Travel & Destination

We got our Christmas tree on Friday. Some would say that’s late, but I would say it’s right on time. We did our own cutting and now that Christmas is only a week away, I am confident this tree will last for a good long time. We usually have it up for about a month, […]

There’s something beautiful about the Long Island Sound. It’s something very forgettable, but beautiful nonetheless. The feeling fades so fast after we get back into town. By the time we pull down the driveway, it’s almost gone. It’s the strangest thing…feeling so far removed from someplace we were just over an hour ago. Each time […]

Ahhh, Sunday. What a fine day for a return visit to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art up in Hartford, CT. Again, this little trip was “suggested,” but I’m not complaining. Me complain? I don’t think so. I don’t want to make a long post out of this. All I really want to show you […]

My lady and I have a nice little tradition going. We’ve been doing it for a few years now and it really seems to be working out rather well. What’s the tradition? Well, it’s basically avoiding the world during the holidays and spending time with each other over a nice dinner. We’ve found some great […]

Have I told you lately that I enjoy the Connecticut coast? So it snowed on Saturday night. We didn’t let that stop us on Sunday. Sunday’s weather was perfect for a ride in the car to see what was going on down in Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, Madison Center and Guilford Center. I really wanted […]

Here we go, Christmas tree 2009. Thursday was the day. We didn’t know if the weather was going to cooperate any more than it has and there is nothing worse than trying to find and cut down a Christmas tree in the snow. Actually, I have never done that and now that I think about […]

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Okay, enough of the pleasantries. This Thanksgiving, my lady and I had dinner at the Griswold Inn in Essex, CT. Since we had been there a few times before, this wasn’t a huge deal for us. What was a huge deal was the fact that dinner was buffet […]

I have oftentimes described myself as a Utilitarian. Each time I described myself this way, I can’t say that I remember knowing what that term meant. I always kind of figured it was something like, “must have some sort of utility” or “get all the feel good stuff out of the way and let’s get […]

On Thursday of last week, we decided to head up to the Berkshires for some apple picking. Every year, we end up going too late and are rushed by the end of the season. Of course there are still apples to pick, but many of the varieties are already gone. This year, we thought it […]

Well, we finally did it. We took the schooner cruise on the Mary E. up the Connecticut River. This was something we were supposed to do about a month ago. When we got the great idea, the weather was nice and cool. When it came time to actually drive down and get on the boat, […]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this post is worth over 38,000 of them. I apologize. I deleted about half of the photos I took yesterday, but so many of them were good that I didn’t have the heart to cut any further. You’ll just have to look at them. I think I’ve […]

We had a little adventure yesterday. We went to Rose’s Berry Farm in South Glastonbury to pick some strawberries and raspberries. This is one of those events we like to do every year but consistently screw up the schedule. We have good intentions, but somewhere along the lines, we miss what we are looking for. […]

Boy, what a weekend. Laura’s brother and girlfriend came over for a weekend visit. They arrived yesterday and left today. Their visit was tentative, so when they said there were going to make it, I was a happy boy. Since they showed up in the late afternoon, there was only one real thing to do…bring […]

A few nights ago, out of nowhere, I was bitten by something. I didn’t know what it was, but when I woke up, I wanted a boat. I guess I was bitten by the boat bug. This is horrible. I have never wanted a boat in my life. I think it all started when I […]

The other day was kind of rough. I spent a good amount of time on the internet getting phone numbers for “Pick Your Own” farms around the state and calling them. I was disappointed because so many of them didn’t have anything to pick. Many of the crops are running late because of the lousy […]

Today was pretty fun. Went went up to the farmers market in Coventry, CT. You know, it’s a funny thing. As I was standing in the shower this morning, I thought to myself that I probably wouldn’t be going to the Coventry farmers market today if it weren’t for Laura nudging me along. This will […]

Today, we splendidly enjoyed ourselves over at Belltown Hill Orchards in South Glastonbury, CT picking blueberries. Boy, I hope I don’t get sick of all this fruit. There are a bunch of months left to pick-your-own. Since we had never been to this farm before, we had to use the GPS for the last few […]

When my parents were up visiting a few weeks ago, they brought up the idea of going out to get some ice cream. I thought it was a great idea…I just didn’t know where any ice cream places were. I think there are a few Friendly’s around, but that’s not the kind of ice cream […]

Since we weren’t able to eat lunch or dinner at the Sharpe Hill Vineyard, we decided to head out towards the Harvest Restaurant in Pomfret, CT. Laura and I had eaten there before and found it very nice. On our way to the restaurant, we passed a little sign that said something like “State Park […]

Boy, it’s been a busy few days. My parents landed at the Bradley International Airport, North of Hartford at about 12:30AM, Thursday morning. Laura and I got there at around midnight, so we had a hang around for a few minutes. It wasn’t too bad. Strangely enough, you get to watch some very interesting people […]

Since it was a bit cooler yesterday and the sun was shining, we decided that it was a great day to hop in the car and take a trip down to Stonington, CT. Lately, I have been wandering around Google Earth checking out the Connecticut shoreline. It’s amazing how much neat stuff is around there. […]

We had a little adventure today. I decided that it would be a really nice day to go for a short hike at Devil’s Hopyard State Park in East Haddam. After all, we haven’t been there since last year. We had to run down to Norwich for a little while, so the park wasn’t that […]

We went on a little field trip up to West Hartford, CT yesterday. Laura’s sister and her man are in the area for about a week, so we all thought it would be nice to meet up and have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in West Hartford. We have never been to this particular restaurant […]

If you weren’t aware, yesterday was the day of love. It was the day that souls join, people buy each other chocolate and roses and tell each other how much they love one another. If you are “with” someone, it was the day to remind yourself how much they mean to you. If you aren’t […]

We did it. We really did it. For the first time in our lives, we didn’t exchange Christmas gifts. It was a bold (and more difficult than expected) move, but one that we thought we needed to do. If you haven’t noticed, the exchanging of Christmas gifts has…well, lost something throughout the years. I notice […]

Today was the day to get in the car to go for a drive up north. We have been planning for this drive ever since we came back from Thanksgiving dinner. We are basically looking for someplace to have a nice Christmas dinner. The original plan was to drive up to Woodstock, CT to visit […]

Yesterday was an action packed day. I am telling you, ACTION PACKED!!! It was packed with action. Okay, we started off by driving up to Hartford to pick up Laura’s friend. She lives near White Plains, but doesn’t have a car. She figured that the easiest way to get here would be to take Amtrak […]

I made a very important self discovery today. It took all of my life, but I finally discovered that I am a critic. It feels really great to at last figure out what my problem has been for all these years. At times, I have thought deeply about why things are, how things are, where […]

We had a pretty fun night last night. Initially, we planned to make a quick trip up to Bob’s Discount Furniture in Manchester. We need a whole lot of furniture. We need to furnish the entire bedroom, dining room, living room, my office and some odds and ends elsewhere. Needless to say, this is going […]

Today, we hopped in the car and went for a little ride. First, we stopped by the local library so Laura could get a library card and pick up a book. The town library is newly renovated, expanded and really very nice. I haven’t been in a library in years. You should have seen me…I […]

Well, well, well, where have we all been? I guess it’s that time of year again for our annual visit to Stockbridge, MA. This is the time I usually get a gift certificate to the Red Lion Inn for my birthday. It’s a great excuse to drive up to the Berkshires to go apple picking […]

Yesterday, we had to run all over the place to get a bunch of errands out of the way. We had to go to the pharmacy, the hardware store, the bank and then grocery shopping. We did the pharmacy and the hardware store locally, but went to the bank in the next town over. After […]

On Monday (Labor Day), we decided to get in the car and cruise down to Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, CT. This has been on my “to do” list for a while. We weren’t really in the mood for a hike. We kind of just wanted to see the castle. I read good […]

Last night, after we went to Circuit City, we stopped by The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor, CT. It’s near Manchester. We had to visit Pottery Barn to get some plates and napkins and things like that. I am not even sure how this turned into a blog post, but since I […]

If you have ever driven through Virginia, you would probably agree with me when I say it is a very pretty state. I like to drive down Interstate 81 because of the scenery. Virginia has a very diverse landscape, which makes almost the entire state exciting. I am sure I mentioned that I love to […]

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day. We decided to hop in the car and drive out to Newport, RI for a quick visit. I always think everything is so close to anywhere I am. When we are about halfway there, I realized that I am just an optimist. My butt starts to hurt and I […]

Last night was pretty fun. My brother, Jeff, came over and we went out to dinner. Lately, you pretty much have to drag me out of my chair to get me to do anything. I have my head stuck staring at this horrible computer screen 24 hours a day. It really is unattractive. Jeff told […]

On Memorial Day, we took a cruise out to Point Judith, RI (above). I took some photos of that, but wanted to post some pretty funny pictures here in this post really fast. For some reason, these are funny. They are of the entrance of Fisherman’s Memorial State Park in Rhode Island. It’s out near […]

As I mentioned in the post below, we took a quick cruise out to Narragansett, RI on Memorial Day. We didn’t stay very long, but long enough for me to grab a few pictures. I have been to Point Judith in the past…it’s the place you need to get on the ferry to go to […]

Yesterday, while out and about, Laura and I decided to do a drive-by at the University of Connecticut, or better know as UConn in Storrs, CT. I took a gander at this area on Google Earth a few times and we actually wanted to visit for some time, but never got around to it. Now […]

On Thursday night, my brother met Laura and me up in Manchester for dinner. Laura and I left a little early so we could visit Pottery Barn at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor. I really like Pottery Barn, not for its fame from a certain “Friends” episode, but for its quality furniture. I need some […]

In an effort to learn more about the area we now sleep in, I have been suggesting that we visit different grocery stores for our food shopping. So far, we have been to Whole Foods in Glastonbury (very nice, but expensive), our local grocery store (pretty ok), Super Stop and Shop in Colchester (big and […]

If there is one thing that should motivate you to move to a new town, it should be Whole Foods. I remember a few weeks ago when the realtor was showing us houses in this area, she said, “Ooh, and they are building a brand new Whole Foods here. It should be open in a […]

Laura and I were down in Tuckahoe, NY last night and decided to visit “The Olde Stone Mill” restaurant. The reason I had interest in this restaurant is because we saw it during the last season of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey. This is one of our favorite reality shows because it shows different types […]

Today, Laura and I had to bring Holly the dog to the vet. She had to have her teeth cleaned and some minor surgery. The vet had to put Holly under (not down, as Rob mistakenly thought today), so we had to burn about six hours of the day. Since we live an hour away […]

Laura and I decided to get in the car and visit Washington, CT yesterday. What was the destination? Well, no less than the Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, CT. As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, my mother purchased a gift certificate for us a few years ago for the Mayflower […]