Spring Gala

On Saturday, May 3rd we went down to Newport, Rhode Island for the Sloan Spring Gala. Every year, Sloan hosts two formals- Fall Ball and Spring Gala. We haven't made it to any of the other formals, so made a point to get tickets for the Spring Gala this year, our last chance to get all fancy with our Sloan/LGO friends.

We drove down to Newport Saturday morning with our friends Brittany and Marcus. We stopped for lunch and then toured one of the Newport Mansions, The Breakers. If you don't know (which I didn't before doing a lot of research), the Newport Mansions are the former summer homes of some of America's richest families in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Several of them were built and owned by members of the Vanderbilt family. They were all similar to the Biltmore, but smaller.

Still, the mansions were ridiculously huge, especially considering the families only spent 3 months out of the entire year living in them! They didn't allow any pictures inside any the mansions (during tours), and people were watching us like hawks so unfortunately I only have outdoor pictures.

The back of The Breakers

After our tour, we found a liquor store to get the fixins for Mint Juleps, since it was Derby Day in Kentucky after all, then headed to the hotel to watch some Derby coverage and get ready for the Gala.

That evening, it was finally time for the Gala! The Gala was held at the Rosecliff Mansion, and it was beautiful.

Is this real life?

We took a ton of pictures, enjoyed a cocktail hour on the back porch and in the yard, and then had an amazing dinner in big tents on the lawn. I felt like we were at a party in The Great Gatsby, except our party was a lot more tame and not quite as lavish...

After dinner, there was of course dessert, and then a DJ and a dance party. It was packed, really hot, and really fun.

This picture is crazy. Our friends Jan and Orion are partially disappearing from the picture Back To The Future-style! (They're glasses and hats were green, so disappeared with the green screen behind them.)

 The LGOs at Spring Gala!

The next day, we slept in a little and then went to a late brunch, accidentally happened upon a parade, and then toured one more mansion, Marblehead, before heading back to Boston.

The mansions were incredible and the self-guided tours were great. I wish we had more time to go back to Newport and do more tours or spend more time exploring the town. It seemed like a really fun place with a lot more to see and do! It was also fun to learn some history and Chuck and I may or may not have developed a small obsession with the Vanderbilt family and watched a documentary on the family and read a ton of Wikipedia later after we got home.