Conneticut 2016

July 21, 2016

Yale University is located in the town of New Haven, CT about 50 miles from us.   We arrive and find the visitors center and learn that we can take the 12:00 PM tour.   To get inside the main campus, you have to be with a tour guide, a student, faculty member, etc.  They have extremely tight security in the housing and most building areas. 

The person at the visitors center suggested we take a walk up Hillside Ave.  Mark Twain called this one of the most beautiful streets in America.  It's a street with old homes that are now dorms and/or offices.

The tour last about 75 minutes and is a walking tour.   You get to see where the freshman live, they all live in a common area, a big square.   The school also has what they call 12 colleges inside the school, this is so that the students learn about different ethnics, languages, etc.    When you arrive as a student, you are randomly assigned a college, this is where you spend the 90% of your time, while living on the campus.  

You do get to go inside the main library, which holds 15 million books, however the public only gets to go in and take a peek.   You must have the proper credentials to see where the books are located.  The area we did see, is striking and worth you time to see. 

History  and architecture abound here.   The buildings are spectacular and so striking.  You just want to stare and reflect upon the designer that created them, but the tour keeps you moving.   In fact, it moves so fast, it's difficult to take all the pics you want.  The church tower that Yale built on the 216 anniversary of the college is 216' tall, in honor of their anniversary.   It's incredibly beautiful and a must see.

Had lunch at a food wagon near the bookstore (last stop).   It was a slider that was delicious.

Got back home around 4, we'll stay in and listen to Donald Trump give his speech at the RNC tonight.

July 20, 2016

The first nuclear submarine is located in the Groton, CT, so decided to go see it.   We arrived at around 10 and found a parking spot.  This facility is actual part of the base but you don't have to go

through their security.  

The submarine Nautilus is located here and you get to tour it and the museum for free.   This is my first time touring a submarine and to think it one similar to the one my brother Roger served on, was so cool.  It was amazing to see the living quarters and working conditions, honestly not sure I could live on one of these for 5-6 months at a time.   Talk about a tin can!   In fact, one of the ladies in front of us, left as see was claustrophobic.  

They give you a walking tour and you listen to different stations that describe that area.   Very interesting.   We then toured the museum, in which we saw the two names of the subs that Rog served on:  USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Seadragon.  

Next we drove into New London, where we looked at two lighthouses, one was not open to the public and the other is located in the bay.   We then stopped by Fort Trumbull, not much to see.  They are remodeling and all the guns, etc. have removed.

On our drive home, we stopped at Gillette Castle, this was once owned by William Gillette.   He was an American Actor who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on the stage.   It's an amazing castle built alongside the CT river.   The views must have been incredibly back then, they still are but obviously the trees are much larger.   The only sad thing, we could not tour the inside as it's only open on Thursday thru Sunday.

July 19, 2016

Drove into Hartford, which is about 35 miles to our NW.   This is where the CT state capital is plus this is the insurance capital of the world!

Our first stop was the capital.  We took the guided tour, boy did we have a fun guide.   Elaine (told us to call her Mom, even though she's younger than us).   What a character, plus she made the tour very entertaining plus knew her knowledge of the capital.

Like so many of the capitals we've seen, lots of state history here.   It's a very uniquely designed capital, with lots of Italian, French and Spanish marble.   Most of the statues, give you history about important individuals in CT history, ie:  Nathan Hale, Prudence Crandell and Mark Twain.

At the end of the tour, we even got to meet the Governor!

Next we headed to the Supreme Court Building, where of course we saw the Supreme Court plus their state history museum.  Inside the museum, you learn more about the history plus they had a great display of Colt firearms.

After grapping some lunch, we headed to Mark Twain's home and museum.  You are not allowed to take photos, so all we can show you is the outside.  The inside is amazing for it's time.   They had running water, flush toilets, 12 fireplaces plus telephone, although Mark Twain hated the phone.   The home is very dark so it was difficult to see some of the furnishings (very few windows in the home).   It's a tremendous part of our history, as he wrote 5-6 books here, of which included Adventures of Huck Finn.

Across the lawn is the prior home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Tom Sawyer.   We did not tour her home, as it's was too late in the day.  It is much different than Mark Twain's home, as you can see from the picture.

July 18, 2016

Went to the local mall and walked around for a couple of hours, as we can get into our next stop until after 1 PM.  

Left Ludlow, MA around 12:00 and arrived here in East Hampton, CT at the Nelson's Family Campground around 1:15.   On the drive in, we passed Lake Pocotopaug, the largest fresh water lake in CT.  It's a beautiful lake with homes and docks around every bend.

Got settled into our site and then I decided to go into town and look around at the local nursery (we had passed it on our way in).   Looked around and then decided I needed a pedicure, so got one. 

Took a long walk after dinner, very nice campground.  Has lots of full time trailers with great patios added to them.   They also have a lake for fishing plus your regular amenities.