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Newport – Day 2 … too early for Fort Adams, a brisk walk and yes, more geese.

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Next up on the list was Fort Adams, a coastal fortification built in 1824 at the mouth of Newport Harbor. On the way there we passed a memorial to Portuguese sailors, which of course….

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Was surrounded by geese.

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We live in Maine.

Canada is our neighbor.

We have a lot of Canada geese, but I swear Rhode Island has more.

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Fort Adams State Park is a lovely area.

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But unfortunately you can’t tour the fort by yourself and the ticket office didn’t open until 10:00am.

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Since we had half an hour to kill, we explored.

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And took what turned out to be one very cold walk.

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This is Narragansett Bay…

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This is the fort.

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And this is the husband ducking against the gale force wind.

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There was no escaping it, and had I taken a video you wouldn’t have been able to hear me speak.

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My jacket is zipped up to my neck and my nose is red. I have half a smile, but inwardly I was cursing the nonstop buffeting.

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The husband might have been thinking about jumping and ending it all right here, it was that bad.

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Did I mention Fort Adams is the site of the famed Newport Folk Festival? Where Dylan notoriously plugged in and went electric? After experiencing the strength of the wind, I no longer think he was making a statement. He was simply anchoring himself.

At 10:00 we happily stepped inside the small museum.

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It was previously used as the fort’s jail.

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And the cells were pretty grim.

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Not to mention small.

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Really, really small.

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The first tour was at 11:00am so I’ll give you one guess how my husband passed the time.

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In deep conversation with the tour guide.

It started with my spouse comparing those cells with the cells he patrolled as a brig guard when he was stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire many moons ago. That was at the tail end of the Vietnam era, which led to stories about my guy’s time in the war.

In his element, the stories continued for the full hour. When it was time to start the tour, the guide was so impressed with my husband’s gift of gab… he offered him a job.

It’s a shame we live too far away because talking all day would be right in my husband’s wheelhouse.

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21 thoughts on “Newport – Day 2 … too early for Fort Adams, a brisk walk and yes, more geese.”

  3. He was simply anchoring himself.—hilarious!!!

    And what the heck with those cylindrical round things in your early pics. I can’t be the only one thinking it. Where’s Mark when I need him?

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      2. Upon further research…

        “Designed by Charters de Almeida and carved in Portugal, sixteen sandstone bollards ranging in height from five to eight feet were organized into a semicircle mimicking the historic pebble compass rose at Sagres Point. In the center, an eight-foot-diameter sandstone sphere representing a Portuguese navigational instrument and a twenty-foot-tall obelisk inscribed with names of explorers were erected.”

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  5. The good news, at least in my experience with my gab-tastic husband, is that the museum guides love talking to people like that… people who have knowledge and experience and have insightful questions. But a job offer? That’s impressive.

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  6. i love that i can see this beautiful place through your eyes as i’ll probably never see it in person. i also love your hair, and smiled HUGE while reading about your husband chatting up the tour guide. 🙂

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  7. My dad loved striking up conversations about his time in the Navy. The naval base where he did boot camp is just 20 minutes from me, so a few years ago we took him to the Naval Museum on base—and he had an absolute ball. He and the tour guide hit it off and talked for a full hour.

    This post made me think of that. 💜

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