The Newport Blog: Final Destination

Newport, Rhode Island

Four weeks to the day we left Lubbock, we took an apartment #9 (from previous post) in Newport, Rhode Island. We're still looking for furnishings.

Living on camp chairs, camp air mattress, and camp dishware.

We can bbq on the fire escape!

Stephen's dad came to visit us for his day off from National Guard training in Pennsylvania. 

Newport was founded in 1639. It is on the southern end of Aquidneck Island (Middletown and Portsmouth just above it.) We visited the edge to see the mansions and rocky beach. 

Then we walked around downtown. (some delicious hot cocoa for me and cappuccino for Stephen.)

Newport is also the home of many old churches (we only visited the synagogue on our first visit). The oldest is Trinity Church, built in 1726. When the British occupied Newport during the Revolutionary War, they burned every church except this one, because it was Church of England (Anglican) and had a crown on the steeple. Like the Puritan church, it has box seating for pews. 

The Newport Blog

About Us
Stephen & Ginger Montalvo
We've settled in Newport, Rhode Island. Stay tuned for ongoing adventures!

Newport Blog Entries

Final Destination 11 September 2009
Kapalkas Visit 19 October 2009
Jobs & Apartment Update 22 November 2009
Life, continued... 19 January 2010
Montalvos Visit 28 April 2010
Billings MT + Powell WY May 2010
Boston 22 May 2010
Quechee VT 4 July 2010
Kapalkas Visit 26 July 2010
Folk Festival 1 August 2010
Apartment Finished 10 August 2010
Daily Life November 2010
Thanksgiving NM 25 November 2010
Christmas MT + Mandy's Wedding 31 December 2010
Anniversary Block Island RI 29 May 2011
Updates + Seattle WA + Portland OR 20 June 2011
Montreal QB Canada 4 July 2011
Kristian Visits 8 July 2011


additional photos of our Newport adventures available at my flickr site

Austin to Boston: Apartment Hunters

Apartment Hunters

Waltham MA

Apartment One:

Location Waltham, MA
Rent $800
Aprx. Size 1 bed, 1 bath, living room and formal dining room
Condition: fixer-upper

Pros: It has a treehouse! Backyard opens to a heavily wooded park.
Cons: Downtown Waltham is not historic.

Apartment Two

Location: Hingham, MA

Rent: $1200 (or $1500 furnished)

Aprx. Size: 2 bed, 1 bath

Condition: recently updated

Other notes: Located in downtown on second and third floors. (no photos, sorry.)

Apartment Three

Location: Hingham, MA
Rent: $1000
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: tidy

Other notes: Located downtown, above a flower shop. Very cute, has a spiral staircase.

 


 
Supposedly, a queen size bed fits here.


Apartment Four

Location: Hingham, MA
Rent: $1200
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: updated

Pros: Duplex unit shared by landlords, who are super-nice people and have sweet puppies. Shared backyard, landlord will do trash delivery and allow use of laundry machines in basement.
Cons: Not near downtown.

Then we also drove back to our other favorite town...

Apartment Five

Location: Newport, RI
Rent: $1000 (possibly $900)
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: updated

 

Pros: back porch, personal washer & dryer. Furniture can be be taken out.

Apartment Six

Location: Newport, RI
Rent: $1000 (possibly $900)
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: updated

Pros: The most beautiful. Tall rooms, fireplace, well colored, foyer.

Cons: no bathtub??

Apartment Seven

Location: Newport, RI
Rent: $800
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: outdated?

cons: 10,000 linear feet of mesmerizing wallpaper, no bathtub. Here's the spot where a bathtub could be...

Apartment Eight

Location: Newport, RI
Rent: $900
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: fine

So what you're saying is, pre-furnished means pre-cluttered?

Apartment Nine

Location: Newport, RI
Rent: $750
Aprx. Size: 1 bed, 1 bath
Condition: fixer-upper in progress (new countertops, new plastered walls)

Pros: fireplace, free giant plant, wood floors.

Cons: Living room/dining room/kitchen = all one big room

Apartment Ten

We have considered that before...

 Quote of the Day:
"Northeasterners can be a little mean... it's just because we're so cold!" -Hingham landlady

Austin to Boston: Boston MA + Hingham MA

Boston, Massachusetts

3900 miles

80° F

We finally arrived in Boston!

I have to admit we haven't seen too much of downtown yet. We'll be sure to come back and get a better tour. On a weekend. When parking is available.

Hingham, Massachusetts
We camped at Wompatuck State Park by Hingham, a suburb of Boston. We are fairly spoiled, camp-wise. The weather has cooled a great deal since camping in Georgia, but we stayed warm because Stephen brought an electric blanket from Texas... (There are electric hookups at most campsites since RVs need them.)

Here's most of my cooking gear. Grilled corn on the cob, stew, s'mores, we got it.

In Hingham, we sought yet another Architecture History Class building, Old Ship Meeting House.

Meeting Houses are the churches of Puritans, although they considered it to be a public building with no particular sacred value. Completed in 1681, it has a square form and the interior is divided by family box seating areas. The church is now utilized by Unitarian Universalists. I doubt that makes Purtians happy.

Hingham was another beautiful little town that excited us. There are several lovely churches and other buildings. 

Austin to Boston: NY + CT + RI

Hudson River Area, New York

When we first went to New York City in summer of 2007, we rode Amtrak from Montreal. The route was along the Hudson River, and Stephen remembers looking out the window and wishing we could visit it. 

We drove up through several smaller towns to Beacon, NY. Our favorite spot was this waterfall and dam near Croton-on-Hudson, NY. 

Hartford and Norwich, Connecticut

We drove through Hartford on Labor Day, so it was mostly closed. There were some nice historic buildings. 

The first town that caught our interest was Norwich, CT. There are many large historic homes, and a lovely downtown. (Also, the cost of living is below national average!)

 

Newport, Rhode Island

We didn't plan to go to Newport but found an inexpensive hotel there. Lucky us: Newport has everything in our Northeastern dreams: old buildings, active downtown, architecture preservation groups...

While we were driving, we remembered that Newport has two other buildings from our Architecture History classes. 

Both buildings are designed by Peter Harrison. The first is Touro Synagogue, built in 1763, oldest synagogue in the United States. The synagogue is not parallel to the street because it faces East toward Jerusalem.

Stephen and the other men were required to wear yarmulkes while inside. Although the synagogue members are not orthodox, they hold orthodox style services here in honor of the history, and of the orthodox church in New York that owns the building. In center box, a reader recites prayers. Everyone else faces East. Women stay on the upper balcony. 

The second building is the Redwood Library. It continues to be a private library, and has many of the old books it once held. 

 

Austin to Boston: New York City NY

New York City, New York

3420 miles

90° F

Gas: $2.89

New York City is the one town in the Northeast that we have already visited. We came here in July 2007 during a break in our Montreal study abroad trip. We visited all the major buildings then, and hoped to see different things this trip (as well as be more relaxed.)

Our friend Simon (who was the other groomsperson in our wedding) has just moved to New York City and will be attending Columbia University starting next Tuesday. He is studying for his masters in architecture.

Simon gave us a tour of Columbia. He is standing in front of Avery Hall, site of his future studio. 

We rode bikes on Governor's Island, an old military base that is being converted into a state park. To attract tourists, they are renting bikes free for one hour on Fridays. Based on the lines, it was working well. 

The red steps are an architecture project Simon was excited to show us. It is in Times Square, called TKTS Booth by John Choi and Tai Ropiha. It is like bleachers, open for the public to climb and sit and have an elevated view of Times Square. The primary structure is structural glass, (meaning that glass holds it up). Underneath is a ticket booth for Broadway performances. 

Another public project I was eager to see was the Highline by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The Highline was an abandoned set of subway tracks, one story above street level. Plants have been growing on it for years, but no work has been done on it. This firm won a competition for the public walkway design of this space. They integrate concrete walkways, greenery, and seating with beautiful lines.

 The project will be 1.5 miles when finished. At one point, there are movable chairs resting on the old train tracks.

We had dinner one night at Wild Ginger Kitchen, a vegan restaurant. Stephen's sweet & sour dish tasted just like chicken.

The three of us attended a service at St. John the Divine, which will be the tallest cathedral (if they finish.)

Quote of the Day:

"That's the problem with public projects. They're too popular." -Stephen