Heading Back Home

We got a room with 2 king sized beds and a pull out sofa (single size). It was a huge room, and we had no problem at all getting the baby’s playpen in and set up. The bathroom was also quite large. There were no sheets for the sofa bed though. Since it was quite late when we arrived (by our standards), we didn't bother with that...the king beds worked fine anyway.

The room was on the second floor which was a bit of a hassle. We had to climb stairs on the outside of the building to get to the room. It was raining when we go there, so not the most convenient for the 5 of us to navigate.

There was a single-serve coffee machine with 2 packets of coffee, but no decaf. There were shampoo, conditioner, a shower cap, and soap in the bathroom.

They offered free high-speed Internet, which worked fine. It didn’t require any special set up.

There was a free continental breakfast. It had English muffins, pieces of lemon poppy seed muffins, bread, cereal, oatmeal, and fruit. The muffin was all cut into chunks (about ¼ of a muffin). There was apple or orange juice. The coffee machine was quite a complicated contraption. It brewed single cups of coffee, hot chocolate, 50/50, and a strange cappuccino thing (half coffee, half hot chocolate, with some froth happening). We didn’t much care for any of the coffee.

The breakfast was set up right inside the office, and there were only 2 tables with 3 chairs each. It was obviously set up to grab something quick and leave.

There were free copies of USA Today in the lobby as well. The kids loved the grandfather clock in the lobby that chimed on the ¼ hour and chimed the hour. We had to stay in the lobby for an extra minute to hear the chimes.

The hotel had a Thai restaurant attached, but it was not open during our stay (about 8:30pm to 9am).

We had never been to Friendly's before, but we'd seen them advertised on the US channels we get up here in Canada. The ice-cream seemed like a good plan, so we went there.

Of course it was still breakfast time when we got there, (10:55am) so we weren't sure if we could get lunch. We asked the waiter and he wasn't sure if the grill was switched over yet, but he offered to check and see what the soup of the day was.

As it turned out the grill was getting switched, and the soup was chicken noodle (and it was ready to go).

The 4-year-old decided she didn't want a kids meal, just some soup and a 'fribble'. Fribbles as it turns out are very much like milkshakes, but made with soft serve ice-cream. She loved both.

The 8-year-old opted for a fribble, but he made sure he ordered a kids meal so he could have some ice-cream. I figure that one helping of ice-cream is enough for any kid at lunch, so I ate most of the Monster Mash sundae. :)

The kids meals come with a choice of veggies, rice, or apple sauce. The 8-year-old opted for a cheese quesadilla. He shared a bit with the 1-year-old.

I had a grilled cheese sandwich and chicken noodle soup, which I also shared with the 1-year-old. The baby loved both sandwiches. He also had some of my soup.

Mom had some clam chowder. It is the New England variety with lots of cream. She enjoyed it very much. Mom and I both ordered coffee and we were very pleased when they brought us a carafe of good coffee.

The bill was sort of warped. They seemed to charge us for stuff we didn't order and not charge us for stuff we did order. The total seemed about right, and reasonably enough under $30, so we didn't bother trying to get it corrected. (For example, I asked for soup instead of fries, but ended up with both, and paid for both).

We enjoyed our first experience at Friendly enough that we stopped at another one further along our trip (but with less impressive results).

The 8-year-old really liked the Monster Mash sundae because it looked cool. Like I said, I didn't let him eat it all. It was a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice-cream, a Reeses peanut butter cup, 2 M&Ms, some whipped cream and a cherry made to look like a monster's face.

The 4-year-old wanted ice cream too of course, but she was happy with the milkshake.

Mark Twain House tours were $12 for adults, $5 for kids 6 to 16, free for preschoolers. The tour lasts for about an hour and includes walking up about 3 flights of stairs. We decided to risk it, knowing we had to leave the stroller behind.

The tour started out in the Mark Twain Museum. The Museum is a modern building, with interesting Mark Twain quotes carved in bricks in the walls. We walked a staircase with very wide steps up and around and out. Our tour guide did not seem very happy to have 3 small kids on the tour, but too bad for him.

We walked over to a house the Mark Twain lived in with his family for about 7 years. The house is kept locked and you can only get in on a guided tour. We were led through several rooms, after being warned that pictures and videos were not allowed, and to turn off cell phones. We were also told we could walk on the floors, but were not allowed to touch anything in the house including walls and furniture.

The tour started in the great hall which was decorated by Tiffany (of glass fame). Then into the front parlour, the dining room, and the den. Then upstairs (we’re allowed to touch the banister (that Mark Twain touched everyday!), for safety J. On the second floor are the family bedrooms, the parents, the eldest daughter, and the middle/youngest daughter, then a room that was used as a classroom for the children. We can also see a bathroom. On the third floor was the billiards room and a butlers room. I left the tour because the baby was getting agitated and the 4-year-old was getting bored. We met up with the rest of the group a few minutes later outside, after they came down the back stairs.

We used Mapquest to find the place, which worked kind of weird because we ended up at the back of the museum, but that was ok.

The best part of the tour was that we found a list of all the sayings back at the ticket desk where we had left the stroller. The tour was fine, but not for little kids. The 4-year-old could have finished, but decided she’d rather come with me outside. The baby might have been ok if it wasn’t close to nap time, but really, there are lots more interesting things for them.

We didn’t stay to see the Ken Burns movie that was showing in the Museum after the tour. The kids were too restless for that.

Overall, it was interesting, but it was too expensive to take the kids and miss parts of it.

We were driving north on I-91 when we saw the signs for Dinosaur State Park and decided to give it a try.

The park consists of nature trails and an interpretive center/museum. The trails are free, but the museum cost $5 for adults and $2 for kids (preschoolers free). The museum is not huge, but it is very impressive. It has lots of interactive displays, and a really cool collection of dinosaur footprints.

It seems like the museum is built right on top of a collection of footprints. You could look at the prints and imagine that dinosaurs had walked by in packs.

We learned that the first dino footprints were discovered in the Connecticut valley in 1802. We also learned that dinosaur footprints are found in areas where dinosaur bones are not found. It takes completely different conditions to save one compared to the other.

The baby loved that he could look through Plexiglas even at his height and see the displays. The 8-year-old was able to read the instructions and try some of the little activities. The 4-year-old said she was scared of the pretend lightning, but she did pretty good. She needed a walk, so she was much happier when Mom took her outside to enjoy the park for a few minutes.

We went into the program room at the end of the visit and the kids read dinosaur books, made dinosaur puzzles, and played with dinosaur puppets. I decided to check out the small gift shop. The shop had dinosaur everything, but I had to get a fossilized shark’s tooth (29 cents), a postcard (50 cents), a snowglobe pencil sharpener ($1) a mug with a dino footprint ($1), and a wallet ($1). Gotta love a sale! J]

The clerks were very helpful in recommending other Connecticut attractions.

Although it was small, we definitely got our money’s worth out of the $12 total admission. The park is open 9-5.

We did not get a chance to fully experience the walking trails, since it was a completely unplanned stop, but it was certainly enjoyable.

Hartford, Connecticut.

We had read through the Connecticut guide and decided that Hartford had enough interesting things to make it worthy of a stop on our vacation.

We planned to go to the Trash Museum, Bushnell Park, the Mark Twain House, and then carry on to nearby Springfield Mass.

We got to the Trash Museum (which was hard to find, because there is nothing that says “trash Museum”, we went by the address) around 1:50 on Wednesday afternoon. According to the tour book, the museum is open Wednesday – Fridays, 12:00-4:00, with extra hours during certain times. Going on the book, the museum should be open we figure.

Well, we looked at the door, and there is a sign that says “Open to the public, Wednesday –Friday, 12:00-4:00” and we figure we’re in the right place. However, on the other door, there is a sign that says “Trash Museum will open at 2:00” today. Well, it was a nice day, so we decided to wait. We got some snacks out of the car and sat at the cleverly placed picnic table, right by the front door.

We waited. It was 2:00. We waited some more. Finally at 2:07, everyone had eaten their snacks and were fastened back into the car. No one had shown up to open the museum, so we left.

We followed our instructions to Bushnell Park. Bushnell Park has a historic carousel that, according to the book, operates from 12-5, Tuesday-Sunday until October. (It was early September that we were there, still on Wednesday). We get to the park, and you guessed it, the carousel is closed. According to the sign on the carousel, it is only in operation THURSDAY-Sunday. Only 2 days, but it makes a big difference. Luckily, it was a nice day, so the kids took a walk around the pond, saw the ducks and had a couple of turns on the playground. Then another kids got stung by a bee, so they cut it short.

OK, off to Mark Twain House. We followed MapQuest directions, which naturally bring us to the wrong side of the museum. Oh well. Again, it is a nice day. Then we get inside. According to the book, the museum costs $12 for adults, $5 for kids 6-16, so we figure total cost of $29. But no, the cost has increased since the book was published, or something. Anyway, it ends up costing $14 for adults and $7 for kids. Whatever.

Hartford was lovely to look at, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.