Blogs from Connecticut, United States, North America - page 7

Just outside the gate of the Groton Submarine Base in Groton Connecticut is the permanent berth of the USS Nautilus and the location of the Submarine Force Museum. The keel of the USS Nautilus was laid on June 14, 1952 at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, Groton, Connecticut by President Harry S. Truman. On January 21, 1954 Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower broke the traditional bottle of champagne across Nautilus' bow. On the morning of January 17, 1955 the Nautilus was the first US submarine to set sail under nuclear power. The Nautilus departed Pearl Harbor Hawaii on July 23, 1958 under Top Secret orders to conduct the first crossing of the north pole by a ship. With 116 men aboard, the USS Nautilus reached the geographic North Pole on August 3, 1958. In the ... read more

Well, the airplane tickets have been bought. Creating the blog and before we know it August 8th will be upon us. This is my third trip to Connecticut and the kids' second. Since Michael has grandparents that lived there, that was where summer vacations were spent in his youth. We were in CT in 1996 for the first time as a couple. We were newly married and drove out there with his parents and two younger siblings, who were still in high school at the time. Lots of rain that time and we went in June -- brr was the water cold!! Last time we set foot on CT soil was August 2002. At that time, Michael's entire family met in Connecticut -- back to their roots. As they are spread out across the nation, it ... read more

Devil's Hopyard State Park is located in East Haddam very near the Gillette Castle State Park. The park has a lot of path's thru the forest for hiking as well as a covered bridge and a beautiful waterfall.... read more

Some final thoughts on our trip. While the scenery might have been better in the sun, still the drizzle and mists are what I think of when I think of Scotland. Since it was lambing season, we say lots of black faced babies gamboling in the meadow, the ewes grazing or both just taking a little lie down. We say highland cattle, horses with blankets on and some without, gulls and oyster catchers and ring-necked pheasant and a group of bunnies nibbling the grass. All the hotels were fine except for the one at Oban. Although Mike tried to lower our expectations, still even he was distressed at how far down it had gone. It is a old hotel on the historic registry which means that repairs and upgrades have to be approved and that is ... read more

Geo: 41.1481, -73.493There's something odd about Amtrak trains - you buy 'reserved coach' seats (that's standard class) but they don't allocate you seats. So you get on two stops after the start and its a real struggle to find two seats together! So Liz decided we would hijack two seats for handicapped travellers and no-one, not even the conductor, seemed to mind. And we were met at Stamford station by David.Immediately the problems posed by Hurricane Sandy presented themselves. Our next train was booked for Monday, and Thursday we have a flight booked to Charleston. Should we leave on Sunday instead, as the weather got worse it seemed unlikely the Monday evening trains would run, and then we got the e-mail from Amtrak telling us our Monday train was, indeed, cancelled. So we now have an ... read more