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Welcome to my weekly update for September 8, 2024!
My husband has a lot of long weekends on his schedule suddenly so we took the opportunity last weekend to visit Connecticut and Rhode Island, two states we haven’t visited before. We only count a state as “visited” once we’ve actually done something fun there; we don’t count the states that we’ve only driven through. We went to Mystic, Connecticut, where we visited the Mystic Seaport Museum (and I bought Pachinko by Min Jin Lee from Bank Square Books). Then we packed up and moved to Newport, Rhode Island. We visited The Breakers, one of the many mansions on the water in the town. This one was built by the Vanderbilts. Being from Asheville, NC, home of the Biltmore Estate, I have a lowkey fascination with the Vanderbilts so I had to go see it. It was obviously a lot smaller (The Biltmore Estate is the largest private home in America), but the Italian Renaissance style somehow, unbelievably, made it feel even more over the top.
Slideshow:
All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2024
- The Charles W. Morgan, an old whaling ship at the Mystic Seaport Museum. We watched a whaleboat demonstration and then helped raise the smaller boat back up close to the deck of the ship. The small boat was surprisingly heavy! We loved that one of the staff sang sea shanties throughout the demonstration.
- Castle Hill Lighthouse in Newport, RI
- The front of The Breakers mansion
Posted:
Ten Fictional Story Collections
Read:
Glory Days: Stories by Simon Rich, read by John Mulaney–3.5 Stars
Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O’Brien–4 Stars
The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People by Rick Bragg–5 Stars
Currently Reading:
Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, read by Ethan Hawke
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Up Next:
We don’t have any weekend trips planned. I need some time to recover! So we’ll see what happens.
What did your week look like?
Hosts:
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
30 Comments
I’ve never been to that area of the country. Actually, as far as eastern statesI’ve only been to NC, Virginia, and Florida. I would love to get up to the northeastern part of the country someday.
Oooh, I love Rick Bragg and am happy to see that you gave his book 5 stars. Definitely going to have to get a copy of that one!
I remember Dark Shadows from when I was maybe in first grade. Scared me to death!
Mystic is a nice town (did you go to Mystic Pizza from the movie of the same name?). I went to college in New London so enjoyed my times in Mystic.
We walked by Mystic Pizza and took a picture but didn’t go inside and eat. My husband was dying for some fresh seafood. We did swing through New Haven on our way back to Schenectady and have pizza at Frank Pepe’s on my husband’s cousin’s recommendation
Mystic Seaport is a fun destination! I planned a birthday weekend for my husband there several years ago. Newport is nice, too! We were in Warwick, RI for the weekend a couple of weeks ago, but we never left the hotel because it was a dance weekend and all we did was dance, learn new dances, and dance some more.
Oooh, a dance weekend sounds like a lot of fun! Any dance/style in particular?
I love the sound of this trip, I would love to see that mansion and the main one on the Biltmore Estate. I have looked it up online one time when I was reading a book by Kristy Woodson Harvey.
The Biltmore Estate is something to behold. We maintained annual passes before we started traveling because we loved exploring the grounds.
You make such interesting trips. I would love to explore more on the East Coast but one short trip to Boston when I was in college is as close I’ve been. Your books look good too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Driving in Boston defeated us one time 😀 We flew into Boston and rented a car to vacation in Maine. We wanted to spend the afternoon exploring Boston but just kept missing our exits as they flew by in a blind curve so we finally gave up. We’ve never experienced anything like it! We were able to do some touring there a few years later when I had a work meeting in Boston. My husband tagged along with me. A driver picked us up at the airport and then we were able to walk around from there. So much history!
That sounds like a fun trip. I’ve never been to Mystic, though I’ve been to Pomfret, Plainfield, Norwich, Farmington, and a few other spots. Love seeing a Christmas book in your list. I’m ready for seasonal reading. Hope you have a great week!
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2024/09/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-sep-9.html
There are actually 2 Christmas story collections in that post but one has a subtler cover. I’m not ready for any sort of holiday season. I’m one who always holds onto summer as long as possible!
What interesting places you visit! I hope I can visit the East Coast some day!
I’m glad you had one 5 ⭐ read. I hope this week’s reads are good.
I’m very stingy with 5 star ratings so this was a rare week for me!
Growing up on the East Coast, it’s just weird to me that so many of my readers haven’t been here ! 🙂 But I didn’t visit the West Coast until I was about 30. I definitely understand that there’s just too much to choose from in this big country of ours!
I love to travel and in 2019 we visited Rhode Island. In Newport we drove by the Carey Mansion which was used in the Dark Shadows tv series. That show scared me to death. It’s before your time and I was very young when it was aired.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
My mom has talked about Dark Shadows. It used to scare her and her sisters to death too. I’ve only seen the more recent Johnny Depp movie. I didn’t realize we were close to where the series was filmed or I would have stopped by to take a picture for my mom and aunts!
Thanks for sharing the pictures. I have not been to CT or RI, but I have been to the Biltmore Estate. Their Rhode Island home looks incredible. I don’t have plans this week, yay!
It’s so nice to have a week without plans sometimes!
I love Biltmore Estates and I think it would be fun to see something else in person that the Vanderbilts built. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend and have a restful week :0
We also visited The Biltmore Mansion in Hyde Park on Hudson. The people around us were impressed but we were not 🙂 Luckily The Breakers delivered on the wow factor we expect from the Vanderbilts, even on a smaller scale.
You were in my neck of the woods last weekend! You must’ve caught Bank Square Books right before they moved. They closed for a couple of days after Labor Day and moved about a mile up the road closer to Stonington. Hope to visit them their new location soon. Newport is beautiful, and so much fun!!
I thought I was near you! Yes, we saw signs that Bank Square Books was closing for a few days while they were moving but we caught them at their old place. We needed to stop by the grocery store for something on our way to Newport and we saw their new space. I forget the name of the grocery store we went to because it was something I had never heard of before in all our travels! Then we drove 1 across to Newport, thinking it would be more scenic. Newport was beautiful but holy moly, was it crowded over Labor Day weekend! We tried to poke around downtown, couldn’t find parking that didn’t cost us a kidney, so we went across to Narragansett on Sunday afternoon. We were shocked to practically have it to ourselves. We thought the beachier town would be even busier!
I’ve barely been to the East Coast; we usually go out West because my husband loves collecting rocks and minerals. That’s a good way to clarify whether you have actually been in a state; it shouldn’t really count if you have just drive through without really stopping. Thank you for sharing your photos. I love seeing the places you have visited.
The Feather Thief is a book a member of my book club loved. She is also a naturalist, so I think I need to see what you thought of this book, and maybe it’s something I should look for.
*I think I need to see what you think of this book*
Did you know the first gold rush in the US was in NC? I thought I remembered that from my school days so I just double checked and it’s true! Someone found a 17-pound gold nugget in a creek in 1799. Can you imagine? I don’t know how we (NC) compare to places out west but we’ve got a few places known for gem stones sprinkled through our mountains. I don’t know where you go to look for them that isn’t just a tourist attraction with seeded buckets of dirt though. Here’s a list of our minerals and gemstones in case you’re interested.
I’ve barely gotten started with The Feather Thief but I’ll report back when I’m done.
I know we went to Mystic on a trip when I was a kid, but I don’t remember much of it. My dream trip for Wyatt is actually a trip out east/mid-Atlantic. Enjoy your long weekends and adventurings!
I love traveling out west but my heart belongs to NC. I hope you get to make a trip to the East coast with Wyatt one day!
Your New England travel sounds fascinating. I like your definition that if you haven’t done something fun, you haven’t really been to a place.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
RVers love to hang maps showing off all the states they’ve visited. We have one too. So many people count a state that they just drove through. That feels like cheating. If I can’t talk about something I actually visited in the state that isn’t a highway, I haven’t really been there as far as I’m concerned.