With loosening up of travel restrictions over Memorial Day weekend, we headed south to Newport, RI to visit the mansions. As long as we've lived up here the kids have not yet seen them in person. The tour has morphed over the years. Due to the pandemic, the tour has turned to an app on your phone that you listen to. In trying to decide how to logistically listen with 4 of us, we headed to Target to get ear buds that allow each of us to have one while using my and Izzy's phone. I'm glad we came prepared because there is poor service to download the app once here. Your only other options were to simply wonder around or read a piece of paper for background.
Our first stop was The Breakers, the grandest of the Newport summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence.
I will always be stunned with this room as it is gilded with platinum.
Izzy wants a kitchen like this!
The next stop was to Marble House which was also from a member of the Vanderbilt family. What I liked most is that rallies were hosted for women's right to vote.
To help kids enjoy their time on the tour, a scavenger hunt was available. I was informed by all three that they had no interest in playing when I went to grab a sheet. I came back saying that maybe their mother wanted to do the scavenger hunt herself. It didn't take more than one room before all three were searching for acorns, hexagons, and a man's hat. We even got the volunteer's involved, who were happy to play along (I think they were bored of all the stuffy adults there all day), when we couldn't find one of the items. But the find of the day was this unicorn. Victoria was ecstatic to see that these mystical creatures were important even back then... well even later as this was the "gothic room" in which all items were from that time period.
Another gilded room but in gold this time.
That evening at dinner we decided to play a game of Opa's Sevens. We couldn't figure out why this game was taking so long until we discovered that the deck was missing the 6 of clubs. No wonder!
The next day we were to spend our morning lounging by the pool. But this was not open yet due to the pandemic. A change of plans had us head to the Newport Car Museum. None of us knew what we were walking into except for knowing there were going to be cars. All of us enjoyed our time here. Our expectations were set low but ended with much talk about this car, that car, etc. I probably looked out of place since this seemed to be an activity for father's and son, not mothers and their kids. I had several folks talk to us out of the blue and was quite happy I had just watched Ford vs Ferrari which allowed me hold my own a bit. My favorite person though was an older gentleman who worked there. He said one of the things he enjoys about guests is which room they like most. It tells him so much about the person. I wonder what he thought of me as my favorite room was the 40s & 50's classics.
I challenged the kids to pick out their favorite car. This was Victoria's which fits her to a T.
This was one of the fastest and most expensive car there. MSRP was ~$535,000! Nothing like a Bugatti but cool nonetheless.
Izzy insisted that this was her favorite car. Again, what does this tell you about her personality!
I was torn on my favorite but stuck to the Dodge Viper as this was my dream car when I graduated from high school. And, in the colors I wanted.
This Ford Shelby we were informed would sell for 2.5 million today.
This was Victoria's runner up choice. Totally fits her as well.
This was my runner up and favorite section of the entire museum.
Aside from cars, there were artistic chairs scattered about with information plaques about the designers. This spurred another challenge of finding the oddest, most comfortable chair.
The acoustics on this one were impressive... like wearing noise cancelling headphones.
For lunch we headed to the pier from some fresh seafood.
The weekend before and after Memorial Day were beautiful 80 degree days. This weekend we were greeted by 50 degree, rainy days. I wasn't sure if our Rail Explorers adventure was going to be cancelled. When I called I was informed regardless of rain or shine, this would be a go. Not knowing what to expect, we headed out hoping to stay warm and dry if only for a bit.
We were given tissue paper thin ponchos to help keep us dry. I guess when they are free, we can't complain. Since Izzy and I peddled the most, our ponchos were shredded by the time we reached our turn around point. Luckily the rain was mostly a drizzle.
When we reached our turn around spot the rain turned to more of a down pour. We found umbrellas on our cart and so I took these with me while we got off. We huddled under these two umbrellas while the carts were turned around. I felt like a mother hen shielding her chicks under her wings as the umbrellas where placed in such a way as the ran was coming in at an angle. Then back on the carts we went to peddle the 3 miles back. The crew must have thought we had no umbrellas as they put two more on the cart. This allowed all of us to have an umbrella and create a sort of bubble. Because the rain was coming directly in front of us, Izzy & Micah used theirs as a shield which meant we couldn't see where we were going well. I could tell Micah was about to lose it which prompted Izzy to start signing and had us all going in rounds of any song we could come up with. We must have been a sight peddling down the tracks! The cart in front of us was SO slow we were stuck peddling at their pace creating a bit of back log. The carts around us had to endure the singing as we rolled into the station. I was impressed by Izzy's thoughtfulness and resourcefulness to get her brother through this ordeal.
