Connecticut

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Cruising Connecticut:

April 24, 2013 – Day # 34 of our North American Safari saw us leaving our little Elks Boondock in Port Jervis N.Y. and heading the almost 200 miles to S.E. Connecticut where Kristin and her partner Laura live. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside despite the “shake, rattle and roll” roads we seemed to find along the way. The MoHo seems to hold up surprisingly well through these conditions, only found one screw on the floor when I swept. We arrived in camp mid-afternoon; we stayed at a nice KOA campground in North Stonington CT, about 15 miles from New London where the “Girls” live. We drove into New London and enjoyed a delicious pasta dinner at their apartment. We spent the evening planning the itinerary for the next few days.

Guinness and Corona at camp

April 25, 2013 was an exciting day for us. We met Kris and her boss Ann at the Pawcatuck Middle School. They were teaching a class for their Violence Is Preventable (VIP) Program to a 6^th grade class. The class was talking about dealing with emotions – specifically anger. WOW – did we ever enjoy watching and participating in the class. Kris is a natural as a teacher, you can tell that the kids enjoyed interactions and responded so well to the materials and presentation. We were so impressed and proud of her. After sharing a quick cup of coffee with Ann and Kris, we drove around the Westerly Rhode Island area (just outside of Pawcatuck) a cute little down town, and beautiful old homes. We then drove down to the beach and were able to see the sand piles and some of the damage that had occurred during Super Storm Sandy – the sand had to be bull dozed back on to the beach before the Plover birds started nesting and laying their eggs; there was a lot of construction going on to repair many of the ocean front properties. Our evening was spent enjoying a wonderful pub dinner in Mystic at the Daniel Packer Inn. This is a 250-year-old place, great ambiance, and wonderful food. It was so nice to meet up with Kris and she brought Suzie (Laura’s mom) for dinner.
A WONDERFUL DAY!

Still recovering from Super Storm Sandy

April 26, 2013 – we slept in a bit and then headed into Mystic for a bit of window shopping and dining, we ate lunch right down on the Connecticut River at the S & P Oyster House. The weather was picture perfect, sunny and warm. Our seats had a ringside view to the drawbridge, to let boats pass through.  Later in the afternoon we met up with Kris and Laura in Groton, CT. We took a walk up a pretty steep hill to Fort Griswold, which was the sight of 1781- Revolutionary War Massacre let by Benedict Arnold. Then a great dinner at "Paul's Pasta".  Such history back in New England; this fort is situated on the Thames River – beautiful view and interesting standing where so much had happened.

April 27, 2013 was a day off for the “Girls” so we spent it doing several things. Our first stop was the Pequot-Mashantucket Museum – this featured so much interesting information about the S.E. area of CT and specifically the Native Americans who settled there. After about 2 hours of soaking up knowledge (J) we went back to New London for a bite to eat and a bit of a rest. We then went to an opening in New London at Expressiones Cultural Center. Kris and Laura’s friends Guido and Jose own this art studio. They were having an opening reception for Nancy Clark a New York artist showing her “Mystery of Play” Exhibit.  Along with Nancy’s pieces there was a heart warming display of art works by 16 teenagers who participate in the New London Youth Affairs program. This is one of the programs that Laura works with.

We finished the evening at “Dutch” a real working class pub.  We really enjoyed seeing the art, meeting Kris and Laura’s friends and spending time in down town New London.

Oysters on the Connecticut

April 28, 2013 – Laura’s 32^nd birthday! We had a wonderful day celebrating Laura’s birthday. We started with a nice brunch followed by a walk around an interesting and colorful little town of Chester. A bit of window shopping and stretching our legs and we were off to see the Gillette Castle. We took a short ferry ride across the Connecticut River and came off right into Gillette State Park. We were once again treated to spectacularly beautiful weather.   Gillette Castle is this quirky place designed by William Hooker Gillette 1914-19. Gillette was a well-known stage actor, writer and producer of his time. The House is made of a fieldstone that comes from the local hills.  We enjoyed a walk around the castle and then headed back to camp for a birthday barbeque. We made pizzas on the grill, and topped off the evening with a chocolate mint ice cream cake. It was a wonderful day, and had been a fantastic few days in Connecticut. After many hugs and kisses the girls headed home. We had so much fun seeing them again.

at Gillette Castle