Feeling Like Home: Newport Trip: Days 1 & 2

So, like I stated before, we had quite the flight situation on Friday and it kinda screwed up our whole day, but we made it work. We were so happy to land in Providence and couldn't wait to get our car, get to Katie's, and go see Megan. After we walked what seemed like forever to get our rental car, the arm to let us out wasn't working so we had to sit there for a bit to leave. We looked at each other and said, "Of course it isn't working." Nothing else was that day, so why should we expect any different? Negative nancies. I know.

Our condo for the weekend

We made it to Katie's condo which was ours for the weekend and settled in and waited for Megan and Tim to pick us up. Once they got there, we traveled over to Goat Island to their condo. We had a nice evening meeting a lot of her family that had come and just visited on the balcony overlooking the ocean. Newport is a town full of many ghosts, so we reminisced about some that we knew ourselves, including the one in our sorority house. After we were totally creeped out, we went inside, finished up some food and drink and headed back to the condo to get some much needed rest.

Saturday morning we slept in until almost 9:30. It was something we hadn't done in well over a year and it was glorious. Not to say that I wasn't wide awake at 6:00 AM, but I forced myself back to sleep. Megan and Tim picked us up for a little driving tour of Newport, RI that was a blast in Tim's BMW convertible. We got to see all of the sides of Newport including where some famous people currently live, used to live, and the famous Newport mansions. We drove along part of Ocean Drive and stopped to walk just a tiny bit of Cliff Walk before it started to rain. We headed back to the car and drove around quite a bit more to take in the sights.

Picture during the driving tour

After our drive, Scott and I drove back downtown and ate at Brick Alley Pub, which was quite delicious. It was a perfect first real meal in Newport where I had the Lobster Mac n' Cheese and Scott got a Lobster Roll. Both very delicious.

Lobster Mac n' Cheese

Lobster Roll

We were going to try to fit in a mansion, but decided that since we had already paid for parking, we might as well just stay in this area until the polo match that evening. So, we walked along the wharf to look at boats and different shops. We decided at 2:30 PM to do a Harbor Cruise and it was one of the best things we could have done. It was a 90 minute boat ride along the coast that talked about historic mansions along it, boats parked in the harbor, as well as a lot of stories about the history of Newport. A fun little tidbit about the boats that get to park in one part of the bay- it only costs $300/year to park your boat...but it is a 15 year waiting list. They say that the rich families basically pass the "lot" down generations so that they can keep it in the family.

We rode by Goat Island and could see Megan's condo from the boat and right outside, we heard of ghost stories of pirates that used to come to Newport since they considered it a safe haven. They were turned on by the residents and a lot of them were killed in public and left to disintegrate along the beach so that their souls would be forever tortured by the coming and going of waves. They said that some residents late at night can hear the sounds of their screams and some of them can see an enormous black ship in the distance coming to rescue the pirates. I told Megan to start listening and watching for these things since it was right outside her window. That didn't freak her out at all. ;)

Some highlights of the cruise:

Actual ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. MUCH larger than it looks here.

This is the boat that carried Al Capone to Alcatraz. The man you see sitting in the drivers seat currently lives on this boat.

Beach house used in the first Great Gatsby movie and the one they are making now with Leo.

The mansion of the man who invented Worcestershire sauce.


Built in 1901 and is completely out in the middle of the bay. You have to get a boat to get there. It was destroyed by a hurricane a long long time ago and a couple came upon it and it said, "Contact any realtor" it was in that bad of shape. The couple bought it for $3,600 and completely restored it. It is completely self-sufficient with solar panels and plumbing that composts itself and doesn't go back out into the ocean. If you look closely, you can see people standing on the first floor porch.

Fort Adams

A sailboat used in the latest America's Cup

Jackie Onassis's family estate (The Bouvier's) where her and JFK had their wedding reception. We drove by the front of it during our driving tour with Megan and Tim.

Oceancliff Resort

One of the oldest still functioning fishing boats


One of the three boats from the show, "Lobster Wars". He said if we were driving by about 6:00 AM we could see them unload their catches for the day.

Megan and Tim's Condos on Goat Island

There were many many more I have pictures of but these were the most memorable. After the Harbor Cruise, we jetted back to the condo and waited for Megan and Tim to follow them to the polo match. We watched Newport vs. Palm Beach. We were a week late from seeing Newport vs. Scotland and a week early from seeing Newport vs. Jamaica, so it is cool that it is such an international situation. The polo match is exactly how you think it would be- ladies in dresses and big hats. It was such a fun experience and one we haven't ever had the opportunity to see in our lives. We got to learn what a chukka was and the British announcer was just perfect. Newport won by the way! Newport was the dark navy and yellow attire.

Half-time the crowd goes out to stomp the divets. Just like in Pretty Woman.

After polo, we had the option to go to Belcourt Castle for a ghost tour or keep our reservations at Sardella's, and we decided to keep our reservations. I heard that the ghost tour was very fun, but maybe it can be something we do next time. Sardella's was absolutely worth it. It is an authentic Italian meal given in authentic Italian portions. Enormous. I got the Chicken Romano and Scott got the Chicken Parmesan. The service was quite slow due to all of the people, so they gave us a free dessert that was probably the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life dessert-wise, Chocolate Decadence. We were so stuffed, but we found a way to get this down. I would like to mention that Newport is a very animal friendly town and we were just on the edge of being inside and outside the restaurant and there was a large dog about two feet away from me. It was annoying at first but once we got our food, we kinda forgot he was there.