We have come to love Rhode Island and have done a few overnights and day trips to this beautiful state. For February vacation we wanted to get away for a couple nights, but were not feeling the winter activities. With the weather projected in the 50’s and sunny we decided to head to Newport, Rhode Island.
We left on a Tuesday after work and made a stop in Providence, Rhode Island to check out the ice bumper cars. We parked at the Providence Place Mall and walked over to the Providence Rink, about a half mile walk. Here you can ice skate, rentals are available or you can ride the ice bumper cars. I recommend getting tickets online in advance as they often sell out.
We got about 20 minutes on the bumper cars, they were so much fun. Like bumper boats, but on ice.
After having fun with the ice bumper cars, we walked back to our car and drove a little further south. We were getting hungry and remembered a brewery that we had loved. Apponaug Brewing Company is located in an old mill building in Warwick, Rhode Island. There is a large outdoors space with a fire pit and lights hung. Inside is mostly communal dining with some individual tables. Our favorite is the Banh Mi Fries, fries with pickled vegetable and an Asian Sauce, so good.
After a wonderful dinner we drove to our hotel in Newport, Rhode Island. Thanks to Hotels.com we decided to stay at Wyndham Long Wharf. We had difficulty finding the entrance of the hotel, but a staff member helped us. Check in was smooth. We had a two bedroom townhouse with full kitchen, living room and two bathrooms. The room with two double beds was located downstairs where you enter the townhouse and everything else was upstairs. If I had young children I am not sure I would want them on the bottom floor by the entrance and away from the master bedroom and living area. For adults or families with older children it is great.
The hotel had some nice amenities like a small game room, a movie theater with a couple different movies playing through the day, filtered water stations, coffee station, activities were happening like slime making and donut hour. I’m not sure if this is all the time. They had a weight and exercise room. There is an indoor/outdoor heated pool and two hot tubs, one inside and one outside. These are open year round. There is also another outside pool, that is only open in the warmer months. We spent about an hour enjoying the outdoor hot tub and heated pool.
Wednesday we started the day out by taking a walk towards Thames Street, where there are a lot of shops and restaurants. Unfortunately the places I had on my list for breakfast were closed so we ended up grabbing breakfast at Starbucks.
After some food we explored the downtown area before going back to our car. I really wanted to check out Sutton Farms as they had baby goats and a farm store, but we could not find them. I tried reaching out to them, but never heard back.
It was a beautiful day and I wanted to walk the beach. We stopped at Second Beach to enjoy the sand, sun and ocean views.
Next stop was a walk around Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge, just up the street from Second Beach. This two and a half mile loop provides some amazing ocean views. We saw a lot of ducks in the ocean and even a seal. We saw evidence of deer, but did not see any. There is also a building with rest rooms, staff and a little museum.
It was mid afternoon and we were getting pretty hungry so we took the car back to the hotel and walked back towards the downtown area.
A friend had recommended Mother Pizzeria to us, so we decided to check them out. It was mid afternoon and not busy, we got seated right away. The staff were prompt and friendly. We started out with an order of fresh local oysters, they were amazing.
Next was their sourdough pizza, also amazing.
We wrapped up our amazing meal with some gelato. The salted caramel was delicious.
We had done around eight miles of walking and decided to head back to the hotel to enjoy the pool and hot tub. With the temperatures being in the high 50’s and sunny it felt amazing to enjoy the pool and hot tub in the sun.
After enjoying the pool I wanted to catch the sunset, we drove over to Brenton Point to watch the sunset. A perfect spot for sunset viewing.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the townhouse.
Thursday morning we checked out and started our drive home. I had one stop on the way home and that was the Botanical Gardens at Roger Williams Park. Over the years we have visited the park several times to enjoy the zoo, planetarium and just the beauty of the park. For some reason we have never been to the botanical gardens.
The entrance fee was only $5 a person. There are four different greenhouses and staff around to answer questions. There were also various activities set up to help keep your get kids engaged. I loved the greenhouses, they gave us a taste of spring and were beautiful.
I always love when there is a water feature and there were a few.
There was also a koi pond with some of the biggest koi I had ever seen.
Outside they had a couple goats that during the day go down to the fields, we were able to catch them before they went to the fields.
We had a great couple days exploring Newport, enjoying family time and relaxing. We already cannot wait until our next trip back to Rhode Island.
