Newport Interupted

These storm clouds eventually roll in and dump buckets of icy cold rain, forcing us to abandon the last quarter of Newport, RI’s “Cliffwalk”.  We would have persevered (because we’re not a couple of complete sissies, you know?) if someone (ahem, that would be me) didn’t park incredibly far away from the entrance to begin with.  To be fair, the map wasn’t exactly drawn to scale.  It might have even had one of those warnings you usually see on car mirrors – but this one would have said, “locations on this map are much farther away than you can possibly imagine.”  And in further defense of me, it’s not like we couldn’t use the walk.  So that’s what we did.  We walked, and walked, and then walked a little more.  Long story short, we had walked plenty far already by the time we reached the start of the trail at the “40 Steps”.  And we knew we’d have to do that same walk again on the way home, only this time in the rain.  So when the rain started in earnest 20 minutes later, we made the call and threw in the towel.

Bristol Bay, RI

But the day wasn’t a complete washout.  Earlier in the morning, under mostly sunny skies, we visited Newport’s sister city, Bristol.  This was our first time in Bristol, compared with our third or fourth stop in Newport.  Bristol has many of the same charms – sweeping coastal vistas, a picturesque marina, flamboyant mansions to envy, and a quaint downtown area – but isn’t as overdeveloped or crowded.  While you won’t find anything quite as impressive as The Breakers in Bristol, neither will you find yourself walking miles for want of a closer parking spot.