Visiting Newport, Rhode Island
Thursday, July 17th, 2008Yesterday was a pretty eventful day. We decided to hop in the car and drive out to Newport, RI for a quick visit.
I always think everything is so close to anywhere I am. When we are about halfway there, I realized that I am just an optomist. My butt starts to hurt and I feel like the rest of the population that understands the distance of things. I am not sure of the mileage, but I know the trip took about two and a half hours.
We took a bunch of backroads and then popped out on 95 North. I liked the backroads because it gives us a chance to see the world, off the highway. Plus, I think we have all seen enough highway.
After we got off 95, we went through this pretty cool town called Exeter. I remember this because there was a golf course and a huge plant nursery. I mean huge. The thing kept going. I am the kind of guy who would be on vacation and stop to have his pickup truck loaded up with mulch. Man oh man.
We went through a few more towns and then drove over the Jamestown Bridge. That bridge was pretty nice. When we landed on Conanicut Island, I noticed some pretty nice areas. I think we will stop on this island next time and spend some time in Jamestown. I have a feeling it is much less crowded than Newport.
Right after that short trip driving through Conanicut Island, we (paid the toll and) started up the Newport Bridge. It was a pretty steep bridge and I thought of my mother silently hating it if she was in the car with us. She never liked bridges. A few moments later, we landed on Newport.
For this trip, we had a goal…I wanted to see the ocean. Every once in a while, I need to smell the salt water. With this in mind, we turned down Americas Cup Avenue, onto Thames Street and headed straight South to Wellington Avenue. From there, we somehow got onto Ocean Avenue and stopped at Brenton Point State Park.
This was a pretty cool park right on the Southern tip of Newport. There were lots of people doing all sorts of things. We also noticed that it is a pretty cool area to retire to. The only problem with the whole place is all the tourists, like us.
After we hung out at the park for a while, we traveled back up North and ate at a little pizza place. That was pretty good. A few hours in Newport and we were good to go. We left for the trip home.
I took a bunch of pictures and will show some of them below. I am kind of tired, so I am not going to include captions. These were basically taken from the Newport Bridge and heading down to Brenton Point State Park, and back up. Enjoy…
