We spent the last 3 days in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island measures only 48 miles by 37 miles, yet it claims to have 400 miles of coastline. We finally figured out that's because they count the coastline of all the islands! All those islands make for many high bridges and ferry boats.

Newport is a great place to visit. We visited several of the "summer cottages" built by wealthy folks like Vanderbilts, Astors, Morgans, etc.

The most famous house is The Breakers, built in 1895 in Italian Renaissance style, with over 70 rooms.

The Marble House, built in 1892, has to be the most ostentatious house I've ever seen, and it lives up to its name -- there is marble everywhere... pink marble, gray marble, etc. Most of the tours don't let you see where the servants lived on the 3rd floor, but one "behind the scenes" tour took us there as well as the laundry room and the boiler room, etc. That was as interesting as the public rooms of the house. The back sides of these houses are as magnificent as their fronts, and their back yards are huge with glorious views of the Atlantic Ocean.

These homes were occupied for only 8 weeks of the year, and then a skeleton staff was left for the rest of the year.... what a waste. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the houses.

Then, we went on an hour long boat tour of Newport Harbor. Amazing boats are moored there! and many more huge houses were visible from the water .... including the house where the Kennedy wedding reception was held.

In Providence, we walked the grounds of the state capitol, but did not go in. Saw the very first Baptist church that was built in the USA, and went inside the Cathedral of St. John, which is one of the 4 original Colonial parishes of Rhode Island .. built in 1810.

We also drove around Brown University a bit. And so, we have pretty much concluded our tour of New England.

We'll never see it all, but we've sure seen a lot! If you can't tell, I like the coastal towns the best.