Dang I’m actually not local so I didn’t know this! Bummer. My parents live in Charlestown and NK and many friends live in Gansett so I’m usually going out in S. County when I visit.

That reminds me, I meant to say there are definitely some gems in Mystic and Stonington that are worth exploring too!

The suggestions already here are good and I’ll add: Jim’s Dock (Jerusalem), the Breachway (Charlestown), Amigos (Westerly), Sa Tang (Wakefield), and Tate’s (Wickford). For breakfast or quicker stuff I’d suggest Sift (Watch Hill), Dave’s Coffee (Charlestown), Hungry Haven (Charlestown), BOL (Wakefield), Caf Bar (Wakefield), Bluebird Cafe (Wakefield). The Pub next to the Ocean Mist in Matunuck has become the more chill option with similar views.

I made this same move 5 years ago and actually switched to a Massachusetts EZ pass because it had no fees whatsoever (at the time). I no longer have a car so not sure if that’s still the case but worth looking into which states charge what and when.

I went last year, arrived after 10 and wandered around for a few hours.

The breed competitions are spread out over several large expo rooms where you can just walk up and watch for however long you want. There are 100+ breeds and these last for like 45 to 90 minutes each so we thought it was best to just peek for a few minutes and then move along to another. We may have watched one breed compete in full. Some of the viewing areas have folding chairs if you’re very invested or need a rest. There’s a big board near the entrance that lists what time and location each breed is competing, but I don’t remember being able to find that anywhere online last year so it was kind of luck of the draw.

They started filming the group competitions and best in show in the “arena” area at 1. We grabbed general admission seats probably 30 minutes before it was set to start. They run through each group relatively quickly and not everyone stays for all of them so you can probably find seats as they open up. We stayed for the Herding and Toy groups which together took about an hour. They were doing a skills competition during a break period when we left the arena.

There are concession stands open with snacks throughout the expo but it was not a great food selection so we left around 3 and got dinner in Phoenixville.