Today is the last day of summer, and looking back on our RI towns adventures, I have to say that the summer of 2020 really was great!  So many beautiful, fun, and interesting places in our little state! We'll be keeping this blog going and will hopefully be able to travel a little further soon.  Thanks for following our journeys - we've enjoyed sharing them with you!

By Tarynn
Welcome back, everyone! Time for our last town! SMITHFIELD!!!! This is our hometown and we love it here. There were so many places that we wanted to visit in Smithfield that we decided to spend a whole weekend exploring our town. We went to many different and exciting places in Smithfield. My favorite places were probably the A&W and the Kountry Kitchen Clam Shack because, well, you will know why when I tell you all about the places we went to. 

First, before we started exploring Smithfield with the whole family, my mom visited a store that you should all know about.  It's called Wood Items & More and it is a store that sells every type of craft item that you can imagine.  They also sell picture frames, which is why my mom went there today.  As you can see in the photos, the aisles are packed with so many interesting things, and the prices are lower than other craft stores.  You can even take sewing or painting lessons there.  The owner of Wood Items & More is Maureen, and she is very supportive of soldiers and veterans.  Every year she coordinates "Operation Rhody" to make holiday gift bags for veteran soldiers and she helps people paint ornaments and write letters to the veterans.  I went and helped out along with my Girl Scout troop.  We wrote letters, decorated bags, and painted ornaments.  

​Then we walked back to the car and went to the A&W Drive-Up Restaurant. At A&W we got root beer floats and they were delicious! I really love A&W root beer floats.

We had made a reservation at Jaswell's Farm for apple picking, so that was our next stop.  Jaswell's grows the best corn, and they also make really good pies, apple cider donuts, and lots of other things. We picked Gala apples and it was fun. There were so many apples on the trees!  We also ordered some baked treats from the farm store.  Once we were done picking apples, the treats were ready to pick up and we went on our way. 

Next we went to the Smith-Appleby House, which was built by one of the founders of Smithfield in 1696.  We had been here before in the wintertime to meet Santa, but we had never explored the yard at the Smith-Appleby House.  There was a cute little train station there, and there were also gardens and a path that led down to the end of Georgiaville Pond.  We also visited a historic cemetery that we could walk to from the Smith-Appleby house, and before we left we put one of our painted rocks on a post in the yard.

We went home and ate our treats from Jaswell's on our deck, and then my sisters relaxed at home for a little while, and I went to do my favorite thing: visit the neighbor's chickens.  

While we were relaxing and visiting chickens, my parents went for a walk to Deerfield Park.  Deerfield Park is really nice and I like to ride my bike there.  There are playgrounds, tennis & basketball courts, baseball & soccer fields, and even some hiking trails. Deerfield also is home to the Smithfield Senior Center, and there are also some beautiful memorials at Deerfield Park. ​

Once dinnertime came, we went to try out the new clam shack at Kountry Kitchen. We had Fish and Chips, clam cakes, a stuffie, and chicken tenders. It was all delicious! (Note from Heidi - Kountry Kitchen also serves delicious cocktails and beer - this is a great addition to Smithfield!) On some nights, they have music at Kountry Clam Shack, but there wasn't any music while we were there.  On the way home, we stopped at one of our favorite places, the Greenville Library. Even though we knew it would be closed, we wanted to leave a painted rock under the tall redwood tree.

We finished our tour of Smithfield with ice cream.  There are several places that we like for ice cream in Smithfield, including Scoops, Blackbird Farm, Smithfield Soft Serve/Del's, and Newport Creamery.  Tonight, however, we went to one of our favorites: Powder Mill Creamery. I got maple walnut ice cream with caramel sauce.  We sat at a picnic table by the water to eat our ice cream.  

Thank you for exploring Smithfield with us.  I hope you enjoyed it!