We took a day trip to Newport just to check out the Tennis Hall of Fame.  Kathleen is a big Tennis fame and still loves Pete Sampras, even though he retired years ago.  Newport is just a beautiful place to visit.  We’ve been there at least a half a dozen times and each time we experience something different. 

Here are some FUN FACTS about the Tennis Hall of Fame:

1. The Newport Casino building — designed in 1880 by the then fledgling architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White — was Stanford White’s first major commission.
2. The Newport Casino was built as a social and recreational club, not as a place for gambling. In fact, “casina” is an Italian word for farmstead or “little house.”
3. The Casino structure had no American architectural precedent and only one possible precursor in England. The concept of renting the building’s first floor to local merchants and using space on the second floor for the club was unique.
4. In its heyday, the Casino offered archery, billiards, bowling, concerts, dancing, dining, horse shows, lawn bowling, reading, tea parties and theatricals in addition to the staples of its present day offerings — lawn tennis and court tennis.
5. In 1881, the Newport Casino hosted the first U.S. National Lawn Tennis Championships. At that time, the championships consisted only of men’s singles and doubles. The Casino continued to host the event until 1915, when it moved to Forest Hills, N.Y. The tournament is now known as the U.S. Open.
6. The Casino’s historic courts are the world’s oldest continuously used competition grass courts and the only competition grass courts open to the public for play.
7. The concept of putting a Tennis Hall of Fame at this site originated with Casino president James Van Alen, who would later invent the tennis tiebreaker and other innovative scoring systems.
8. The International Tennis Hall of Fame Museum is the world’s largest tennis museum and owns the world’s largest collection of tennis memorabilia.
9. Today, the Hall of Fame hosts the last remaining professional tennis events played on grass in North America.
10. The Tennis Hall of Fame presently hosts the opening night concert of Newport’s Jazz Festival. The Casino was the site of the first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954.

Check out some photos from our day:

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Wonderful romantic getaway at the Cliff Side Inn, Newport Rhode Island.  Kathleen and I did alot of loafing around that weekend which was coupled with wonderful dinners nearby the shore.  The highlight of the trip for Kathleen was reading in front of the fireplace just after a nice long soak in the whirlpool.  For me, it was the incredible antique birdcage shower.  It was nuts!  Streams of water hitting you from every angle.  Wonder why they don’t have them anymore???  They really are awesome!

Day trip to Block Island with Kathleen, Sandy and Tom. We took the ferry in early, rented some mopeds and tooled around the island. The weather was perfect. There was also an eerie fog near the cliffs that made for a truly surreal experience. We have not ventured back to Block Island since this trip as it was one of those “Everything was perfect about that day and if we go back it will probably ruined in some way” experiences. Silly, I know. Below are some of my favorite photos from the day. Full slide show can be seen below as well.