Tag Archives: vacation

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Newport – Day 5… a brewery/vineyard combo where we made a new friend.

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As our fifth day in glorious Newport, Rhode Island was drawing to a close… we made one final stop.

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Needing a bottle or two of regional wine to gift our pet sitting neighbor upon our return, we ducked into a local favorite.

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I can honestly say I’ve never visited a winery that’s also a brewery, but this place made it work.

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With multiple tasting rooms…

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And outdoors spaces…

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We browsed their large retail shop, purchased two bottles of wine for our neighbor and chuckled at this hard cider I know Mark would love.

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Making our way into the tasting room, we stood on line and ordered a flight.

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Which is when the men who stood beside us paid for it. Thanking my husband for his service and saying Semper Fi started a conversation with one of them which would last until the employees were locking the doors and we were the last people in the building. My husband’s money was no good and stories of the military flowed.

Turns out this fellow was a Commander who was in the Persian Gulf the same time as my husband and an instant friendship was formed.

I’ve been married to my guy for 41 years and have heard his stories so many times I could recite them myself, but there’s something about veterans getting together and talking about their experiences that resonates. It’s special. A brotherhood that civilians can never truly understand.

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Commemorating the meeting with a photo as I always do, our new friend asked me to text him a copy and shortly after we parted ways sent me this message.

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He included this old photo.

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And not that we needed one, but reuniting these two men will be an excellent excuse to visit Newport again.

❤️

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Newport – Day 5… Watch Hill scenic drive, the Ocean House and a home literally ON the ocean.

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After our lovely lunch in Galilee we took the advice of some locals and headed off on a scenic drive to Watch Hill.

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A popular beach destination in the summer, the carousel.. and pretty much everything else.. was shut up tight off season.

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But the beautiful waterfront homes were still there.

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With impressive stone walls…

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And neatly trimmed hedges.

I include this photo because the perfect shrubs weren’t just in front of one home, it was an entire neighborhood of likeminded shrubbery.

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Which was hella impressive and must be beautiful when fully leafed out.

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Along the way we drove past this.

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An impressive looking place of which I had no previous knowledge.

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“…one of only fourteen Five-Star resorts in the world to hold this honor.”

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Impressive indeed.

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Reading that, you know I had to check out the accommodations.

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Oh my.

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Holy hell.

I somehow doubt any bed in Rhode Island is worth that.

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At the end of our drive we were astonished to find this house.

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Where being waterfront meant on the actual water.

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How crazy is that?

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Newport – Day 5…. in which we visit Narragansett and Galilee and have lunch beside an old Marine.

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Another day, another scenic coastal drive.

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Through Narragansett…

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And under the remnants of its once famous casino.

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Down to the end of a peninsula, an area called Galilee.

You can see Jerusalem from there.

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No, I wasn’t kidding.

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Our destination was George’s.

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A seafood restaurant with a water view.

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Lunch off season left us with the place pretty much to ourselves….

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So I settled in with a perfectly refreshing Spring Sangria…

grey goose l’orange vodka, st. germain, pineapple, white wine, club soda

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Husband started with garlicky mussels..

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And I had Rhode Island clam chowder, which is pretty much the same as New England clam chowder… rich, creamy and delicious.

Before long a few locals joined us at the bar.

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Since the gentleman closest to me was wearing a Marine Corps hat, a conversation began. These two men had been friends since they were in elementary school. They married local girls, went to war and came back home to raise families.

We bought their drinks.

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As we watched the Block Island ferry come into port.

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My crab stuffed shrimp with garlic butter roasted baby potatoes and broccolini was divine.

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As was the husband’s shrimp scampi.

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After eating, serious storytelling commenced.

😊

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I left them to it and wandered outside to enjoy the view.

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You can always tell when a fishing boat has taken on bait.

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They have a dedicated seagull following.

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🐟🐟🐟

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Newport – Day 5… the Elms’ (not quite a kitchen) kitchen, a wicker toilet and the table that weighs a literal ton.

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Continuing our tour of the Elms, we learned some interesting history of the home before entering the breakfast room.

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When the sister of the original owner passed in 1961, she left the estate to her nephew. Not having the money for its upkeep… he auctioned off all the furniture and sold the property to a developer. Three days before the entire house was due to be demolished, the Preservation Society stepped in, raised funds for purchase and opened it to the public in 1962. Over the decades the Society has bought back a lot of the original furnishings you see here.

But back to the breakfast room. It’s walls are 18th century K’ang Hsi lacquer.

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Superb examples of the art form, this is one of only a few surviving lacquer rooms in the world.

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Next door is the butler’s pantry… where food would be plated before serving.

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The electric dumb waiter connects to the kitchen below and to the upper level of the pantry where the china was stored.

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The silver safe.

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View of the dining room from the pantry.

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Heading up the stairs to the second floor.

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In the center hall sits a large and extreme heavy ( two and a half tons! ) marble table.

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It was sold at the auction of furniture in ‘61… but proved too massive to move and was set to be demolished along with the house.

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The family’s private rooms are on this floor.

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Bedrooms.

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And baths.

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Please note the wicker “throne” in the masters bath below.

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Fit for a king of industry?

The sink is white onyx..

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So, perhaps.

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🤣

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These light fixtures made me smile.

Not sure why.

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Along with the bedrooms, we found the family’s personal sitting room.

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Downstairs was for guests.

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This was a private space, and filled with donated family photos.

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Newport – Day 4…. the aquarium, a tiny tunnel, a ray named Kevin and some Chinese food.

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Since it was still raining on our fourth afternoon in Newport, we opted for more indoor entertainment.

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And who doesn’t love an aquarium?

Yes, this one was small and heavily geared to children with various petting pools… but there were fish.

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And I love watching fish.

Almost as much as this turtle loved watching me.

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Watching fish lowers my blood pressure.

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And watching this small ray float back and forth made me smile.

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Especially when he surfaced for a few close ups.

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See?

He’s smiling too.

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A few days before we visited, I saw a printed advertisement for this aquarium in a local magazine. It showed a surround tunnel and I love walking through those!

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Of course the ad…. ⬆️

Turned out to be a bit different than the reality… ⬇️ .

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Yup.

That’s the tunnel.

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And yours truly is a little too large to have made that enjoyable.

😒

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But back to the fish.

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I fell in love with these little weirdos.

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And yes, I think we had a moment here.

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They were fascinating fellows to watch.

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All with slightly different markings.

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I turned to see what my husband thought of them but as usual… I’d lost him.

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You know he had to find someone to talk to besides me.

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So while he made friends with the marine biology student attendant…

I made friends with a shark.

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Who, it turns out, isn’t supposed to pop up vertically and greet guests… but I must be irresistible because he did it on multiple occasions.

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Kevin on the other hand, is a very friendly dude.

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And enjoys the occasional back rub.

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The lovely and quite special thing about this aquarium is that all the marine life comes locally from Narragansett Bay. Many… like Kevin who is blind in one eye… are disabled in some way and will have a permanently safe home here.

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The other creatures do a six month rotation for exhibition and are then released back to the wild.

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Once in a while invasive tropical fish are found …

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And are not released back in the bay to upset the natural order.

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Is that guy on the bottom waving?

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Tilt the picture slightly and I see an owl with a sharp beak.

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This poor fellow lost an eye.

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There’s the husband, still chatting.

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Fish.

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Fish.

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And more fish.

And though my spouse was still talking, closing time was 5:30 so we were politely scooted out the door.

Dinner was a local Chinese restaurant with very fresh and tasty food.

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And appropriate vacation fortunes.

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😊

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Newport – Day 3….. Marble House finale, The Black Pearl and I’d rent that boat.

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Finished with our internal tour, we walked back outside to the rear of the property.

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The mansion was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt and was patterned after a small palace within the grounds of Versailles in France. 

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The mansion is U-shaped, and though it appears to be two stories, is actually four levels. Clad in white Westchester marble from which it gets its name.

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The view is pretty sweet.

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As is the tea house I spoke about earlier.

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Sadly it was locked up tight and we couldn’t explore inside.

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But as far as backyard buildings go, it beats our shed hands down.

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To the left you can see some other large waterfront homes.

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And don’t you just hate it when the neighbors build one larger than yours?

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All in all, Marble House is quite something.

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The side facing Bellevue Avenue has a Corinthian portico, a curved marble carriage ramp, and a semi-circular fountain. 

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And as with everything else, is quite ornate.

Done with our Gilded Age cottage tours for the day, we made a pit stop back at the resort to refresh and change then headed down to the waterfront for dinner.

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On the recommendation of some locals the husband met for breakfast ( did I mention he found a cafe across the street from our resort and became a week long regular eating there every morning? The man has to talk! ) we tried The Black Pearl.

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And when they say black?

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Everything was black.

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My pomegranate margarita and wild mushroom roasted chicken were wonderful but the husband was unimpressed by the menu and protested by just having chowder.

Whatever.

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An evening stroll along the marina was required as we had to park what felt like a mile away…

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But the scenery wasn’t half bad.

This boat was available for charter and I instantly imagined a fabulous pirate cocktail party.

Aaargh!

😊

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Newport – Day 3… Marble House, upstairs downstairs.

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Moving on upstairs and around the balcony..

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We find a portrait of the master of the house,

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William K. Vanderbilt.

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And a memorial room to his youngest child and avid yachtsman, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt. Harold successfully defended the America’s Cup three times and is known for inventing the rules of contract bridge. When a subsequent owner of Marble House put it up for sale in 1963, it was Harold who stepped in and donated the money to the Preservation Society for its purchase.

Thank you Harold.

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Down an impressive mahogany paneled hallway…

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My bad knee ached at the thought of the servant’s stairs, but down we went.

And how do you know they’re the servant’s stairs?

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Because there are locked bars at the base to keep the riff raff delivery people from mixing with the family.

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I’m not sure why the butler’s office has a parrot, but there he is.

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My husband got a huge kick out of this water heater and its primitive but effective level indicator.

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The kitchen.

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I can’t imagine how stifling and busy this space must have been for the 6-8 weeks of summer residence.

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Husband loved the old coffee grinder.

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Someone still polishes those copper pots today.

No thank you!

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A French chef and 6 assistants prepared the meals.

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On the 15 foot coal fired stove.

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Alva, at a costume party.

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The annual auto parade, where cars were covered in flowers and driven on parade.

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Then? $382,500.

Today?

$380 million.

😳

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Newport – Day 3…. The Gilded Age was real, not just an HBO series.

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The Grand Salon of the Marble House was very much that.

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Also known as the Gold Room for obvious reasons, the walls are covered in 22 karat leaf.

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Move the furniture and it serves as a ballroom as well.

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The decorative elements are borrowed from Versailles, that other simple cottage across the pond.

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Heading up the marble front stairs is an experience in itself.

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You tend to run out of adjectives and simply gawk.

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Here’s the husband, doing just that.

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It really isn’t hard to imagine giant skirted ladies, dripping jewels, floating down the stairs on the arm of someone fabulous here .

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Consuelo Vanderbilt’s bedroom. Eldest child, she married Charles Spencer-Churchill, the 9th Duke of Marlborough.. and clearly loved the color red.

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The lady of the house’s boudoir.

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Alva married well and took New York and Newport society by storm, elevating the Vanderbilt name to the highest rung on the social ladder.

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Oddly enough she was a feminist and became heavily involved in the women’s suffrage movement, building a tea house on the property to hold rallies in support of women winning the right to vote.

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Her bedroom is ultra feminine and covered in silk.

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The HBO series The Gilded Age filmed in quite a few of the Newport cottages and used many of the rooms in Marble House as set decoration inspiration.

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Newport – Day 3…. Marble and dragons and gold. Oh my.

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When we visited the Breakers on our third morning in Newport and bought our tickets for entry, we purchased the multi pack which allowed us to tour three of the Preservation Society’s properties.

So that afternoon we parked off Bellevue Avenue and walked to number two.

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Past ornate wrought iron gates….

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Past houses with extra large lawn ornaments….

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Along giant slabs of slate sidewalks…

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To our destination.

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Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 as a 39th birthday present for Alva Vanderbilt from her husband, William. At a total cost of $11 million, ($384 million today) it consists of 500,000 cubic ft. of marble that cost $7 million alone. Considered the most lavish house in America, this 50-room summer residence was still called a “cottage” in the Newport tradition.

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And yes, there was a whole lotta marble.

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On the floor, the walls and the ceiling.

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Gold?

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The dining room has that in spades. Even the chairs are covered in it.

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The library/morning room.

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Alva loved France, French art and French architecture.

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And because she acquired a collection of Medieval and Renaissance art she had a gothic room built to display them.

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As one does.

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It’s a charming little space.

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Understated and plain.

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Not!

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Heck, it even has a dragon.

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🐉 😊🐉

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Newport – Day 3…. The Breakers finale and a fabulous Irish pub.

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Finishing our tour of the top floor we strolled across the upper loggia.

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It was a semi outdoor sitting room.

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Filled with wicker furniture, rugs and potted palm trees in its day.

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The ceiling is a continuation of the painted sky from the great hall.

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Looking out…. you can see the waves breaking over the cliffs that give the house its name 30 feet below.

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Here’s the husband taking a picture of the servant’s stairs.

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The kitchen was large and extremely workable.

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Which is a good thing considering the size of the dinner parties they had to cater.

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Here’s the separate two story butler’s pantry that housed the china. Because why have one 50 piece pattern… when you have the space for 20? The family’s 1,000 piece monogrammed Tiffany silver was kept here as well. In the locked safe. Away from the possible sticky fingers of the 40 person staff.

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Here are some exterior photos of the house.

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The sun was hard to avoid so pardon the rays here and there.

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We visited the Breakers once, decades ago in the summer… and the grounds were lovely.

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Me, in 1989, tan and thin.

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Husband in 1989, still active duty and thin.

In March 2025 things were mostly brown.

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World’s largest bird bath?

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I can’t imagine having this type of wealth.

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Or living in this type of home.

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But it sure was fun to wander around and pretend we did.

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We spent the entire morning here and were famished by the time we were through. Reading in the brochure about a cafe on the grounds, we brought our appetites.

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Only to discover the elaborate building had no kitchen, just bottled drinks in a cooler and bags of chips.

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Bit of a let down, that.

After battling the crowded Thames Street waterfront…where there were ample restaurants but no parking, we drove a little farther and discovered Zelda’s.

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A wonderful Irish pub favored by locals.

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Nautically themed…

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With an anchor chain serving as bar foot rail…

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We happily settled in for lunch.

My cocktail of choice?

PRICKLY PEAR SPRITZ

RUFFINO PROSECCO, FRUITFUL PRICKLY PEAR, ELDERFLOWER LIQUOR, FRESH LEMON

Perfection!

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And ooh la la.

A weird selection for an Irish pub… but their shrimp and grits was da bomb. They were fried, which was also weird, but everything was perfectly cooked and spiced. Tender shrimp, creamy cheesy grits, I was a happy camper.

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There’s a very large Irish presence in Newport. Most of whom are ancestors of the original indentured servants brought over to serve the wealthy and build their fabulous summer homes. The robber barons are gone, but the Irish remain. And because of that….you’re never very far from a decent pub.

😊

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