We awake to fog. It persists through breakfast and our preparations to depart the Inn at Mystic. We have decided to avoid the major highway and skirt the coast on Highways 1 and 1A. It won't be a lot of fun until more of the mist burns off. Finally, around 10:30, it has sufficiently thinned and we start the 50 or so mile drive to Newport.
Soon after we cross into Rhode Island at Westerly, we turn right and head down and south toward the beach. We notice lots of runners out jogging. Amy spies a sign that says "Ragnar Relay". It's an organized event allowing teams of up to 11 runners to cover lots of distance. Many are held throughout the year all over America. Many of the runners are dressed in silly costumes, most look like they are having a great time. We arrive on the last road, Atlantic Avenue on Misquamicut Beach and turn left, slow down for the next runner's relay station, and spot a small parking lot. We pull over and hit our first beach of the trip. It is cool and quiet. Just lovely.
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| Atlantic Beach, Rhode Island |
Refreshed, we get back in the car and continue north/east on Highway US 1. We pass through the small town of Charleston. It's early season and Covid has ravaged here; many restaurants are closed. We turn north, then take State 138 east over Narragansett Bay, and drive the beautiful Claiborne Pell Bridge into Newport.
We park the X3 at the Yankee Peddler Inn. Our room is not yet ready, but we can leave the car. We head to Thames Street on the Wharf. We find the Brick Alley Pub, a fun place with lots of odd decor, such as an old (1930's?) Chevrolet Truck, immaculately detailed, taking up space between our table and the Salad Bar. Amy has the Caprese Bruschetta and Wayne has the Lobster Bisque & Salad Bar. Quite satisfied, we return to Thames Street and walk the Wharf.
About 45 minutes later, we get the call, return to the Yankee Peddler and check into our room. We spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing and organizing. At 5:00, there is wine in the social room, where we meet some of the other guests staying here. After some interesting conversation, we head out for dinner about 1/2 mile away. On the walk we pass some interesting buildings that indicate we are in an architecturally very interesting place.
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| Newport Art Museum |
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| The Elks Lodge |
At our chosen dinner spot, Jo's American Bistro, Amy starts with a Peach Bellini, Wayne the Fashionable. We split a Bistro Salad and Amy has the Fish Special, the Brazilian Sea Bass, Wayne has Lobster Carbonara. A fine start to our 3 days in Newport, we head back to the Inn and call it a night.
We wake up to fog again. After a solid breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal and coffee, we walk to the famous Newport Cliff Walk. This pathway is Fabulous! Stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean to our left and incredible mansions to our right.
A few pictures cannot do justice to the dozens of estates along the path. What is even more interesting is that these were just "summer" homes, mostly used for just 8-10 weeks out of the year.
Some parts of the Cliff walk are not paved, we have to climb from stone to stone. This is the toughest walking we've done in quite some time. It's advertised as 3.5 miles but seems much further. We finally get to the end where we had planned to take the Newport Trolley back to the Wharf area. However, we have just missed the bus and the next one won't be along for 20 or 25 minutes. There is no place to sit to wait for the bus, so rather than just stand there, we decide we may as well start walking. A very short time later, a pedicab rides by on the opposite side of the street. He asks if we want a ride and we are there! It feels SOOOO good to sit on the padded seats and rest as the driver whisks us away toward the Wharf.
We ride past "The Elms". It is temporarily closed because they are shooting season 2 of "The Guilded Age". Interesting fact: The trees around this mansion are not actually Elms, all the original elm trees succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease many years ago.
We end up at the Wharf after a very entertaining ride. We are grateful for the lift, and also grateful that this pedicab is also an e-bike, so our driver didn't have to do extensive work to cart us.
The Oyster & Chowder festival is in full swing. There are too many people to deal with, so we head inside the Black Pearl to sit down for lunch. Wayne has the Oscar Benedict and Amy has the Lobster Salad Sandwich. Yum! We then head back to the Inn to rest up for tonight's dinner. We agree we are too tired from the exhausting walk to hoof it the mile to dinner. Also, it's the same path we already walked to get to the Cliff Walk earlier today.
We get a nice rest in, put on our best clothes, climb into the X3 and head for the Chanler Hotel, just next to the start of the Cliff Walk. The Restaurant: Cara. We enter the hotel and are in a different world.
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| The Bar at the Chanler |
We are just a bit early for the seating, so Amy orders a Cosmo and Wayne has a Gin Martini. Tonight's meal is a 5-course blind tasting extravaganza created by executive chef Jacob Jasinski. Wayne has chosen to include the wine pairing, while Amy sticks with water. I could describe the meal, but it's easier to just share a picture of the certificate we received at the end of the meal, which details the courses. This was one of the best meals I've had in my life. Each course was thoroughly enjoyable. None was overwhelmingly large, and at the end of the meal we were completely satisfied.
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| Amy's Certificate |
Amuse Bouche: New England Shellfish: Oysters, Scallops & Littleneck Clams with citrus, seabeans, buckwheat emulsion
After dinner, we head back to the Inn for a night's rest looking forward to more Mansions tomorrow, and more great food.
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