I have my travel buddy Ally back!! Yay me! After one of the worst weeks in work history, in all the history of any one's work, in every history book across the nation, Ally and I met in Providence, RI at the Hott Club for a beer and to discuss our route. I probably should have named this blog post about Betty, my GPS, because she led me astray this trip for sure. I ended up driving around downtown Providence, which was beautiful for about 20min, lost at every turn. The roads go anyway but straight and every road looks like an alley, but in fact is a road. Thank goodness I had some time to kill, because Betty led me all around downtown before arriving along the river at the Club which was not open anyway :( So Ally and I parked my truck Sammy at a local hospital for the weekend and started down to Newport, RI.
I was entertaining the idea with Ally on the way down the coastal/scenic drive to Newport that technically Rhode Island should have been named Rhode Islands. But then people probably would say it was a silent 's' anyway and still call it Rhode Island, hence missing the point that Rhode Island is actually a couple/few islands in one state. To get over to Newport, you must cross 2 huge, long, amazing bridges over the ocean. My Aunt Debbie would have had a heart attack just looking at them! Ally being the amazing tour guide that she is gave me the history of "one of the richest counties in America", toured along the ocean ave on a beautiful fall Friday afternoon, staring at all of the mansions that Ally claims are all hers! Well actually one is not, because it is owned by Jackie O's family. In fact Jackie O's marriage into the Kennedy family took place at a church in downtown Newport. The coast line is gorgeous and the little coves as I would say have all these millionaire's dingies tied up so they can just scoot along the coast line in their little boats whenever they want.
So we decide to go to the hotel and get checked in so we can in turn go eat! Checking into the Marriott right along the Newport harbor was quite a trip. It is a complete nautical theme for the entire hotel but then also sprinkled with an American theme and of course Christmas this time of year. So there was a hand made, life sized gingerbread house along with a matching lighthouse, sailboat sails hanging from the rafters, carpeting of boat ropes and steering wheels (not sure if that is the correct term for a boat steering device), curtains of red with gold stars with lounge chairs of blue and white stripes, glass elevators with underwater themes in the elevator shaft to make it feel like you are in a submarine, the ceiling in the bar was a mural of mermaids and mermen, and the dining area was pastel paint with pastel starfish hanging on the walls...yuk! We decided we needed captain hats for our next stay here! After finishing up some paperwork as Ally always brings with her on Friday night trips, we went about the city on foot. Quaint little downtown with many shops and pubs and restaurants, and quite the crowd for "off season".
Next morning packed up and set out to do the 3mi cliff walk in Newport along the Atlantic and back side of many mansions. Well we found out very quickly that we probably should have done this little walk the evening before because now it was raining, windy and quite chilly! So first step get candy and lots of it! Second step get umbrellas and big ones! Third step brave the wind and rain and cold to walk the cliff walk because it truly is/was amazing! The size of these homes, yards, fences and the fun walk along the ocean is really awesome even in the elements of fall. We only walked about half of the 3mi walk and then headed back to the car to thaw and dry off. Then we headed out to NYC for our second trip to the city that never sleeps. When we arrived in NYC it was raining pretty good and then started to snow as well. After we changed at Torri's apartment and headed out again, it was snowing more than raining, but still raining of course! Ally had decided that we would do one tourist thing this trip and that was to head to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree.
We had about 2hrs before game time for NE to play TX for the championship game, but seeing the tree was a must do. As the cab approached Rockefeller it was apparent that about 2,000 other people also found this a necessary tourist thing to do this evening. Complicated by the rain/snow, everyone and their child had an umbrella! So now you didn't only have to worry about precipitation in your eye as much as you had to worry about an umbrella poking your eye out! About 10min of trying to get to the tree and one or two pictures later we were ready to head to the Irish Rogue again to watch the NE game. It was about a mile or two hike to the pub and it was a trek across the puddles, through times square, around umbrellas and people that were all looking down or from under umbrellas. By the time we got to the pub I had water soaked up all the way to my knees and my "sort of water proof" coat proved to be not waterproof! It took until about 3rd quarter to dry out. Well as most of you know, NE lost in a gallant attempt to beat the longhorns :( Caught some really good pizza on the way home to Torri's, mine had bacon bits and ranch dressing on it! I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, this city is way too fast for me to process!!!
Sunday woke up really late and went for "brunch" then left the city. I did talk Ally into driving me around central park, which was sooooo crowded with Park Ave shoppers and holiday traffic. Well actually it was probably just standard NYC traffic. Ally is such a patient tour guide, unless you come in the way of sports :) The city was truly beautiful all decorated for the holidays, Harlem was not so decorated, nor were the Bronx! Made it back to Providence to get Sammy (my SUV) and back to Worcester and to bed even without the aide of Betty (my GPS). She stopped working as soon as I got into my truck....I almost had a panic attack. This is why you should not depend on GPS systems too much. Thank goodness for Ally and her GPS that led me home to Worcester! Betty is now back in business :)
I was entertaining the idea with Ally on the way down the coastal/scenic drive to Newport that technically Rhode Island should have been named Rhode Islands. But then people probably would say it was a silent 's' anyway and still call it Rhode Island, hence missing the point that Rhode Island is actually a couple/few islands in one state. To get over to Newport, you must cross 2 huge, long, amazing bridges over the ocean. My Aunt Debbie would have had a heart attack just looking at them! Ally being the amazing tour guide that she is gave me the history of "one of the richest counties in America", toured along the ocean ave on a beautiful fall Friday afternoon, staring at all of the mansions that Ally claims are all hers! Well actually one is not, because it is owned by Jackie O's family. In fact Jackie O's marriage into the Kennedy family took place at a church in downtown Newport. The coast line is gorgeous and the little coves as I would say have all these millionaire's dingies tied up so they can just scoot along the coast line in their little boats whenever they want.
So we decide to go to the hotel and get checked in so we can in turn go eat! Checking into the Marriott right along the Newport harbor was quite a trip. It is a complete nautical theme for the entire hotel but then also sprinkled with an American theme and of course Christmas this time of year. So there was a hand made, life sized gingerbread house along with a matching lighthouse, sailboat sails hanging from the rafters, carpeting of boat ropes and steering wheels (not sure if that is the correct term for a boat steering device), curtains of red with gold stars with lounge chairs of blue and white stripes, glass elevators with underwater themes in the elevator shaft to make it feel like you are in a submarine, the ceiling in the bar was a mural of mermaids and mermen, and the dining area was pastel paint with pastel starfish hanging on the walls...yuk! We decided we needed captain hats for our next stay here! After finishing up some paperwork as Ally always brings with her on Friday night trips, we went about the city on foot. Quaint little downtown with many shops and pubs and restaurants, and quite the crowd for "off season".
Next morning packed up and set out to do the 3mi cliff walk in Newport along the Atlantic and back side of many mansions. Well we found out very quickly that we probably should have done this little walk the evening before because now it was raining, windy and quite chilly! So first step get candy and lots of it! Second step get umbrellas and big ones! Third step brave the wind and rain and cold to walk the cliff walk because it truly is/was amazing! The size of these homes, yards, fences and the fun walk along the ocean is really awesome even in the elements of fall. We only walked about half of the 3mi walk and then headed back to the car to thaw and dry off. Then we headed out to NYC for our second trip to the city that never sleeps. When we arrived in NYC it was raining pretty good and then started to snow as well. After we changed at Torri's apartment and headed out again, it was snowing more than raining, but still raining of course! Ally had decided that we would do one tourist thing this trip and that was to head to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree.
We had about 2hrs before game time for NE to play TX for the championship game, but seeing the tree was a must do. As the cab approached Rockefeller it was apparent that about 2,000 other people also found this a necessary tourist thing to do this evening. Complicated by the rain/snow, everyone and their child had an umbrella! So now you didn't only have to worry about precipitation in your eye as much as you had to worry about an umbrella poking your eye out! About 10min of trying to get to the tree and one or two pictures later we were ready to head to the Irish Rogue again to watch the NE game. It was about a mile or two hike to the pub and it was a trek across the puddles, through times square, around umbrellas and people that were all looking down or from under umbrellas. By the time we got to the pub I had water soaked up all the way to my knees and my "sort of water proof" coat proved to be not waterproof! It took until about 3rd quarter to dry out. Well as most of you know, NE lost in a gallant attempt to beat the longhorns :( Caught some really good pizza on the way home to Torri's, mine had bacon bits and ranch dressing on it! I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, this city is way too fast for me to process!!!
Sunday woke up really late and went for "brunch" then left the city. I did talk Ally into driving me around central park, which was sooooo crowded with Park Ave shoppers and holiday traffic. Well actually it was probably just standard NYC traffic. Ally is such a patient tour guide, unless you come in the way of sports :) The city was truly beautiful all decorated for the holidays, Harlem was not so decorated, nor were the Bronx! Made it back to Providence to get Sammy (my SUV) and back to Worcester and to bed even without the aide of Betty (my GPS). She stopped working as soon as I got into my truck....I almost had a panic attack. This is why you should not depend on GPS systems too much. Thank goodness for Ally and her GPS that led me home to Worcester! Betty is now back in business :)
