A Little Slice of Heaven.

This past weekend was my boyfriend’s 26th birthday, and it also happened to fall on Halloween. But instead of rocking out in the East Village with the other freaks of nature, we decided to do our best impersonation of high society and skipped town to spend some quality alone time in a little seaside hamlet called Newport, in the southeastern corner of Rhode Island.

We took our time driving up on Saturday, and it wasn’t just the hellish traffic on I-95 that stood in our way. First, we stopped by the Clinton Outlet malls, where Erik picked up a couple of polo shirts and I bought a discounted Coach bag, which I’ve always wanted and was 50% off at the outlet mall. Practically free, really. By the time we finished shopping, it was about 1:30 so we drove a few more exits up the road to have lunch at the legendary Mystic Pizza. The same one as the film (which I haven’t actually seen… it came out when I was 3 years old and I have never bothered to rent it). As far as pizza parlors go, there wasn’t anything terribly special about it, other than Julia Roberts face plastered along the wall with Mystic Pizza movie paraphernalia. The pizza was good, too, though Erik and I don’t especially like New York style pizza (too thin and greasy) so we appreciated having some substance to our grub.

We arrived at our bed and breakfast, the Adele Turner Inn, just before 4:00, giving us time to enjoy a complimentary afternoon tea. Since were one of only three couples that weekend (remember, this is Halloween weekend), we were the only ones there and chatted with the manager of the inn, Kevin.

After we were sufficiently stuffed with quiche and tea, we walked down to the main street in town. After strolling up and down the boulevard, we settled on a fancy seafood restaurant called the Moorings.

The Birthday Boy.

Sunday was our touristy day. We woke up early and had breakfast, then walked over to the Touro Synogogue, the oldest synagogue in the country. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson even visited it. Then we drove over to see the Breakers, a “cottage” built for the Vanderbilt family, one of the old money families in the same ilk as the Rockefellers and the Carnegies. We also saw the Marble House - a house built out of complete marble – that belonged to the brother of the owner of the Breakers. Erik and I felt like paupers walking through the halls, though we both remarked how interesting it was that at least two of the women in the families had commented that they didn’t like being Vanderbilts because people only treated them well because of their name, not because of who they actually were as people.

 

BIG mansion. Tiny Allison.

We took our time driving out of town by cruising down Ocean Drive, which rolls along a scenic part of the town along the bay. The sunset was gorgeous, so we took plenty of pictures.

Oh, go on, you know you want to: “Awwwww….”

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend and definitely something we plan on repeating when the weather is a little nicer and we can enjoy the Cliff Walk a little bit more (it was pretty windy while we were there, and I didn’t think it was a good idea). Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!