Connecticut vacation (10/05/07)...there's no place like home

Even though I spent the weekend in CT, I was so busy getting everything ready for the party, and then partying, so I didn't even get to relax. Because of this, I decided to go back to CT the next weekend for a little R&R. Donna and Michele have a cottage on Lake Hayward, and they were kind enough to let me stay there for a few days while they were on vacation. But more on that later. I spent the first couple days in CT staying with my grandparents in good old g-bury. My cousin Donna plays guitar and sings, and I was lucky enough to come home just in time for her show at Gaetano's (in Wallingford, CT). Cindy and Scott came and picked me up, and away we went. She was great as usual and it was a really fun night overall. They sang one of my favorite songs (anyone who was around when "Say Anything" came out will know what I mean), and I took a short video (Donna is on the left), and some pics...

The night was so much fun, and I was able to spend some quality time with Cindy and Scott, which was really nice. While we were listening to Donna sing, we also watched the Yankees getting swarmed by bugs during the game. Yuck - there is no way I could function with millions of bugs hovering around my head and landing all over my face. I'm shuddering just thinking about it.

The next day was sunny and beautiful, and I decided to take Bella out and get a little exercise. I took her on her very first trip to Cotton Hollow. For those of you who are not familiar with Cotton Hollow, I found this description of it online..."The Cotton Hollow Preserve consists of 80 acres of pristine woodlands traversed by the Roaring Brook. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was home to several grist mills, saw mills, iron foundries and a cotton mill. The imposing ruins of the cotton mill built in 1814 are still visible today". The cotton mill burned down when my great-grandfather was young - he said that he could see the flames and smoke all the way at his house. Cotton Hollow has always been a special place for me and my family. My mom spent a lot of time there when she was growing up, and she brought my brother and I there a lot when we were younger. We even brought our friends with us. Only once did we hike all the way to the old mill, but it was an amazing sight, buried in the woods. Portions of the walls are still there, and you can see where the windows were. We usually never made it that far because there are a few spots that were our favorites. The first spot, right at the beginning is where there was basically a waterslide (made of rock of course). This is also the spot where some girls saw a bunch of eels in the water and were so scared that they couldn't get out, so my brother had to walk over and "resuce" them and help them our of the water. Such a hero, even as a youngster. The second spot is the lagoon, where there is a little beach, a lagoon to swim in that leads to a small waterfall. Right next to that is another lagoon area that was really deep, and this is where we would go cliff jumping. I say cliff jumping, but it really wasn't that high (it felt like a long way down, even though it was maybe 10 feet). A short hike from that is another spot, a bit taller, where you can also go cliff jumping, but we mostly stayed at our very favorite spots. We would bring our dog, Blacky, to Cotton Hollow with us, and she loved it. She loved it so much that after she passed away, my mom had her cremated and spread her ashes in the woods there. So I decided it was time to introduce Bella to our famliy custom, get a little exercise, and get in a bit of photography. Needless to say, Bella was in HEAVEN. And surprisingly, she made a good hiking partner. There were places where we had to climb over rocks and trees, and I would go first and tell her to wait, and then she would come after me. Although there were a few hills where I let her go first and she sort of pulled me up behind her. We make a good team. I even took her swimming for the very first time! She was a little freaked out, but she was quite the little swimmer.





On our way out, Bella got the scent of something, and went crazy digging a hole trying to get whatever it was. It was hilarious, and I got a pretty good video of it.

The day ended up being really hot, and when we got back in the car, Bella positioned herself so she made the msot of the air conditioner. She's too cute.
Sunday morning I packed up once again (complete with plenty of food from my grandmother), threw Bella in the car, and we were off to the lake house! The cottage is on Lake Hayward in Colchester CT (who would've thought I would be excited to go to C-town!). Check it out on the map...

View Larger Map

Here is the cottage...it's SOOO CUUUTE!

This is where Bella spent most of her time at the cottage. What was she looking at?
She was watching the trees in the back yard, looking at the birds and squirrels. I became convinced that the squirrels were teasing Bella. They would stop half way up the tree, and just sit there, flicking their tails while she barked at them.
This is the view from the side porch...
This is "the cafe"...
This is bedroom #1...I love the paint colors...
Here is the second bedroom...
This is the front porch, where I was supposed to sit and get work done (that didn't happen too often)...
This is the view from the front porch, looking at the kitchen...
And of course, the bathroom...
And here's the side porch - this is where Bella and I spent most of our time...
Here is Lake Hayward...you can just start to see the trees turning...I love the fall...

Sunday afternoon after we got all settled Michelle came over with Ry. We hung out for a while, and then met up with some of her friends at the John Edwards winery. I can't believe I spent my whole life in CT and never even knew there were wineries!! This one was somewhere near Stonington, and neither one of us realized how far away that was. We had been driving for about 30min when I said "Where the heck are we going? Rhode Island?" Eventually we got there, and followed the signs to a parking lot at some fair grounds. We were wondering why there were no people around anywhere, but then realized that you had to take a shuttle bus up to the winery. It was so cute! With your entrance fee, you got a wine glass with the name of the winery on it, and 5 free wine tastings of the wine of your choosing. We decided to start with the whites and move on to the reds, so when we saw "zinfandel", we figured we should start with that because it would be the sweetest. Of course, we confused "zinfandel" for "white zinfandel", and were totally confused when we asked for zinfandel and got a glass full of red wine. After that little mix-up, we sampled some of the other wines. They were good! I think my favorite was the Syrah, so I stuck with that for the rest of the afternoon. The afternoon was so much fun - even Ry had a good time...
And thankfully Michelle didn't spill any wine on the babe...lol. Later in the afternoon the Sugar Band played (Michelle and her friends are kind of goupies haha), and they were great! Michelle and one of her friends went up to the front row to dance, and I hung out with my god-baby, who fairly quickly passed out on my shoulder. On the way home we stopped by Carol's to check on her - she had just had surgery. That was a blast from the past - I hadn't been to their house since I was about 13! I didn't really do very much for the rest of the time I was at the lake. Monday I had a visit from a very old and dear friend - we went out and watched the yankee game (at a bar in c-town! haha) and talked and had a really good time. The comfort you feel around people you've known for 20 years is just so...well, comforting. And thanks to Michelle for not only giving us the name of a bar to go to (the only one in colchester), but also for giving us some stellar directions! Hopefully next time she can join us for a few drinks :)

I got a little work done while I was there, but mostly just relaxed and read a few books. Harry Potter, which was so much better than I was expecting! Then I started reading "Eat Pray Love" which was just an amazing book that made me want to pack up and immediately start traveling around the world. There was no internet, only very basica cable, and no people around. After so many months of stress and sitting at my computer non-stop, it was really nice to un-plug for a while.

This is me and Bella relaxing...
See how happy I am to be on vacation??
Sadly, I had to go back to the city to finish up lab stuff and write my paper and all that. I did stop at my grandmother's first for breakfast and to say thank you and goodbye, and then it was off to Stamford to drop off the rental car, and hop on metro north and head back to NY. All in all it was exactly the vacation Bella and I needed. The best part of the trip was all the time I got to spend with Michelle and Ry - those 2 alone are reason enough for me to want to move back to CT. We'll see...