good news! we got a new rental car! the budget peeps were super accommodating. the new car still smells of smoke, but it’s better and they at least cleaned it.

the morning festivities were making a plan. we decided to spend friday being lazy before traveling, then we wanted a day for boston and historical/geographical learning stops, another day for a STATE tour (i mean, there are a lot up here in a small area, so why not pick up some states while we’re here?), and then a day to check out newport and the gold mansion (or the rich people’s “summer cottages” as they are described). but the first order of business was to sort out the rental car mess, so that was the first part of monday morning.

getting to budget was an adventure, but once there, it was quick and easy and they wanted to make it right. that experience brings the rental car rating up to 10 stars.

while liz and i were fixing things, the other peeps were finding a place to eat for lunch. i had run 4 miles earlier in the day along the bay this morning, which was definitely a 12/13 stars, but it meant that i was ready for lunch. however, lunch at buskers irish pub was only a 4 out of 13. slow service, mediocre food, and all around could have been better. it also cut into our gold room viewing time, so we are moving that to another day.

then we just took a meander around newport at the little shops, which were super cute. stopped at a ben & jerry’s ice cream shop for a dairy treat, then finished up the day with another trip to the grocery store because we just weren’t thinking about some items, and also underestimated the amount of food we’d eat. i also signed up for the stop and save saver card so we got the deals; an annoying step to be able to use coupons, let me tell you. but the store is kind of nice. i’ll even it out with a rating of 10. but the real grocery winner is the little grocery shop on conanicut island where we’re staying – it’s small and laid out funkily horizontally, the carts were tiny, the check-out guy had a pic of a cat on his register, and it’s still got price stickers on all the items. lori and i had to head there to pick up the jam we forgot, and we ended up buying tulips, some snacking lunch meat, butter, etc. etc. that little shop gets a 12/13!

that evening, two giant barges strolled down the bay next to us and cleared the bridge. the bridge is two miles long and 226′ above the water at its highest point; the barge was at LEAST 100′ tall. and then maybe an hour later, another one strolled by!

ended the day with some drunk card games, and here’s a gem from that:

“since the boat went under the bridge, we’ve all been drinking a smidge. kate’s the queen of p&a, no one likes her anyway, and there’s much more booze in the fridge.” composed by drunk lori nohner and jane wallace

apparently they do like me when i’m not winning.