| New England is a destination for many travelers | | | | boardwalk. This might be a problem for a family with |
| annually. It is an area of great history and scenery, not | | | | hyper children expecting to find amusement rides and |
| to mention plenty of water for your enjoyment in the | | | | an endless supply of carnival style games, but for a |
| summer months. When we think of new England, | | | | family looking for some quiet time while enjoying the |
| familiar names like Boston, Cape Cod, and Martha's | | | | Atlantic Ocean, this beach was perfect. I later learned |
| Vineyard come to mind first. But the entire state of | | | | form a travel brochure that there is a beach with |
| Rhode Island, a small but historic state, rich in | | | | amusement rides and boardwalk style games located |
| waterfront property and seemingly relaxed residents, | | | | near the town of Westerly but we decided to save |
| happens to be a wonderful destination with all the | | | | that for the next trip. |
| charm of any New England locale. Having never been | | | | The Island of Newport was our next adventure. After |
| to Rhode Island personally, I recently spent a long | | | | quite a scenic drive to the south, we entered Newport |
| weekend discovering the beauty and the extensive | | | | and the only problem we had was the inability to enjoy |
| history of this state. I considered my three day visit to | | | | the entire island in one afternoon. Newport features a |
| the Ocean State, a learning experience, or at least a | | | | visitor center which is ideal for guidance but will leave |
| scratch at the surface of this small piece of America. | | | | you wondering why you're not staying longer. One |
| Although it is not quite as well known as many other | | | | afternoon in Newport is barley enough time to get |
| parts of New England, Rhode Island offers something | | | | started. Newport is known for its mansions. The |
| for every member of the family as we soon found | | | | surreal homesteads were once owned by some of |
| out. | | | | the most famous and wealthy families in the world. |
| The Rhode Island state line is less than five hours by | | | | They are now open to the public a tourist attractions |
| car from our residence in Pennsylvania. An easy five | | | | and no visit to the island would be complete without |
| hours of non-congested driving, which helps make it | | | | experiencing at least one. Newport also has a cliff |
| the perfect place to spend a quiet weekend. Not | | | | walk so visitors can enjoy the beauty of this piece of |
| knowing much about this small state as a tourist | | | | paradise as well as some clean and quiet beaches. |
| destination, we selected a hotel pretty much in the | | | | As we took to the highway and headed for home, we |
| center of the state just south of Providence in | | | | all agreed that a weekend just wasn't enough. We |
| Warwick. The centralized location of the hotel gave us | | | | failed to visit historic Providence and we only dipped |
| plenty of options within a short drive. Summertime is | | | | our toes at one beach. The state was so unique and |
| the time for beaches and swimming, so our first | | | | welcoming that I found myself researching its history |
| experience would be a day at the beach. We | | | | and its attractions from my home computer even |
| selected the state beach at Scarborough based on | | | | after we had completed our weekend trip. The state |
| recommendations from the clerk at the hotel desk. A | | | | of Rhode Island was scenic and visitor-friendly without |
| short drive later, we were relaxing on a non-crowded | | | | the tourist trap environment and there is no doubt we |
| beach with plenty of public parking, clean bathhouses, | | | | will visit again. |
| and a concession stand. The only thing lacking was the | | | | |