In this episode, we explore the coastal charm and rich history of Rhode Island and Connecticut – our 46th and 47th states! From Newport’s iconic Cliff Walk and Gilded Age mansions to Mystic’s seaside vibes and Yale’s historic campus, we’re sharing the top sights, foodie finds, and travel tips you need for the perfect New England getaway.

We recommend staying in any of these New England hotels on this trip:

• Providence, RI: Omni Providence or Residence Inn Providence Downtown
• Newport, RI: Newport Bay Club and Hotel or Marshall Slocum Inn
• New Haven, CT: The Blake Hotel or Hotel Marcel New Haven 

See more things to do in New England on our Viator New England List

Continue exploring New England (in the fall this time) and have a listen to our New England Fall Foliage Weekend Trip that covers Boston, Salem, and New Hampshire.

You can fly into different airports in this region depending on price and closeness to your itinerary. Providence, Boston,Hartford, or Manchester are the local options. Find a great flight deal to these airports by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and watching the daily flight deals (points & cash) that are emailed directly to you! Use our promo code TS10 to get $10 off your first year subscription.

Rhode Island Connecticut – Episode Transcript

0:34

Insurance and get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey.

Squad.

Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast.

Today we are taking you to New England to visit Rhode Island and Connecticut.

0:51

Jamal and Eyes, 46th and 47th states.

I’m really excited to get into this episode and tell you guys all about our time in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

I am a West Coast boy at heart.

I love California, the West Coast, even, you know, Oregon, Washington, etcetera.

1:09

But every time we end up going to the East Coast, more particularly New England region, I’m thinking of my time in Maine, New Hampshire, other places just as well.

Something about it’s just like really special.

And when we were here, I got those feelings all over again.

I thought to myself, you know, I don’t really want to leave the West Coast, but I could see why so many people here love the East Coast and I really enjoyed our time here in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

1:32

It’s just a different scene, different vibe and completely different lifestyle.

It is different and it’s quaint.

It’s got a lot of history.

It’s got a lot of beautiful nature.

The accents are different.

I obviously wasn’t on this trip with you all, but I have been to Rhode Island, I’ve been to New Hampshire, and I loved it too.

1:49

It was cool.

Like I could actually see myself one day maybe living there.

Have you been to Connecticut, Kim?

No, not yet.

So that’s still on your list.

I have a lot of places in New England and the East Coast still on my list, so I’m excited to hear.

I know you did quite a few things out there.

2:05

I don’t want to hear about the seafood.

I know that’s probably going to come up, but we could just skip over that part and get into the good stuff.

We’re going to mention the seafood, but we’re also going to talk about things that you did because when you went on your New England trip, when you were in Rhode Island, you also went to tour the mansions in Newport.

And we’re going to talk about that.

2:20

And I’m excited because I think you did one of the same mansions, for sure.

I know, but maybe be the other one too.

And so we’ll get into that.

But yeah, just so much going on in this part of the US and as always, we start with the tips.

So let’s get right into it.

Tips first.

2:36

So we flew into Providence, but if you are going to pair some nearby states into your road trip, you can fly into Boston, Hartford, Manchester, and those are all within one to two hours of where we were going.

So that’s an option if you didn’t want to fly directly into Providence.

2:52

And if you’re ready in a car, look up your rental car agencies toll fees.

If you plan to go into Newport like we did, which is in Rhode Island, you’ll cross a toll bridge and you can’t pay for it cash.

They automatically take a pic at the license plate and they bill your rental car company.

3:07

Each rental car company is a little bit different in terms of if you’re in a place where there’s a lot of tolls, which there are on the East Coast, sometimes they’ll charge you a per day fee in addition to the actual tolls.

Sometimes they just charge you the tolls.

So look into that.

3:23

That way you are familiar with what you could potentially be charged.

But a lot of the toll roads East Coast now are cashless and not even with credit cards, just automatic charges.

Last step we have for you is to buy tickets for the Newport Mansions in advance.

If you plan to visit the Breakers, which is the most popular Newport mansion, it does require timed entry, so you may want to have that already in advance so that you can make plans around that.

3:49

So like I said, we flew into Providence.

That was our day one.

We left out to San Diego, had a layover in Denver, and then flew into Providence.

We picked up our rental car flying from the West Coast to the East Coast.

I just feel like it takes all day with the time changes and layovers.

4:04

You’re not flying direct.

So we didn’t get our rental car until like 7:30 in the evening.

So all we really had time for that day was dinner.

We went to Iggy’s Dough Boys and Chowder House, the one near the airport, and we got some clam cake, some chowder and some famous dough boys, which are basically like kind of like their version of beignets sprinkled with sugar, and they’re really good.

4:28

And Iggy’s Dough Boys and Chowder House is a really popular staple in this part of New England.

Here close to Providence.

They have several locations.

And this one that we went to, we were originally going to sit in the dine in restaurant, but when we got there it what did they tell us?

4:45

It was an hour and a half, two hour wait, like a really, really long time.

But right to the side of it, if you don’t want to do dining in the restaurant, which has a more extensive menu, the more popular things, they have to go windows that you can actually order from to get these items.

5:02

So eventually we’re like, all right, well, let’s just put our name on the list.

Then we went and looked at the secondary windows and we’re like, oh, well, the stuff that we were going to order anyway is here, easy to go.

So that is an option for you guys.

And even though you can get it to go, they have benches in a little area area inside that you can eat at.

5:20

So that’s what we ended up doing.

You just order at the window, you pick it up and you find a place to seat versus like the sit down restaurant where it’s full service.

And then afterwards, we just checked into our hotel, we stayed in the Springhill Suites by Marriott.

Kim.

I know we mentioned on the last episode or one of the last ones how we are up to gold status now with the Marriott chain and they give upgrades to higher rooms if you’re in that level.

5:44

And unfortunately all the rooms are the same here.

There’s no differentiating 1.

So this is our first time checking in with gold and we got nothing, which was a rather big disappointment.

So I’m hoping the next time we stay at one we get something a little bit better.

Nothing even like a automatic late checkout or anything.

6:01

Well, obviously it does get a later checkout, but we were leaving early enough in the morning anyway that a late checkout meant nothing for us.

So in terms of the room upgrade feature that we were hoping for, just because because they only have like 1 standard room throughout the entire hotel, there was nothing really to upgrade to, which was a little bit of a let down.

6:19

That’s too bad.

I actually like the Spring Hill Suites.

They’re big rooms, they have kitchenettes and couches, and I always feel like when I just stay one night there, I’m really underutilizing how big and nice the rooms are.

They’re not nice like luxury, they’re just spacious.

6:35

Yeah, it’s very spacious.

I like having that couch space, A desk, We used the refrigerator and all of that stuff, so it was definitely nice.

The only thing was the elevator was out while we were there so we were on the 4th floor so we got an extra workout in going up and down to breakfast every day.

6:52

That’s great.

What a gift for you.

So the next day we woke up and this is what I was really looking forward to the most this entire trip.

Brittany kind of mentioned it earlier when we were talking about the tips and she was saying, oh, if you’re going to go to the Newport Mansions, more particularly the Breakers, make a reservation, blah, blah, blah.

7:10

So if you are unfamiliar with what Newport is, Newport is along the Atlantic Coast here in the state of Rhode Island.

And Newport became really popular during the late 1800s, early 1900s in the term to Gilded Age age of America, right?

7:27

Just when you had this real opulent wealth and all these rich East Coast people from New York and the surrounding region came to build mansions, which they called cottages just out here.

But they are big elaborate mansions.

Talk about like generational wealth.

7:42

Like at the time these people were like multi millionaires to equivalent dollars, like billionaires, right?

So these homes are extravagant.

Lots of people still live here, but some of these homes are so historic, owned by very famous American families that you can we can actually do tours out here.

7:58

So we woke up in the morning, we were staying in Providence region, just drove to Newport.

It took about what 45 minutes to an hour, not very long at all.

And we were going to start our day doing the Breakers, which is the name of one most popular mansion in the area owned by the Vanderbilt family.

8:16

If you don’t know who the Vanderbilt family is, they are one of the wealthiest families in American history and they were The Pioneers of the early American railroad.

So they had all that railroad wealth.

Their family itself was a dynasty and an empire.

So this house was just on a whole nother level out here.

8:33

Yeah.

So when we first got to Newport, before we went in, we got in a little early.

We went to grab a coffee from a little spot called the Nitro Bar in Newport.

And it was actually recommended to us by a squatty named Courtney.

So thank you, Courtney, for that suggestion.

I got a caramelized banana latte that was pretty good, and Jamal got a cinnamon sugar latte.

8:53

I would have went with that, Jamal.

I ended up going with that.

You know, I do like bananas and banana cream, but just something about that and a latte didn’t sound really good to me, so I went with a classic cinnamon and sugar.

Love it.

It was pretty good.

And then we went and parked at the Breakers parking lot and the Breakers don’t open till 9:00 AM and we got there a little early.

9:13

So instead of just waiting in the car, we decided to do part of the Cliff walk and part of the walkway you can get to from like right next to the Breakers.

And so we just walked behind the Breaker’s house and the Cliff walk is actually a three and a half mile trail that’s open to the public and it runs along the Atlantic Ocean shore and it has really good views of the ocean.

9:34

You have the views of the mansion and unique rock formations.

So we just did part of that, got to see the backside of the Breakers and some of the other historic houses in the neighborhood.

And then when it was about 9:00, we went to do our Breakers tour.

9:49

When you did this walk, you went on this trip in May, correct?

Yes, early May.

What’s the temperature?

I want to say the temperature was in the 60s.

OK, that’s not bad.

Yeah.

And it got up into I think it was low 70s by midday.

10:05

I think you guys went at the perfect time.

When I visited this area, it was the end of October and it was very cold.

It was like 30° in the middle of the day.

So I did a little bit of this walk, but because it was so cold and of course coming from California and totally underestimating East Coast weather, I was not dressed appropriately.

10:26

Fashion over function.

But how was this trail?

Was it beautiful?

Did I really miss out?

Well, we didn’t do the full 3 1/2 miles.

The trail itself is really cool in the sense that, again, you’re on the Atlantic Ocean, on the sea cliffs.

So that’s why it’s called the Cliff walk.

10:43

I think at some point, all of these properties extended, of course, to the ocean.

But since then, the city, county, whoever has really come in and said we’re going to make this a public walk space.

So you really get to see the backyards of these, these mansions and then of course, walk along the Cliff.

10:59

So we just did a short area scene, maybe 3 or 4 in this section by the Breakers.

And if we had more time, not necessarily in this moment, but just of course throughout the day because we’re going to do other stuff, I think it would have been really cool to walk all of it.

But we didn’t end up doing that.

11:15

I don’t want to say like you missed out on a lot, but it was still really cool to go see, walk a little bit of that area while we were waiting for the Breakers to open at 9:00 AM.

The other thing I really wish would have been nice weather to do where I don’t know what these chairs are called, but they’re like wooden lawn chairs that are iconic for New England.

11:33

I know exactly what you’re talking about.

And there’s places along this walkway where you can sit on these chairs and just look out into the ocean around the Cliff.

And did you do any of that?

Did you sit in the chairs?

We didn’t sit in the chairs, no, but we went to another part of the trail later in the day called the 40 Steps, and this actually used to be a popular meeting place for servants around the estates.

11:54

And so they actually had like a meeting thought that they would meet up too.

So it was interesting to see like historical pieces of this walkway.

I also learned that if you walk the whole 3 1/2 mile trail and you didn’t want to walk back, there’s a shuttle service that’s free that will take you back.

12:11

So then that makes it much easier to do.

Yeah.

And of course, where you start the trail, you can get to it from the middle of the communities.

There’s certain ways in and out.

So of course there’s the start and the end from either side, but there’s certain sections where you could get in.

But of course where you park some place, you’re going to have to backtrack and re walk it or walk the whole thing.

12:31

So that’s really cool that they have the free shuttle service.

That way you don’t have to do it round trip, you could just do it one way.

Kim, I know you mentioned you went in October.

How many mansions did you tour?

Just this one here at The Big One.

The Breakers, OK, so the Newport Mansions, there’s actually 11 historic properties that you can tour and during certain parts of the year, some of them are open, some of them are not.

12:54

So you kind of have to look at the schedule to see what you’re interested in and what you want to tour in advance.

Our squatty Courtney had mentioned that if you watch the HBO series The Gilded Age, it’s a really good series to like get you set for this trip and to be in those mansions.

13:09

I didn’t actually watch it, but if you guys did that and you go here, it would be pretty cool.

I actually just read a book called The Wedding People that was set in this area and I thought that was a nice entry for me into Newport.

How many mansions did you tour?

We toured 2 and you know, the mansions are preserved by the Preservation Society, so I just feel like if we were to do more than two, that would have taken up most of our day and we wanted to do things.

13:37

Like who is touring all 11 mansions?

I bet some people are, believe it or not.

But again, even though there’s these 11 to choose from that you can tour, you’re obviously going to want to do the Breakers.

But keep in mind, like, these are just 11 that are preserved by the Preservation Society just because of the historical significance of them, as well as, of course, who lived in it.

13:57

But people still live here.

Like next door to the Breakers, there’s still a residence that lives next door.

I want to tour AKA become buddies with the people that are living in the historic mansions that are not preserved.

That’s the kind of AK I need.

14:14

I know.

And I was telling Brittany when we were there and when we’re doing part of the Cliff walk, I said, can you just imagine what type of family wealth you have to have either generationally for this to be passed down or even the money now to just come in and buy such a place in this area?

So I mean Taylor.

14:29

Swift lives over here.

I can believe it.

That’s the type of money that you need.

You need that T swift money and not a lot of people have that.

So it’s really cool to go see how the other half live, so to speak, especially in a time.

Again, these homes were built really of the affluent and wealthy from New York region coming out here from banking, finance industry.

14:49

And of course, like I said, the Breakers here at the Vanderbilt’s one of the richest, most prominent American families.

And I’m really excited to start talking about their house because I loved it.

And I just thought to myself, man, like, look at these people, but like, just really think about having that type of wealth to build a home like that.

15:05

It’s crazy.

And you went to that one.

So you know exactly what we’re talking about, seeing it on the inside and everything.

They are beautiful.

Very beautiful.

So the ticket that we bought was the Breakers ticket plus one which gives you into another mansion of your choice.

Lots of different ones to choose from but we chose the marble house.

15:21

So when you get to the Breakers, they have free Wi-Fi and there’s actually a stand with a QR code and it has a self-guided audio app that will lead you through the house.

Did you use Who’s that Kim while you were there I.

Think we might’ve?

Yeah, I think we did.

So I would say bring headphones so that you can listen to the tour.

15:40

The tour itself took us about an hour, and there is free parking in the nearby lot, so you don’t have to worry about that.

But Jamal, tell us a little bit about the Breakers itself.

Well, so the Breakers was the summer residence of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

15:56

Again.

He was the head of household of the Vanderbilt family, the railroad tycoons of America, America.

And this house is 70 rooms.

It’s 62,500 square feet.

I mean, ridiculous.

It really is a mansion.

16:13

And when we were in here, it honestly felt like I was in Europe, in the palaces and castles of Europe that we have toured.

Like this isn’t just a home that has 70 rooms and 65,000 square feet.

I mean, mansions are still built to this day by billionaires that are probably within that spec range.

16:29

But the type of of craftsmanship and class and just aesthetic look that ad in here, I mean, you can tell this is opulent money of people who just wanted to be seen as like royalty, opulent, showy, but in a very tasteful way.

I mean, you really felt like you were in Europe when you were here.

16:47

And you can’t even tour the whole house.

It’s a pretty long tour and you get to see a lot of rooms, but you’re kind of just scratching the surface of what is available.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it’s so much detail in this house.

Like we walked in and under the staircase there was a fountain and like a sitting area underneath it.

17:06

And I just thought, like, wow, just the amount of detail that they had to have this already built into their house was incredible.

Well, not only that, just even the carvings of the cherubs into the walls and then by the cherubs and that vibe that you would get like as if you were in Europe or in a church.

17:23

Then hidden in the back you can see really what the family is all about, which was the railroad.

They had a steam engine of a railroad in there behind the cherubs and just all this unique architecture and carvings and of course lots of granite, marble.

My favorite room was the billiard room and that one was all mosaic out.

17:42

Do you remember that one Kim by chance or does it not ringing a bell?

So while that was my favorite room was the billiard room because they were tiny mosaics, not even like 1/2 inch and they were all hand laid perfect on the floor to the ceiling and it was just fantastic.

17:58

I would recommend doing the 9:00 AM if that slot still open because it was really nice that it wasn’t crowded.

You could tell when people are doing the audio tour and there was one other couple that was doing it like right as we started.

So we were kind of walking through together.

But otherwise as we were leaving, you could see how many more people were in the mansion.

18:18

And so if you can go early and do the first slot, that would probably be like ideal.

I would say so if you’re not going to the Breakers at 9:00 AM and when it first opens, I think it’s honestly a waste.

You should get there really before the crowds start to arrive.

I also went early in the morning and when I went it was during COVID in 2020 so it wasn’t crowded at all.

18:37

But I’m with you guys on this one.

Yeah, you have to wake up early and do it.

The second house that we toured was the Marble House, and this one was built from 1888 to 1892.

And it was also a summer cottage that was gifted to Alva Vanderbilt for her 39th birthday.

18:56

And I said, Jamal, you have a few more years until you have to give me a 39th birthday present.

Well, I’ll gift you a 39th birthday present.

I don’t know if it’s going to be at the grand level of the Marble House because I don’t have that Vanderbilt wealth.

But if you can’t tell, it’s called the Marble House because it was built out of marble from the outside to the inside.

19:18

And it was built in the Bo art style, which is kind of like a French style of architecture where everything is symmetrical and also has similarities to ancient Roman and Greek architecture with the columns.

19:33

So that’s what this looks like here in the marble house, which is still grand, but nowhere near as opulent as the Breakers and substantially smaller, but still a really cool house to see.

It’s like, if I saw this one first, I would have been impressed.

But after coming from the Breakers, I was like, this is a mansion that looks like a shack, you know?

19:52

Like a true cottage.

Yeah, a true cottage.

True cottage.

Only 10,000 square feet.

Yeah, and Alva and her husband divorced, so then she used this home as a storage area for a long time.

Can you imagine just having this huge mansion as your storage area?

20:08

Alva did Vanderbilt dirty, let me tell you.

Because on the guided tour, they were saying how she divorced Vanderbilt’s, got with one of his best friends who lived across the street, and then she’ll decided to use that place just as a spare closet for storage.

20:25

I mean, she really did him dirty.

I’m not going to lie, that kind of hurt me when I and I heard that, but that’s how it goes back then.

So we did the audio tour here too, so we have one for every mansion.

And so I think this one was a little bit shorter, maybe about 4045 minutes.

My favorite room was the living room that was gilded and 24 karat gold.

20:44

So beautiful.

Probably my favorite room on like this whole tour.

And what I really liked about this property is in the backyard.

She had created a Chinese tea house on the seaside Cliff, and she hosted rallies for women’s suffrage there.

21:01

But can you just imagine having a Chinese tea house in your backyard?

It’s pretty.

You know, you could still go here and do a high tea Kim.

They have it open to do a high teas and tea tastings and it’s a little restaurant.

And of course you could do the tastings like I was just saying.

21:16

Did you know about that?

Did you try to do it?

No, we didn’t know about it in advance.

I didn’t realize it was a little cafe and you could do high tea.

But I had I known about that.

And if we go back, I am certainly interested in doing.

It and Brittany kind of mentioned this too when she said that Alva hosted women’s suffrage meetings and rallies and things like that here.

21:37

This is one of the reasons why this house is historic, not simply because it’s a Vanderbilt house, but because a lot of the women’s suffrage movement to just pass the 19th Amendment to get women the right to vote here in the United States, a lot of it was orchestrated by her and meetings in her house, this house here, Marble house.

21:53

So it has that historical significance along with it too.

So she’s a girl power.

She’s like, see you, dude.

I’m going for your best friend and we’re going to fight for women out here.

That’s exactly what she did.

And that was my thought process too.

She probably was just like women empowerment.

I’m going to do this guy dirty and, you know, get the house.

22:11

But no, when you go into the kitchen here too, you can actually see some of the chinaware that they used during the movement that has engravings of the suffrage movement says like women’s rights or women vote.

Something to that.

I forgot exactly what it says, but yeah, some of the actual China that they use.

So after that we drove down on Bellevue Ave. which is a 2 1/2 mile stretch that’s parallel to the Cliff Walk and locals just refer to it as the Avenue.

22:36

It has a ton of famous residents including the Astros, Vanderbilts, Morgan’s and other elite homes. the Rose Cliff house is there.

It’s where they film like The Great Gatsby.

The 1974 Great Gatsby, but do you know about the more modern one?

22:51

I’ve heard it, but I haven’t seen it.

So unclear if it was filmed here.

I don’t think it was and if I remember correctly I think the new Great Gatsby with Leo used a lot of like CGI so I don’t even know if they really used real home sets or anything like.

That it’s such a good movie, Britt, you need to watch it.

23:09

Yeah, I do.

They also have the Beechwood House and the Marble House, and they have a historic library on this street, the Redwood Library.

It’s one of the nation’s first libraries that’s still in operation today.

So we did drive that.

And then while we were checking out of the gift shop at the Breakers, the cashier there said, have you heard of Ocean Drive?

23:30

And we hadn’t really looked into it much.

And she said it’s a 10 mile scenic route along the coastline that has some really good views.

So then Jamal and I decided to do that.

Yeah, it was a nice quaint little drive.

I want to equate it to the, what is it the 17 mile drive that they have in California by San Francisco in that region and Monterey.

23:51

So you just get the coastal sites and then the homes that are there, they’re not the mansions, but they are still really, really nice homes out in this area.

So just really scenic and of course wanted to do it to see what else is going on in that region.

We were going to have lunch in Newport and so I had mapped a few restaurants out, but we were actually still really full from our breakfast buffet at the hotel.

24:13

So we decided to skip having lunch in Newport and move on to a winery.

So we went to Sakinet Vineyard, which is New England’s oldest vineyard, and they have lots of good wines from Chardonnay to rose to red blends.

24:30

So Jamal and I both got a glass as well as a cheese plate and some whipped ricotta.

Is Rhode Island known to be a big wine area?

Is that common?

I don’t think it’s known to be a big wine area at all.

I’m sure they have a couple vineyards, but this one came up as something to do because it is the oldest vineyard in New England.

24:51

I think you would have liked this vineyard, Kim, because they had live music inside, but on the outside they had a ton of fire pits and those lawn chairs that you were talking out about.

So we did sit in them here and have picnic tables and stuff.

25:06

So we ended up ordering the wine and the cheese plate.

But Jamal and I were on the fence about if we wanted the whipped ricotta baguette.

But in the confusion, they ordered one for us anyways and then didn’t charge us for it.

25:23

Whipped ricotta baguette.

Yes.

Walk me through what that looks like.

Is it stuffed?

Is it cut in half and spread on top?

It’s like a French baguette that’s cut in half and then they’ve put whipped ricotta and they’ve drizzled olive oil and pesto kind of on top, and it was really good.

25:40

And then you would spread the ricotta on top of the bread yourself to go ahead and eat.

So it wasn’t like it came out already on top or sandwich form, it was just whipped in a dip and you could spread however you want.

It it.

Was a pleasant surprise because like Brittany said, we weren’t intending on ordering that.

25:58

We said no, but in the confusion of back and forth, they gave it to us.

So we lucked out in that sense of things.

And I know Brittany said earlier we weren’t hungry, so we skipped out on lunch.

This vineyard from Newport was actually about 45 minutes away.

I mean, distance wise, a lot of things are closed, but Rhode Island is such a small state and don’t really have a lot of interstates are more state highways or county roads.

26:24

So it takes a lot longer to get someplace than it books on a map.

But by the time we got here, we had built up an appetite.

And you know, once you start drinking wine too, you just get a little hunger in you.

So it was very enjoyable.

I really liked the vibes of this vineyard.

26:39

I liked the food a lot.

I’m not a wine expert.

I didn’t think the wine itself was great, good or bad, you know, it’s just in the middle right there.

But an enjoyable experience nevertheless.

Which wines did you drink, Just for future reference?

I got a pinot noir.

Oh.

26:55

Yeah, I got a white blend.

It was pretty good.

It was half Chardonnay and I want to say like Vidal Blanc or something like that, but it was a little fruity and I enjoyed it.

OK, so get the white wine if you go.

And then from there, we went to a lighthouse.

We went to Beaver Trail Lighthouse, which is actually in a State Park.

27:14

And you guys and your lighthouses back again.

It’s Brittany and her lighthouses.

I’m over the lighthouses, Kim.

Oh my gosh.

It’s just ridiculous what Brittany was saying.

We visited the third oldest lighthouse in America.

It was built in 1749 and it’s now a museum.

27:29

The original tower was actually burned, so it was later rebuilt during the Revolutionary War.

And you can do some tide pulling around this area.

And it was just a quick little stop to to see this.

It’s a nice scenic area, don’t get me wrong.

But to go out of the way for a lighthouse, I’m just like, whatever.

27:47

But when he said no, no, no, it’s on our way to where we’re going to go for dinner.

But oh, by the way, there’s another lighthouse along along the way that we’re going to stop at.

So after the Beaver Tail lighthouse, she took us to the Point Judith lighthouse, which you could only see.

You can’t really get close to see the cliff’s edge or even to the lighthouse because this area is an active Coast Guard base.

28:08

So we just got there, took a look at it, and I was thinking the same thing you said earlier, Kim Brittany and her lighthouses.

It’s just like, whatever, I could have passed on it.

But I’ll say this though, the Beaver Tail one, cool because it’s the third oldest lighthouse in the USI think that’s pretty cool in and of itself.

28:24

But otherwise, yeah, you know, unless I’m actually touring a lighthouse and going in and seeing the quarters and everything and getting a little bit of a history lesson of the light keeper and all that stuff that just lighthouses or whatever for me.

Yeah, I would say point to the lighthouse could be skipped.

28:41

And then when we got in the car, Jamal, I was like, this is it right.

And I was like, no, we have four more.

And you should have seen his face.

We didn’t have four more.

She was just jerking my chain a little bit.

But you know, Brittany, I really believed her for a second.

But then I was like, OK, there’s maybe one more, not 4.

But luckily it was just those two and we were ready for dinner.

29:00

The seafood, Kim, what you told us to skip, We’re not going to skip it.

But you?

Know.

All right, well, let’s hear about the seafood then.

So Brittany did a lot of research of places that she wanted to eat at.

And the place that she landed on for dinner tonight was the Matanuk Oyster Bar.

And the reason why she chose this one is because Brittany really loves to get oysters.

29:21

And this place actually has its own oyster farm that you can do tours of on certain days.

We didn’t end up doing it.

I know you are giving a look, Kim.

Like, why would anyone want to do that?

But people who like seafood are really into that type of thing to know where it’s getting sourced from.

29:37

So they like to term themselves here at the Matanac Oyster Bar as farm to table, Ponce to plate, so to speak, right, Because they have their own oyster farm for it.

So you know, you’re getting good fresh stuff.

But I really enjoyed this restaurant.

29:54

We sat on the rooftop deck overlooking the water and we were there for pretty much sunset, so it was actually really, really pretty.

It was a great view and we ended up getting oysters from their farm, calamari, New England clam chowder, and a lobster roll.

30:09

And all of the food was really good.

And they also offer free valet parking.

But you could get other stuff than seafood.

I think if you were here, Kim, you would have really enjoyed it for the ambiance.

Just being on the rooftop of the restaurant overlooking the Bay and the water, the Creek, the river, all of that stuff going on right here, it just made for really good ambiance.

30:30

You would have enjoyed a steak there instead of the seafood I’m sure.

I don’t know, seafood restaurants just have a very pungent stench.

Well, that’s why you I sat on the roof for you, Kim.

Yeah, but it permeates and and not only that, I feel like they’re cooking all this stuff on the same stove and or in the same oil and it’s, it’s just, it’s everywhere.

30:52

You’re just in your head on seafood is really what it is, I think.

But you know it’s OK.

It’s a seafood lover’s dream, it sounds like.

Yes, but not Kim’s dream.

Squattys, I do want to remind you that we have an upgrade hack to get you upgraded for free on a flight.

31:11

Typically works best on a red eye flight and we will share that hack with you.

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And if you do it on Apple Podcast, please leave a written review as well.

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31:33

So the next day was Sunday and we were headed into Connecticut, which was our 47th state and we decided to go hiking in the morning.

So we went to a State Park called Gillette Castle State Park and the castle was actually the home of William Gillette and he was actually the actor for Sherlock Holmes.

31:53

So we went to tour around the area and around it is the State Park.

So we did a like 2 mile trail that went down to the river through the woods around the property.

You can actually camp in this area as well and at certain times of the year they have tours that go into his 24 room mansion, which is like reminiscent of a medieval castle.

32:15

Yeah, it’s all built from stone on the outside, so it was really cool.

Unfortunately, when we were there, it wasn’t open for tours yet.

It’s open Memorial Day through Labor Day, and we were here just a little bit beforehand in the month of May, before Memorial Day.

32:31

So we missed it.

But if you’re there during that time, it’s $6 per person for the tours.

I would have loved to see the inside, but nevertheless this was a cool nature area to just go around in the forest and do a quick little two mile circular hike.

So from the State Park we went to New Haven.

32:48

I actually learned right before this trip that New Haven is known for pizza.

Did you know that Kim I?

Did not.

I didn’t either, but Jamal was like, Oh yeah, New Haven’s known for pizza.

Everyone knows that.

How did?

You know that, Shamal?

Well, I’d like to think I’m up on the culinary scene of just what regions are known for what.

33:07

But I also know it if I’m not going to lie, because El Presidente from Barstool Sports has done his pizza reviews out in New Haven.

And not that I really trust his opinion on a lot of stuff when it comes to pizza because I feel like I differ on it a lot because even what he describes as the style he likes, this is not the style I like.

33:27

But he himself even says like New Haven pizza is just really well known and it has its own particular style that’s different than New York style, Chicago style, etcetera.

So we’re like, we have to go out here.

And New Haven is also the city home of Yale.

So we’re like, well, let’s just do 2.

33:43

We’re going to go see the Yale campus and let’s go to New Haven and get some good pizza.

So the option was either between Pepe’s or Sally’s, which are two places that they have reviewed on Barstool Sports Pizza Review that have gotten exceptional ratings.

34:00

We ended up going to Pepe’s after just looking at the menus and deciding, and I will say this, Pepe’s was good.

Is it anything outstanding?

I don’t know about it.

Collectively, Brittany and I give it a 7.8.

And what is the style of Pepe’s?

34:15

So the style that’s known in New Haven is a thin coal-fired crust.

And fired coal-fired OK.

When you walk in, you can tell that the pizza ovens are like 100 years old.

They’re ancient.

So they’re still doing it in brick ovens that are over 100 years old for sure.

34:34

So you have that going for it.

I mean, it’s made in a different style.

It’s known for its thin crust.

It’s supposed to be really crispy on the bottom just as well.

So that’s kind of sounds good style.

It was good.

Is it like anything to rave about?

I don’t know.

34:50

One pizza that we got, which was the special, and I would equate that more to like a combo style pizza.

It had its Peppers, sausage, few other things on top.

That’s a combo style.

Flavor was really, really good.

But so much stuff is on it that the crust wasn’t very crispy then at that point.

35:09

And then one of the other pizzas that they’re really famous for is their clam pizza with garlic sauce on there.

And that pizza was just OK, but because there’s not a lot of toppings on it, the crust was really, really crispy then at that point.

35:25

So it’s like I wanted that crispy crust of the clam pizza on the special pizza.

And I think it could have been really good.

But we also got their Caesar salad and the Caesar salad was really good.

So collectively I’m going to give it, you know, a 7.8, but I don’t want to say don’t go out of your way for it because we obviously did, but we were going into that region anyway, so.

35:49

Would Sally’s you think have been better?

Well, Sally’s is the next one EP.

It’s either people are really like Sally’s or they’re either Frank Pepe’s.

And we went to Pepe’s.

We heard that Pepe’s line moves faster than Sally’s.

So that’s probably one of the reasons why we chose it in terms of the quickness.

36:07

And also, again, when we looked at the menus, we really felt like, Oh well, let’s just try Pepe’s.

But we passed the line for Sally’s and it had a good line.

So both places are super popular.

It’s kind of like Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s in Chicago, how they have that competition.

36:24

So from there we went to the Yell campus.

It’s obviously a private Ivy League research university and it was founded in 17 O1.

It’s a third oldest institution of higher education in the United States, so really old.

36:39

It’s actually a really small school.

It really only takes up two blocks, but has really cool architecture.

So Jamal and I walked the campus a little bit and Jamal wanted to stop by the Skull and Bones building.

So what is that building?

Jamal, do you want to fight?

Before we get into that though, you said that the campus is really small, which it is, but I got some major Hogwarts vibes when I was out here.

37:03

This campus is really classical, made of stone.

You really feel like you’re in another country, like the Oxford campus in England or something, like just again, built in the 1700s.

So what did they build it?

They didn’t build it out of wood.

They didn’t build it out of concrete.

37:19

This is built out of stone and it’s still in really good condition.

So it really gave me that Hogwarts style vibe, which I really appreciate it.

But are you familiar, Kim, with what Skull and Bones is?

I have no idea.

It is a, or believed to be a secret society.

37:36

And lots of people who have gone to Yale, past presidents included George W Bush, presidential candidates such as John Kerry, They were part of Skull and Bones.

But nobody tells you what it is that they actually do in there.

But if you look at the list of people who have been in it, very prominent businessmen, politicians from around the world.

37:57

So there’s a lot of conspiracy theories that go along with it.

So they have their own specific building, which is their club building almost considered like a fraternity, but it’s not really a fraternity.

So we just went to the front of the fraternity clubhouse, but it’s so inconspicuous.

38:12

They don’t have any signage or anything to noting that that’s what it is.

But I wanted to go ahead and see it simply because one of the lore, but also if you really think about it, how many famous people have actually been inside that building in terms of politicians, business people, etcetera.

38:29

I really want to know what they do in there I.

Hear some crazy rituals if you believe in that type of stuff.

Is it true?

Is it not?

Who knows, but.

Like what?

That’s a topic for another time.

That’s like a conspiracy podcast to get on.

Like, really?

Sometimes people say satanic rituals, if I’m going to be completely honest.

38:45

Yeah, like that’s how morbid it gets.

But I’m not saying I believe that.

I’m just saying that is a real institution.

What they do, who knows, but they don’t talk about it.

Interesting.

Yeah, I was just looking in ChatGPT to see if it had the insight and there’s something weird going on in there.

39:02

Something weird.

So something drew me to want to see it, that’s for sure.

Okay.

Yes.

We walked through the campus and then we decided to go to the Yale University Art Gallery.

It was free to go to, and it’s a art gallery that’s connected by three different buildings.

39:17

Really cool.

We got to see some artwork by Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Dali, and I’m not a big museum or art person, but I enjoyed it.

And what do you think, Jamal?

I enjoyed it a lot.

I mean, again, depends on where we are and what type of museum we’ll go to.

39:35

But just in general, like art, like I like to look at it, but I don’t know enough about it to be like, oh wow, art.

But who doesn’t know the names Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and Dolly, right?

And here they are having rotating exhibits of some of these famous artists, paintings and of course other people too.

39:52

So I thought that was really, really cool to go see.

They have a different floor.

That’s Asian art, European art, American art.

By American art, of course, we’re also talking like Native American, not necessarily just American artists, right?

So you have a good variety of things in here, but you can see really famous artists and their artwork here.

40:12

And it cost you nothing, so why would you not go in?

And at that point in time, it had started to rain.

So it was good to just kind of get out of the outside weather and just enjoy something free to do.

From there, we were going to make our way back to Providence, which is where we were staying, but we decided to stop in a seaside town called Mystic.

40:31

Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in 1784.

And I thought this was a very cute, quaint town.

I actually wish we had a little bit more time in it because it’s one of those cute quaint towns that closes down early and so it just didn’t work out timing wise to get there earlier.

40:54

But thought it was super cute and if you’re in that area, check it out for sure.

Am I the only person that’s walked through a town?

And I don’t know entirely what I would do here, but it’s just so cute and quaint that you think you could spend a day here.

Like, that’s what I really felt when I was in Mystic.

They have good restaurants, good shops to stroll through.

41:12

It has a touch of class and quaintness and cuteness to it.

So I really did appreciate it here.

Wish we had a little bit more time.

We had just relatively eaten the pizza not so long ago and actually had leftovers, so we didn’t stop to eat.

But even a lot of the restaurants here seemed really, really good and they had more stuff than just seafood Kim, so I think you would have even enjoyed it as well.

41:35

We stopped at a spot called Old Mystic Village, which was like an outdoor venue with shops, boutiques, eateries.

It really reminded me of Seaport Village in San Diego.

And then we also went to the downtown area, which was also just like a really cute quaint downtown, boutique shops, restaurants, and this part gave me like small town America vibes.

41:55

Good or bad small town America?

Good small town America vibes.

Kind of reminded me of like Door County small town America vibes.

OK, very nice.

And now are you staying at that same Spring Hill suite the whole time for this trip?

42:11

We did, yes.

Nice, so you have a home base to go back to?

We had a home base to go back to, and again, these states, Rhode Island, Connecticut, they’re very, very small.

So it doesn’t take too long to get from where we were going and back to our home base where we were staying in Rhode Island.

42:29

So our last day was Monday.

We were flying out midday this day.

But we decided, you know what, why don’t we go see the Rhode Island State House?

And it was actually really beautiful.

It was built between 1895 and 1904 and it was constructed of Georgian marble and it has one of the largest self supported marble domes in the world.

42:50

We didn’t tour it or anything, we just visited the outside.

But it’s really beautiful to visit.

Is this a government building?

A mansion?

It’s.

A government building.

It’s a state capitol building, you know, like when we were in Denver and we’re just like, let’s go to the Capitol.

But when Brittany and I are in different States and we have happen to be in the capital city, we always like to go see the Capitol building.

43:11

I enjoyed seeing this one.

It was actually quite impressive.

I could tell you 2 off the top of my head that are not impressive capitol buildings.

That’s going to be Oregon and Arizona.

But this one, if you want to go see, it’s actually pretty cool.

They have very nice tree lined courtyard so to speak, or park right in front of it.

43:28

The capitol is built up on a hill, which I thought was pretty cool too and unique.

So it had a little bit of classic charm to it, even though it wasn’t built during early American times in the 1700s.

This was built in the late 1800s, but still pretty cool to see.

43:43

And right by the State House and Capitol Building was Benefit St., Which Brittany wanted to go to.

You can walk it.

We just drove it because of course we were on our way to the airport.

Didn’t really have a lot of time.

But it’s a vibrant tree lined St. with Victorian architecture.

44:02

It’s has the nickname Mile of History because there’s so many famous people that had houses on here, one of them being the John Brown house.

John Brown, founder of Brown University, which is right next door here to Benefit St.

And his house is now a museum and apparently has a that George Washington rode in when he was visiting Rhode Island at one point in time.

44:26

So I mean, just silly trivial stuff.

But this was more so to kill time in the morning before the airport.

So if you’re in Providence, I’m not saying go do this stuff.

It was just we’re doing it before we head to the airport and seen a little bit more of the city of Providence since we didn’t really do that and spent a lot of time when we were in Rhode Island, more particularly in Newport.

44:45

Now you had 4:00-ish days here, maybe less with the travel time.

If you say, had two weeks, how would your travel look different?

It feels like a place that slow travel would suit it well.

If we had two weeks, I think we would have spent more time just kind of finding small shops, quaint restaurants, but also expanded more into other parts of New England.

45:12

New England’s huge, you know, and there’s a lot of really cute places, outdoor state parks and things to see.

So I think we would have definitely gone at a slower pace, but been able to see a ton more and see a lot of history.

Yeah, when we were planning this trip, we were for sure doing Rhode Island and Brittany wanted to do a couple other things in Connecticut.

45:32

So she was unsure, do we want to go to Connecticut now?

Because what’s close to us is not necessarily I don’t want to see, but not that’s high on my list for Connecticut.

So she, we had even thrown out Boston and she’s like Boston’s only a 2 hour drive.

So I mean, we could have spent time in Boston.

45:48

That was an option, but we had already been before.

So I was like, no, well, let’s just cross off a new state.

But you could spend a lot of time utilizing one place as a hub or moving from place to place because it is a large area, New England, but it’s also very close.

46:04

So not too far to get to a lot of places.

And then I mean, I would love to go on to Vermont to maybe even back up into New Hampshire.

So there’s lots of stuff like New York City is not even that far from where we were staying in terms of a drive.

We could have gotten to New York City very quickly too.

46:20

So you could do a lot in two weeks up there if that’s a random number of time that you threw out two weeks, but you could do a lot at that point.

Like you said, sometimes you go to these little towns and you want to spend a day there.

Sometimes I fantasize about living in places, and I’ve thought about living in New England because there are so many places to explore around there and you just, you can’t see it all in four days or two weeks.

46:43

And it’d be a really cool place to live for a couple of years to just explore.

It really would be.

I’m with you on that.

If you move there, I’m going to come visit you.

Catch me in New England.

Thank you squaddies for tuning in to this week’s episode.