By: Holly W., Grand Executive Committee, Dean of the Grand Cross of Color and Representative to CT/RI
Hi California Rainbow! My name is Holly and I am a Member of the Grand Executive Committee, Dean of the Grand Cross of Color, and Representative to Connecticut and Rhode Island. I’d like to share with you my trip to Rhode Island. I was fortunate to be joined on my trip by my friends, Lucy and Angellina. When I arrived at my hotel room I got a wonderful bag that had goodies and information about some of Rhode Island’s landmarks. I knew we had to visit some in our spare time. I had so much fun at the, “Believe in Your Own Magic with Rhode Island Rainbow” Grand Assembly sessions. I had the opportunity to meet so many new people including my counterpart, Eryka, and the Grand Worthy Advisor Hannah, who would be the new rep to California! One of the coolest things I learned was that the Grand Line, Grand Chaplain, and Grand Drill Leader all wear crowns during Grand Assembly. All the Grand Officers have matching dresses and bows that match the theme. The Grand Worthy Associate Advisor moves up to Grand Worthy Advisor and this year her name was Holly, how funny is that?! Holly chose the theme, “Find the Key to Your Dreams with Rhode Island Rainbow” which is an Alice in Wonderland theme! This year they will be supporting the American Heart Association as their Grand Service Project. In between sessions Angellina, Lucy, and I got to visit some awesome places like the Roger Williams National Park. Roger Williams just so happens to be my relative and after sharing this with my counterpart Eyka we found out she was also related to him! So I guess we are very distant cousins. Next, we toured some lighthouses, got to eat lobster, and drink milkshakes the size of our heads! They were so good but boy! were we full! After sessions were over we decided to take that list I got earlier and try to visit as much as we could. One of the most memorable things we did was visit a memorial to the world’s largest chicken but the funny thing was that we didn’t know it was a memorial. We thought we were traveling to see an actual chicken so, after an hour of traveling, we found out that the chicken had unfortunately passed away many years before. We ultimately spent less than a minute there just to take a picture! Next, we visited the Newport Creamery where we had coffee milk, the state drink. One of the last things we did was visit the Roger Williams Zoo. Unfortunately, there were no lemurs, but we got to pet armadillos, goats, and sheep! Last, but by no means least, we got to go to the Breakers, a mansion owned by the Newport family. It was absolutely stunning and after our tour, we decided to run around the lawn, explore the garden, and of course, visit the gift shop! Finally, it was time to head back to California! I had so much fun in this wonderful state and I wouldn’t trade it for the world! I have memories that will last a lifetime and new friends that I’ll get to see again in April when they come to visit California to attend our Grand Assembly!
