Connecticut and Rhode Island
I spent a week in East Hampton Connecticut and counted Rhode
Island on my map of places I’ve been since it was such a small state and so
close. It didn’t make sense to switch
campgrounds. For such small states, both
sure had lots of green space. I found a
great hiking trail very near the campground and decided to take little Beefcake
along for the ride. I have a pouch that
hangs in front of me so he can see where he’s going. I can’t believe how much he loves riding in
it. I thought he settled down and just went
to sleep, but people tell me his eyes are wide open and he’s looking
around. There was supposed to be a
waterfall that according to the guide was worth leaving the trail for. Well, I left the trail and crossed several
streams before the trail disappeared with no waterfall to be found. I did see a really cool owl though. It was sitting in a tree right by the trail
and was pretty tolerant of me standing there taking pictures of it.
I took a little day trip down to Mystic and drove along the
coast. I must admit, it’s not much of a
coast. I expected to see quaint little fishing
villages or something. Not so much, the
road was too far from the water to see anything. There were a few harbors, and some really
good clam chowder. I spent a nice
afternoon in the Mystic Aquarium. They had really cool Titanic exhibit with stories from
survivors.
After the aquarium, I took a boat ride on the ARGIA, an
81-foot traditional sailing ship. The ride was awesome, once we put the sails
up, we just glided along enjoying islands, lighthouses, and fresh air. I finally got to see the quaint little
seaside villages I was expecting.
Another day I went to Newport and took a nice little harbor
cruise. Oh man the expensive yachts were
everywhere! I checked out Fort Adams,
but since it was closing I couldn’t do more than look in from behind a closed
gate. It was getting late as I stopped
at my last destination, the Cliff Walk. A
scenic 3.5 mile walkway that borders the back lawn of the Breakers and many
other Newport mansions. The view was spectacular
on the ocean side. The sun was setting
and the horizon was bright red. On the
mansion side, the vegetation pretty much blocked the view of the homes, but
from what I could see, they were beautiful as one would expect.
The campground I was in was pretty nice. It was a mixture of seasonal sites and
overnighters like myself. As I walked
around I was amazed at how much work people put into their seasonal
sights. They were bigger than some yards
I’ve seen and I tried to see as much of the park as I could on my evening
walks. The area I was in was basically a
huge oval with all the sites on the inside being used by weekenders. I arrived on a Monday and it was almost
empty. On Thursday I was out late and I was
shocked when I got back to find every site was taken; some with more than one
tent. The entire weekend was a beehive
of activity, but come Monday morning it was blissfully quiet again. Mid week I noticed a small RV had pulled
in. On my way around the circle I stopped
to chat with them. In a few minutes an
older couple (70ish) walked by and joined in the conversation. The woman asked about Brutus and I told her
he was 17. She basically said it was
cruel to let him live at that age. I told her he was very healthy, and asked
why she thought he was suffering. She just
said because he was so old. I asked her
if she thought everyone over a certain age should be put down. The original camper almost choked. The old woman kept up a runny patter of
negative comments for example saying she could never travel in such a small rig
as the other campers had. I honestly
think she had no idea how insulting she was.
After about her 3rd comment like that, the original camper
and I just started zinging her comments right back at her. And she had absolutely no idea! For the next few days, she stopped by my
camper several times to invite me to walk with her, but I was totally not
interested.
Next stop is a Habitat build in Massachusetts.
Comments
Post a Comment