The first stop was the Mark Twain house. I had been there back in the 70’s, and wanted to take Kim. We had a guided group tour through the house. Before we got in, we found someone whose hygiene was not up to normal American standards. At first, I thought it was me. I started to drop back in the group and smelled my pits. When we got inside, it didn’t take long to narrow it down to the European couple. What do these people have against daily showering?
The Mark Twain house is beautiful. The 19 room Victorian mansion was built in the 1870’s for the sum of about $45,000. Twain’s in-laws built the house for the family as it was still several years before his writing began to earn much income. This was the home in which Twain wrote his most famous books, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Prince and the Pauper.
The Wadsworth Athenaeum art museum was our next stop. Garmie got us there safely. We knew we didn’t have much time to look around, but we wanted to see their Impressionist paintings. Kim and I really like this style. They had several paintings we liked. We even got to see some Picasso’s and some other modern styles that were not so bad. There were some exhibits that I could have done. With a little bit of paint, funky materials, and a bottle of scotch I could have made much better art than those.
I was looking forward to having lunch with Bob Farrell at “Sam the Clam”. Garmie didn’t do so well, but we made it with one stop for directions. Garmie got us close. It had been several years since I have seen Bob. He showed up with his new grandson, Robbie. He was asleep when he arrived, but woke up after a few minutes. Bob went to the car to get some toys for him. When Robbie looked at me and realized Bob was gone, he started crying. I picked him up to get him to stop, but I wasn’t having any luck. Kim sat there and was laughing as she watched me carry him around the restaurant. The waitresses tried to help, but I had to wait for Bob to come back. I must be scary to the young. Bob wanted to know what was happening at Penn State and with the new professor search. He talked about his new book and work he is completing around the house. His new book is coming out soon. Right now he is looking for a publisher. We had a delicious seafood meal. It was good to see Bob again.
Our next stop was the Florence Griswold house. I was under the impression that this was the home of the mother of Clark Griswold (from the Christmas Vacation movie). Boy, was I pissed when I saw it was another art museum! During the turn of the last century, artists were trying to escape the cities and get back to nature. Art colonies sprang up around the country. Florence Griswold (apparently no relation to Clark) owed a boarding house where some artists congregated each year. The boarding house and museum in the back are now used to showcase American Impressionists. They had some really good paintings there. Throughout the house various walls and door panels were painted by some of these artists. We almost skipped this museum, but we were glad we stopped.
We arrived at our hotel in Newport, RI. Tonight was Kim’s first hint that this trip had less to do with travel through “New” England and was really a brewery tour with some other crap bundled around it. Don’t tell Kim; she will be pissed! We had dinner at the Coddington Brewery. The beers were OK. They had an ESB that was good. The IPA and stout were not that good as most brewpubs. These are usually my favorites when I attend a brewpub.
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