Newport, Rhode Island - Sunday

After our incredible first day in Newport, Saturday night into Sunday there was a snowstorm with incredible 50+ mph winds. The wind outside was INSANE, especially since we were right off the water. We woke up several times throughout the night because it was so loud outside, and the building was shaking so much. I actually contemplated whether or not to call the front desk and ask if we should be taking cover in case the roof ripped off the hotel. In the morning, there were only a few inches of snow on the ground, but it continued to fall throughout most of the morning.

Luckily, we were able to walk down the street to Tickets Bar and Grille for a nice warm breakfast while we figured out what to do with our day. The train ride we were going to take was cancelled, the winery tours were cancelled, the seal watch boat cruise was cancelled, so we had to improvise our day a little bit. After brunch we went back to the hotel and watched another episode of Downton Abbey, you know...as you do. Then, we headed out to Greenvale Vineyards. The tour may have been cancelled, but we could still drink the wine, right?

The snow had stopped but the wind was causing some major drifting. At times, the wind was blowing snow around so much we couldn't even see in front of us.

Greenvale Vineyards was a quaint little barn-like building set way back in an isolated (un-plowed, snowy, treacherous) area. Thank goodness Chris is a good driver, and thank goodness we had also taken his mom's 4-wheel-drive car with us in anticipation of the snow. We were able to taste all 7 of their wines AND keep the tasting glass. Their wines tended to be on the drier side, so I wasn't completely in love with them, but I did enjoy the tasting nonetheless. 

We then tried to get to Newport Vineyards, but they somehow seemed to be positioned right in the path of all the drifting snow and we couldn't even make out where to enter their lot. We scratched the second winery and did the 10-mile drive instead. This took us past all the historic estates, Salve Regina University, various beaches, Fort Adams, Yacht Clubs and other incredible looking houses. All that driving made us hungry so we stopped into Via Via: The best and only real brick oven pizza in Newport (at least, that's what their website says)! Being from New York, and loving pizza as much as we do, we are definitely pizza snobs. But I have to say we were both very happy with our slices! Well done Via Via!

After that we had three hours before our dinner reservation so we drove back to the hotel to rest before dinner and well, watch more Downton Abbey of course! We're almost done with season 3! Then it was time to head out to The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar for dinner, where I was most excited to eat on this trip.

I loved the atmosphere of the place. Positioned right along the water, candlelit tables, and their entire drink menu was on an ipad they left with us to browse. This place was very cool.

Chris had the Pork Tenderloin: with Cheddar-Chive mashed potatoes, wilted greens, crispy bacon, maple-thyme gastrique and I had the Mooring Scampi: Pan-roasted lobster, shrimp, sea scallops, tomato, garlic-herb butter, and angel hair pasta. Both did not disappoint.

We then had coffees and dessert, which of course, I do not have pictures of because I was too busy...you know, eating. I will say Chris's cheesecake was incredible, I so wished I had ordered it instead of my chocolate sampler. After dessert, we drove around town a little more looking at houses and using the Zillow Real Estate Iphone app to find out how much they cost (holy-freaking batman!)

Tomorrow, our last day in Newport!