Newport Rhode Island

We left Connecticut at a reasonable hour, took a couple more photos, and then headed up north to Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is one of my favorite places...lots of ocean, rocky shore lines, sail boats, great pubs and eating places, good people watching, and of course the famous Newport Mansions.

We only had time to visit one mansion....the Vanderbuilt's "summer cottage" called "The Breakers". It is the most famous of the mansions, and it is spectacular. Tika was in awe. Kayla wasn't feeling too well (see photo above), but still had a great time running around the large grass area.

The weather was foggy when we toured the mansion, but later, it was gorgeous....blue skies, puffy white clouds, 74 degrees, low humidity and breezy. Man, sure miss that kind of weather when in Indonesia.

While Tika was trying on clothes in one of the stores, I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me waiting for his wife while she tried on clothes. Turns out he is an NFO (Naval Flight Officer) stationed in Newport. We talked flying for awhile, and then he asked me what I was doing in Indonesia. He seemed fascinated with my stories of JIS and living overseas. His wife then came out, and they left the store.....a few minutes later, his wife comes running back into the store to talk to me about teaching overseas (obviously, her husband was telling her what I had said). She is a teacher, and he is getting out of the Navy and thinking about teaching. So we exchanged email addresses, and they are very serious about getting overseas. Then the guy who owned the store piped into our conversation. He is an Indian guy born in Thailand. He had been living in Newport the past 23 years with his Thai wife. He said that he really wanted to spend half the year in Thailand, and half the year in Newport....now that would be the life.

Anyway, the store owner told us about a local Italian place, and we had dinner there. It was really good, and a perfect way to end our stay in Newport.