Day 18

I peeked out the window of the tent and saw some pink over the water so I hurried out, grabbed my camera and headed down to the beach. Our spot was directly in front of the beach area so I decided to sit and enjoy the quickly changing sky.

 

The temperature had dropped to 58 overnight and the fog was sitting heavily on the water. I stuck my toes in and the water felt very warm! I made a mental note to ask the kids if they wanted to swim later.

Once Brayden and Ryan woke up I started breakfast and we watched the chipmunks scurry around the campground. They enjoyed them so much they decided to get out their notebooks and make notes for a book to write about a chipmunk and family.

We met at the visitors center before it opened so we headed down one of the nature trails. The trail was very nice and we were at the lake before we knew it. The kids climbed all over the rocks and splashed in the water for a little while until they found a little dead fish to give a proper burial. Ryan spotted a photography contest while we were at the trail head so she was snapping away trying to find some good shots.

  

 

Once we made it back to the visitors center, the kids enjoyed a program about amphibians and reptiles. It was a little young for them but they seemed to enjoy it once Grammie and I got into it. The instructor had a frog and a painted turtle they loved!

 

While Grammie and I walked around the museum exhibits, all three happily colored and worked crosswords puzzles about the nature in the area. There was so much information in this room with physical artifacts to sort through, displays of each habitat in the park, and information about many of the animals.

Once Brayden spotted the kid's scavenger hunt though, our peace was invaded and they were frantically searching for the answers to the clues in the museum. When they received their prize we headed to lunch at another local spot recommended by the staff. The kids had fish and chips again and Grammie and I split a lobster roll and scallops - delicious!

I'd read about Brenton State Park in one of the travel books I used to plan as a must see place so once our bellies were full we started that way. The drive was about an hour and we crossed a beautiful bridge along the way. I made a note to return to the little town of Newport some day as it looked like a fun place to stay for a weekend.

We reached the park and were treated to an extraordinary view of the ocean from a point originally discovered by the Portuguese. The kids are always thrilled to be able to scurry all over the rocks at a place like this!  Grammie and I walked around the rocks checking out the view and the sea life all around us. Many people were arriving for sunset which had to be an unbelievable view.

  

After the kids returned from the rocks they searched for heart rocks and we headed around the point to the other side and to the monument to learn. There were large concrete posts positioned all around the monument which we read where to symbolize some of the points on the compass as well as the Portuguese flag. The southern most point of Portugal also has a park very similar to the one we are standing on!

It was mandatory that I do laundry this night so we drove back to the little down a few miles from our campground in search of ice cream. We found some delicious scoops a few feet over the border in Connecticut!

Laney was super excited to get back to Grammie's apartment to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and the kids with me were so very excited to start laundry with me so we parted ways at the laundromat.  Fortunately, the ceremonies were on one of the televisions there too so while our clothes spun around the machines we watched some of the countries be introduced. The summer Olympics are definitely our favorite and we hate to miss them on these trips!!