Newport, Rhode Island- Chasing Starlight and Mansions

Our family is attempting to travel to all 50 states through creative road trips. We prefer to choose a route which may have several destination stops throughout the trip. This often results in spending a short amount of time in one city. We love to get the flavor of the place that we are visiting by experiencing dining experiences, seeing a well-known icon from that area or simply experiencing the understated charm of that particular area.

This post shares about our time in Rhode Island. We visited Rhode Island as part of our New England road trip. We arrived in Rhode Island after our time in Massachusetts.

All of the details of our time in Massachusetts can  be found at  Massachusetts- Whales, Witches and Wayfaring.

All of the details of our New England Road Trip can  be found at  50 State Journey- The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip. 

Upon arriving in Rhode Island, we grabbed a quick dinner at the Blue Plate Diner. This was a great choice because it had an expansive menu for everyone to choose something they liked. They offered plenty of upscale dishes.

We heard at dinner that there was a high likelihood of seeing the Northern Lights that night. Our waiter gave us some suggestions of where they might be viewable. We headed toward the beach to see if they could be seen. We couldn't see them with the naked eye, but we were able to see some with our camera.

After our sky viewing, we headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Howard Johnson by Wyndham Middletown Newport Area. We had a lovely stay.

The next morning, we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and headed out to explore New Port. We knew that we wanted to visit some of the Newport Mansions. We investigated ticket packages and chose to visit three mansions. It was so fun to feel like we were stepping back into the gilded age. We all enjoyed visiting these intricate mansions.

After our mansion tour, we decided to go to downtown Newport and have lunch at the Red Parrot Restaurant. The Red Parrot Restaurant is in a building that is on the National Register of Historical Places. It was originally a meat packing house built in 1898. The food was delicious with several seafood options.

We were also able to walk toward the waterfront and explore the wharf area. It was fun to see boats in the water. There were also several boutique shops to explore which was fun for some window shopping.

After a late lunch and some exploring, my girls decided that we must try to find Taylor Swift's house. We drove to the Watch Hill neighborhood and were able to get a peek. We drove by and took some pictures, but were pretty confident that she was not home. It was still fun to see a more modern "mansion" after our day exploring the gilded age mansions.

After our time in Rhode Island, we were off to Mystic, Connecticut. We had a small appetite for dinner so we picked up a pizza on the way and ate it at the hotel. The Quality Inn Mystic- Groton was our hotel for the night.

All of the details of our time in Connecticut can  be found at  Mystic, Connecticut- Sips, Ships and Shops.

Other Rhode Island activities you might enjoy:

All of the details of our New England Road Trip can  be found at  50 State Journey- The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip. 

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