!

for those of you who have gotten to know my son through his photo contributions to LIDP (see yesterday's flag photo) and therefore might like to know, today is ian's birthday! given the fact that I am not sure I could have kept up with this blog without his amazing encouragement as well as his creative contributions, it seems appropriate to devote part of this space to wish him a very Happy Birthday ! Happy Birthday Ian!

yesterday, birdman from port city daily photo left a comment inquiring, "Block Island... what's there? Were you just on a day trip? Stay over? Shops? Artists?" so I thought, why not answer here, with more pictures!
block Island is an island off the coast of rhode Island. it is accessible by passenger ferry from long island but if you'd like to take your car you have to take a ferry from point judith. ideal for people who love to ride their bikes, it's a hilly place that is extremely bicycle friendly and discourages too many cars. the cars that do drive there drive at a much slower pace. much of the land is preserved so if you like to explore nature, go to the beach, and do some birdwatching, this is the place. there are a whole bunch of shops in old harbor which is convenient to the day trippers coming off the ferry from point judith. the beach shown above is the southerly end of crescent beach and is within walking distance from the old harbor ferry as well. if you keep walking a couple of miles, you wind up at the northerly side of crescent beach which you can see in the photo below is much more quiet. 
block island is one of my favorite places to return too. I was there a few days last week and spent most of my time riding my bike, swimming, eating and reading. it is also an ideal place to catch up on sleep - it is so pitch black there at night (they discourage light pollution) and quiet, you are literally woken up by the sun. if you want to see more of block island, I will be posting a variety of photos from there over the next several days. 
meanwhile, have a great thursday...