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DeborahG
Citizen
Username: Deborahg
Post Number: 1302
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - 9:37 pm: |     |
We're going up to Newport for 5 days over the spring break. Was wondering if anyone had ideas about things to do with kids (aged 4 and 10). They'll have a limited appetite for the mansions, so I want to line up things they'll like. Also good kid-friendly places to eat.... |
algebra2
Supporter
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 3229
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 9:33 am: | |
Deb -- I have a RI travel guide. Also there's www.visitrhodeisland.com
I don't know Newport very well but I recall a nice bird sancturay and nice beaches, as well as the cliff walk. Not sure how much the kids are going to want to take lobg walks. RI is such a small state, I'd grab a travel guide and look for some places to visit. Over Easter I went with my parents to Wickford, RI which was a cute little town. Watch Hill down in Westerly is really charming -- though may be very quiet. I'll see what I can find, My parents moved to RI last year and they love it there -- they're in Europe now so I can't call and ask their opinion though!
What do your kids like to do? |
algebra2
Supporter
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 3230
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 9:40 am: | |
http://www.gonewport.com/ |
kmk
Supporter
Username: Kmk
Post Number: 583
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 9:59 am: | |
DeborahG,
Wow - you are going to get me started! This is near where we spend our summers and our kids are the same ages.
I reccommend that you take a leisurely drive up or back and take in a coulple of things along the way.
1)The Mashuntucket-Pequot Native American Museum on the CT/RI border is not to be missed. It is almost brand new, was funded with funds from the Mohegan Sun Casino and it is astounding. Mega bucks were spent and it is essentially a giant wax museum. You actually go into a HUGE space and walk among the tribe members doing their chores etc.
2) Watch Hill, RI has the oldest carousel in the country. As the kids rid the hand-carved wooden horses with real horse hair manes, they try to reach and grab the "golden ring". Tons of fun - get ice cream for desert. Also visit "The Candy Box" which faces the water (ask for directions it is very close but a little hidden). They have tons of handmade stuff as well as English candies, every flavor of peppermint stick and candy ciggarettes! (I was shocked and I loved it.)
3)Most of the RI "big" towns have a Newport Creamery. These are essentially coffee shops with great ice cream. They serve something called an "Awful, Awful" which is a milk shake and it's awful big and awful thick. Delish.
4)You are not far from Providence - they have a great kids museum. (The state is really tiny we did Westerly to Newport to Providence in one day and spent 4 or 5 hours in each place.)
5) While in Newport go to the IYRS. It's the International Yacht Restoration School - just look at the work they've done and plan to do it's all amazing.
6) Ebeneazer Flag is a great little store specializing in signal flags for boats and stuff.
7)Walk around the wharf area and check out Shamrock 5 - it's a huge "J-Boat". THe billionaire dudes used to race them to from Newport to their jobs on Wall Street!
8)Don't miss the Casino - it's a great old shingle style building on Bellevue Ave. It has the country's oldest tennis court inside (if it's not the oldest, it's something.)
9) If weather permits...take the cliff walk! It's a great hike BEHIND the mansions down along the shore line. Visit one or two mansions first then do the cliff walk and see it all in a different perspective.
10) Visit Jamestown - the island you go over on the way into Newport -it is pretty cool.
11)Bring Kites... they fly many, many kites in the big public park on the Southwest tip of the penninsula.(Forgot it's name.)
11) Watch the sun set while having cocktails at the B&B on the West side ....gad's I've forgotten it's name but it's not far from Jackie Kennedy's family's place.
12) GO around Narragansett Bay and over to Little Compton. Unbelievably beautiful and they serve Johnny Cakes (corn meal flap jacks) an official state food, at the little cafe' on the town square.
13) Head North up the the Herschoff Museum. They are to boat building as Rolls Royce is to cars - unbelievable! (If you really like boats I have a few other suggestions.)
12)Finally - if you want a breathtaking view of the ocean while you drive to or from Newport -stop in "our" little summer town. It is just east of Westerly, RI and it's called Weekapaug. You should exit 95 at Mystic, Connecticut and peek in there, then take the back roads through Stonington and Pawcatuk then through Westerly, Watch Hill and over to Weekapaug. The views from the road alone are breathtaking. Park the car and let the kids get out and run around on the beaches. (Hint drive to the end of Wawaloam and park in the Weekapaug Yacht CLub gravel parking lot. You can see both the pond and cross over the dunes to the ocean!)
Obviously - PL me if you need any more info. BTW: There was a NY Times article on Food in RI about 18 months ago. |
redY67
Citizen
Username: Redy67
Post Number: 1087
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 10:24 am: | |
Narragansatt is great for the kids, just of Route 1 and not far from Newport, this is where we go every year with the kids. There are lots of shops for you, great beaches, and several great bars that look over the ocean. There is a small "kids park" right down the road from here with mini-golf, batting cages, bumper boats etc.
kmk where do you summer in RI? We have been going for years, and absolutely love it!! |
DeborahG
Citizen
Username: Deborahg
Post Number: 1304
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 10:28 am: | |
These all sound great, I am very excited!! We are staying at the Longwharf timeshare resort through a friend who is an owner. WOuld love more ideas -- and yes, I love boats! Also, is there a boat tour or similar? Thanks! |
redY67
Citizen
Username: Redy67
Post Number: 1088
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 10:30 am: | |
If you are interested, there is the Block Island Ferry off Point Judith. This is about an hour or so, brings you over to BI, which is beautiful.
There are several different boat tours, I am sure you could find of the website alg posted. We have looked into (when our kids get older) to whale watching tours, fishing etc. There are a lot to choose from! |
kmk
Supporter
Username: Kmk
Post Number: 588
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 11:10 am: | |
redY67,
We spend 8 weeks in Weekapaug (just South of Dunns Corners). Long story - we are the paupers in a town of princes - but we love it.
DeborahG,
My husband is a avid sailor and our kids are now learning. The little yacht club in town has - since time began - started out the kiddies in Beetle Cat boats. (Similar in size to Jersey's own Barnegat Bay sneakbox if I am not mistaken.) The Beetle Cat "factory" has recently moved but it is still within a short drive of Newport. The old "factory" turned out 8-10 wooden boats a year in an old chicken coop! They used the steam from a radiator (literally) to bend the wood slats around the frame. It was like watching a grown man build a balsa wood model like a boy would.
Charlie York
Beetle, Inc.
3 Thatcher Lane
Wareham, MA 02571
Phone: 508-295-8585
Fort Adams State Park has facilities for you to rent all sorts of boats. You can sail or paddle all you like!
The B&B with the sunsets is called the Inn at Castle Hill. I confess that we RARELY go into town or anywhere near Thames Street because it is very roudy during July and August. Bunches of bars and kids with money and time. I confess that we spend most of our time at the New York Yacht CLub's "Harbor Court" Facility. It is magical. If you belong to any local Yacht CLub you should check out the reciprocity possibilities. ANd you if wasnt to be a "little" sneaky put on a string of pearls - take the kids out of their jeans and just drive into Harbor Court and look like you know what you are doing! It's a very dignified old mansion built for the Brown (as in University) family and bought by the NYYC 10 years ago to serve as our waterfront facility.
 |
redY67
Citizen
Username: Redy67
Post Number: 1093
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 11:17 am: | |
Very nice! I am so jealous! I would love to be able to spend eight weeks in RI. Just before we moved out west, my in-laws sold their beach house  |
kmk
Supporter
Username: Kmk
Post Number: 590
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 11:28 am: | |
If you stay in a garage apartment & eat lots of mac-n-cheese we find that it is just as cheap(or expensive) as sending the kids off to camp - and we get to stay together.
My husband works in NYC and he takes Amtrak every Friday to Westerly and then takes a train out of Westerly every Monday morning. He does stay for one solid week at some point.
This is still all new for me - I saw the ocean for the first time when I was 16 so I am just beginning to appreciate it now.
BTW: My kids all learn to ride their bikes at the Dirigible Landing Field just West of Narragansett. It is a giant paved area - like a parking lot really - with no cars in the dune grass. Perfect for summer bike lessons...they get a banana split from Newport Creamery when they finally learn! |
redY67
Citizen
Username: Redy67
Post Number: 1096
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 12:52 pm: | |
kmk where did you grow up that you didn't see the Ocean until you were 16?
Sounds ideal to me.. who cares about mac and cheese. Just to be able to enjoy the summer at the beach would be perfect!! |
kmk
Supporter
Username: Kmk
Post Number: 592
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 2:38 pm: | |
Iowa farm to Dallas. Then summers were spent driving back and forth. My folks still don't understand "Why anybody would want to visit a city if you don't have kin folk there!" The crazy part is they can fly free because my brother is a pilot for American!
Finally, I was the guest of a girlfirends' family one summer - mid-seventies, "Jaws" had just come out - and I saw the less-than-amazing Gulf of Mexico from South Padre Island.
Now I love, love to travel.... |
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