Rhode Island Part 2: Cranston and Newport

BK came and picked me up from Terry's house and took me back to his house in Cranston for a very tasty fish curry. BK is a super relaxed guy who loves to travel and take photos. His love of travel extends so far that he didn't attend to a bad burn from a barbecue fire because it would have got in the way of his first trip home to India in years.


His neighbourhood of Cranston is the inspiration for Quahog, the city which is home to Peter Griffin and family, of Family Guy. While it is technically a different city to Quahog, the state of Rhode Island is so small (walkable from end to end in a day - not that I tried) that the two cities kind of blend into one.



We decided that the next day we'd take a trip down to Newport, an area famous for its mansions, its coastal walks and its local seafood!



I visited the house of Doris Duke, a famous art collector and heiress. This house is different to a lot of the other house museums in the area for the reason that when she left it, she didn't realise that she wouldn't live to return. After a string of surgeries, she suffered a heart attack in one of her other homes (she had many) and died. Her house is very much the way it was when she left it.

She had two pet camels also. Once, during a big storm, she decided to keep them inside the conservatory and waited it out with them. Well, camels will be camels, as they say. Luckily all that got broken was a mirror.

Yours truly being a doofus in the back garden.

My favourite room was her very purple and yellow bedroom with lots of mother of pearl furniture. No pictures were allowed inside the house unfortunately, so here's one I stole from tripadvisor.

I then took a walk along the Newport Cliff walk trail, which passes some really nice viewpoints and 

Meeting up with BK at the other end of the trail, we took a drive around. We ate lobster rolls from a beach shack (the sign outside the shop said 'NO REFUNDS AFTER YOU PASS THIS SIGN. BE CAREFUL - SEAGULLS WILL STEAL YOUR FOOD' which I found quite amusing.) We explored Newport by car, taking photos along the way and making stops to watch kites and drink lemonade.

We found out about some local firework displays that were going on as it was the day before Independence Day, July 3rd and made our way there. We got there really early. It wasn't even dark yet. Perfect, we'll be able to get the best views, we thought. We hung around on a patch of grass and lots of other people turned up too, assuring us that the fireworks would be 'just over there'. Well, time for fireworks arrived and we saw some colourful splashes in the sky way over to our right behind some piers and quite a distance. BK and I knew exactly what to do and rushed to the car and found the last parking spot left in the town where the fireworks actually were and managed to see the very last of them. Success! Back to Cranston we went. Newport was a really nice town, and I'd be sad to say goodbye to Rhode Island.  The next morning I was hitch hiking my way to Boston for the Independence Day celebrations.

Thanks for reading,

Dan :)