Newport, RI to Boston, Mass.

Embarked from the ferry at New London & passed submarine capital of the world, Groton. Connecticut was another state that, in the words of David Myles http://davidmyles.com/, we passed right through. It seemed, at times, to have dense forests but it's difficult to tell this when you are travelling on an Interstate Highway. 

Leaving the I95 we crossed into Rhode Island and had a late picnic lunch, to supplement the Ferry chowder and bagel, at Patriots Park, Portsmouth RI. The park is a memorial to a Regiment that fought during the War of Independence http://portsmouth.patch.com/listings/patriots-park-3. The US seems to have many parks like this one and, invariably, they have facilities for people with disabilities. Australia could do better in this regard. Leaving Interstate 95 meant that we left the highway and Mrs G returned us to two lane country roads.  

Crossing over several lovely bridges (it is an Island after all) and driving through Newport we arrived in Middletown and our hotel. Atlantic Beach Inn &Suites. We enjoyed the nice, large (compared to New York) room & saw a nice sunset overlooking the water. There are beaches here! And they look inviting!!!

The driver went for a walk while the navigator had a rest and after recharging their "batteries" in their own way they headed out for a night’s entertainment listening to some enthusiastic Karaoke “performers” at the nearby Rusty's Bar & Grill. Perhaps the $2 beers made them sound better but "they were having a go". Supper in our room, booked accommodation and a show in Boston for the next night, then well deserved sleep. 

Middletown is just north of Newport and when we travelled south to that city after breakfast we weren’t surprised by the fact that there were yachts, yachts and more yachts. 
 

Newport is an old city that oozes money and when we took Ocean Drive past Fort Adams the mansions were unbelievable. These were sometimes beautiful, sometimes not so, but were in many cases hidden by large walls or hedges. Such are the burdens of the wealthy!

Even with all these nice places appropriate venues for an al fresco lunch were in short supply in the Newport area and the sight of we two Aussies eating lunch on our picnic rug right on the slipway to a highway may have been amazing to some. But the sign did say Patriot Park. There were interesting interpretive signs, and there was parking, and even though it wasn’t a traditional park we left with full bellies!!!
 
Our reasonably easy, though slow drive in took us past some familiar place names and  lovely old buildings into Boston.

We arrived at the Kendell Hotel at 6pm and our room wasn’t ready due to a late checkout. We were upgraded to a suite. 
Bonus!

Because we had been kept  waiting we were offered a complimentary glass of wine at the bar. Extra Bonus! Julie chose a Bells Syrah ($13) and I chose a Hook & Ladder Shiraz ($9).  
EXTRA BONUS!!

Finally got into our room at 6.30pm and discovered it was a magnificent deluxe suite ($1000 per night) thats almost as big as our house.  
EXTRA SUPER BONUS!!!!!

The Kendall Hotel http://kendallhotel.com/ was situated in an ideal area, adjacent to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and two subway stops from the Loeb Theatre where we enjoyed a great night when we saw Woody Sez http://www.woodysez.com/ . Woody Sez was essentially the Woodie Guthrie story told by four extremely talented people playing (at least 12) acoustic instruments. Another wow part of our North American adventure! It's amazing what things you can find on the Internet.

Returned to our palatial room via the subway. Salad for tea followed by a spa bath and a wine or two.What a great night. 

Went to bed still buzzing!!!!

Note the colour scheme - Go Saints!!!!