Wow, what an amazing weekend: perfect (summer) weather, great friends, good times, and delicious eats. Let’s just say there wasn’t a shortage of fun this weekend! Here’s a recap of the best parts of my weekend in Newport.
Best Adventure: Newport Sailing Cruise
On Sunday, Mal and I and our friends, Josh and Courtney, took a two-hour sailing cruise of Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay on the Aquidneck, a beautiful, 80-foot gaff-rigged schooner. The weather could not have been more perfect for a sailing adventure.
The sailing tour included complimentary mimosas and a really interesting history of Newport from the crew. Some of the highlights: Fort Adams (one of the largest forts on the East Coast), the summer Whitehouse of JFK where Jackie spent summers, yachts and homes of the rich and famous, and vintage America’s Cup boats.
What was really great about the sailing tour (besides the obvious) was how reasonably it was priced. It cost less than $30 per person, which was totally worth it for what you got.
Best Happy Hour: The Lawn at Castle Hill
Sails. Adirondack chairs. Ocean breezes. Quintessential Newport. You can take it all in from the best seat in town.
The Lawn at Castle Hill is really something special. Mal and I visit every time we’re in Newport. It’s the perfect place to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery with a fancy cocktail in hand.
This time, I ordered the Strawberry & Basil Martini, which was delicious and so refreshing. It was made with muddled strawberries and basil, simple syrup, gin, and vodka. Mmm! I loved it.
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!
Best Live Entertainment: Separate Ways
Journey tribute band?!? Sounds like a blast to me!
On Saturday night, Mal, Josh, Courtney, and I went to the Newport Blues Café to hear Separate Ways, a Journey cover band. When they took the stage, Separate Ways seemed “too cool for school” and sort of full of themselves, which initially put me off, but once they started playing, I changed my mind about them. They were really great”” awesome performers and sounded just like Journey, so, of course, I had a blast singing and dancing the night away. (I’m sure the multiple Stoli vanillas helped too. I may or may not have done a couple of 80’s high kicks on the dance floor. Yep, it was one of those nights. Good stuff.)
Best Breakfast: Pumpkin Muffin & Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee from the Ocean Breeze Café
If this breakfast doesn’t scream fall, I don’t know what does.
I love the Ocean Breeze Café and their ginormous muffins and pumpkin spice iced coffee. In fact, I love this combo so much, I order the same exact breakfast every year.
Best Dinner: Firehouse Pizza
Firehouse Pizza is another Newport favorite. Mal and get their pizza every time we are in Newport.
The Firehouse Pizza restaurant is sort of weird. It’s an old firehouse, which is cool, but the rest of the décor looks like someone’s messy garage with beat-up furniture and random stuff everywhere. Even still, they make a really fabulous pizza with tons of toppings and doughy, garlicky crust.
Best Dessert: Charlie’s Chocolate Chip cupcake from Cupcake Charlie’s
A new cupcake shop in Newport? Obviously, I needed to try it.
Mal and I shared Charlie’s Chocolate Chip cupcake, which was vanilla chocolate chip cake with vanilla butter cream frosting and a small chocolate chip cookie on top, and, oh, yes, it was amazing. I loved that the cupcake had so much frosting (my favorite), but the cake was more like a muffin than cake. It tasted fine and I liked it, but the consistency wasn’t typical of a cupcake.
Best Pumpkin Beer: Southampton Pumpkin Ale
I heard that Southampton’s Pumpkin Ale was pretty delicious, so I bought a six-pack for this weekend. It wasn’t my favorite pumpkin beer ever, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It didn’t have a super strong pumpkin flavor, but I liked the hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.
I really like spicy flavors in my pumpkin beer, but I also like a strong pumpkin flavor. The Southampton Pumpkin Ale was more spicy than pumpkin-y, but it wasn’t hoppy, so, overall, it was a good pumpkin beer in my book.
59 Comments
I can’t believe that cupcake has a cookie on top! Brilliant. Glad you had such a good time! 🙂
What is your favorite pumpkin beer? I’m looking for a good one to try!
Delicious cupcake much- what a perfect weekend!
Love Newport, looks like you had an wonderful weekend perfect sailing weather. Where is the Ocean Breeze cafe? If your ever in Boston, check out stregawaterfront.com its amazing”¦you’ll love it.
The one and only time I’ve been to Newport was on my honeymoon and we only drove through. We were there for only a couple of hours and the only place we went was to have lunch at the Firehouse Pizza! Haha, their decor is a little crazy but the food was pretty good. Can’t wait to take a weekend to go back and see more of the sights. It was a little too touristy though for us (i.e. crowded). But I love architecture and is there any better place to go to see beautiful houses?!
~Ang
Thank-you for sharing such an amazing article. Newport beach is one of the best place to spend weekends as it is also a perfect for beach parties and occasions. Currently we have arranged a party with friends at newport beach on “Mystic” 41′ Lagoon 410 catamaran and it is really beautiful to spend holidays there.