Even though it was supposed to be cold, rainy, and maybe sleety (if that is a word), Donna and I decided to get out and see the sights. I Googled for “Central CT Attractions” and the 6th link on the 2nd linked page was a list of covered bridges. Connecticut has a whopping 5 of them and there were three that were located no too far from each other in the northwest corner of the state. A plan was hatched. We stopped in and asked my mom if she wanted to go, fully expecting her to say no, but she was up for the ride, so the three of us piled in the rental car.
Today’s high was a low 40s, but that was this morning before the precipitation started, and it went downhill all day. Our helpful little Pontiac G6 reminded us, every time I started it up, that the road might be icy. There were several times that the thermometer read 32 degrees, but it was always rain coming down. Maybe it was sleet those couple of times that the sound of what splattered on the windshield deepened or maybe not, but we did see a thin coating of ice on some of the trees at the higher elevations.
Of the three bridges, two were built in the middle 1800s and still in operation, you could drive right over them. The third was built in the middle 1970s in Kent Falls State Park and was erected as a point of interest for the park. The falls looked interesting, but because of the weather we will save them for a different day.
We had pizza for lunch in the town of Kent at a place called Paisans, it was good, but I won’t recommend you go out of your way to eat there, unlike yesterday morning’s breakfast spot.
If you ever find yourself in Port Jervis, NY seek out Cafe Roxanna. We had breakfast, but from looking at the menu their lunch would be worth the stop as well. Eclectic food served on funky dinnerware, photographic art from locals hanging on the walls and laid back jazz on the sound system, the only thing missing was the word Moon in the restaurants name.
Tomorrow we shift the show to the Garden State…
Been *by* Port Jervis too many times to count, but never actually stopped there – guess I should, by the sound of it. We normally get gas in Matamoras, or right over the line (at NY Exit 1 off I-84, whose ramp actually dips into NJ…still with me?) The best part about the NJ station is that they will (well, *have to* by law) pump your gas for you – which is a real treat on a December night (or, this year, an April afternoon…)
It’s interesting reading about your adventures in the Northeast, as I grew up in central MD (right between Frederick and Hagerstown), and when my parents visited (and fell in love with…and decided to build a house in) Maine in the middle ’90s, I made the first of many journeys to New England…right up 81 and 84, just as y’all have done. For some reason, we’d always end up driving very late at night – so, when I was learning to drive, my mother would put me behind the wheel of my folks’ 16-passenger van (there is, after all, no traffic on I-84 in PA at 3am) and beseech me not to screw up and kill everyone. She got 20 winks (half of the traditional 40, as she had to keep one eye open in case of the aforementioned screw up), and I got valuable driving experience (after you drive a vehicle that big, a car is a piece of cake). So, in a way, you might say I grew up on I-84…and 81…and 90…and 95…
Now that I’m in GA, the journey home is twice as long – 23 hours altogether, but I enjoy every bit (well, maybe not the Richmond-Washington demolition derby stretch). I’ve become so familiar with places between here and Maine that I reckon myself a citizen of the whole East Coast.
By the way, I’m in Abbeville right now, and the temperature here isn’t that much different than it is there – after all, 73 and 37 do have the same digits, right? đŸ˜‰
Enjoy the rest of the trip and have a safe journey home!
Not sure you need to seek the place in Port Jervis out, we were tired of eating the free hotel buffet breakfasts and wanted a *real* bagel. After I passed by the easy entrance I had to circle the block and toss in a u-turn because Roxanna’s was on a street surrounded on three sides by railroad tracks, a 4 lane road without a crossover and a bridge…
I learned long ago to avoid I-95 from Virginia to Connecticut (and I’m not too fond of it in SC, GA or FL either.) My preferred route to the northeast is I-20, I-77, I-81 to I-84. I stop in Connecticut, but if I was going to Maine (had aunt/uncle/cousins in Waldoboro) it would be up I-91 to the Mass Pike, loop around Boston and then up 95.