Your Summer Itinerary

If You Are: Looking for a Healthy Dose of Fun

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8am
You’re not just pumped about life, you’re pumped up in general. Grab a healthy breakfast at Amy’s Place (214 Wickenden, 274-9966); order granola and fresh fruit at the counter and then carry it out back to the garden patio, where you can enjoy it while doing bicep curls with the salt shaker. A vegetarian brunch is served on Sundays from 10am-3pm at Garden Grille. Fill up on vegan crepes or carbo-load on vegan pancakes – you’re going to need the energy.

Insider Tip: The outside tables at Garden Grille are dog friendly, so bring along your well-behaved pooch.

9:30am
If your Facebook status updates include statements such as, “I’m about to go work out,” or “I’ve just returned from working out,” you’re going to love the East Bay Bike Path (pictured above). Begin at India Point Park and follow the 14.5-mile long path all the way to Bristol. Stop for a swim or a bathroom break at Colt State Park. If you don’t yet own your own two-wheeled upright transportation device, you can rent a bike from East Providence Cycle for only $25, helmet included. You can then enter the path from nearby Haines Memorial State Park on Rt. 103.

Try a leisurely three-hour Blackstone Valley Bike Tour where you’ll transverse four communities, stopping to visit many of the regional attractions along the way.

12:30pm
You must have worked up quite an appetite: Grab lunch at India (pictured below) and enjoy your curry and naan out on their patio, overlooking Lippitt Park, or back terrace, which has swings for seats. Just a couple blocks away is Wildflour Vegan Bakery & Juice Bar. Grab a pastry and a coffee to go, or enjoy it on the patio. Wildflour caters not only to vegans – it’s recently been certified Kosher and offers many gluten-free and raw foods, too. With June comes vegan ice cream, sandwiches and milkshakes in five flavors, including oatmeal.

1:30pm
Try an outdoor fitness class at Brown Street Park. Classes range from CrossFit bootcamps to Parkour. While real parkour involves hurling one’s body through the air a la a James Bond movie, parkour fitness classes utilize the terrain in a less I’m-gonna-fall-off-the-building-and-die kind of way.

Take a scenic walk at Mercer Lookout in Smithfield. The one-mile route is rocky in places but beautiful: blueberry bushes and a view of the Providence skyline await you. For a more rigorous hike try the Ben Utter Trail to Stepstone Falls in Exeter. That in itself is only a 3.4-mile trip – however, you can proceed from the falls to the linked Escoheag Trail, making for a seven-mile trip. The trek is hilly, with rocks and streams to contend with. Oh, and much of it is uphill... but you like that, right?

3:30pm
If you’re still full of boundless energy, don some argyle socks and play an 18-hole round at Triggs Memorial Golf Course. Or perhaps you’d like to get on the water at the Community Boating Center. On Saturdays you can take a Fast-Track Sailing Lesson – a one-day accelerated class in which you’ll learn the basics in just nine hours.

5pm
You’ve burned approximately 72,000 calories today, so treat yourself to a decadent, yet nutritious, meal. Indulge your tastebuds at Rick’s Roadhouse. You can sit outside while enjoying a super-lean Bison Burger and some sweet potato fries. Even non-smokers will enjoy dining at Byblos; this hookah bar and restaurant offers Lebanese and Middle Eastern cuisine, made-from-scratch, on an outdoor patio that’s a mini-oasis amid the crowded city streets.

6:30pm
Many meet-up groups exist in the area for biking, running, hiking... you get the idea. The Red Shed Bike Shop (pictured above) organizes weekly group bike rides and offers bike rentals and repairs on-site. PVD Critical Mass is a cycling group that rides on the last Friday of every month at 6pm. They “pedal daily, celebrate monthly and ride the movement.” The Rhode Island Hash House Harriers is “a drinking club with a running problem.” This social running club meets every Monday night at 6:30pm to complete varying four- to six-mile “hash trail” courses. Each run is capped off by a visit to a nearby watering hole. Friends don’t let friends hike alone: The Rhode Island Hiking Club is an active group that will take you deep into the woods, boldly going where no lazy man has ever gone before.

summer, providence, biking, outdoors, fitness, exercise, running, hiking, trails, providence monthly

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