There is a vast difference in driving on the roads here in
the East – not only here in Connecticut, but also New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts and Maine – and the roads in Arizona and other South West
states. The roads seem narrow and the
lanes are narrow, and no deviation is allowed for. In fact, you can just about pat them on the
shoulder as they pass in the lane next to you.
The scariest thing I have encountered on these roads here in Connecticut
was a motorcycle convoy with skull and crossbones on their backs and the words,
Connecticut Outlaws. Each of these men
seemed to be big hefty men and they each had the same style jacket and wording
and not one of them was wearing a helmet.
They were very intimidating to see riding on the road.
The first motel we stayed with was wonderful and had the
most intricate interchange. From the map
they gave us, this interchange looked like a pregnant octopus with tentacles to
spare. The speed at which the cars
travel here leaves me in a panic attack.
There is a lot of horn honking at people who intrude on another’s lane
and heaven forbid that you need to change lanes and show any sort of hesitation
– he who hesitates has about 10 to 20 miles till the next exit that is not an
exit only but that will allow you to get back on the freeway going the opposite
way.
We left the motel in New Haven this morning trying to get to
the U Conn Oceanology Dept for the
cruise. We made many wrong turns and
finally we called them and said we would not be on the cruise this morning but
rather could we go on the 1pm trip. We
stopped in to see the USS Nautilus on the way down to the U Conn and it was
magnificent. I had no idea just how
cramped a submarine could be. A man was ahead of us who has served on a couple
of subs and his explanation of the works of the sub was much more interesting
than the hand held wand supplied with explanations. We had to press a number that corresponded
with the number on the exhibit in order to hear the explanation of what was
happening.
After we had seen all that the Nautilus had to offer, we
drove down to U Conn and found that they have a café there and we had
lunch. Breakfast at the motel was
pathetic to say the least. I have no
idea how these people got to be part of this Choice Hotels system. The motel we have tonight is a palace
compared to the one last night and it looks like they will have a decent
offering for breakfast.
The cruise was more than I ever thought it would be. We boarded the cruise with a bunch of 8-14yr
olds and the name on the boat was UCONN Oceanology. We went out to Long Island Sound and they
discussed every aspect of the water and the sound with the kids and it was very
informative. The big deal for the kids
was when they hauled in the fishing net.
In it came with all kinds of crabs, fish and shells etc. that it had
scraped off the floor of the ocean. The animals
were put into seawater tanks for further exploration by the kids. The UConn people had brought a lobster in a
bucket in case they did not trawl one in the net – they didn’t and they forgot
to get him out to show the kids. We
tossed the spider crabs over the side that they hauled in from the lobster trap
in the cove near the school. Bill, David
and Sara and I were assigned to take a core sample from the floor of the sound.
Up it came – and talk about stinky………….but
we had to pull it apart and find different things about it. For me the most interesting thing was the
plankton net. It captured all kinds of
little creatures that were madly swimming around in the water. I really wish that I had been able to get a
sample under a microscope to see what we had captured.
We ate lunch at the UConn Café before we left for the
cruise. Then we investigated the
offering at the display there and ended up with two UConn tee shirts for the
Oceanology experience and two ball caps and a pad of sticky notes in the shape
of a Lobster.
We drove to the Bradley Motel for the night. Across the way is a Pizza Parlor that is run
by a fellow who is a total Steelers Freak.
The bumper sticker that caught our eye says that Pittsburgh is a
drinking city with a Football problem.
Tomorrow we are going to Old Sturbridge Village – then leave
for home.
No comments:
Post a Comment