Well after last year’s success with the road trip over Thanksgiving we decided that we would do the same again this year. We've done all the states north now so this year we decided to head west.
We spent Sunday at home celebrating Lexie’s Birthday – see separate post, then headed out Monday morning. We managed to get all packed and ready to go by about 10:30 am which I thought was pretty good. We jumped on the interstate and headed south west to Hartford. It was about 1:30 pm when we reached the outskirts of the city so we decided to stop at an easily accessible plaza rather than trying to negotiate the city with kids who were starting to get a bit grumpy. Found a place called John Harvard’s Brew House and had a fantastic lunch then headed into the city. Unfortunately the weather was terrible so we couldn’t get out and walk around – instead we just had a drive around.
Checked out the New State House
and the Old State House
Since it was already past two be this time we decided to head somewhere to stop for the night and found a motel in Southington just south of Hartford at the edge of the Litchfield Hills. Found a great place for dinner – Sam the Clam’s Pub and Grub. We split a hot lobster roll and a Fishermans basket – Mmmmmmmmmm very good food. (Hi all it's Andy here. The hotel we stayed in was brand new and had an indoor heated swimming pool which both Lexie and Josh loved).
Tuesday we spent pottering around the Litchfield Hills. We headed up to Litchfield which was a beautiful little town
Found the Lourdes shrine – a replica of the grotto in Lourdes France – what will they think of next?
Went through West Cornwall - a cute little village with an old covered bridge...
...and Sharon - a stunning little town with some beautiful big old houses. And stopped for lunch in New Preston a very picturesque little place....
...before finishing the day with a drive around Lake Waramaug.
(We also got to taste some of the local Connecticut wines. Some of the cool climate whites are amazing. And some of the reds were interesting to say the least. Each winery gives you your own glass as a memento of the tasting. The tastings do cost some money but the glass is worth the expense. Very un-Australian thing that is...paying for wine tastings! Oh well! Oh course some I know will pooh-pooh the fact that THE only wine to drink is an Aussie one, in particular a red wine, but to them I say that maintaining an open mind means that you will never miss out on life's unexpected pleasures. In other words - Don't knock it until you try it!)
Overnight Danbury.
Wednesday we headed into New York.
(Andy again - That's the State of New York, not New York City.) First stop Tarry Town, otherwise known as Sleepy Hollow. We stopped in at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary and checked out Washington Irving's Grave .
Also found the old Dutch Church
and The bridge from the legend.
There were also a number of other famous graves in this cemetery including Chrysler, Rockefeller, Elizabeth Arden and numerous others.
We then headed up the Hudson to Ossining where I did some Trixie Belden Sightseeing.
(Andy again - I never read any of the Trixie Beldon books, so this was just a fun excursion for me.) Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed – not what I had imagined. But for those in the know here are:
Wimpy’s diner
Crabapple Farm (actually called Wolf Hollow)
The Manor
and Ten Acres
Unfortunately the rain set in after this. After about three detours we finally made it to West Point where we stopped for lunch then headed further up the river – finally found a nice place at Wappingers falls, stopped briefly at the Roosevelts House
and the Vanderbilt Mansion
before stopping at Kingston.
(Andy - I loved West Point. This whole area is rich in Revolutionary War history. Absolutely amazing. And seeing the West Point students in their uniforms was fun. We tried to see the actual West Point but it was behind a major security road block so we made do with the town itself.)
Thursday – Thanksgiving. Unfortunately no breakfast in the motel today and nothing open due to Thanksgiving so we had to settle for Dunkin' Donuts for Breakfast. Then headed into Kingston and checked out the historic Uptown area – very cute little stone buildings etc
and the downtown area which will be nice when they finish fixing it up, but is now a bit dead. The headed out into the Catskills. We headed towards Woodstock which was pretty much as you expect – very hippy – unfortunately the actual fields where Woodstock took place is 2.5 hours away from the actual town of Woodstock
(near the town of Bethel) so didn’t get to see them.
(Aaah well there is always next time). Then headed into the Catskill mountains which were actually very picturesque. Stopped for lunch / afternoon tea at Delphi.
then headed up the intersate to a place just outside Albany.
(The photo shows us lunching on the town square. Lunch was Tim Tams, juice, cheese and some snacky-type biscuits. During the lunch the fire siren went off for the fire department. Lexie was entranced by the noise. And Like a good FM Global engineer I timed the response time for the brigade to see how they were doing. Even with Thanksgiving, they were in the trucks and on the way in
Friday – Pottered up Route 9 to Saratoga Springs. First stop was Saratoga Spa State Park where we saw and sampled some of the natural spring waters. Lexie had a ball collecting water from the springs but she really didn’t like the taste – don’t blame her it was disgusting. (the water tasted like iron from one spring and a very heavy calcinated water from another. Later when we got further into the park the "State Spring" tasted really nice, and there were heaps of locals filling water bottles to take home)
Drove through downtown Saratoga Springs which was a beautiful old town – and after a quick stop at the supermarket (oh horror of horrors we were out of cheese) headed into Glens Falls – another beautiful old town and on to Lake George – here’s where it all fell apart. Tacky sea side is the only was to describe Lake George – and out of season it was really not impressive so we headed back to Saratoga Springs for the evening.
Saturday we checked out downstown Saratoga Springs
before jumping on Interstate 90 and heading home.
She had a ball opening not just hers but all of Josh's presents as well (not to mention trying to open mum and dad presents when they weren't looking.
Them it was time for breakfast - mmm Cinnamon rolls
And Lexie in her fairy wings.
So Lexie and Josh Andy and I all want to send their thanks to everyone for all their fantastic presents - I think everyone really enjoyed their Christmas - I know I did.
We bought Lexie a snow shovel today too so she wanted to try that out. She's been bugging us since the first snow fall for us to get her one. She LOVES helping Daddy shovel the snow - but with a rake it was a bit of a problem. Now she has the right tools.
