Road Trip: Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey
After Boston, we had no plans other than renting an Airbnb in New Hartford, Connecticut for Labor day weekend. What is in New Hartford, one may ask? NOTHING – other than a really nice and inexpensive Airbnb in the middle of nowhere which is exactly what we wanted after a long week in a big city like Boston! The picture illustrated below shows our route over the next week or so:
On our way to Connecticut, I remembered that a girl (Sabrina) I used to babysit 17 years ago is now a senior at Brown University in Rhode Island. Since Providence, RI is located right between Cape Code and Connecticut, I sent Sabrina a quick Facebook message that we will be passing through to say hello. 
Luckily, she just moved into her new apartment to start her senior year and after a quick tour of her place, we kept moving towards Connecticut with a stop in Newport, RI.
Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island is considered to be one of the top attractions in Newport which is otherwise a nice waterfront town where preppy Nautica wear comes alive! It is a 3.5 mile walkway which looks over “old money” mansions on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. I do enjoy looking at real estate, but you can’t see much unless you are touring one of the homes (a few are city owned and allow for paid tours – we didn’t do that). But to give you an idea, here they are, each occupying a block or so!
By mid afternoon, we finally made it to our Airbnb in New Hartford, CT which we rented for 4 days. Here is our lovely home to relax in!
The patio view didn’t suck!
They even have a little pond which you can kayak in.
There is really not a lot to do in New Hartford, so we spent a lot of our time driving around the state of Connecticut and checking out cute towns (too many to list) and nearby attractions.
Saville Dam: Not far from our homestead was a beautiful dam where we stopped for a picnic and to take a few photos!
One of our favorite places in Connecticut was the town of New Haven. This little city which houses Yale University oozes great, young energy! If you are ever here, go on a free tour of Yale University which runs daily by student volunteers. We loved the tour and the history so much that it easily became our favorite college campus.
One of the many libraries…
Student housing…
Yale golfing student . . . you can’t make this stuff up!
Our tour guide, a junior at Yale who is originally from Palo Alto, CA!
A fun sign on the ground while walking around the campus!
And a fun filled activity board! Yale Russian Chorus? I am in! A trip to Poland and Prague? Yes, please! If I had the chance to re-do my High School career, I would have studied a bit harder just so I could go to Yale.
After taking in all of that Yale knowledge, we decided to stop in for a pizza lunch recommended by my friend Amanda at Pepe’s Pizza. It was so good, we ate here twice!
Next stop on our “eat all day” tour, was Sandra’s Next Generation soul food restaurant. The fried chicken, the banana pudding, so so good! Another “must” while in New Haven.
And finally, while in Connecticut, stop in at Tulmeadow Farm for some home made ice cream and great country atmosphere.
After Connecticut, we started to make our way towards Washington, DC with a few quick overnight trips in between. The first such stop was in Morristown, New Jersey where we had a chance to tour the Morristown National Park which commemorates the sites of General Washington and the Continental army’s winter encampment of December 1779 to June 1780, where they survived through what would be the coldest winter on record.
The house where Washington spent the coldest winter . . .
Where Mr. Washington slept . . .
And where his army hung out a few miles down the street . . .
If you have a National Park pass, the entry is free and well worth the visit!
Next, we drove through Pennsylvania with hopes to swing by a few Amish towns. However, for the first time in 10 months of our travel, the weather decided to turn on us a bit with torrential rains and flooded freeways.
Being that this was the weekend of 9/11 anniversary, we learned that the flight 93 crash site was not far away from where we were and was opening for the first time to the public as a national memorial. So, we stopped in the middle of nowhere to wait out the crazy weather with plans to go to the 9/11 memorial the next morning.
Next stop – flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania, Maryland for Antietam Battle and Washington DC!