August 19-24                  North Kingstown, Rhode Island

The weather continued to be sunny and pleasant so we planned a trip to Portsmouth, Rhode Island to the Newport Auto Museum.  Located on an expansive campus in a large building, this exceptional museum is privately owned.

The enormous interior is beautifully decorated in red, black, gray and white. Visitors are greeted by a model of the first automobile ever made, a Benz from Germany.  It is the only antique on display—the remainder are exceptional models from the past 70 years.  All are in pristine condition and shown like crown jewels with special lighting and raised platforms.  Most are American-made but there are several exceptional Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Jaguar XKE’s.  David owned three XKE’s in 1970-1980’s and he was heartbroken when he sold the last. The Shelby Mustangs, muscle cars and fin-designs from the Fifties were awesome. 

In addition to the automobiles, iconic seating by significant designers, Frances Knoll, Arne Jacobson, Mies van de Rohe and others was displayed throughout the museum.  The entire facility was beautifully maintained and everything was first class.  Blake and Winn were especially delighted to try the simulators which provided an experience of driving any automobile on a track or in a road race.  Neither proved to be a Mario Andretti or Dale Earnhardt!

August 20 was our sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.  To celebrate, I gave David a new stern thruster (already installed), he gave me a dozen beautiful red roses and we gave Winn a large box of Legos that included a boat similar to ours.  The Lego project was a challenge for both he and his dad.

That evening, we went to Fresco’s, a lovely Italian restaurant in East Greenwich for our anniversary dinner.  It truly was a special occasion and we were delighted to have with us two of our favorite people.  The following day, we drove to Boston and reluctantly left Blake and Winn at the airport.