Another one of those "little states"

Did I mention that we didn't have an itinerary or even a plan as we started out on this road trip? We had an idea of towns we might want to see, but hadn't committed ourselves to staying anywhere. As we left Plymouth, we decided that we would aim to stay in Newport as opposed to New Bedford which we had also considered. Along the way, we drove over the bridge to Cape Cod just to see what it was like. We immediately turned around and went on our way towards Rhode Island!



What a great decision bypassing New Bedford and staying in Newport turned out to be! A friend of mine, Joe now lives in New Haven, Conn., but went to school in Newport, RI. I gave him a call to try and talk him into coming out and having a beer with us on the coast. Although he wimped out, he still gave us some good advice on where to go for dinner and what area of town to stay in. We happened upon a great little bed & breakfast in the area he directed us to. The suite we stayed in at The Burbank Rose guesthouse was a quaint four room affair (complete with food in the kitchen!). As it turns out, it was right across the street from the restaurant Joe suggested for dinner.



The next morning saw us out the door by 6:15 a.m. to see the Cliff Walk. This 3.5 mile walking trail skirts a 70 foot cliff that passes on right-of-way of over 60 private properties. By private properties, I mean MANSIONS!!! The homes (and some homes-turned-hotels) along this walk and adjoining streets reminded me of the chateaus we saw in Blois, France during my European backpacking vacation last year. Although beautiful to admire, I felt slightly offended by these places. Not because I would never be able to afford one, but that people had built so many rooms without a need to fill them. I'm happy to see that some are used for lodging now, but I can't help but marvel at the selfishness of the people whose families are only large enough to occupy 1/8 th of the rooms in their private residence. I appreciate the concept of spending money any way you wish, but there's a certain vulgarness to that kind of show of wealth.



At any rate, the Cliff Walk was a great way to start off the morning! I was traveling pretty light on this trip (carry-on luggage only), so I hadn't brought my running shoes. Charlene and Larry ran the whole 3.5 miles while I strolled about 2/3 of it with camera in hand.





We met back up at the guest house and enjoyed a healthy meal laid out in the breakfast room for guests. Muffins, fresh fruit, yogurt and coffee got us fueled up for the day. We checked out and drove around Newport a bit. The house in this picture is an accurate representation of the houses we saw all over Newport and along the coast. Although I had never been to this north-east coast before, this was exactly the kind of house I imagined as I read about the whaling days of the early 19th century along the New England coast in a book titled Ahabs Wife. I've yet to read Moby Dick, but this off-shoot book based on one sentence from Moby Dick made me want to see the New England shoreline. The chilly, misty morning only added to the atmosphere I imagined while being thoroughly enthralled in the book by Sena Jeter Nasland . It's amazing how reading can transport you to another place, even one to which you've never been.





Once we had gotten on the roads running parallel with the coast the day before, we all wanted to see a lighthouse. One of our guidebooks had little icons on the map indicating where lighthouses were located along our route. Somehow, we never got to see one on the drive. So, our quest before succumbing to the inevitable trip to the airport was to find one of the Newport light houses. Having only experienced the lighthouses of Florida (Pensacola and St. Augustine), I was expecting a huge tower that we might be able to climb winding stairs inside of. You can imagine my delight and confusion as we finally located this miniature lighthouse! That's Larry in the maroon jacket standing next to the door.



As the rain started to come down harder, we made our way towards the Hartford airport. We got into Hartford and started looking for signs to the airport to no avail. We pulled out our flight itineraries to check the airport address and discovered it wasn't actually in Hartford but in a town 15 miles north! Good thing we gave ourselves plenty of extra time to make it to the airport!!!

I'll do a food post next for all you foodies out there!