The end of the Rhody

Charlestown Beach

My months-long meanderings come to a lazy end this week in Charlestown, Rhode Island, where I have gathered with my mom, sisters and their significant others for Grown-Up Family Vacation. Luckily, this vacation bears little resemblance to those of yesteryear, when I was dragged, sulking and screaming, to a million places I didn't want to go. Now when I don't want to do something, I can just say so. The wonders of adulthood!

Yesterday, for instance, the thought of poking through one more swanky, overpriced gift shop made me want to die, so I stayed home with my dog and drank Magic Hats and danced around the deck with my iPod on. Now that's vacation.

I also took some much-needed time off after breakfast this morning to read the Wikipedia entry on Rhode Island so that I might regale you with some tidbits about the state. I hope you enjoy these fun facts while I nap on the beach and pretend the real world isn't going to deliver me a painful kick in the ass tomorrow.

Things I bet you never knew about Rhode Island, a.k.a. "The Ocean State," a.k.a. "Little Rhody":

• The smallest state in the country in terms of area, Rhode Island is roughly the same size as California's San Joaquin County, the county I most recently called home.
  
• Rhode Island is one of two states in which prostitution is legal, provided it takes place indoors.
• The official name of Rhode Island is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
• Rhode Island was the second state to abolish the death penalty. Its last execution was in the 1840s.
• A Democratic stronghold, Rhode Island was one of six states to vote against Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.
• Rhode Island reportedly has the highest number of coffee/donut shops per capita in the country. There are more than 225 Dunkin' Donuts, alone, in the state.
• The first female newspaper editor was Rhode Island's Ann Smith Franklin, who became editor of the Newport Mercury on Aug. 22, 1762.
• Riddled with beaches, no part of the Rhode Island is more than a 45-minute drive from the water's edge.