This past weekend, I trekked out to Newport, Rhode Island, to celebrate my college friend Meredith for her upcoming nuptials. It feels like the older we all get, the more we rely on big events like weddings to get together, and despite being 31 weeks pregnant, I was not going to miss Meredith’s big weekend! Not to mention I’d never been to Newport, so I had double the FOMO. Here’s everything we did over a perfect bachelorette weekend in Newport!
So I masked up, pulled on my (incredibly attractive) compression socks, and took two flights to get me from Cincinnati to Newport. Before we get into that, though, I just want to make a plug that any Cincinnati peeps should seriously consider the TANK Airporter bus from downtown because it is fast, reliable, and so cheap compared to Uber or parking your car at the airport. I took my normal commuter Metro bus downtown, then hopped the TANK 2x, and the entire thing cost me $5. If you have the time to spare (which I definitely did), you might as well make use of Cincy’s public transportation options.
It was my first time flying Southwest. My mom and now my sister are both flight attendants for United, so I’ve spent most of my life flying standby, which is a whole separate experience. But it was absolutely wild to me both how casual everything felt and also how many people refused to understand the pretty simple boarding process.
My first flight took me from CVG to BWI, and I spent a few hours in Baltimore before arriving at PVD. Because I had checked in immediately when it was available, I had pretty good boarding priority, which meant I was able to snag aisle seats. Not typically my preference—I love a window seat—but definitely a necessity with a several-pound baby sitting on my bladder.
Another college friend, Allison, picked me up in Providence on her drive in from the D.C. area, and we made it to the coast. Meredith’s maid of honor had already set up our Airbnb for the weekend with adorable decor to match the theme: “Last Sail Before the Veil.” Very Newport.
You can learn more about the Airbnb if you’re looking for a house for a large group. It does sleep 12, but we all had to double up beds, and it was definitely an older home with that quirky mix of character and age. My favorite feature was the backyard and deck area, featured in the image at the top of this post. It was the perfect place to sit around chatting over coffee in the morning or set up for beer pong in the evenings. It was also about a 15-minute walk (more like 20 for those of us doing more of a waddle than a walk!), which was incredibly convenient and meant we got to save on taking Ubers everywhere.
Thursday night was a chill evening of dinner on our own (I had great fish and chips at a restaurant called Malt) before everyone started arriving from their little corners of the world. Meredith popped the first of many bottles of champagne, and I kept myself from digging into these gorgeous sugar cookies until more people had arrived.
The first official activity of the trip was sailing! It was my first time on a sailboat, and let’s just say that either the lack of constant forward movement like you’d get with a motor or being heavily pregnant meant it was a little iffy for a while if I would survive the ride without losing my breakfast.
The views of the mansions along the cliffs were beautiful (though we didn’t end up passing Holiday House), and I was able to hold it together for the hour and a half ride. Thank God I wasn’t drinking! The guys handling our boat were fantastic; this was absolutely a “me” thing, and not a “them” thing. So if you’re looking for a boat charter during your Newport vacation, I would absolutely recommend Sightsailing!
In part because a few of us were still feeling a little green after the boat ride, we immediately walked down the street to the Midtown Oyster Bar for lunch. Inside was adorably nautical like you would imagine from a seafood restaurant on the coast, and we didn’t have an issue getting a table for our whole group for an early lunch.
Since oysters aren’t quite allowed for me right now, I went with the Blackened Salmon BLT, which was exactly what I needed on my stomach. The fries were also great. Would absolutely recommend the Midtown Oyster Bar for food. (We walked by it later that night, and it was absolutely packed and bumping with live music, so it might be a good spot for nightlife, too!)
Once we’d gotten some food in us, it was time for drinking… and I have to say this mocktail movement going on right now was incredibly good to me! We stopped by a barbecue restaurant called Smoke House that had an impressive bar with all the fresh garnishes and housemade syrups. They had zero issues making me one of their signature cocktails in a little mason jar without any alcohol.
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out back at the Airbnb, and then I did a truly terrible job of taking photos of anything for the rest of the night. We had dinner at a place near the water called Surf Club, which had the kind of menu that anyone could find something to satisfy them. Tacos, sandwiches, pizza. I had the Spicy Chicken Caesar, and it had some surprisingly good heat behind it!
Then it was on to bar hopping. I can’t attest to the quality of drinks at any of these places, but The Red Parrot had multiple floors with different bars, so it didn’t feel too crowded. And then we finished out the night at O’Brien’s Pub, which was completely packed and full of music and all the late-night energy. I got to fulfill my designated driver duties for the first time since getting pregnant, and we were all back at the house at a respectable “we’re 30, not in our 20s anymore” hour.
Brunch the next morning was so, so good, and I’m kicking myself that I have no photos to share. But I guess that’s also a testament to a good meal! Diego’s is a Mexican fusion restaurant that does brunch, and it was probably my favorite meal of the weekend. I had the Breakfast Burrito, and others at the table also loved the Tinga Chilaquiles and the Spicy Duck Hash and Eggs. I would absolutely recommend this restaurant! The entire menu looks amazing.
From there, we walked over to Newport’s transportation hub to catch the free bus out to Bailey Beach. You all know my love for public transportation, and the RIPTA 67 bus did not disappoint. It was a quick 20-minute ride to the beach, and we got to pass a bunch of the Newport mansions and other sights on the way. Bailey Beach also has a spot where you can enter the famous Newport Cliff Walk, but we didn’t end up doing that together as a group.
Instead, we spent a leisurely afternoon at the beach. I got in the water for the first time with the bump, which really made me realize just how nice it was to feel weightless even for only a little while.
After a while, we headed back to the Airbnb where I promptly fell asleep. (I feel like I did a pretty good job of hanging while pregnant, but it did eventually catch up to me!)
Our last meal together of the trip was at The Landing, a really cute place right on the water. I feel like I got some kind of special, so I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but it did have shrimp and it was very good. We also made use of the deck right outside our table to take the one and only “college group” photo from the entire trip!
We all broke off after dinner to take care of random things before our final event of the evening, and for me, that meant getting ice cream at the cute little shop I’d taken a picture of on our very first day. Sprinkles just so happened to be right outside the restaurant, which I took as a sign. Luckily, Allison was happy to wait with me and ended up getting some ice cream, too.
I got the Black Bear ice cream (pictured), which was vanilla with a black raspberry swirl and mini chocolate raspberry truffles, and Allison said the Campfire S’mores was among the best ice cream she’d ever had! We finished up our cones while walking back toward the Airbnb and our last stop of the trip: the Firehouse Theater.
On Friday and Saturday nights, The Bit Players do an improv comedy show, and we had an absolute blast. There were four comedians, including a fantastic MC, and a live band to accompany them. The entire theater was BYOB, which made for a very relaxed atmosphere with audience members who were not afraid to provide all kinds of fodder for their sketches.
Because we were in a large group, we were seated on the catwalk, which was great, but the theater was small enough that I really believe any seat would’ve been worth the price of admission. There were three brides-to-be in the audience that evening (I guess that’s Newport in the summer!), and each one got called to the stage for a quick interview and then the comedians would do the next sketch with them in mind.
Was Meredith’s the best? Absolutely. Is it because I’m biased? Maybe, but they also created a series of songs based on her love story, and they really were the best of the night.
The comedy show probably lasted for an hour and a half, and then we walked the quick five minutes back to the Airbnb for our final night of celebrating our bachelorette!
And now, I’m writing this from BWI where we arrived about three hours later than scheduled, which means I misconnected and have to wait until the 10:30 flight to Cincinnati. Poor Spencer had already planned to make my favorite comfort food (beef bourguignon) to welcome me home and have my brother over for dinner, so my first flight’s mechanical has completely screwed up his plans.
Now that I’ve finished up this post, I’m going to get myself some Chipotle for dinner and see about finishing The Once and Future Witches. Hopefully by the time I’ve scheduled this to publish on Monday, I’ll be home recovering from a long but fulfilling weekend with friends!
Would you consider having your bachelorette weekend in Newport?
P.S. I spent my bachelorette trip drinking around the world at Epcot!
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