Lincoln, Delaware

What a great time we had with Aunt Dots! But today was our morning to leave. We left at the crack of 10:30 this morning, after loading up our rolls of hose and our electric cord, hooking up the car, and waving so long to Auntie Dots.

We went on 287 for most of the way, taking the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River. The trees were gorgeous in all their "peak" splendor, traffic was moderate and sane, and the miles flew by. We had lunch at Subway along the way, got fuel twice, paid lots of tolls.. hey, it was a good driving day.

We are at the Cedar Creek Landing Campground at Lincoln, Delaware, tonight. We arrived just after sundown, so, in the dark, it was hard to see the place, but we got things hooked up and leveled ok.

Here's a photo of some post-drizzle leaves on the Hartford Statehouse lawn:

Hartford, CT

Yesterday, Jack and I drove up to Hartford. It was an easy drive -- less than an hour from Madison. Once we were there, we were greeted with gray cool skies, and .. the Statehouse! I shot these photos there. Notice the statues in the first one particularly:

The weather cleared up while we were inside, so that's why the last photo here has a better sky. What a beautiful monument to the people of Connecticut! We loved the statuary, the gold, the paintings... the whole place is magnificent!

After we took photos inside, we walked to the Wadsworth Atheneum, a great art museum. Here, we enjoyed paintings, sculpture, and furniture created by the greats. I loved the whole museum but I think that my favorite part was the special exhibit of the Moderns.

The Old Statehouse was next on our list. It's just what you think -- the building where the state used to perform its legislative functions before the "new" statehouse was built. The old one is now a museum with displays and exhibits showing Connecticut's history. We liked it!

Today we relaxed a bit. We'd decided that it was time to retire Auntie Dots' TV, so that we did! Replacing it is now a fine new LG TV from WalMart*. We ate at neat places all day: Hidden Kitchen for breakfast, Whitfield's for lunch, and the pizza place up north on 79 for dinner. We have been very well-fed!

Madison, CT

I'm writing in purple in solidarity for the GLBT kids who are bullied and need a ray of hope. It gets better, kids! I wasn't horribly bullied, but I did have a very difficult childhood/teenage life, and I can tell you that it does get better. Things do change.

We spent a third day in Providence on Monday, taking photos of the Statehouse, which was lovely. We then went to Providence Center and milled around a little before calling it a day.

Tuesday, we left Bellingham and drove all the way to Madison, CT. (I'm kidding about "all the way." It's just over 2 hours!) We're now parked in my Auntie's driveway. We had some great soup with Dots, rode around town and showed Jack the lay of the land, enjoyed some ice cream at Ashley's (YUMMY!) and then just talked and rested in the evening.

Today, all 3 of us went to the Hidden Kitchen for a delicious breakfast. Then Jack and I went to Mystic Seaport, a historic seaport town with plenty of exhibits and demonstrations. We both took plenty of photos, so expect to see some of those soon. In the meantime, here are some from Portland, Maine: