Leaving the excess behind

The dog with the necklace sums up my impression of the Gilded Age in Newport: too much excess all around. We spent 3 days at the beautiful Samuel Durfee House in downtown Newport. we could walk to almost everything. But we did drive to the Castle Inn a mile and a half from where Jackie Bouvier grew up. The Inn is a Relais and Chateau property where rooms run more than $1000 a night. A lady at one of the mansion stores told me it was a great place to get a drink on the lawn and enjoy the view. Luckily lunch and a drink on the lawn were more in line with our budget. We had a wonderful afternoon watching the sailboats bounce around in front of us. Today we started the drive south and stopped to spend the night at an historic hotel near Lancaster PA- The Inn at Leola Village. The flying pig is their symbol so we saw them wherever we walked. Tomorrow we visit Lititz for Wilbur buds(chocolates) and a pretzel factory. Then it's home to get back to reality after 3 beautiful weeks exploring New England.