Day 16 - Essex, CONNECTICUT to West Springfield, MASSACHUSSETS

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We started the day with a quick look around the back rooms of The Gris where we had breakfast that was included in our fee. The taproom where we had dinner last night has been described as “the most handsome bar in America”. The firearms room has items dating from the 15th century. The largest of their dining rooms is an old covered bridge that was dismantled piece by piece from its original site in New Hampshire and reconstructed onsite. The Inn was established in 1776 and has been continuously operated since, however the taproom is actually older as it was the original schoolhouse that was built in town in 1738 and in 1801 it was set onto logs and moved to its current location with its original domed ceiling still in place which is made from crushed oyster shells and horse hair !

Essex was originally settled by English colonists in 1648 and is near the mouth of the Connecticut River and it was a major ship building town in its heyday especially Steam Ships. A few fun facts about the state of Connecticut reveals it was the 5th state in 1788, and has a population of around 3.5 million people but the largest city being Bridgeport has a population of just under 150,000-. It also has claimed some significant firsts such as medical degree (from Yale), first newspaper in 1764, first submarine, first dictionary, first insurance company, first portable typewriter, first use of anaesthesia, first sewing machine, first ice-making machine, first can opener, first tape measure, first pay phone, first toothpaste tube, first hamburger, first lollipop, first frisbee, first vacuum cleaner, first Polaroid camera, first FM radio station, first helicopter, first colour television so that is certainly an impressive list !

We hit the road for a relatively short drive heading northbound and drove through a place called Wethersfield which had some weird halloween decorations around the homes in readiness for some pumpkin harvest event they are having. We arrived in our destination town of West Springfield pretty early around midday shortly after crossing the state border into Massachusetts (46th state visited and state # 6 on this trip). We are staying at a Best Western Plus hotel (one of many on this trip) and we were lucky to check in straight away. Once we got everything inside the room we headed off straight away to enjoy one of the highlights of this road trip being a day at the state fair known as “The Big E”. This fair is a joint venture between all 6 states of the New England region and runs for 2 weeks.

We managed to get parking nearby in the back yard of someone’s house for $15 (as you do) and after entering the fair we headed down to the avenue of the state houses which are replicas of each states official parliament building where they had inside some tourist information to promote their state and a vast array of produce to sample or purchase. Some of the queues were really long for popular items such as Mac N cheese (where they had six fry pans going at once in like a conveyor belt system and the Maine potato with skin still on and filled with bacon, chives and sour cream at $8- each which was a good serving (that would be our choice for lunch). The line up for the Maine potatoes went outside of their building and had around 100 people in the queue virtually all day (insane !).

We then had a look around the area known as Midway where they had all the rides and attractions. This area was huge and about five times bigger that what we have seen previously at the Royal Easter show or the Ekka. Went looking for a coffee and they had run out of the Pumpkin Spice coffee so we settled for a Caramel version which was OK. We next headed around to look at the various exhibitions and saw things such as a large indoor horse arena where we saw a competition with Clydesdale horses being driven by people on sulkies which had $500 prize money for first, second and third place winners to share, another highlight was the farming exhibit where we watched chickens hatching from their eggs (you could spend hours watching this !), a vast array of massive spa baths (or should I say jacuzzis ?), pop up custom made garages, and so many other things on display.

What is a state fair without food ? And yes were there some options here and yes we tried a few including our first ever corn dog as well. There was lots of fried options including one called Dr Vegetables (really). I would eventually digest through the day some chicken strips, cup of fries, and a cheese burger. There were some massive lines for these things called Steak Tips as well and they had fairy floss (cotton candy) in abundance. Around 5pm we went to watch the live performance of a guy doing Billy Joel and Elton John covers and he was really entertaining and then we went to watch the street parade where they were throwing these necklaces into the crowd like they do in New Orleans and we both got one as a memento (mine is shiny and sexy purple colour).

At 7.30 pm we went to the main arena to watch the concert which Kerry had bought tickets several months ago to see country music artists Jimmy Allen and Chase Rice. We had chosen our seats which cost a little extra but they were just aluminium bench seats like they have at a school playground so not really comfortable as the evening temperature was falling. It had been a really comfortable day with temperature around 18 degrees. Jimmy Allen was supposedly the support act but he played for 90 minutes and was a really good entertainer. He failed to make an impression when he appeared on American Idol a few years ago but has since kicked on and we found out he was actually in Ipswich back home performing at some country music festival only a week ago ! Later Chase Rice appeared and he is most famous for writing the song Cruise for Florida Georgia Line. He has a few big hits of his own and plays a bit more rock n roll style and he also played for 90 minutes so the show ended about 11pm. We both enjoyed Jimmy Allen more.

It was a great day to experience “The Big E” which has been our South Tweed Bowls Club team name for our Thursday night trivia nights for the last few months so I’m thinking of changing our team name to “We’ve been to the Big E” on our return home. They certainly know how to put on a show and around 120,000- were in attendance on the day but one observation is that they have not discovered the art of selling show bags like we have for our shows (could be the next business opportunity !).

It was only a quick 15 minute trip back to the hotel and tomorrow we head off to a city made famous by a yacht race that was held there back in 1983.

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