More State Hopping - NY, CT, RI

Jun 12 - 14.…We left our site in NJ and made surprisingly good time traveling through Jersey, New York and into Connecticut (we did use the toll roads which weren’t too bad but the NY toll bridge did set us back $20.25). We overnighted in the parking lot of America’s largest Casino - Foxwood Casino near Mystic, CT. This is huge complex - It has 3 hotels & Casino, stores, a cinema, over 20 restaurants, etc!!!!! We took a drive to Mystic & Stonington - both quaint Historic towns on the water .
Wednesday we drove down the road about 50 miles to Newport, RI. What a beautiful area - we can see why the elite have homes here! We took a harbor cruise where we saw many sailboats moored in the bay getting ready for a big race this weekend from Newport to Bermuda. We also saw the shoreline that is full of mansions. We walked Bowen’s Wharf & the narrow streets of downtown Newport. Today we walked 4 miles of the 7 miles of Cliff Walk. It’s a 3 ½ mile walk on the cliffs of the Atlantic Ocean. Some of it had sidewalk but much of it was dirt path and huge boulders. The view was magnificent - the ocean to one side and MANY Mansions to the other side (owned by the Astor’s, Vanderbilt’s, & many other extremely wealthy people in the late 1800’s & early 1900‘s)! After our walk we toured one of the mansions - The Marble House. This was a ‘summer cottage’ that belonged to one of the many Vanderbilt’s. It cost $11 million when it was built in 1892. It is quite elaborate with marble everywhere even on the walls. You can tell that no expense was spared! It’s hard to imagine that this was just a ‘summer cottage’. After all this it was time for lunch - - clam chowder & clam cakes near the water. We then made the Ocean Drive where we saw two homes that were used as a “Summer Whitehouse”-- Eisenhower & Kennedy. The Hammersmith Farm that belonged to Jackie Kennedy’s family was used as the JFK as a summer whitehouse. It is also where their wedding reception was held. We are really enjoying the Atlantic coastline. Thursday we move on up the road to Cape Cod.