World Outside Your Window

Like everyone else, I feel compelled to share my whereabouts on Septemer 11, 2001. I suppose the imputus to do this stems from knowing that even though it was, to quote Joe Walsh, an ordinaly average day - I, and you, will always remember where we where when we heard the news.
Back in 2001 I was not a mostly-stay-at-home mom. I worked full time for On The Water Magazine, which was still under the umbrella of the Enterprise. As everyone recalls, Sept. 11, 2001 was a beautiful day. Warmer than today. My co-worker Gene and I left the Cape early for Rhode Island. It was one of our last field trips to the Ocean State to do research for On The Water's Fishing New England: A Rhode Island Shore Guide book.
We were planning to shot photos for the cover of the guide.
First stop was East Wall, near Point Judith in Narragansett. I took pictures of Gene surfcasting. I believe that's where I slipped and amost dropped my camera and where Gene got soaked and had to change clothes.
Next we stopped at the Avenues in West Narraganssett Bay. An amazing spot that you can access down several side streets as you make your way up Route 1A from the Point Judith Lighthouse heading towards Narragansett Beach.
The photo that's on the cover of the guide is from our photo shoot in the Avenues although personally I thought we had some better shots than the one that ended up being chosen.
I think we also stopped in a spot where people were surfing. I can't be sure where that might have been. Gene probably knows.
I also think we stopped for lunch in that sandwich shop in Jamestown just across from the harbor, but it seems impossible that we could have stopped there and not heard the news. Remarkably, we hadn't have the radio on all morning, somehow we'd been managing to practice the art of actual conversation.
Anyway, it must have been noon when we found out, we were paying the toll to go over the Jamestown Bridge onto Aquidneck Island, it's more familar name being the island where Newport is located. So the bridge tender is telling us this news in fits and starts, figuring of course that we already know what he's talking about.
We had no idea.
We just looked at each other and said "is he crazy?"
Then we turned on the radio.

song: World Outside Your Window • artist: Tanita Tikaram