Another Day in Newport

I seriously love Newport...this day was just another reason why.  I could live here...I should live here...heck maybe I will live here (someday).  We began the day with some Ma's Donuts.  They were...ehhh.

But Charlotte dug right in!

We had big plans to head out to the Newport mansions today.  Charlotte was so ready to go she put her own coat on.  Not bad huh?

Of course in the 7 minutes it took us to drive from our hotel to Bellevue Ave (where the mansions are) Charlotte fell asleep.  I tried to convince Jim to just go for a walk with me and we could put her in the stroller but he was too tired too, so they both slept and I went for a walk.

This street is so gorgeous.  I just couldn't get over how grand and beautiful the entire street was.  Picture Perfect.

When I finally made it back to the car I got up my two sleepy heads and we headed to the first mansion-The Breakers.  The Breakers was owned by the Vanderbilts and was the most grand of all the mansions.  Just look how absolutely HUGE it is.  Charlotte looks right at home...running up the drive to go inside.

She was very into cheesing this trip and would stop every 5 steps, go to the grass, say cheese, another five steps, go to the grass, say cheese...over and over.

It is hard to describe the scale of this "summer cottage".  Yep...they only used them from about the fourth of July to Labor Day.  Quite the summer home if you ask me.  As you can see here...these places are GIGANTIC.

We weren't able to take pictures inside but we did buy a book that showcases them all.  There was so much history involved with all of it.  I can only imagine the parties that took place in the gigantic ball rooms.  It was amazing in all honesty.

Afterwards we walked around the grounds.  Almost all of the mansions back to the ocean.  The Breakers is called that becauce of the waves breaking on the rocks below.  Jim was kind enough to carry my purse as we were exploring outside.

Charlotte was totally digging it.

After The Breakers we headed to Rosecliff.  The guy who first owned Rosecliff developed the American Beauty Rose, although at that time it was not the lavish mansion it is now. 

It had a HUGE expanse of lawn in the front that during the right season has tons of rose gardens.  We explored and let Charlotte play before heading in.

Rosecliff was known for it's many lavish parties and scenes from a few movies have been shot here including True Lies, The Great Gatsby, 27 Dresses and a few more that I don't remember. 

It is hard to explain but the size of this mansion seemed much more managable than the other.  I mean...we could totally live here...haha!  It is also one of the only ones they rent out so we decided that Charlotte can get married there someday. 

Shortly after leaving the mansions Charlotte fell asleep in the car, so true to farm we headed to Ocean Drive.  And can I just say that having her nap in the car instead of back at the hotel has been very cool because it means we get some sweet moments to ourselves along the ocean.

The sun was setting as we drove there and the view was so cool.  The waves were really coming in and you could see rain in the distance.  We were there a long time and that rain never reached the shore.

Can you see the rain hitting the water out there?

We also both took turns catching pictures of the lighthouse light as it would flash our way. 

We finally went back to the hotel where we made some dinner and Charlotte pretended to take pictures of herself.  So funny!  We played and hung out before heading to bed.