Where: Norfolk, Connecticut
When: February 12-13, 2010
With: Dave
What happens when your perfect Valentine's Day weekend in Dallas, Texas suddenly gets cancelled? Why, you go on a road trip through Connecticut, of course!
Allow me to explain. We had tickets for the NBA All-Star weekend in Dallas. It was going to be amazing. First of all, the winter of 2010 had so many back-to-back snow storms that we were dying for warmer weather. Second, we had VIP passes to all kinds of parties. It was going to be amazing.
And then, a few hours before we left, our flights were just cancelled. When we tried to reschedule ourselves on a new flight, the next one out wasn't for another four days. What? We'd miss the whole weekend! And since there had been so many snowstorms, both in the north and the south, over the last week, flights were just a mess. I gave Dave beer to help his mood, but to no avail.
We spent 24 hours on the phone with the airline trying to book ourselves anywhere within a ten hour drive of Dallas. Houston, Austin, Tulsa, even Little Rock. Nothing. Then we begged to go anywhere. California. The Caribbean. Canada. Nothing was available. We had the days off and nowhere to go in the dead of winter.
Until...we pulled out The Book. And within one hour, using the rental car I had from work, we had planned an entire weekend through the great state of Connecticut. Not exactly the most romantic sounding of Valentine's Day, but we would make the most of it anyway. And then, there was nothing to stop us from going, so we just left.
After a stop-off in New Haven to visit Yale University, we headed up to the remote northwestern corner of Connecticut known as the Litchfield Hills. The rolling landscape wasn't at its most ideal in the dead of an ice cold winter, but the tiny town of Norfolk gave us the experience we needed.
We spent the night at the Manor House B&B, built in 1898 by the same guy who designed the London tube. The adorable place was a perfect setting for a quiet first night (especially since we'd been on the phone the whole night before with the airline) and the owner was really hospitable.
While we didn't spend a ton of time in this region of Connecticut, we did have two really memorable experiences.
First, when we asked what we should do in the town of Norfolk, the owner of the B&B told us that there was a concert at the local town hall. We figured, why not? The "concert" was literally all the locals at the most movie-cliche town hall you could imagine. We sat on wooden benches in a huge open room, and listened to a man with his guitar singing about how the government should "let his free flag fly". He was actually really good, but boy, we weren't in Manhattan anymore.
The second memorable experience of the night was the stars. Since we were in such a remote area, we saw more stars than I think I've ever seen in the US. We craned our necks the entire walk back to the Manor House, and then continued to stand out in the cold when we got there. It was amazing.
Wouldn't say we smashed the Litchfield Hills out of the park, but we definitely experienced some of it. Not bad for one hour of planning. Onto the rest of Connecticut!
When: February 12-13, 2010
With: Dave
What happens when your perfect Valentine's Day weekend in Dallas, Texas suddenly gets cancelled? Why, you go on a road trip through Connecticut, of course!
Allow me to explain. We had tickets for the NBA All-Star weekend in Dallas. It was going to be amazing. First of all, the winter of 2010 had so many back-to-back snow storms that we were dying for warmer weather. Second, we had VIP passes to all kinds of parties. It was going to be amazing.
And then, a few hours before we left, our flights were just cancelled. When we tried to reschedule ourselves on a new flight, the next one out wasn't for another four days. What? We'd miss the whole weekend! And since there had been so many snowstorms, both in the north and the south, over the last week, flights were just a mess. I gave Dave beer to help his mood, but to no avail.
We spent 24 hours on the phone with the airline trying to book ourselves anywhere within a ten hour drive of Dallas. Houston, Austin, Tulsa, even Little Rock. Nothing. Then we begged to go anywhere. California. The Caribbean. Canada. Nothing was available. We had the days off and nowhere to go in the dead of winter.
Until...we pulled out The Book. And within one hour, using the rental car I had from work, we had planned an entire weekend through the great state of Connecticut. Not exactly the most romantic sounding of Valentine's Day, but we would make the most of it anyway. And then, there was nothing to stop us from going, so we just left.
After a stop-off in New Haven to visit Yale University, we headed up to the remote northwestern corner of Connecticut known as the Litchfield Hills. The rolling landscape wasn't at its most ideal in the dead of an ice cold winter, but the tiny town of Norfolk gave us the experience we needed.
We spent the night at the Manor House B&B, built in 1898 by the same guy who designed the London tube. The adorable place was a perfect setting for a quiet first night (especially since we'd been on the phone the whole night before with the airline) and the owner was really hospitable.
While we didn't spend a ton of time in this region of Connecticut, we did have two really memorable experiences.
First, when we asked what we should do in the town of Norfolk, the owner of the B&B told us that there was a concert at the local town hall. We figured, why not? The "concert" was literally all the locals at the most movie-cliche town hall you could imagine. We sat on wooden benches in a huge open room, and listened to a man with his guitar singing about how the government should "let his free flag fly". He was actually really good, but boy, we weren't in Manhattan anymore.
The second memorable experience of the night was the stars. Since we were in such a remote area, we saw more stars than I think I've ever seen in the US. We craned our necks the entire walk back to the Manor House, and then continued to stand out in the cold when we got there. It was amazing.
Wouldn't say we smashed the Litchfield Hills out of the park, but we definitely experienced some of it. Not bad for one hour of planning. Onto the rest of Connecticut!
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