New England State Road Trip Part 8.....Massachusetts/Connecticut

Continuing my posts from our 30th anniversary trip. If you want to enjoy more photos than I share here, you can visit my Facebook Page, Kirstin Bozich Troyer and search 30th anniversary trip. Also, my Instagram page (@kirsteemarie) has several highlights from our trip that are worth checking out. I also think I might be off on my days but it doesn't matter.

This morning we packed up to leave our Airbnb to head south. Our destination was Connecticut. I wanted to hit one more covered bridge. The Quechee covered bridge is not an old bridge, it was built in 1970. The original bridge was destroyed in 2011 by Hurricane Irene and rebuilt. From it's walkway you can see the Quechee Dam waterfall and the Simon Pearce restaurant and shops (which we didn't get to go into, sadly). It was one place I did want to visit, but it was always closed when we were leaving or coming back. 

I know I had mentioned before that we took mostly back roads wherever we went. This allowed us to see some amazing scenery, and visit smaller, lesser known communities, which was amazing. The pace of life is so much slower. 

Each evening, or morning, I would scope out where I could find a coffee. It wasn't always easy. Coffee shops on the back roads in the NE states aren't as prevalent as here in the PNW. We stopped in the town of Springfield, VT so I could get coffee and hopefully find a post card. It was a cute town and I loved the stone church above. We found Black River Coffee Bar. The coffee was pretty good, but the customer service could've been better. We didn't linger here. 

I made a point of sending photos to my girls every day with my coffee shop finds. 

Springfield used to be a mill town and was developed in 1760's. The Black River runs through the towns historic downtown area. It is a rather wide river and I really loved the rapids. The photo doesn't do it justice. 

We spied this old school house and a covered bridge near it so we stopped to check it out. The Eureka school house was built in 1785 and is the last remaining schoolhouse of it's kind in the Green Mountain State. 

The Baltimore Covered bridge once crossed the Great Brook in Springfield, but was moved to it's current location 7 miles away. It underwent extensive restoration. They did salvage as much as they could, like the stones for it's abutment.  

From there we headed through MA on our way to Connecticut. We stopped in South Deerfield to visit the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens. My hubby knew I would love this place and he was right. Wow...So beautiful. So many varieties of butterflies, and other specimens to observe. 

All of the above photos were taken in their garden area. They also had another room with displays of other things, like frogs, beetles, etc..in glass "cages" like you'd see in pet stores. They had a "nursery", where you could watch them emerge from their cocoons, etc. That was fascinating. 

We were hungry by the time we left so we stopped at this cute farm stand we saw on the way. A band was playing outside which was fun to listen to. We bought some meat, cheese, bread and a few other things and sat on the tailgate of our truck. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our time. 

From there we actually took our first major highway and I remember thinking "get me off this, I want to go back to the small roads". We spied the basketball hall of fame and decided to get off and check it out since my hubby likes basketball. It was fascinating even for me, who isn't interested in b-ball. 

Wow. Talk about perspective. 

Heading into Connecticut we passed Mark Twains House and Museum. We were going to stop, but they were requiring masks and we didn't want to do that, so we opted out. 

We ran into an issue when we pulled into town. I will preface it by saying that, a few of our stops were only one nighters. I told my hubby, there was no reason to spend a lot of money to just sleep and leave. We regret that now. We showed up to the hotel and our first indication was that we couldn't really figure out where the front of it was. We figured that out, and my hubby went in...he came out and said "I'm not too sure about this, we'll see". We drove around to a side door and entered. Immediately we were hit with the smell of weed and spied several bicycles in the stair well. We walk in and notice the floors aren't that clean, the room we have is ok, but it smells everywhere, and there is a wood bar in the window and the window is cracked open (probably to "freshen" the air). It's obvious people are living here (not judging, but they should be a little more forthcoming in their info). He goes to the desk and tells them this isn't going to work..she takes him to another floor where someone has a ring camera, and he can hear someone yelling at their kids. We decide to leave. They were kind, and refunded our money. Our next problem was finding another place. There were a few events going on and most hotels were booked. At this point, we didn't care what we had to spend. I said I'd sleep in the car before sleeping at that hotel. We finally found one that was acceptable enough. I'm not a snob or anything, and I'm glad people have a place to stay, but I will draw a line, and if I don't feel safe, than no thank you. After finally getting settled, we decided to drive and find a place to eat. 

We chose to eat at Captain Scott's Lobster Dock. If you are in New London, CT, look them up. Prices weren't bad and the food was really good. 

I opted for the fish sandwich and I'll just say "WOW"...I literally felt like I got half a fish. It poured out the sides of the bun and the flavor was amazing. Their hush puppies were really good too. 

We enjoyed the scenery before heading back to our hotel to plan out the next day. Of course I had to scope out options for a coffee shop. Stay tuned for Day 9. 

With Joy Unquenchable,
Kirstin