Newport Mansions

Since Vivian had a play date at her friend's enormous home in Austin towards the end of the school year she has been curious about mansions. So Jo took us on this three mile cliff walk along the ocean in Newport so we could gawk at mansions. If I was forced to slum it in Newport I'd pick Rough Point - built by a Vanderbilt and eventually the home of famous heiress and philanthropist Doris Duke. Vivian asked if this was a real mansion and if it was bigger than "Mr. Darcy's home". I think the answers are yes and no.

We passed a large group of young Chinese students and lots of gawkers like ourselves. The crowds thinned out after a while and the kids got to dip their feet in the ocean. They also set about collecting rose hips to make "rose hip jelly" - thanks Michelle :-)

Somewhere along the walk we passed a young Indian lady dressed in a saree being photographed. A white man was dressed in formal Indian clothing and a turban. Either a wedding or they were modeling. Then we stopped for a family photo. Michelle tried to coax Evan to join us but he steadfastly refused. A few moments later he fell asleep on Jo's back.

On our next visit to Rhode Island Jo plans to take a tour of some of the estates with Vivian and Michelle. Alu and Evan and I will have to go sailing or something.

Climbing

One morning while looking for stuff to do in northern Vermont when I came across good reviews for a zip-lining place over on the other side of Smuggler's Notch. We drove over and alas the kids were too light for the zip lines. But they had this amazing outdoor climbing place. For the next hour both kids were like monkeys. Evan was initially not sure of the auto-belayer but pretty soon they were both climbing pretty high and then jumping off into thin air.

The Book Store

Michelle took us to a book store in Rhode Island next to the URI campus. The owner specializes in rare books but she also has a store full of interesting reasonably priced old books. There are books everywhere. There was a whole corner dedicated to Shakespeare and another area to the history of England, both of which interested Simran. She took this photo below and posted it to Facebook from where I downloaded it.

I like bookstores. All the way from A. A Hussain and Higginbothams where Alu and I would visit while growing up in Hyderabad. The feel of books, the rustle of paper, the visual feast of so many books. The smell that permeates everything. In the Amazon era bookstores are rare. Independent ones are even rarer. A. A. Hussain closed it doors a few months ago. 

Vivian and Evan walked in, found some children's books and seated themselves on the floor and got down to work. Looking, reading, browsing. They were exceptionally well behaved. Vivian found three books she wanted. Later she switched one out for a blank journal because she's a journal hound. Evan picked up three books too. One was a reference, as expected. For the last week he has had me read a few pages each night from An Instant Guide to Owls and Birds of Prey. He knows his differences between kites, vultures, ospreys, eagles and harriers. That's as far as we've come.

Vermont

This was our first time in Vermont. The predicted temperatures for this time of year are lows of 50's to highs of 70's. We were expecting cool mountain air. The first day it reached 90 degrees much to our disappointment. Jo overheard two locals chatting "It's going to be 90. Best day of the season!". Different perspectives I guess. 

So we ditched our hiking pants and put on our swim trunks instead and discovered every amazingly beautiful mountain creek near Stowe and had a great time. The water was bracing. Not something we'd done if the air temp was twenty degrees cooler.

One afternoon we visited a waterfall. It was spectacular and approachable at the same time. Jo dunked the kids in the cool pool under the falls one after another. That thing behind us is a huge birch that must have flowed down the falls at some time in the not so distant past. Jo said she's always wanted to swim in a waterfall, and she did. It brought back memories of the Liril ad from my younger days.

I had planned to book some place on airbnb. But I never did and our options the night before we left for Vermont weren't great (there were a couple of interesting places but they were far from everywhere). Jo found us this very nice hotel called Edson Hill - a small and well-known old resort that had changed hands recently and had been fully refurnished. Vivian approved of the bathrobes, Evan gave the patio dining a thumbs up, and I liked the service. Jo approved the rooms and wants to do our bedroom in Nebraska in the same style. Distinctive country living, they call it.

On our last afternoon in Stowe, we rented four bikes in town and rode along the beautiful Rec Path - a five mile stretch of paved path that runs through meadows, over streams (on it's own dedicated bridges) and along creeks.

We stopped after about three miles to play along the creek and then it started drizzling so we decided to head back. But then we got distracted by some sculptures and ended up spending some time among the outside exhibits at the West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park. Vivian and Evan enjoyed seeing what artists had done with rock and metal and didn't mind the drizzle one bit.

We liked Vermont. Jo asked why we live in Austin. Several times.