Connecticut

I only had two days in Rhode Island, but I got to spend three in Connecticut. The odd thing about Connecticut is that it is kind of hard to find a place to camp. But, after searching all my usual sites, I finally found a spot at Portland Riverside Campground, a few miles away from Hartford, the capital of Connecticut.

It’s an unusual place, tucked back behind a marina and a boatyard. In fact, to get to the marina, I had to mince my way through a neighborhood, taking a left at a cemetery and down a road. However, once I got there, I had a beautiful view.

As you can tell by the color of the trees, this stay was quite a while ago!

I consulted my History Here app and found a few interesting places I wanted to check out.

The first was the Harriet Beecher Stowe house. After all, I had just seen her grave in Andover, Massachusetts.

She lived in this house from 1873 until her death in 1896.

In my quest to find out when things are memorialized, this plaque was posted in 1935. They have been working on renovating the house, and it wasn’t open to tours.

I liked this sign in front of the house. “Preservation Means Jobs In Your Community.” We all benefit when we take care of of our cultural resources.

This house is part of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Next door is the spectacular Katharine Seymour Cay House. It wasn’t open when I got there.

It is quite an elegant house, as opposed with the more ordinary, but still lovely, Stowe house next door.

The details are exquisite. Look at the colored inserts and the brick work.

The wrought iron supports for the gutters are works of art!

Not far away was Mark Twain’s house. He’s another person I’ve encountered before in my travels. I saw his grave in Elmira, and the house he and his family stayed in when they would visit.

I got there after they closed, but I walked up to take a look.

The brickwork was amazing! I had seen photos of the house, but they must have been incorrectly exposed. I always thought the house was a plain brown.

I walked up to take more shots and then I got the dreaded notice that my storage was full. Now, that shouldn’t happen!

That evening there was a story telling event at the Connecticut Historical Society, Speak Up. It was $10, and we got to tour the galleries before the show, and they had snacks and drinks before the show. It was fun.

The next day, I needed to attend to my phone. Could it be planned obsolescence? I mean, iPhone 7 had just come out.

Luckily, there was an Apple store at Westfarms Mall. It was quite the shopping emporium! The folks at Williams-Sonoma were making chicken stock, and the aroma was driving me wild!

I checked in at the Apple store and got my time to come back. I roamed around the mall for a while, until I realized that it was Sunday, and they would be closing at 5:00. Even though they gave me a time at 4:45, I figured that there was no way that they would be able to get my job done that day. I decided to go get something to eat and come back the next day.

I headed back to the campground. This interesting double hump bridge leads across the Connecticut River from the Hartford side to the Portland side.

Really, this campground was pretty nice, if you give a lot of weight to the view. I love the steam rising from the water in the mornings.

I went back to the mall and got in to the Apple store with only a minimal wait. (Well, maybe an hour…) It took the Genius who helped me more than an hour to get my phone working again.

When I got gassed up and ready to hit the road in the morning, I encountered a sign I had never see before. I don’t understand several things about this prohibition.

1. Why would you place your gas cap in the nozzle.
2. How would you place your gas cap in the nozzle. I mean, mine is on one of those straps so that you don’t loose it.

The next day, early, I got hooked up and ready to hit the road.

And, yes, I’m still with her!