Newport, Rhode Island

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On our way from Portsmouth to Newport yesterday we stopped in Providence, RI to check out the Capitol building and get a taste of the local flair (literally) at Julian’s, a funky eatery southwest of downtown. The place had original Star Wars action figures and a TV playing “Electra Woman” (the show that featured Deidre Hall as a superhero before she began her career on Days of Our Lives!), so really a little something for everyone. (LOL - Seriously, I couldn’t believe the Deidre Hall reference. Too funny!)

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In Newport we spent the early half of Monday laying out on the popular Easton’s Beach. The red seaweed in the ocean really freaked me out (it was like looking at the red sea), but we managed to find an area that was relatively seaweed-free. The sand was great, the sun was great, and the ocean was awesome! At a beachfront “restaurant” we got two fast-food-quality lobster rolls and fries for only $10.99. And finally, in tribute to all the seafood we’ve eaten these past few days, we did an unwitting but very accurate impersonation of a lobster. (Read: we got really sunburned)

After a mildly successful attempt to rinse the salt and sand out of my hair, we drove up into the beautiful mansions of Newport located along the cliff overlooking Easton’s Beach. We elected to tour just one (it gets pretty pricey!) and selected Marble House, the Vanderbilt mansion designed and owned by Alva Vanderbilt. Walking through the unbelievably ornate mansion (looking like a couple of beach bums, by the way) we couldn’t help but think that the lifestyle was just really unnecessarily extravagant. Hopefully if we ever have that much money, we’ll put it to much better use than decorating a 50 room mansion with a dozen different kinds of marble.

We also took a brief tour of the “downtown” area (there is a historic section and a more recent, touristy section), and walked a section of the cliff walk. (A walk along the backyards of the mansions with a really cool view of the beach and downtown Newport.)

After all that, we were pretty tuckered out, so we started our drive to Connecticut.

For all those keeping track: As we left Rhode Island it had been 3 states (4 ports) and a solid 4 days since we’d eaten a land-going animal. In the last 4 days we have consumed 6 oysters, 4 lobster rolls, two huge bowls of chowder, a crab and cheddar sandwich, and 5 lbs. of freshly steamed lobster (3 full lobsters in total). And we just broke the seafood streak in Connecticut with a turkey sub at subway.