Oct 19, 2012 - Day 96 - to Clinton, Connecticut

We drove further down I95 today to Riverdale Farm RV Park outside Clinton, Connecticut. We are about half an hour out of New Haven. Our luck with the weather changed today and we had rain for most of the drive, at least it was only two and half hours. After checking with the park owner, we decided to take the train into New York City tomorrow. We got the train information, booked an OnBoard Tour for our first day.

Jul 28, 2012 - Hartford

Today we headed to Hartford. Our first stop was the home of Mark Twain or Samuel Clemons. He moved his family to Hartford to be closer to his publisher and convinced his wife to build this mansion so that he would be able to network with the rich and famous. The interior was decorated by Tiffany with a lot of heavy carved wood and unique wall coverings. About one third of the original furnishings are in the house. Mark Twain thought that he was a bit of an inventor and liked to invest in new things most of which were unsuccessful leading...

Jul 27, 2012 - Day Off with Lunch at Fish Tales

Today we decided to take the day off but we did go out to lunch. We went to a restaurant in nearby Madison, CT called Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale. We had read that between the location in Madison and its sister in Westbrook, they can serve up to 10,000 customers on a typical summer weekend. We can see why. Bill ordered a soft shell crab roll and, as you can see in the picture, it came with two huge soft shell crabs. He had to eat one crab and the legs off the other before he could fit it in the bread. He said it was the biggest and best soft...

Jul 26, 2012 - Pez and New Haven

Our day began driving to Fairfield (40 miles) to have lunch at Super Duper Weenie which is a Diner, Drive-in and Dive. It is a tiny place packed with people. The whole time we were there, there were never less than six people in line. They slice the weiners then grill them. Everything is made from scratch, chilie, relish and slaw, and the hot dogs are fantastic. We heard one lady say that her family comes once a week. The chief cook, who we assumed was the owner, kept a steady conversation with the regulars as they came in. It was...

Jul 25, 2012 - Project Oceanology and The Nautilus

Today we got an early start and headed back to Groton for our trip aboard Project Oceanology. Whereas yesterdays cruise was mostly scenic, today was a working and learning cruise. As we headed out, we learned about the environment of an estuary. Then we dropped a large seine net and a smaller special net. Passengers were encouraged to help. When we pulled in the smaller net we were able to examine samples of plankton which were easily seen by the naked eye. When the large net was brought in, there were crabs, flounder, skates, small squid...

Jul 24, 2012 - Mystic Seaport and New London Lighthouse

We set out early for Mystic Seaport. It is a museum of a seaport and has the old stores and other buildings that would make up a seaport in the whaling days. During the day there are various demonstrations taking place. One we saw was a whaling demonstration where we saw how the small whale boats would go after the whale and learned about how each person had a distinct job. We saw the old printing press and learned about how it was operated, visited an old bank (not used by individuals in those days but only for business transactions) and...

Jul 23, 2012 - Essex, East Haddam, Gillette Castle

This morning we headed to Essex where we intended to buy tickets for the steam train/steamboat combo for 2pm but had to settle for 12:30 instead. While we waited, we drove into Essex another quaint town from the 1600's. We intended to have lunch at the 'Griz' or Giswold Inn, the oldest continuously operating inn in Connecticut built in 1776. Unfortunately, they didn't serve until 12:00 noon and that would not have given us time, so we ate instead at the Black Seal, then headed back to the train. We had purchased parlor car tickets and were...

Jul 22, 2012 - Going to Connecticut

Beginning Mileage 24017 Ending Mileage 24322 Riverdale Farm Campsite 111 River Rd Clinton, CT 06413 860-669-5388 8.5/9.5/9.5 We were on the road early and, with what we had learned on our New York trip, we had a great route and an easy trip. The campground is very nice. It is along the bank of a river and there is a small lake or pond for swimming. When we arrived, it was packed with kids having a ball. As has been the case with many of the campgrounds lately, many of the sites are occupied by long term campers. It is so easy to set up the...

Sep 19, 2009 - Clinton, Connecticut

Well we left Cape Cod this morning around 9:00 am and it took us over two hours to get off the Cape between traffic and road work it was terrible. Of course there is only one main road out. We continue on up the highway and it was fairly busy but we arrived into Connecticut around 2:00 pm which it actually should of only taken us 3 hours. The campground is very nice where we are staying we were surprised that it's still fairly full here a lot of seasonals but lots of families camping which is nice to see. We got all set up and went into...

May 31, 2009 - Clinton, CT

Our primary reason for this stop was to meet Shelli and Narda in New Canaan at the Town Hall on Tuesday morning (June 2nd) for their marriage ceremony. New Canaan is a very attractive town with many upscale shops, little restaurants, and historic buildings and houses. We were thrilled to be at the ceremony, and enjoyed a short visit to play with Malka and Noah Matan. Mystic Seaport is the restored/recreated 19th century village where the main business was boat building. The village consists of a bank, blacksmith shop, school, pharmacy,...

Oct 13, 2008 - Connecticut: a Bedroom for NYC

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