Galilee

There have been a couple of trips, a holiday season, and a couple of snowstorms. A bit of excitement all around, and fun across the board. The highlight every winter; the Newport Historical Society decorates several of the estates under their control for the holidays. This winter, a couple of weeks before Christmas, I took a little drive.

Before we get to The Cottages, I want to touch on another trip in Rhode Island. A benefit to living in Connecticut is my proximity to extended family. One weekend, I took a trip with my father and grandfather to Galilee, RI. Pretty much anything nautical interests me, so this was a lot of fun for me. It was a trip I didn’t plan for – my dad did – to a place I never would have thought to go to – the port of Galilee. Some people just hate the smell of fish; they think it is noxious and unpleasant. Not only do I not mind the smell, but the panorama of all the fishing boats stacked up is also memorable for me.

Galilee is not only home to a major fishing hub, but also a Coast Guard Station.

There's something quixotic about a whole line of fishing boats all docked up.

One of the nearby public beaches. It was so cold out, the sand was freezing; but the view was beautiful.

I feel like this is a bad thing. Never figured out what it was.

Point Judith Light. Most lighthouses are automated now, and supported by the Coast Guard.

This is the Coast Guard Station itself, where they used to spot ships in distress. Now they are stationed there for the cutters and smaller boats down the street at the port.

In hindsight, this was a pretty stupid thing to do, but I had a lot of fun, and didn’t want to risk the government shutting down again before I was able to visit one of my favorite childhood vacation spots; Cape Cod. A four hour drive, alone, through Providence (before sunrise), was not the best idea. I do love Lighthouses though, and it wasn’t a trip I was interested in putting off any longer. It made me miss the vacations my family took there.

The sunrise over Nobska Light. I was trying to time my arrival to match the sunrise, but I didn't think it would be this perfect.

Nobska Lighthouse.

A picturesque sunrise.

Stage Harbor Light. The lens was removed a while ago, but it's still a great example of what lighthouses are like; a tower with a keeper's house.

The ocean, right off Stage Harbor Light.

Probably the most frequented lighthouse on the peninsula, Chatham Light. It used to be much closer to the ocean, and had two towers. When the lighthouse was electrified, and a rotating lens was installed, a second tower became obsolete. Ships used to distinguish their location based on how many lights they saw. The patterns were two lights, one light, and then two lights. With electricity, and rotating lenses, these patterns became obsolete.

National Park Service National Seashore Visitor Center.

Nauset Light replaced The Three Sisters; a grouping of three lighthouses right near the coast - closer than Nauset is to the water now.

Two of the Three Sisters. They're farther back now from Nauset Light, in the woods, but most of them are reconstructions. What isn't original sunk into the ocean - as victims of erosion.

Highland Light. I remembered this lighthouse from my childhood; it was moved on rails away from the coast to avoid falling into the water. I got to climb to the top of this one.

An old Cape Cod Air Force Station. That dome was used at one point as an early warning sensor during the Cold War.

The oldest links golf course in North America.

Race Point Lifesaving Station. A crack team of first responders would take small boats out into dangerous surf to rescue shipwrecked crew.

The stupidest thing I did this trip was walk from a parking lot across a dried-up bay to the last lighthouse. I figured I have no idea when I'll be back, so I might as well see if I can get myself to it. I burned a ton of calories trying to get across all the sand.

It was worth it though.

Finally, we have arrived at my most recent excursion. During the holidays, the Newport Historical Society lifts their strict ban on photography inside the mansions, allowing visitors to take pictures of some of the Christmas decorations. It was a chilly day, but it was a lot of fun.

With my relatively new found addiction to Downton Abbey, the Newport mansions are like a treasure-trove for me. I loved every inch of these properties. This is The Breakers, a product of the Vanderbilt family money, designed by venerable architect Richard Morris Hunt.

The designs along the molding are so detailed.

Grand stairs inside The Breakers.

The Elms, designed by Horace Trumbaeur for Edward Berwind; a coal magnate. It was based on Château d'Asnières in France.

This was probably my favorite feature of The Elms; the reading rooms. I love to read, and these stone buildings are like little hideaways.

Inside the aforementioned stone building.

It's twin, across the garden.

Guest / Carriage House.

In an effort to disguise the "downstairs" life, these vines would bloom during the summer months to hide this delivery area from the "upstairs" guests.

The Christmas tree inside The Elms.

Marble House; another Vanderbilt Mansion by Richard Morris Hunt.

The Chinese Tea house was an addition by the soon to be divorced Alva Vanderbilt. After she divorced William K., they both moved out, and Marble House turned into a glorified suit closet after only three seasons. William K. Vanderbilt was a venerable horse-breeder, who was acclaimed in the early 20th Century for a lot of success in Europe.

The Vanderbilt family patriarch, Cornelius, was instrumental in the founding and financing of the Saratoga Race Course, a staple of the upstate New York summer vacation tradition of the Victorian era. William K. Vanderbilt was his second son.

Rosecliff, closed for the winter, but the set of Robert Redford's The Great Gatsby.

In the near future, I've got my eyes on another type of adventure all together. Although our shuttle program ended several years ago, NASA is still launching rockets into space. This idea popped into my eyes that it would be something else to see a rocket launch. NASA launches primarily from Wallops Island and Cape Canaveral. One's in Virginia and the other in Florida. I haven't figured out any of the details, especially since launches can get scrubbed at the last minute. Maybe it won't happen, but perhaps we'll find a way to pull it off. After that, I feel like a trip abroad may be in order.

It's been almost five months at work for UConn. It seems unconventional to start a working career at a job with an expiration date, but we are in a changing society. In hindsight, it's a lucky thing to have a paying job at all. Having the weekends to travel has been great; but also having the time to job hunt is something I am glad to have time for as well. It's almost as if working at UConn is sort of a laboratory experiment, where I've had the opportunity to work and live in the "real world,"  while enjoying the familiarity of my college experience - that coming from who I live with and where I work.

President John F. Kennedy was a noted public speaker - for whatever people think about his political convictions, he spoke quite well. Going to the moon, traveling through space, learning about Earth from the outside looking back down; these were all things pushed for by JFK. He gave a speech, where he referenced his Irish heritage by paraphrasing noted writer Frank O'Connor:

"A boy and his friends would make their way across the country side on little adventures. When they'd arrive at an orchard wall that seemed too high to climb, too doubtful to try, too difficult for their journey to continue, they'd take their hats off and throw them over the wall, so they wouldn't have any choice but to follow them."

This was Kennedy's challenge to The Greatest Generation; with WWII in the recent past and the Cold War raging, a new concept was put forth, something that would unite innovators and lead to a generations-worth of exploration and discovery. There will be challenges throughout life, with high points and lows. What's important is that you not only throw your cap over the wall, but follow it over as well. Sometimes I worry about what the road ahead portends, but I am excited for the story I will be able to tell about it years hence.

Stay Tuned...