Connecticut: The List Edition

This past Friday marked our 8th full week in Connecticut! We have been trying to make good use of our time here, as the weather will no doubt limit our tourist options in November and December. So far we have (in no particular order):


1. Visited Mystic, CT and the Mystic Seaport Museum of America and the Sea. We did not make it to Mystic Pizza. Next trip!

 Aboard the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship

2. Taken the train to NYC, and visited Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Times Square

 Times Square

3. Visited Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA

 Trying out the hoops

4. Red Sox game at Fenway Park (vs. Orioles!)

 Alice got a free Red Sox cap!

5. Quinnipiac Men’s Hockey Game
6. Ben and Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, VT. Yum!
7.  Spent 2 days in Montreal, QC.

 Atop Mont Royal

8. Visited the Pez Factory in Orange, CT
9.  Walked across the Hudson River on the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge in Poughkeepise, NY

10. Visited the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY
11. Taken the ferry to Block Island, RI

 At the Mohegan Bluffs

12. Visited the Yale Planetarium in New Haven, CT.
13. Visited the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, CT

After 8 weeks in Connecticut, here is my current assessment:

Stuff I Like About Living in Connecticut

1. Good bagels. Now I remember why I stopped eating bagels after we moved to CA.
2. Fall foliage
3. Apple picking in proper apple picking weather (i.e. not 80 degrees and dusty with bees everywhere)
4. Apple cider donuts
5. New York City is a day trip
6. Lots and lots of trees. If it’s not developed, then it’s forest.
7. Small class sizes in the schools
8. Lots of “extras” in the schools like fully funded art and music programs
9. School district has a gifted program
10. Free bus to school
11. Most streets are only two-lane so easy driving
12. Great town library with tons of books, activities and parking. Cheshire is smaller than SLO and their library is about twice as big. Plus, the library is only a 10 minute walk away!
13. Squirrels
14. The nearest Mall is only 15 minutes away
15. Chik-Fil-A
16. Cheap seltzer water
17. Self-checkout at the local supermarket and Costco (and the cool hand-held scanners at the supermarket.
18. Low gas prices ($2.20/gal or so recently)
19. Nearby gymnastics center offers a Ninja Warrior class with an actual American Ninja Warrior finalist (kids are loving it!)
20. Year-round indoor ice skating rinks
21. Local indoor trampoline jump zone
22. Nearby multi-use path at least 20 miles long. Also it's flat!
23. Huge Lands’ End section in the local Sears store.
24. Crunching through leaves while walking
25. Nearby IKEA

It's not all a bed of roses though:

 Stuff I Don't Like About Living Connecticut

1. Street lanes that suddenly appear and then just as suddenly disappear
2. Jerky drivers (Among other observed jerky behaviors, there seems to be a rule that you should never be the first to stop when a light turns red.)
3. Tailgaters (I’m looking at you, New York license plates)
4. People who smoke (too many)
5. People who litter (too many)
6. No street signs for major roads. Not that it really matters because the street name will change in a mile or two anyway so why bother to learn the name.
7. People are generally unwelcoming of outsiders (the kids have noticed this at school too)
8. Kids at school are generally noisy and not well behaved (or so my kids say).
9. Not much physical activity at school. They get about 15 minutes of recess at lunch and P.E once a week. Morning snack is eaten at their desk.
10. Cold weather. It’s not even that cold yet and I’m over it.
11. Kids have lots of homework
12. The school start times are staggered and the kids have a long bus ride in the afternoon so they don’t get home until 4:20. Really puts a dent in the afternoon.
13. The construction next door. Fortunately they mostly seem to be over the noisy part by now.

I think that sums up our first 8 weeks pretty well! Looking forward to seeing what the next 9-ish weeks hold. Hopefully snow at some point! (But not too much snow.)