Bristol 4th of July and Newport

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Bristol, Rhode Island. They have had a 4th of July parade there every year for over 200 years. It's a big event for the entire area around Bristol. It's not just a parade either, the town starts celebrating days before the 4th. Bruce, Al's brother and his wife Angie never miss the parade because Angie is from Bristol. All the families have parties after the parade. We had some great Portuguese again food thanks to Angie's Aunt. The Herreshoff Museum held a series of events that we attended over the weekend too. It made the weekend really fun and we met some other cruisers there, too.

Before the 4th we did make it to Newport to see the Maltese Falcon start a transatlantic race. It was an amazing sight and we're glad we made a special trip to see it.

We have been back in Newport all week. One neat thing in the anchorage is that every day we have children sailing right past the boat learning how to sail. They are so brave to learn in such a busy harbor.

Fran's sister will be with us this next week so we will be leaving Narragansett Bay and going to Martha's Vineyard and other places. Then Fran will be going home to visit her parents the week of the 17th while Al goes back to Tiverton.