We're (myself, my wife and two teen daughters) are taking a trip up to Newport RI this Sat will stay over till Sunday and I'm hoping for some family friendly suggestions of interesting things to do in the area... They already want to do the Cliff Walk trail, and some sort of large botanical garden. Other than that, I'm open to suggestions? Thanks in advance... Rob
We did the trip last year with my then 7 yo son and are going back Saturday, Aug 2nd of this year; Missing you by a week! We did the mansions (I remember them from when I was a kid) and we had fun. I don't think he fully grasped who owned them, the whole gilded era etc but he still liked walking around those huge homes. We're doing 3 different ones this year and then heading to Mystic, CT Saturday evening/all day Sunday coming home Monday. Newport Mansions | The Preservation Society of Newport County Report back here with how the cliff walk was, maybe I'll consider that for this year as well if it was a fun thing for everyone.
check out mommypoppins.com, they have great suggestions for family travel. looks like good weather, have fun!
Well the trip went well. Hit the Mystic Aquarium on the way up. The cliff walk was very relaxing, and The Breakers (the Vanderbilt mansion) was incredible. We went up to the Museum of Science in Boston- they played the Darth Vader theme on two huge Tesla Coils (not my video- but the same show we saw): We drove the Volt 420mi total and used 9.7gal gas (43.3mpg) and saved EV mode for putting silently/cleanly around the different towns.
Very cool, glad to hear you had fun. We did Mystic Aquarium last year, on Sunday, after doing Newport for a better part of the day on Saturday. It was fun to kill off a few hours in the morning. We didn't do Mystic Seaport (though we did it when I was a kid but don't remember it at all) so this year we're going to give that a go. The Breakers is THE mansion to see so glad to see you did it and enjoyed it. It is an amazing thing to see and walk around in. All those mansions with their views are beautiful. We'll be doing some different ones this year but we'll try and get the cliff walk worked in as well.
Nope! We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Coventry RI- at the desk I asked and was told: "we don't have anywhere where you can charge your car." I didn't see any charging spots at the Museum of Science in Boston either, which is a shame as were were there a full four hours and I could have gotten a full L2 recharge in that time. It just reinforces the need to still have an ICE in your EV in 2014...
I stayed at the Howard Johnson last year, directly across the street from Mystic Village and the owner was SO cool about letting me charge from the outlet in front where the lobby was. Sure, I had to have the car in a 'non spot' right up against the front of the building but she made sure the staff knew it was ok. That being said, after the novelty wears off it is a p.i.t.a. always asking whenever you stay somewhere can I charge anywhere (at least it did for me). And yes, we are severely lacking any sort of an ev infrastructure, real shame.
+1 for The Breakers tour- it's an amazing "summer cottage" lol.... My wife really enjoyed it and wants to go back again- and this time wants to stay at an in-town inn because Newport looked like it would be pretty interesting at night if you didn't have to worry about driving/parking/traffic.
Oh, now that'd be a very nice stay! I agree, the driving/parking/traffic in newport is horrific. Too small an area for the traffic generated in the area during the summer.
Agreed... my wife gave me "the look" when I asked at the Hampton Inn At 43mpg it's not worth the effort securing a EV charge at a non-charging location to get 50 EV miles, so I spent an extra $3.59 in gas by not recharging.... On vacation- you spent $3.50 on a pretzel on the ferry ride from Port Jeff to Bridgeport.
