Weekend at Rhode Island

Here we are, enjoying last few days of summer. We planned and planned and planned for the long weekend for months. There were many factors that were to be considered..my 7 months old was to be considered and also our choices and budget. Finally we decided on Block island. It is an actual island in Rhode Island. We started with just two families but slowly, we ended up with 6 families.

Here we are, before boarding the ferry. We took a ferry from New London, pretty close to Jaya and Ramky's house. Here are the ones who were eager to board and arrived before time.

My boys in red. We are on the ferry. Don't get deceived by their face, they actually had a good time on the ferry. They saw jellyfish and enjoyed the breeze and the splashing water. I guess the water splashed a second before the pic and hence

Here are we with Jaya Ramky and Prani.

And here are all of us, making the most noise on the ferry. Busy and happy in our own world - eating, playing and waiting to reach the coveted island for which we hadn't planned anything ;)

Jaya, our unofficial but enthusiastic photographer took me out for this pic. It was cold!!! I went there to see the milk ;) milk like foam and also to see how it felt.

This is us, ready with our hats and goggles coming out of the ferry- Watch out Block Islands - we are a bunch of noisy and carefree people.

 

This is right opposite the visitors centre. Look at the parking line. Cool na?

We went to .. I don't recall the name anymore. It is a small place just at the start of the ... It is a park. It was good. It was fun. It was scenic.

After this, we moved towards Mohegans bluff point.It had stairs. Many many stairs.We choose to skip it after a few stairs as going and coming with the baby meant a lot of trouble.

After some time, all friends who had gone down, came back up huffing.

Here is a pic clicked from the very top.

And here is the talented Prani's pic of the point. It was an awesome day to be to out. Not tooo cold and it was mostly bright. We were scared of meeting Hurricane Hermine but thankfully she didn't bother us.

We went to the light house after all this. The iced lemonade was recommended by the taxi driver. We tried it... And gelato. The light house has a history and we took a tour to find more about it. It was pretty. 

We relaxed outside the house and rested. Satu ate oranges. You know you have had a good summer when you get tanned. Look at my arm. Tanned!

We took a lot of group pics.

It was almost time to go home. We made a quick stop at the zoo. I had read that it is a must-see place. We saw many many animals.

We then ate ate and ate mexican food. It was delicious. I loved it and am going to try it again.

This is the last pic of the day. Even the camera is tired but if you zoom, you will find us.

We took the ferry back home. All were soooo tired. We tried to sleep but Satu was uncomfortable for the first few minutes and he told the whole ferry how tired he is. Thankfully, he was fine after a few minutes. We came home and slept.

The next day, we spent time at the Warwick mall shopping and then headed to the water fire. Jaya wasn't around us when we clicked this pic. :(

Anyway, the water fire was beautiful. I wish I could have gone back to it after dinner. I liked how the glow of fire brightened the whole place. Also, how lovely and warm it got. I so wish I could have spent more time there.

Anyway, we had fun! I don't know what to think of a trip from which I take a few days to recover. It was all worth it though. I know I have had a good weekend when I don't get time to watch Kapil Sharma. This time, I watched it today. Talk about a hangover! 

A day in Newport - 18th Oct 2015

The International Student & scholar Services (ISSS) of UCONN arranged for a trip to Newport. I have been after my husband and our friends for a visit to Newport from a long time. So, when my husband told me about the trip... We went.

Newport is known for the mansions and the cliff walk. Sadly, we didn't plan our trip well to be able to go to the mansions but here is what we did.

The bus left UCONN at 830 pm and we crossed the Newport/Pell Bridge to Newport. We saw the Light house but were so fascinated with the bridge that didn't really click any pics.

Our first stop was at Fort Adams. We tried to get a shot of the bridge in the background.

It was cold!!!I was prepared for snow! The chilly air didn't let us stay out in the open for long. This is a pic of Fort Adams from the bus. :) What I found interesting is that there is grass growing on top of the building. War Aircrafts will find it hard to locate. Smart job!

We quickly left this to continue on the Ocean drive. We crossed the Eisenhower summer home and the summer white house to see the belted cows. Each mansion is simply wow. We kept looking at each passing mansion. I have to mention that even if someone told me that they would give me a mansion for free (my wishful thinking) I would not be able to choose. They are sooooo wow!

The lawns are so nicely cut. Mansions are a sight to see. We crossed the Brenton State Park but didn't see any kites. It was toooo windy. We did see a few birds though :)

We stopped for lunch and then went to the Sea food festival at Bowen's wharf. Non Vegetarians in the group enjoyed it best. We spent some time and then went out exploring. We also saw the ship making yard.

I think it is best to know about a town from its museum. We visited the Brick Market: Museum & Shop on Thames Street. It isn't a very big museum but did give us a small peek into the first people who came to Newport and the kind of furniture, wagons, printing press of that time. Since this was a sunday the NMAI was closed. So we made the most of this open museum.

This tile work is right outside the museum. Pretty interesting!

After the Museum, we walked on Thames Street. Although it was unseasonably cold, we saw all the nice big shops and their merchandise.

We took rest at the visitor's centre before going to the cliff walk.

The cliff walk is one of the 50 things to do in life. The view is stunning, sadly my photography isn't.

 

On the left is the beach with unimaginably white sand. Then there is the majestic Atlantic ocean and on our right were the beautiful mansions. 

But honestly, we walked till the 40 Steps and nothing changed. We got bored ;) and I was tired. We decided to head back for some coffee.

Love is the same everywhere. Like in India, we saw many locks tied on the safety rail on the way. Symbols of LOVE!

Cliff walk was our last event of the day, We walked back to the visitor's centre. We had already seen the Thames St and parts of the Bellevue Avenue, we took the Spring St. There are many many pretty houses on the way. I love a house covered with green, just like this.

The small houses had some really neat architecture. We ended our trip with some time on the Bowen's wharf. The seafood festivities were almost over. We took in the sunset.

We didn't wait there too long. As soon as we finished our coffee, we headed back to the bus. It was almost time to head back home.

A nice trip. Next time, we take our car and the pass to see the 5 mansions. We have to see the breakers and the Elms.