Newport Revisited

When Renee and I went to Newport in April, we decided to come back in the summer, to use unused tickets, and to see all the flowers in bloom. We found out that Beth and my mom also wanted to go, having never seen the palatial mansions that rule the beautiful coastal town.

So we started our trip with lunch of course. We were driving in the downtown, more shopping/touristy area and we passed a nice looking tavern thing, that was labeled as the oldest tavern in Newport. So we stopped in and had a wonderful lunch. I believe it was called The White Pony, The White Horse?...The Prancing Pony? I forget...It was a neat building though. It stayed in the family for a while, there was even a ex-Pirate owner.

Oh, and we learned about a new hot sauce...it was Thai...Sriracha. The waiter recommended a cold soup that had some in it. So we kept asking him the name, and we even got to tell another table about it. The soup was very good, the hot sauce has a slight after-kick. Mmmm.

After a long lunch we made our way over to The Breakers, which is the main mansion. I thought we had to get tickets for other mansions there, but in the summer you buy 'em at each individual mansion. But we got to walk the grounds, which were pretty.

I like this one of my mom, looking out, surveying the land, dreaming of mansions and oceans...rainbows...

But Renee and I had already toured The Breakers, so we headed over to Rosecliff. Rosecliff was much smaller, but very beautiful structurally. It was a big H shape, so large wings on each side. It also had a beautiful Sweetheart staircase. You can't take pictures inside unfortunately. The stinky thing about Rosecliff is that none of the furniture was original to the house like at The Breakers. The family that built the house eventually sold it, but auctioned off everything inside. So all the regal 1920s stuff was gone, but replaced by nice 1930s-40s stuff. They also had a temporary dress exhibit. They had all kinds of dresses and showed how they were each individually tailor made to fit the wearer...that was neat to see. But I was still disappointed by the house itself. The Breakers and all it's splendor and original, crazily ornate furniture makes everything else pale in comparison.

Oh! But lots of films were shot at Rosecliff! True Lies, 27 Dresses, The Great Gatsby (one part at the fountain)...hmm...what else? Those are the main ones I remember. And you can rent out a room and have your own private function, be it wedding, or Thanksgiving...that would be a memorable event.

A view from out front

Out back, facing the ocean

The Gatsby fountain, and a very excited Mom. I think when I took this I was joking about her getting in or something. She normally doesn't get this excited about fountains.

 Me and the view. I look slightly uncomfortable for some reason...

I borrowed this cane/seat from my Grampy, and I told him I'd be The Thinker in it.

This is me cheesing it up by the fountain out front. The landscaping was really pretty.

You can see the lawn was decorated with big, ornate planters. 

And then I got a little crazy/artistic with this one.

Unfortunately, we didn't plan the day too well and were only able to see one mansion. So Renee and I still have one more ticket each from the set of 3 we got in April. But overall it was a really nice day trip. Maybe I'll go back and see yet another opulent homestead. Beth pointed out that they are kinda like America's castles.

Canobie Lake Park!

I haven't been back to our local amusement park since I worked there...and that was in 2004? Crazy. They have made a lot of improvements and changes. The first major one was right when you walked in through the new, fabulous entrance. It looks very official and welcoming. And they could build it because they finally took out the swimming pool. I can only remember going in there once when I was 9 or so, when we visited for the summers.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the slightly rainy day at the park.

And as some of you know, Lukas, my brother is 16, but has been in Thailand the last year, so he hasn't taken Driver's Ed or gotten his license. So I have taken him driving in my car, cuz I can. So here's the kid in action:

Yup, I drive a 1910 little motor buggy. Just a tad bit bigger than a Thai tuk-tuk. :) Lukas got some great practice in, it was thrilling.

I took the Sky Tram ride thing, which has a beautiful view of the lake and the picnic area. They host huge companies and groups, and this picnic area was vast. It was kinda cool, this little army of tables.

On our way out, I could not pass up the opportunity to ride the carousel--and to make Lukas and his friend ride it too. Since it was rainy there were no lines, and everyone seemed to have left the park relatively early. So we didn't take any horses from little kids, or scare any for that matter. Lukas is in red, looking like he hopes the fun will never stop.

Then there's me, the instigator. I guess we were moving super fast, my camera couldn't keep up. We have the racecars of the carousels here in New Hampshire.

Lukas' friend pointed out the refection of the Ferris Wheel in the puddle in the parking lot on the way to the car. So we all took pictures. They look really cool. I like how it's clearer

in the puddle than the actual thing.

Overall, even though it was rainy, it was a nice day. Mainly because of the rain, hardly anyone was at the park, so there were no lines! I had to have some fried dough...what else? Oh, there was a Michael Jackson impersonator that was doing a tribute show. It was about 30 minutes. He looked a lot like Michael, sang ok, and danced really well. He had some backup dancers, so they were doing all the classic moves from the videos. It was really fun. Some of the people in the audience were really getting into it, like running up to touch his hand...uh...it's just some dude pretending to be MJ...it's not really him. And these people were grown! Like in their 50s! Kinda crazy...