Newport, Rhode Island

Today has been long and full of many adventures! It all began at 2:30am with a Flash Flood warning over our iPhones which sound like air alarms. The threat was quite real as Hurricane Ida is winding down her rage along this coast, and since we felt like sitting ducks in this basement apartment, despite the fact that we knew this area woud fare better than other areas (and did), we packed up our stuff in case we needed to bang on Bonnie's door to be let into her higher part of the house. We were both wide awake at this point, though not much to be found on the news about the status of anything, John finally went to sleep around 4:30am, and I remained awake pretty much the rest of the night, getting only enough rest to have nightmares about my mom and other very strange dreams. Despite the rough night and wake up, we had had an incredible day of sun and fun!

We drove to Newport, which is only about 30 minutes away, and parked at the 40 Steps marker along the Cliff Walk. It was an absolutely glorious walk along the ocean’s coast. We spent 4 hours wandering the Cliff Walk, stopping to admire and smell the local flora and watch the mesmerizing waves. There were some surfers in a particularly rocky area with some pretty big waves and we watched them for quite a while, so hypnotic! 

Finally peeling ourselves away from this perfect landscape, we headed into the town and stopped for a wee nip in the Bar & Board restaurant. A great place to rest our feet and share our chitters about the day. We then wandered the fisherman’s wharf area (which is too working-class to describe this very elite area of coastal wealth) that is mostly closed off to anyone not owning a boat or taking a boat tour. We then chose a nice little Irish pub for an early dinner. John had the Bangers & Mash, and I had a chicken salad, apple, cranberry & Brie toasty with chips (fries), all were delicious!

Then the drive home for an early tuck in since we had such disrupted sleep during the night. So thankful that our journey to and fro had good road conditions and no flooding or washed out roads, except for a tiny amount right near our AirBnB. The yard here is flooded from the lake so we can’t go out onto the dock, but we have stood and enjoyed watching the local ducks, elegant swans and bald eagles. And the giant carp that jump alarmingly out of the peaceful waters!