Go Back Time by Getting Out of Town: Newport, RI

I was just telling someone this weekend how much I love Newport, Rhode Island.  It's like traveling back in time to another era.  Mark Twain  coined the term the "Gilded Age" to describe the era of excess that defined Newport.  That excess still exists but so does a restrained elegance that makes Newport so magical.

What a treat to get to my New York Times (finally) and see the travel section did a story titled "12 Unexpected History Trips".  Newport is on that list along with some of my other favorite cities including Washington D.C., Palm Springs.  The article suggests hitting all the mansions, I would add hitting Flo's clamshack and taking a tour of old Doris Duke Foundation homes in town.  I stayed in one built in the 1700's and it had a remarkably solid wooden structure build like nothing else.

I've spent a few summers in Newport touring Vanderbilt mansions, watching croquet matches with the intensity I would a Mavericks playoff game and having lunch with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' stepbrother (he had a thing for my hostess).  It's a special, special place.  You never know who you might meet.  When Jackie's stepbrother was talking to me having about lunch with the "President", I thought he was referring to the president of a beach club.  Turns out he was referring to JFK.

Only in Newport.  Trust me.