Post by Bob on Jan 25, 2006 12:56:08 GMT -5
We're getting some focus here everybody. The "party" will be held at 7:00pm on Saturday, February 18th in the Viking Ballroom of the Viking Hotel in Newport. It's scheduled for 7pm to 11pm. There will be a bar inside the ballroom to purchase drinks and we're figuring out snacks or some small food items (eat dinner before you come). I mention the following only because of the outpouring that took place when Barry went missing and was found. The occupancy limit for the ballroom is 400. After that they have to cut it off and not let anyone else in....fire law legal issues. Candidly there may only be a couple of hundred of us but who the heck knows and I just think it's prudent to give everyone a heads up about that....basically, get there on time. The hotel has been great about this inability to project for them what the occupancy will be...hotels are used to dealing with finite math...they have been very giving and have afforded us great flex on this issue (i.e., the pre-pay fee for just the bar in that ballroom is $10,000 which they waived). The cheapest way to book a room there is online (you'll have to pre-pay), the second cheapest is to request the "old" wing, the highest fee is in the new wing. Mary Jo and I stayed there last month during Christmastime and it's a fine hotel. Their website is "hotelviking.com" and their phone number is 401-847-3300. Obviously there are more "reasonable" rates on the island but you can't beat the idea of elevatoring down and then elevatoring up in the cold of winter in Newport. We know this is a difficult time, understandably more so for some than others, and we're all going to have to be strong when we get in that ballroom and the nature of an event like this is not going to assist any of us in that pursuit. The Halidon Hall ceremony will be at 1:00pm as shared previously. It's winter, hopefully the weather plays with us, but be prepared. It's outside...it should be a short, solemn event since we'll have elderly relatives in attendance. You'll have to leave your cars down on Wellington Ave. and walk up the hill to the house. For those who have never been, it's simply a long winding driveway up to the house on the top of the hill. If you have passengers you will certainly be allowed to drive up to Halidon Hall, drop them off, and go back down to Wellington...it's a circular driveway in the front very conducive to dropping off and continuing back down in a smooth one-way direction. It's off-season in Newport (used to be our favorite time when we were kids there because everybody left town and went back to New York or whereever they came from) and the city will be quiet. Shopkeepers are known to just stay home some days and not even open up so you may run into places with posted hours that aren't being followed. The Newport Bridge costs $2.00 to cross and I'm only mentioning that so I can alert you to this: if you're traveling in your car with time on your hands and just driving around being touristy and you find yourself near the bridge access it's easy to accidentally turn on the road leading to the bridge to get off the island and there's NO TURNING BACK if you do (and believe me you won't know you did it until it's too late)....you'll find yourself stuck and have to go over the bridge and then turn around and come back - a $4.00 mistake. Just a heads up because it happened to me once. If you're staying through Monday, as many are with it being a holiday, check out the mansions if you can....just pick one and take the tour (if they're even having them) or drive through the Salve Regina University campus on Bellevue Ave. where our daughter goes to school (the old "Dark Shadows" house is on that campus for those who remember that show). It's breathtaking.
Okay, we'll see everyone in Newport, we'll see you in the ballroom, around town, at the hotel (not at the beach unless you're a member of the Penguins Club), it'll be a big giant family in town and Barry will be there waiting for all of us to arrive.
Okay, we'll see everyone in Newport, we'll see you in the ballroom, around town, at the hotel (not at the beach unless you're a member of the Penguins Club), it'll be a big giant family in town and Barry will be there waiting for all of us to arrive.