We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're taking the ferry from Orient Pt to New London, CT. From there we're stopping at Gillette Castle in CT to walk around the grounds and have a picnic lunch. Then, we're driving to Newport, RI and staying at a B&B (Wayside Inn) and touring around the mansions we didn't get to visit last year. On Sunday, we leave and we're going to stop in Mystic, CT on the way home to shop and relax before we come home. Then, it's wedding cake and dinner and just us to celebrate! I can't wait. I hope the weather holds out, but if not we'll deal!

ETA: Full review at the bottom of the page.

ETA: 10-4-07 - I finally got to uploading photos. Sorry it took so long.
Here is the link to the album:Gilette Castle, CT & Newport, RI Vacation

Here are some favs:

Message edited 10/4/2007 9:02:55 PM.

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Sounds like a great trip. Have a nice time
Happy Anniversary!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Have a great time!!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Have a great time!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

That sounds like a romantic, fun and relaxing trip!
Enjoy!!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

I hope you have a wonderful time!
Happy Anniversary also!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Have a great time!!!!
Happy Anniversary!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Have fun!!!!

You just reminded me I have to take my cake out of the freezer tomorrow!!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

sounds sooooo romantic....... have a great time...........

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

have fun and be sure to give us a review. i just booked my anniversary trip to Newport and any recommendations would be great.
Happy Anniversary!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Here is my review from my first trip if this will help any - we went as a mini-weekend getaway the weekend we were married last year before we want to the Bahamas a few months later.

Honeymoon
Newport, Rhode Island
I just realized that I never told anybody about our min-HM to Newport, RI. DH and I took the ferry from Orient Point to New London, CT the day after the wedding, and the ferry ride was beautiful and calm! From CT, it was about an hour and a half drive to Newport. The weather was clear, the sun was out and we both wished we had brought more summery clothing with us! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Newport/Middletown and we got a king room w/jacuzzi! We loved it!

DH and I relaxed the first evening we arrived and the following day, we drove into town and went to the Visitor's Center to get our mansion passes. We ended up going on the 5 mansion tour, that gives you access to 5 of the 9 mansions (if I remember correctly) and you get to choose which ones you'll visit. We went to The Elms,

Chateau-Sur-Mer, The Breakers, Marble House and the last one was RoseCliff.

The Breakers was overwhelming - this is one of the Vanderbuilt Summer Cottages (only used 6-8 weeks of the summer) and they had their dining room made out of gold, they had an open courtyard in the middle of their home to allow the children play around,

they had a music room the size of some LI homes that was used once as a wedding site for one of the Vanderbuilt daughter's, and the view was breathtaking of the Newport cliffs! I was awe-struck. The other mansions were similarily impressive, and DH actually had fun visiting all these sites (I'm more the history person). We ate at a sea-food cafe restaurant in town, but decided that night to head home early the following morning b/c I wasn't feeling well (I came down with bronchitis). I've attached some of the photos below, along with a link.



HM Photos from Newport, RI

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Have a great trip!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Have a GREAT trip.

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!!

Sounds awesome.

Have a great time

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!

We're back......We had a great time and I love visiting Newport. It has so much to offer to visitors. We already know what we want to do on our next visit!!!

So, we took a 11am ferry from Orient Pt and arrived in New London, CT exactly 12:30pm. We drove to exit 69 on I-95 and visited Gillette Castle. Took us about 30 minutes to get there and we took a ferry across the CT river to get there. It cost us $3 and lasted a whole 3 minutes on the ferry. We drove up to the Castle, took the tour and then walked around the area taking photos. What a view of the CT river!!!! We ate a picnic lunch we had packed at the park and then got back into the car to head to Newport, RI.

We arrived in Newport, RI around 4:30pm. e come to learn that the International Boat Show was in town this weekend, so the area was BUSY. We checked into our B&B (Wayside Inn) which is diaganolly across the street from The Elms. We then walked into town from the B&B to eat at the The Red Parrot. It took us about 15 minutes to walk down there. I ordered their award winning NE Clam Chowder and it came out in a huge bowl and it tasted SOOOO good. I ordered a delicious chicken sandwich and my husband got one of their burgers and we were stuffed!!!! Their portions are large there. We then walked around town for the next few hours, walking in and out of shops and walking down to the wharf and seeing the hundreds of boats and yachts that were in the area for the show. We headed back to the BB and then walked down to the 40 steps along the cliff walk. By the time we reached the steps, the sun had finished setting, so the view was limited, but it was still nice. By the time we walked back to our B&B it was pitch black and we crashed.

The following morning, we woke early and had breakfast with some of the other guests. We headed down to the visitor center and decided which mansions we were going to visit. We got tickets to the Astors Mansion and the Belcourt Castle. We waited on purchasing tickets to visit the Topiary Gardens cause it was raining. The Astors mansion was great - they had live actors playing family members who showed us around the house as if it was 1891 and we were all guests to a formal dinner the following evening and we came in a day early to get a tour of the house.

Next we went to Belcourt Castle, which is still a residence for the family. Half of the facility is open for visiitors and the other half is blocked off for the private residence. It was beautiful inside and out. The facility can be rented out for a wedding and we saw photos of how they do it and it's stunning.

Next we went to grab a bite to eat and it stopped raining, so we continued on to visit the Topiary Gardens. We got there at the best time - just as the sun was popping out from the clouds, so the pictures in the garden were beautiful!!! The view of the water from the house was stunning. So glad we waited to see this until after the rain stopped.

We then drove back to Newport and went to the 40 steps view again to take photos, and thn DH and I decided to drive on the Ocean Drive View. It wrapped around the coast and we saw beautiful views of the ocean and mansions upon mansions. We even saw a wedding party out on the rocks getting photos taken.

We drove back to the B&B to park the car. We walked back into town to eat dinner at the Brick Alley Pub - the food here was delicious as well and large plates filled with food. We saved room for one of their desserts and it was heaven!!! We walked around town for a little bit to do some more shopping and then walked back up to the B&B to grab the car since the sun was started to set. We drove back to the Ocean Drive view and took in the sun set and it was awe striking with the moon and sun both in the sky.

We went back to the B&B and crashed for the remainder of the evening. We woke up Sunday morning to have breakfast and we checked out shortly thereafter. We drove to Mystic, CT and walked around town for an hour and then drove back to Long Island.

All in all, it was a great trip. The B&B gave us their Library and this room was huge - two draw backs. The door could only be locked from the inside and there was no alarm clock, but we made do and we only left our suitcase with clothes in the room when we were out during the day/evenings.

I'll post pictures soon!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to hear you had such a great time! I was waiting for your review. I can't wait to see pictures!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you had a great trip!
Newport and Mystic are so awesome!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad you had a great trip, Betsy!!! It sounds beautiful!!!!

Can't wait to see pics!!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the review. So glad you had a good time. Can't wait to see pics!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bumping! I finally uploaded photos!

Re: We leave for our Anniversary trip tomorrow!! We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

looks like you had a great trip, congrats and happy anniversary!