My sister and brother-in-law moved to Connecticut a few years ago, but we have not been up there to see them, so Thanksgiving 2023 turned out to be a good time. The whole family went, since the kids were off on college break. Here was our itinerary:
Day 1: Fly into Boston, Drive to Maine for lunch, Drive to New Hampshire for hotel and UT gameDay 2: Discover North Conway, New Hampshire areaDay 3: Drive to Connecticut - detour through Rhode Island and see Ocean DriveDay 4: Yale University, Indoor golfDay 5: Train to New Haven and Apizza, Pez Museum, MadisonDay 6: Home for ThanksgivingDay 7: Back to Boston and fly out
Day 1
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| Portland Pier |
We had previously been to Boston for a week, so this trip we only used it as an airport hub and made our way up the coast to Portland, Maine.
I chose Luke's Lobster on the Portland Pier and, after a freezing cold walk from the parking lot a couple of blocks away, we were treated to a fantastic meal with generous piles of lobster and delicious bisque and chowder. We also had the Sea Dog blueberry beer, brewed in New Hampshire - see below. It wasn't too much of a detour to come up this way (we drive everywhere in Texas), so an extra hour was worth it and from Portland it was pretty much a straight shot to North Conway.
The sun went down very quickly - shockingly for us, it was dark at 4pm - and dark, dark - like they turned out the lights. We pulled into our hotel and got situated then headed to Applebee's - one of the few places in North Conway open past 9pm (or open at all). We got great service and two TV's to watch Texas beat down Iowa State.
Day 2
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| Hmm... Not much snow |
We headed north to see the White Mountains or Mt. Washington, but mostly to find snow. After about 40 min we found some flurries, but not enough to accumulate. We were there at a bad time, basically. The leaves had mostly changed color already, but there was no snow for skiing or tubing. A lot of businesses were shut down for the winter and spring or had not started up for ski season. We turned around and headed into town.
Awesome lunch at Delaney's with great waitstaff, awesome French Dip and Sushi (yes) and good beer and espresso martinis. Could also watch games, including Red Zone!
We left there and visited Sea Dog Brewing - right across from our hotel. I tried an IPA and the others tried some different beers. I still think the blueberry was our favorite.
We just snacked for dinner - and Bix and I played pool and darts for a couple of hours - again not too much was open.
Day 3
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| Sunset on Ocean Drive, RI |
Today we drove south, through New Hampshire and Boston, into Rhode Island, and then west to Connecticut. The highlight of the trip was Rhode Island which was really beautiful everywhere. The Ocean Drive in Newport was pretty and the houses were large, but not as big as the ones we saw coming in on Bellevue Ave. - huge castles and mansions which were jaw-dropping.
Of course, it was about 3:30 so the sun was already setting and before we could get out of Newport it was dark, dark. We pulled into our hotel in Branford around 5:30 and went to eat at an Asian restaurant across the street which was mid.
Day 4
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| Yale AOB - Another Old Building |
Today we started out by visiting Yale University. It was still cold and we might have not been dressed ideally to walk around in it, but we covered the few city blocks, playing "church or building?" Every building at Yale looks like it's from medieval times or maybe Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. So many cool buildings to look at - and a cemetery right there on campus.
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Lenny's
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We went to the Yale bookstore and spent an hour or more inside looking at and buying books and souvenirs.
For lunch, we went to a popular seafood place called Lenny's which is famous for heaping platters of seafood. It was good but a little too much breading for our taste. Huge portions too - which was great, but we ordered too much.
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| Golf / Skeeball |
We drove back to Branford and had dinner at Los Charros where we had good Mexican food (not Tex-Mex) and strong flights of margaritas. Bix and I drove around looking for beer, but the convenience stores didn't have it. However, there was a liquor store / beer barn next to the hotel and we found some cool things to try.
Day 5
Today we met my sister at her house in Madison near the shore and walked to the beach. It's directly across from Long Island, on the sound, and on a clear day you can see across. We piled in the car and went to downtown Madison for coffee and then boarded the local commuter train to New Haven to go to a famous pizza place called Sally's Apizza. Apizza is a type of pizza local to the area and made in coal-fired ovens. I thought it was really good. There was a 30-minute long line outside the restaurant (brr), but once we got in, it was great.
After apizza, we took Ubers to the Pez Museum in Orange, CT. We saw how Pez dispensers were made and all the different ones made. I have my own small collection at home, so my sister knew this was a good place to go.
We Ubered back to Madison and then went to eat Italian at Amarone in Guilford. The service was very good and I had a veal burrata special that was delicious. We went back to Michelle's house to unwind and she played some tape recordings from when I was a baby - we all had a good laugh at the way I said "Beth-le-hem!" when my dad asked me where Jesus was born.
Day 6 and 7
Chill day at the Drobots. Watched Sumo and Football and ate an awesome breakfast and Thanksgiving dinner - my sister is a very good cook. It was nice spending time with her and Glenn and reliving old memories. I will visit them again - I hope very soon.
The next day we got up early to drive back to Boston, allowing enough time to return the rental, but everything went so smoothly that we got there four (4) hours before the flight. We flew back through Detroit, which was OK, and then got to Austin around game time - we played Texas Tech. We sent the kids home on Uber and Shellie and I drove up to Pflugerville to get Baby Finn (corgi) who was being dog-sat there by friends. We had to listen to the first half of the game on the radio, but it was a fairly uneventful (thank goodness) 57-7 beatdown.
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| Shoreline - Madison, RI |
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| At the Beach |
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| Sunset from the Drobot's Porch |
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| The Gang in New Haven |
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| Amarone - All of Us |
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| Thanksgiving Dinner |