Conspicuous Consumption

September 30, 2010

Although, horrid weather was predicted for today, it really wasn't too bad.  It was cloudy, but warm and no rain, so, as Washingtonians, we were pleased.

We headed to Newport, Rhode Island today.  Newport is the location of the summer homes for the extremely wealthy.  We chose to tour two Vanderbilt homes - the "Breakers" and the "Marblehouse".    These two mansions were built by Vanderbilt brothers for their family summer vacation homes.  It was unbelievable to see these extravagant castles.  The "Breakers" was staffed by 40 servants and the "Marblehouse" had about the same in their time.  These mansions were modeled after the castles of European royalty.  I'm sorry, but photos were not allowed in the castles.

The town - home of the America's Cup - was very quaint and we enjoyed a nice lunch and a long walk through the historic areas.  The village green had a beautiful old church at one end.  I could not really do the tall steeple justice.

"A Slice of Heaven"

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Mystic is a charming sea village.  We set off to explore it.  The most notable thing about Mystic is the huge ship and seafaring museum.  There you will see the only surviving wooden whaling boat.  We chose not to stop by the museum and just enjoyed the scenic village.  First of all you approach the town by a tiny drawbridge.  There was lots of shopping but we just walked around and enjoyed the sights.

Of course, Mystic is known for the movie Mystic Pizza.  So I just had to get a picture of the restaurant where some little known actress got her start.  I bet you remember who that is.

We continued to Providence, Rhode Island -- or at least we thought we were on our way to Providence.  Our hotel is actually in Massachusetts!  A fact that took us a while to figure out -- thank goodness for the Garmin.

This is a big day for me - a big, mean, nasty old birthday.  But I couldn't celebrate in a better place!

Louie's Lunch

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New Haven, Connecticut was our next stop.  We spent a little bit of time in New Haven.  Carroll and I tried to enroll at Yale but both of our IQs were too high!  They simply did not have a program for genius such as this.  At my niece's, Elizabeth, suggestion, we had lunch at Louie's Lunch.  That was an experience.  The place was so tiny we drove by it -- twice!  But is was a fun experience when we finally found it.  The menu is burgers and they cook them in these small countertop style gas grills from 1900.  Surprisingly the hamburgers go in on their sides.  (The seafood at the Chowder Pot was amazing!)

I was especially interested in seeing the midieval mansion of William Gillette, early actor and playwright.  Gillette was most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.  He built this "retirement" home between 1914 and 1919.  It was truly amazing.  Also we had the most incredible ferry ride across the river to get to his castle.  The tiny ferry could only hold about 4 cars!  It was great -- in spite of the torrential rain at that time.

We then proceeded northeast on US 1.  We stopped along the way at Guilford and then continued on to Mystic.

"Give me liberty or give me death."

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Philadelphia is amazing!  I really hadn't thought about how much there was to see in this historical city.  We started off the morning with a walking tour.   We walked past Christ Church, Ben Franklin's church.  Of course, we toured Independence Hall.  Independence Hall was the capitol of the United States while Washington DC was being built.  Did you know the first U.S. post office which was started by Ben Franklin is the only post office in the United States that does not fly the flag?  We walked past City Tavern where George Washington dined when in Philadelphia.  I enjoyed touring Betsy Ross' home.  It was manned by an actress who stayed in character as she portrayed Betsy. 

Of course, you can't be in Philadelphia without having a Philly cheese steak.  So we tried out Campo's - home of the original cheese steak.  Yum!  Delicious.

Atlantic City was not really a planned destination, but we suddenly realized that we really needed to see the boardwalk or our trip would not really be complete.  Atlantic City is quite an experience.  We walked the boardwalk and stayed at the Trump Plaza - which was not that expensive, surprisingly.  We did have rain today.  It really is a little Las Vegas.

Did you note how "skinny" Betsy Ross' house was?  In pre-revolutionary days you were taxed on how wide your house was.  Most houses were no more than 16 feet wide!  The cage in the court house in Independence hall was where the accused had to stand hence the saying "stood trial".  

US Highway 1

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We left Washington DC via US Highway 1.  Of course, we lost Hwy 1 in Baltimore and then rejoined it to make our trek through Maryland.  Thank goodness for our GPS!  We saw beautiful old, old farms and countryside.  We passed through Brandywine and discovered later that they were having a revolutionary battle reenactment.  Most of the day was spent in the car and then we stayed in Philadelphia at the Courtyard.  Our plans are to spend most of tomorrow in Philadelphia and then drive to Atlantic City for the night. 

"I was never here."

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David drove into Washington DC to join us for a day of sightseeing.  We took the subway downtown and checked into the Spy Museum.   It was great!  We uncovered espionage tactics dating from the Trojan horse.  During the Civil war, hot air balloons were used for spying missions.


"Deny everything."

The Plane, The Plane

What an exciting day!  We were both up early all ready to go.  This is my retirement trip and celebration, so I'm especially thrilled.  Sarah kindly took us to the airport and James is taking care of our house and cat.  Our flight was right on time and we arrived in Washington DC at 10:00.  (Of course, that is only 7:00 Pacific time.)

Tomorrow David will meet us and we will do some sightseeing around the area.  I will work to download some pictures tomorrow.  So stay tuned -- the adventure is just beginning.