The Sandcastle

We are at Riverdale Farm Campsites in Clinton, Connecticut.

Big park. Big campsites.

But still a challenge to get parked.

Why? They poured raised concrete patios very close to the sewer hookup. And they assigned our shorter than many RVs the shorter site.

The patio is on the passenger side. The neighbors offered to move that picnic table for me as they watched me guide Dave into the site but I said it would be fine there and it was–close but fine.

The sewer hookup is between Dave’s right foot and the RV.

We could have backed up a little more but then our back wheels would have started climbing up into the tree roots which would have made leveling more challenging.

So we stopped closer to the road than we would really like.

But, we really do have a big site. That gray thing on the left is our fire pit.

And we have full hookups for a whole week, our Internet connection is good, and there’s a lot of exploring to do so we are happy here.

TTYL,

Linda

Opened in 1796 Connecticut’s Old State House now looks like this:

OK. That’s a LEGO model of it but it’s pretty accurate. The real building houses the original chambers for the state legislature, a courtroom, some offices, and a collection of oddities from around the world for those who couldn’t travel themselves to come and see. The rooms have been restored to reflect various eras. There’s a lot of history in this building.

But the exhibit that drew us here is called “History is All Around Us.”

It helped me think about all the things we do every day that become part of our history.

When we gather with our families and friends and tell stories about growing up or even stories about last week we are replaying our history.

When we use slang or other saying from our youth, we are replaying our history. In your era were things hot, cool, awesome, or something else?

Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beatles, etc. were part of my history. What music do you consider yours?

How often do we pay attention to the history of our towns; history we see every day? I spent my childhood in a town named for Stephen Decatur and my youth in a city with major streets name for explorers Pere Marquette and Father Hennepin.

This was an interesting exercise.

Those red pieces on the board represent the town of Hartford’s development in the 1640s. The flat pieces represent pasture land where animals grazed. The rounded ones on the lower right were wigwams where American Indians lived when they came to trade. At the top, along the river were mills and tanneries. Downtown were houses and the market.

Look carefully at the background and you can see bins holding pieces of other colors. You added blue pieces to the red ones to represent the next time period. Then added green pieces for the next era. Of course, as you added some pieces you had to take off old ones to make room for the new ones. We didn’t do this all the way through but a docent told me that when you get done adding the purple ones that represent modern times there is only one red piece left. The cemetery. Towns grow and change and sometimes die just as people do.

What did you add to your history today?

TTYL,

Linda

Just a couple miles up the road from Louis’ Lunch we stopped at the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, CT.  http://www.eliwhitney.org

This is a great stop! IF you are an elementary age student. Two busses of school kids were having a great time.  First they saw a presentation about inventing things. Then they moved to the wood ship where they built model canal boats. They they moved to the water park where they played with exhibits that helped them learn such things as how water wheels and canal locks work.

They were in the water park when we arrived and gathering up their stuff to leave when we left. We were there, oh maybe, ten minutes. If you want to enjoy this place, you really need to be a kid.

TTYL,

Linda

An email from a friend (Hi, George) told us we were near the place where the first hamburger sandwich was served.  http://www.louislunch.com/

The place is only open a few hours per day a few days per week so we were amazed that we managed to fit it into our schedule but fit it in we did.

This sign says it all:

They serve hamburgers. Period. You can have cheese, tomato and/or onion on it. Period. There is no catsup, mustard or pickles to be seen. You can have potato salad or one of several flavors of chips which come in a bag. You can have pie. Today’s choices were apple or Oreo cream pie. You can have your choice of several beverages. Our Diet Pepsi came in the can; we shared one and took the other, unopened, with us. The burgers are cooked medium rare unless you specify otherwise and they are served on toast.

The “Maestro” who cooks the hamburgers is a direct descendant of the founder and he had fun with the fact that I wanted my pie before my burger. No “clean your plate or you can’t have desert for me!”

As you can see the place is tiny. Come early if you want a seat. We shared the one big table, seats eight with two per side, with several other people who came and went while we were there.

You can tell the tourists from the regulars. We tourists gawk and take pictures and take a long time to order from even such a simple menu. The regulars call ahead to place their order or come in and call out, “Cheese works” then (about 20 minutes later) grab their portable lunch and go back to work. It’s not wonderful food but it is a wonderful experience. If you are ever in New Haven, CT, at the right time of the right day you might want to stop by. Metered parking right across the street was available when we were there yesterday.

TTYL,

Linda

Driving in Massachusetts.

Which some of our friends call Taxachusetts since they tax nearly everything. But, they obviously spend a lot of those taxes on roads. The state had the best freeways we’ve ever driven.  All the ones we drove were smooth asphalt with no potholes. It was a pleasure to drive there.

At least it would have been if not for the Massachusetts drivers. Which our daughter and her friends in Maine call Massholes. They all drive as if they have the right of way at all times. Coming down a ramp onto a freeway? Not a problem. Just keep coming at whatever speed suits you. Never mind that there is a big motorhome towing a car in the space you are headed for which has no room to change lanes; just keep coming anyway. We had so many near misses I almost had to change my underwear and my jaw hurts from clenching my teeth.

And it’s not just on the freeways. Right turn on a red light? No problem. Just do it. We actually had one driver honk at us because we stopped before making our right turn.

We enjoyed a lot of things in Massachusetts but I’m glad to be out of there. Just driving across the state line into Rhode Island made a huge difference. People on the freeway ramps actually adjusted their speed to that on the freeway. Whew!

TTYL,

Linda