OL and I took a little jaunt to Newport this weekend. It is the first of our many summer trips so we tried to be frugal. Kourtney and frugal=interesting combination. Rented a car and booked hotel in Coventry. Somehow online it was described as 18 miles and 20 minutes from Newport, which turned out to be 30 miles and 45-60 minutes away with traffic. Anyway, the hotel–Fairfield Inn and Suites–was nice, clean, cheap and included a free breakfast–all things we like.

Our time in Newport flew by, but it was the first summer vacation I’ve had since the lay off. It was great to go traipsing around Thames St. and Bowen’s Wharf, hitting spots I loved as a kid. The Cookie Jar still has the best shortbread ever. Kilwin’s has the creamiest freshest most delicious fudge ever. We went twice. Getting the roads down took a day or two because they don’t have a grid like NYC. But luckily my Droid Incredible rocked on GPS.

The mansions. I’m still in awe of what I saw. I remember going there as a child and I felt the same absolute wow when I went as an adult. We hit Marble House, The Breakers, Chateau Sur Mer and Rosecliff. All worth a visit and each with its own unique story and architecture.

The cliff walk is a must do. We did it at sunset and it was cool and wonderful.

The Scenic Ocean Drive is another must.

For lunches we hit Bangkok City in Middletown–great cheap eats with 5-7$ lunch specials. A quick 10 minutes from Newport mansions.

We beached on Second Beach with soft sandbar butter like sand  with minimal red seeweed. We swam in the ocean–it was refreshing–read freezing if you aren’t curvy. :)

And that’s just the briefest overview of the past 4 days…