Newport, RI and Cape Cod, MA (briefly)

Since I visited Newport, RI as a teenager, I have said it is one of my favorite places I'd ever been. That still holds true, so I was so excited to take Jared and the boys. I LOVE this part of New England. As fall is approaching, I'm being reminded of all the things about this place that I really do love. I love exploring new places through other people's pictures, so I hope it's okay that I shared quite a few of ours. I hope you enjoy them and can see through them just what a beautiful place this is. I'm pretty sure I don't do it justice, but I hope you get a little feel for it. It really is no wonder that the Vanderbilts, Astors, etc. built their summer "cottages" in this beautiful place. 

Since we stayed halfway between Cape Cod and Newport we decided to take a quick drive over to Cape Cod Labor Day morning. I actually have never been there, and I'm not quite sure we can still say that we've been there. We drove over the bridge just into the first few miles of Cape Cod. The Labor Day traffic coming the other direction was so bad at 9 a.m. that we decided our desire not to sit in traffic all day outweighed our desire for a couple hours in Cape Cod. That trip is going to have to wait for another time. That being said, we did get to see the Cape Cod canal, which had quite a few boats going through at the time that the boys loved. 

Bridge going over the Cape Cod canal into Cape Cod. Brody's hand is in his pocket holding tight to a peppermint we told him he couldn't eat in the car. He wouldn't let it go and it made us laugh pretty hard! 

I told Jared that the next time we take a road trip like this where every sight around you is beautiful, I want one of those Google Maps cars with the camera on top. Don't you think we should all have access to one of those things so all your scenery pictures while driving aren't through the windshield? Anyway, these were taken going into Cape Cod on the bridge:

 Not the greatest pictures in the world, but hopefully you can see a little of how pretty it was!

 A very typical sighting as you drive around New England. Beautiful old churches.

We did get to Newport and we all had so much fun. This is what they call First Beach: 

A restaurant right on first beach:

Heading up to the cliff walk.

Starting the cliff walk. It is 3.5 miles long, so we split it up into two days for the little legs among us. 

Very narrow at parts, but right over that wall is a cliff down to the ocean!

My boys thought these signs were so funny. They kept making up stories as to why the man was falling off the mountain. Oh little boys and their imaginations!

The "forty steps" stairs down to the ocean

Our boys LOVED this

Dad teaching Brody about tide pools

Proof I was actually on this trip :) 

Really cool little waterfull under the forty steps (it was in that cave)

I'm so glad we went out there the first night so we could see the sunset.

The cliff walk goes on the ocean side of some beautiful "Gilded Age" mansions. They are some of the main attractions here in Newport. In fact, Newport has the most surviving colonial buildings of any city in the United States. If you ever get to do the tours of the mansions, they are unreal. I did that when I was a teenager and LOVED it. However, with two little boys in tow we decided we'd try some more age appropriate activities. This is one of the buildings that is now part of Salve Regina University. Just in case you're curious, I looked up tuition: $34,000/year in tuition, up to $10,000/year for housing, plus a bunch of fees, and then you know....food! So you don't have to do the math, for a 4 year degree that's $176,000 for just tuition and rent. Oh boy. Thank you, thank you BYU for being so affordable. 

We must've happened across freshman orientation or that's some party!

I can't even begin to describe how peaceful this is...

This mansion is called "The Breakers". It's the largest of the mansions in Newport and was built for the Vanderbilts between 1893 and 1896. It has 65,000 square feet and was $12 million dollars back then (roughly $335 million today after adjusting for inflation....or that's what wikipedia says anyway) :) If you want to learn more about it wikipedia actually has some pretty interesting info. My curious brain loves wikipedia. :) 

Sunset at Easton's (first) beach

The second day we headed out to Brenton Point State Park which is surrounded by ocean in Newport. Some of the houses on the way there were awesome. This was one of the easiest to see from the road:

One of the things Brenton Point State Park is known for is kite flying. The boys loved watching all the kites. One man was out there navigating these kites that were all tied to his waist. It was fascinating to watch!

Excited fists... I wish you could see the boats in the background. The other thing Newport is known as is the sailing capitol of the United States and we could definitely see why!

Happy boys...

The boys actually really enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean because there's so many rocks to be thrown!

Waiting for a wave...

Action shot

After spending some time at the ocean we headed back to walk the rest of the cliff walk. We passed some beautiful homes along the way. I love the character each one has...

One of the mansions known as "The Marble House" which was also built for the Vanderbilts.

Back side. I'm probably a little nerdy here, but I love picturing what little gatherings took place at these places in the 1800's. I may have been born in the wrong century. :)

The view of the ocean from the back of the Marble House

Mr. Brody got comfortable on the cliff walk and decided to run ahead

Going over the unpaved portion. Brody was such a champ. Must be that being 5 thing again. :)

Some of the houses in downtown Newport where we went to do a little shopping (well, walking around in our case as we actually only bought food, but Thames street is a great place to go shopping if you ever go!)

I daydream about living in a house like this.

We passed this little patio that was surrounded by high walls. I stuck my camera through the iron gate to get a picture because it reminded me so much of that Minnie Driver movie, "Return to Me." It was just so quaint and I really wish I could've had lunch in these people's backyard. 

The boys LOVED all the sailboats. Jared and I want to go back someday and take a trip on one of those as Jared says he's always wanted to go sailing. I didn't know that about him. It's a good thing we take these trips so we learn more about each other even after being married 8 1/2 years! 

I love everything about this. Even that the restaurant is called the "Cook House". 

Overkill with the boats, I know, but they're just so calming to look at. I think one of these may be blown up and make it in a frame in our next house.

One of my favorite parts of Newport are the cobblestone streets everywhere. So charming (look at that sweet Dad)

On the way home we stopped in Norwich, Connecticut for some dinner. We actually found a really cute little pizza place and had the outdoor area to ourselves. This was great for two little boys who'd been in a car all day! 

 They even got some dancing in for the cars passing by...

 Our little travelers :)

...and with that I think I just filled up my whole blog book with just August's pictures. If you made it through all 6 of my new posts, I'm so impressed!! I don't think I've ever blogged this much, this close together in my life. I guess we've been busy! I'm grateful we have the opportunity to do all of these fun things. I'm trying to take as much advantage of my last year of not revolving around a school schedule as I can. I think a trip to NYC to go to the Lego Store is next on our agenda (next week maybe...). We've been under tornado watches/warnings (in CT?!) all day so there's never a dull moment around here!! Hope you're all enjoying your September!