Newport for the Day

One of the nice things about being in New England is that nothing is terribly far away.   There are lots of sights to see that are within a couple of hours of driving, Newport, Rhode Island being one of them.  Since we had a weekend without any plans and the weather was still warm, it was the perfect opportunity to drive over to Newport to check out the historic mansions and have some good seafood. 

Mike had been to Newport before, but it was my first time and I can see why Mike described it as "Annapolis on crack."  It's got that old, small town feel with lots of little shops and restaurants that you can pop in and out of and an amazing water view.  There is a 3.5 Cliff Walk along the water that is perfect for seeing all of the historic mansions on one side and having the waves crash on the other.  

We opted not to go inside any of the mansions, mainly because we didn't have a ton of time and didn't want to pay the entrance fee, but I've heard they're as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. I can't imagine living in one of these huge houses.  I would definitely get lost a time or two!

I wouldn't hate having this view as my backyard though!

There are the 40 Steps on the Cliff Walk which allows you to get lower down and a great view of the coast line.  We didn't walk down the 40 steps because that would have meant walking back up them (#lazy), but we took a picture of them from the top, so we can say we saw them ;)

After walking for a couple of hours, we were ready to stop for lunch.  We settled on Midtown Oyster Bar.  Neither of us ended up getting oysters, but my Crab Melt and Mike's Fish and Chips were well worth it.  We also split a cup of Rhode Island clam chowder and both agreed we prefer the New England style, even though this cup had us reaching for more.  Mike's dad later told us that we should have gone to the Black Pearl, but I can't imagine that we would have gotten a better meal to end our time in Newport.  We headed back to Groton with a full belly and a sleepy Finny, which made for a quiet car ride home.