singing is not allowed!

we woke up in newport to find an absolutely gorgeous day.  our cheapy hyatt turned out to have some really pretty grounds, which we explored for a few minutes before taking off.

as we drove back through town, i noticed that a lot of the buildings had little plaques and signs on them that told when they were built and who lived in them or what businesses had thrived within their walls.  so interesting!

heading back towards the mansions, we found ourselves driving through the campus of this private catholic university.  the original building was actually someone's house, and they donated it to the school:

just so pretty.  the first few scenes of the ah-nuld movie "true lies" were filmed here, too. 

and a few minutes later, we arrived at our destination - the summer home of rich ass cornelius vanderbilt.

just like everything else, entry required a ticket.  with the bean in the trusty ergo carrier, the teen and i followed the hub as he chatted up the lady behind the counter and forked over the cash.  as i stood there, i joined the bean as she sang a song.  we weren't singing very loudly or being obnoxious at all - i was just trying to keep her occupied and happy.  but the lady stopped what she was doing, gave us the side eye, and totally barked at us.  "can you stop that?"  as she made some bizarre gestures towards her ears.

grumpy ass bitch.  i was so annoyed.  oh, well.  we made our way out of that tent with tickets in hand and headed towards the mansion.

and then, another bummer:

we were only allowed to snap a photo as we got upstairs to the deck that overlooked the expansive lawns and their view of the ocean.

i loved this - the children's playhouse.  it was bigger than our new house (okay, maybe not, but still, it was pretty gigantic).

heading back out onto the highway, we crossed yet another bridge:

went through our first toll plaza:

and encountered the first of many long, long stretches of road with nothing but trees to look at.

we decided to get off here:

but bypassed this:

crossed another bridge:

and stopped to eat here.

then it was back in the car for a short drive.

having visited harvard, we thought it was a good idea to at least do a drive-by of the yale campus as well.

the bean had fallen asleep, so the hub dropped off the teen and me so we could pick up our yale paraphernalia.

another bridge on our way to the big apple:

and then we were there.

our priceline treasure for the next two nights was here - the hotel algonquin.  a four-star hotel right around the corner from times square and radio city music hall, a steal at just under $100 a night.

the bean, clad in her new sweatshirt, snuck in a few jumps on the bed before we headed out on the town.

NYC is the teen's most favoritest vacation spot.  she had a great time and a lot of awesome memories from our trip a couple of years ago, and she was excited to be back.

actually, we all were.

hello, new york!