"You should have been in the Navy"

.....that is what I said to R on our way to church last Sunday in Newport, RI as we drove past the Marina (at the Naval Station) for the 6th, or 8th, or 10th time that weekend and saw all of the sailboats and other boats at the docks, with the wind blowing and white caps out on the water.  At moments like that one (and there were several over the weekend) I missed our family sailboat so much.

R and I were supposed to go to Boston for the weekend.  His Dad was going to be in town for his monthly visit while out here for work.  Since there was no home football game and R didn't have any concerts either, R's dad had volunteered to watch the kids for the weekend so that we could get away.  When the Air Force Base in Boston called on Wednesday to tell us that due to some work that was going to take place over the weekend, the Inn would have limited hot water and no heat, we decided to change our plans.  We had considered Newport before but had yet to go, so we called the Inn at the Newport Naval Station, found out they had vacancies for the weekend, and changed plans.  We sure were glad we did.

We arrived late Friday evening and awoke Saturday morning to beautiful weather.  After some quick grocery shopping (there was a small kitchenette in our room) we headed out to visit The Breakers.  There are 10 historical mansions to visit in Newport but we chose to just see one on this visit.  The Breakers was built as a summer cottage by Cornelius Vanderbilt II (Grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt).  Smaller than the Biltmore mansion (built by his brother) it is much more extravagant inside, a true representation of the Gilded Age...very ornate with lots of gold leafing.  It is 70 rooms decorated in the Italian Renaissance Style.  It took only 2 years to build because many of the rooms were actually built in a shop in France, disassembled, and then shipped here to be reassembled.  We couldn't take pictures inside but I was able to take some pictures from the 2nd floor balcony.

Here are pictures we took outside.

On our next visit to Newport we plan to visit Marble House, built by William Vanderbuilt, brother to Cornelius who built The Breakers.

After visiting The Breakers we drove up to Providence to visit the museum at the Rhode Island School of Design.

On the way we drove over a tall bridge that let us look down on some of the water near the Naval Station.  A ton of small sailboats were out sailing what appeared to be a course in the water.  I tried to get a picture but with no place to pull over and the bridge in the way, this was the best I could do.

I wish there were pull out places on the bridge because it really is the best place to get an overall picture of the area and all the many boats sailing around.  Made me homesick for "Daddy's Toy".

I couldn't take pictures inside the Museum in Providence but we enjoyed seeing many interesting pieces.   We saw some student work as well as works of famous artists.  We saw furniture and textiles too.  It was a fun place to visit.

We did some quick research and found a great hole in the wall type/not fancy fish market and restaurant near Newport, where we could eat dinner.  The food at Anthony's was delicious.  We ate too much but it was so hard not to.  We wanted to try all of our favorites (clam chowder, calamari, and the Fisherman's Platter - breaded and fried cod, clams, shrimp and scallops.)  Everything was so fresh it was actually juicy and I don't think I've ever had such juicy shrimp, calamari, or clams before.  (Thinking about it right now is making me hungry.)

Sunday we were off to church and then back to the Inn for an afternoon nap before we ventured out to one of the Newport Beaches and the Cliff Walk.  The sun was setting as we walked so the light was some what challenging to picture taking, but it was a beautiful walk along the cliffs and the ocean.

We didn't even scratch the surface of all there is to do in Newport.  We will definitely be going back.  We're considering making this an annual fall trip.  One thing we didn't do this time is go sailing and that will definitely have to be part of the tradition.  Especially since there is the opportunity to sail on an America's Cup Yacht and that would be a dream come true for me.  (I've always wanted to sail on a racing yacht.)