It's been a while since my parents, sisters and I all had a little trip together. We all love adventuring and going to new places and now that my Dad is retired, he really wants to get out and do fun things! All it took was one conversation over the summer and my little sister was all over google and presenting us with family friendly destinations for us to travel to.
For this next little trip we had a few requirements.
1) We wanted it to be driveable. Ideally only a handful of hours.
2) We wanted it to be somewhere no one has been.
3) We wanted to find an affordable airbnb that had at least 4 bedrooms.
4) We wanted it to be family friendly so my toddler could have a good time too.
Up came Newport, Rhode Island!
We planned the weekend getaway for the end of September into early October. We figured the weather would still be beautiful and that it wouldn't be super crowded. We found a great airbnb in the neighboring town of Narragansett. I love airbnbs for traveling with little kids. He still drinks a lot of milk and hotel fridges only fit those little milk bottles. At the airbnb, we were able to do a small food shop and stock up on milk, snacks, and breakfast foods. Not eating out everyday for breakfast definitely saved everyone money! We also planned to do a few other meals at the house.
Our travel day was rough. We had to wait until my husband got out of work and that put us on the road during rush hour in the NY/CT area which was not ideal. We hit lots of roadwork and traffic and moved miserably slow. My parents and younger sister and her husband left late in the morning and zipped right up without a problem. Leaving at the right time is key! You don't want to be anywhere NEAR the city in rush hour-- and we KNEW that-- but didn't expect to be in traffic quite as long as we were. The baby was a champ during the drive though. We may have eaten a whole bag of cheese puffs, but when you are stuck in the car, you gotta do what you gotta do! Cheese puffs and Cocomelon for the win!
We were in a lovely airbnb with a huge backyard--total plus when looking for a place when kids are in the group. They had a great fire pit, a swing, bikes-- it was a lovely property. It was also a quick drive to the Coast Guard house-- a restaurant that some of our family went to (not us--we had to leave a day early) that everyone loved-- with stunning views and delicious seafood.
The most unfortunate part of the trip was the weather. We had one really nice day which was the day after everyone arrived. We went to check out the 40 steps and cliff walk. The 40 steps is NOT toddler friendly-- so my mom walked with my son while we checked them out. The cliff walk was fine with a stroller and quite beautiful. Not a lot of railings/fencing though so if your little one is on the run a lot you may need to forgo it or find a way to keep them in the stroller.
My favorite part of the trip is when we walked around Newport and ate at the outdoor patio section of the Black Pearl on the Bannister's Wharf (which is really great for food and shopping. We loved walking around here.). The food was wonderful and when the little guy got antsy, I would just let him take a break from the high chair and walk him around the wharf. We came back to our food and it was perfect! After lunch, we stopped by the cookie shop so my toddler could enjoy a fresh chocolate chip cookie. He loved walking all around this area. I even found a cute little hoodie for him as a souvenir in one of the shops.
The next few days of our trip were rainy. We made it to one mansion, The Rose Mansion. Our little guy was happy to walk around it but he didn't really allow much time for us to stop and read about the different exhibits so we ended up skipping visiting the other ones. On this rainy day, we realized that the weekend was also the Audrain Newport Concours and Motorweek and passed the most fantastic parade of expensive and classic vehicles. We would have loved to been in town for the parade if the weather was better, but instead, my husband salivated at the impressive car collection from the window of our own car.
Speaking of cars--one of our stops in Newport was the Car Museum. My husband works in the automotive industry so we had to check it out! The museum was beautiful! I thought it was well curated and maintained-- and not knowing much about vehicles-- I still loved it. The baby loves all things cars (just like his dad) and actually liked walking around there as well-- there's also plenty of room to push through a stroller. It doesn't take long to go through the whole place-- and when we were finished my two fave guys spent a lot of time picking out toy cars in the gift shop!
Overall, I wouldn't label Newport as toddler friendly-- but my little dude enjoyed the time and non-stop attention from our family regardless. We still had a nice time despite the weather-- and it is always fun to explore someplace new! I'm not sure we will be back anytime soon-- (so many new places to discover!) but definitely enjoyed a nice destination driving distance from our NJ home!
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