A day in Newport Rhode Island…

r

With the low pressure cell hanging around in the northeast you pretty much need to go out earlier in the day since it seems to cloud up and rain later in the day. We thought since we weren’t too far from Newport, Rhode Island that we might as well go see what the cliff walk was all about.

We had read about the Cliff Walk while looking for things to do in the area and the fact that it had been designated a National Recreation Trail made it even more interesting. To get there from here requires one to go over a toll bridge that the internet said would be $2.00 per care each way but when we got to the toll bridge you could see the new signs of $4.00 per car each way – a 100% increase in tolls… WOW!!!

After driving around the Historic Ten Mile drive to take in all the sights that are Newport (the Harbor is really scenic and worth staying a while) we made our way over the the area that is known as the cliff walk. As many reviewers noted and we agreed is that it never seemed clear to us where the cliff walk really ended or began.

We found it by following a sign that took us to a dead end street where it intersected the trail. We would find out later that we were about 1/3 of the way down the trail from the beach. From where we began the the walk the path was paved for a long stretch. We walked about 3/4 of a mile towards the beach and then noticed that that was probably where it ended. So we walked back and then started walking the other direction for about the same distance until we got to the college.

The path was paved all the way to the college and past it so I assume the path eventually ended and you got to walk on natural terrain but we never found it. With the dicey weather we wouldn’t have attempted the whole walk anyhow but after all the accolades I read about this walk I was underwhelmed.

The positives of this walk are that it was an easy walk (at least the part we did) and there are some great views of the ocean and most important is that it was free. However, there were few nice views of the shoreline and fewer opportunities to walk along it and there are lots of huge mansions (if you are into this it would be a positive for you). Sharon enjoyed the experience but I didn’t see what all the hype was all about. I can only hope the part of the trail we didn’t walk was much better than the part we did walk.

So it was back to Mystic where you can always enjoy the free entertainment of watching the Mystic draw bridge go up and down… kind of like this day was…

Woods Hole, MA, a wedding and a travel day…

Our last day in Massachusetts was another chilly day so we decided that we would drive down to the south end of Cape Cod and visit Woods Hole, home of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Back in my biologist days this was a place I considered trying to find work at and since we were close by we decided to visit the town.

Woods Hole itself is not actually a town as it is part of Falmouth, MA but has become the hub of Marine Science study in the Northeastern USA. It is also the closet spot to get to the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. One of the highlights of the area that we wanted to see is the Woods Hole Science Aquarium. This free aquarium (they do accept donations) has a nice assortment of indigenous sea life found in the area and is really worth a visit and your time.

If you are wondering about the header picture it is a one of a trolley (Trolley’s by Tes) that had a wedding party in it. Trolleys are apparently a popular way to see the cape after a wedding here. Now we were parked just to the right of the fellows in the white shirts (in the header picture) when the trolley arrived. As we were sitting there watching the surf and eating lunch the wedding party had gotten out of the trolley with drinks in hand and began to take wedding pictures on the beach (notice the Ultra cans in the foreground of the picture above).  All this was going on right in front of us…

The father of the bride sauntered over to us and announced that his son had just gotten married and they came back to this spot that they had first met to take pictures. Then he introduced us to some of his immediate family and told them we were his cousins from Texas… what a hoot that was…

We have enjoyed our time in Massachusetts and just loved the Cape Cod area. We even got to watch our first ever lobster race in Massachusetts when we accidentally stumbled upon the rescheduled (due to hurricane Irene) Chowder Festival held in New Bedford, MA while we were touring.

Well with all the fun in MA. behind us we spend the last part of our last day putting things away for our journey to Connecticut. Our drive was just a tad over 100 miles so we didn’t depart until around 10:30 am on Monday.

After a diesel stop nearby ($3.859 per gallon) we left the park and Cape Cod on I195 north towards Providence, RI where the traffic was pretty heavy and the drivers seemed to all be in quite the hurry… the beauty of our lifestyle is we never are!!!

Once we hit I95 in downtown Providence we took it south till we saw our exit for Seaport RV Park in Mystic, Connecticut. We weren’t in Rhode Island very long but we did drive through most of the state :) .

      

Seaport RV Park is part of Morgan Resorts but they had a decent price for the week ($186.00) and we wanted to spend some time in this area. The park itself is in a great location for our needs. The entry to the park is a bit rough as the road has deteriorated and the roads in the park are gravel. The sites for RV’s are fairly large and most are fairly wide. The facilities are okay but they seem to be neglecting some cleaning chores now that they are in off season mode and their WIFI is down for the season. However, despite its shortcomings we will call it home for the next seven days…

So on this Tuesday morning I am sitting here in Mystic, Connecticut enjoying some freshly ground coffee watching a beautiful sun rise and can see and hear geese that seem to be  grouping as if they are readying for their own travels down south… we too eventually are heading the same way they are… life is grand!!!