Getting There: We made the mistake of following the advice of our GPS and taking I-95 through New York City on a Tuesday afternoon which resulted in a 6-7 hour drive turning into a 8-9 hour trip. Stop-and-go traffic is exhausting so as it is but we have a manual transmission which makes it all the more brutal. My colleague at work says there are alternate routes (albeit longer in mileage--now he tells me!!) to Newport and we will definitely find one the next time we go.
- Tolls: Be sure to have a lot of $1 bills and change readily available. Between the turnpike fees, tolls, and bridge charges, we spent $25-$30.
- Audio Book: At the last minute we decided to take an audio book on the drive. What a lifesaver...especially with the traffic...it helped keep the road rage at bay! It worked well that the run time was 1-2 hours less than the anticipated drive time since we wanted to talk at least part of the trip. We bought Kathy Reichs' Devil Bones and lucked out with both an author and narrator which were fantastic...a poor narrator can ruin a perfectly good storyline.
Beechtree Inn—34 Rhode Island Ave, RI: We would highly recommend this B&B even though we aren't really the B&B types. I found it on Orbitz, but I booked the room by calling the inn directly in order to get the military discount. The military discount is offered to active and former military personnel but my impression was that there is not a standard discount per se...we still paid the $149 per night (same as Orbitz) but they waived the pet fee which is $25 per night with a maximum of $50 per stay.
- Room: Our room had a firm but comfortable queen-sized bed, small but adequate closet with lots of hangers, bathtub with Jacuzzi jets, blow dryer, and an electric faux fireplace that served as a wonderful nightlight. There was no counter space in the bathroom. A thin, glass shelf below the mirror and an awkward, round, multi-tiered shelf unit were meant to make up for that but fell short.
- Internet: We had free wireless internet access which was very fast and reliable.
- Breakfast: Unlike many B&Bs, we had a choice of breakfasts each morning: eggs (scrambled or sunny side up), pancakes (plain or blueberry), French toast, or omelets (about any kind you could want). Bacon, ham or sausage and home fries were also available. In addition, you could help yourself to breads, yogurt and fresh fruit while you were waiting for your order. The first day we ordered eggs and they weren’t that great. It could have been because the regular cook was off that day. The next day we ordered French toast and it was absolutely fabulous…I stuck with the French toast the remainder of our stay.
- Dogs: Beechtree Inn was very dog friendly. At check-in we received a tote full of dog supplies: a few baggies for clean-up, a treat, a doggie towel for wiping off dirty feet, and a sheet to cover furniture if you have a dog that sheds (ours does not). We had taken our dog on two away from home trips previously, but this was the first time we were leaving him alone in the room. The other trips we kept him with us at all times. We were a little worried he would cause a commotion. Jim, the innkeeper, was very kind and told us he would call us if our dog caused a disturbance and let us talk to him over the phone to calm him down…quite kind …luckily it was not needed. Oakley, the owner’s dog, was a little territorial with our dog, but not big deal. As mentioned earlier there is a $25 per night pet charge with a maximum charge of $50 per stay.
- Location: Beechtree Inn is located in a residential area. It is very quite which is quite nice. Everything was close…mansions…cliff walk…downtown/pier…but just a little too far to walk so we drove.
- Kitchen: There is a communal kitchen on the top floor. It is very clean and equipped with a full size refrigerator/freezer, two burners in the countertop, a microwave, dishes, silverware, paper towels, etc. We took advantage of the kitchen and it worked out really well for us. Later in our stay another couple started using the kitchen as well. It was a little awkward at times given they were staying on the top floor (where the kitchen is) with small children and sort of claimed the kitchen area as an extension of their room.
Newport Mansions--We went to Newport primarily to tour the mansions.
- Preservation Society Membership: I went online and decided to buy a dual membership to The Preservation Society of Newport County (http://www.newportmansions.org/page3553.cfm). The preservation society owns a number of mansions and the membership allows you unlimited access to all of them for a year. The clincher for me was the membership is tax deductable whereas the ticket packages and individual ticikets would not be. If you purchase the membershp online several weeks in advance of your trip, you will get your permanent membership card in the mail before you leave...not to worry if it doesn't arrive in time...they give you a temporary one immediately upon sign-up online.
- The Best Mansions in the Preservation Society Stable: See as many mansions as time allows but the absolute "must sees" under the Preservation Society's perview are The Breakers, Marble House, and The Elms. All three are absolutely fabulous and you explore at your own pace with a self-guided audio tour. The Breakers is just so grand I don't even know where to start. The Marble House has an amazing gothic/church room full of religious art that absoutely fasinated me. The Elms had a conservatory that I loved and wonderfully manicured grounds to explore. Rosecliff and Chateau-sur-Mer are also worth seeing but we didn't like the tour guided tours as much as the audio tours.
- Green Animal Topiary Garden: We went to the Green Animals topiary garden which in about a half hour outside of Newport and is one of the Preservation Society's properties. It is not worth the gas. We were terribly disappointed. It was small and many of the topiaries you could not tell what they were without a guide/map. We were lucky that many of the flowers in the garden in general were blooming (astible, lupine, delphinum, etc). I don't think anything would be in bloom if you toured at another time of year.
- Belcourt Castle: Although our Preservation Society membership granted us access to more mansions than we could reasonably see in 3 days, we still sprang $30 each to go to Belcourt Castle's murder mystery night and we are really glad we did. This was the first murder mystery for both of us and we were very pleased. We were greeted the second we stepped foot in the courtyard and ushered into a large room on the first floor where an art show was taking place. We voted on our favorite artist and the evening went from there. Ultimately, the art critic was shot and killed and we needed to explore the castle looking for clues. It was fun to wander the rooms freely and at your own pace. It was a unique and fun way to tour a mansion.
