We made it to Newport with thanks to the Garmin Stephanie lent us. It rained the whole way and was really gloomy. I took some pictures on the road but a lot of them did not turn out too well.
Once we checked into our hotel in Newport we took the afternoon to just drive around and enjoy the city. Newport is really small (I think someone told me once that Harris County is larger than Rhode Island) so we did not have to drive very far. We ate lunch at the Red Parrot, a very good restaurant along the coast.
After lunch it was so cold and rainy we had to stop so I could buy a sweatshirt! I was freezing! We walked up and down the little town square until we were too cold to take any more. After window-shopping we drove along Bellevue Avenue. This is where all of the mansions of the area are. In the late 1800's/early 1900's big-name families (Vanderbilt's, Aster's, Carnegie's, Mellon's, Whitney's) built their vacation homes in Newport. Now these vacation homes make the large houses in Texas look small. They are all open to the public now and the Newport Preservation Society opens them up for tours throughout the year. They are mostly all built on the same street along the coast, Bellevue Avenue. So after shopping we drove along Bellevue Avenue, here are some pics:
Bellevue Avenue turns into Ocean Drive and is an 8 mile drive along the coast with some other summer homes. It would have been perfect for pictures if it weren't so gloomy outside. Here are some we took, take note of my really cool new sweatshirt.
Tomorrow we plan to spend the day touring the mansions. Be ready for some amazing pictures tomorrow!
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