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| Newport is known as the sailing capital of the world |
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| Derek hoisting the sail |
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| Adam steering the boat |
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| Jackie Kennedy's childhood home, Hammersmith Farm. The wedding reception for her and John was held here and her "playhouse" is on the left. |
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| Beautiful estates all around the bay. This is now an inn. |
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| The boys called this one "the pirate ship" |
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| The "Maltese Falcon", one of the biggest and most expensive sailing yachts in the world, was in port |
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| There was a really nice park on this point where you could get out on the rocks. The water was a beautiful deep blue. |
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| Nice place to fly kites |
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| The weather was looking a little ominous but we still went on the Cliff Walk |
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| The path got pretty rough |
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| There have been a number of times over the years where we just started walking without really knowing how far our destination was. Add this one to the list. The Cliff Walk was probably a few miles long where we started and now we had to walk back. |
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| Everyone was tired. I told them that I thought there was a trolley we could catch, but I wasn't sure where or when. That gave everyone some hope to keep going. After a mile or so we eventually caught a trolley. I almost let the trolley pass figuring it couldn't be much farther to our van. Luckily we caught it because we were still over a mile away. |
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| Lots of big mansions and competition to keep up with the neighbors |
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| After dinner we went across the street for a walk on the beach |
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| Watching a movie on the way to Cape Cod |
Friday June 10, 2011
We weren't sure what we were going to do in Newport so we headed to the visitor center. We quickly decided with Newport being the sailing capital of the world that we should look for a sailing charter. There are a number of companies that offer charters, but their hours are not consistent. The visitor center keeps track of which boats are going out and at what times. It turned out that a charter was leaving any minute so we high tailed it down the street to the boat docks. We made it in time and even had a few extra minutes for the boys to get some smoothies.
Our boat was called the Aquidneck. It was a nice boat with beautiful woodwork and plenty of seating on the deck. It was a clear day...too clear. The storm we were in when we crossed over from Long Island must have sucked all the wind with it. Newport is the sailing capital of the world because it almost always has a strong prevailing wind to power the sailboats. When we went out there was very little wind. In fact, the sailboat regatta in the harbor was stalled waiting for the wind to pick up. Our boat motored out of the harbor and after about 30 minutes we were able to raise the sails and turn off the engine. Boating is fun and it's always great just being on the water, but sailing is incredible. When the engine shut down and our boat skated across the water on the wind...it was so quiet and magnificent. I only wish the wind had been stronger.
There were three young mates on the boat along with the captain. Two were college fraternity type guys who had grown up sailing and one was more a hands on practical guy. They were all very engaging, probably for the tips, but nevertheless. We talked to the non fraternity guy and it turns out he had been living on a sailboat for years with his wife and young daughter. They would travel along the coast from Florida to Newport depending on the time of year. He recently sold his boat because his daughter was getting older and ready to start school. But he and his wife loved the boat and missed that life. It sounds like a great life to me.
The mates pointed out lots of houses and other sites and told us stories about them. We saw Jackie Kennedy's childhood home as well as other beautiful estates overlooking the bay. We saw all kinds of different boats including the incredible "Maltese Falcon". Our guys kind of scoffed at the Maltese Falcon and said it wasn't really sailing if all you had to do to hoist the sails was to press a button.
When we got off the boat we walked around and looked at the shops and stopped for some baked goods and ice cream. We went back to the visitor center to get our van and then drove around the coastline. There was a nice park on one of the points and we got out and walked out on the rocks. The water was the most beautiful deep blue.
We drove around the coast some more and then found a place to park near one of the
Cliff Walk entrances. The weather was looking like rain and I wasn't really sure how far we would go. The walk meanders along the coastline with the water on one side and beautiful estates on the other. It was so nice. We just kept walking and walking. Most of the people that started where we started turned back. We didn't see anyone else for most of the walk. We crossed over some pretty rough areas and talked about how there must be plenty of tourists that have gotten stuck. The fact that there were some treacherous parts wasn't very well advertised. I thought it was kind of neat in this time of litigation to leave it up to the individual to decide instead of closing the whole place off or putting in expensive modifications to make it safe for everyone.
We walked and walked and finally reached the end. We weren't sure how far it was back to our van and were hoping for a shuttle to pass, but since it was getting late we were worried the shuttles might have quit running. We walked about a mile and then were able to catch a shuttle. We were all very thankful because it was still over a mile back to the van.
We looked up some places for dinner and decided on Flo's Clam Shack. The place seemed very popular with a big crowd. It was one of those order at the window cash only kind of places. The food was really good.
After dinner we walked across the street to the beach. The boys decided that the flat beach was perfect for skimboarding, but the water was cold and it was getting late so we wouldn't let them.
We went back to the van and headed for the Hampton Inn in West Yarmouth, MA on Cape Cod.
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