TRAVEL AWAITS: Small Is Beautiful Connecticut Road Trip

                   

                      The complete article was published in Travel Awaits in August 2020

This post documents our road trip from New York to Massachusetts through Connecticut, the third smallest state in the US but also the 29th most populous state, making it the fourth-most densely populated. In just two nights of camping, we discovered seven landmarks in its three largest cities: Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford. Two industries, financial services and maritime, combine to give the state the highest per capita income, human development index, and median household income in the entire U.S. Quite an achievement for such a small piece of land. "Small is beautiful."

Bridgeport

 

Only an hour and 45 minutes from New York City, Bridgeport has a population of almost 150,000, the largest city in Connecticut. Also a coastal city like New Haven, Bridgeport is at the center of the state’s significant maritime industry. But it was the Barnum Museum, the main authority on P.T. Barnum (1810-1891), the showman, businessman, and founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. It has become a national treasure that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

New Haven

New Haven is only about 30 minutes from Bridgeport and 40 minutes from Hartford, the state capital to the northeast. It’s the second-largest city at almost 130,000 in population.

 

The Knights of Columbus Museum was another unique museum on our itinerary. In 1882, when Fr. Michael McGiveny (who is currently up for sainthood at the Vatican) saw the need for an organization that could partner with parishes to help poor immigrant families, he founded the Knights of Columbus. It is now the largest fraternal service organization in the Catholic Church with about two million members. 

New Haven is also home to the beautiful campus of Yale University, an Ivy League school. The Yale University Art Gallery is, in fact, the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. Housed in several buildings on the campus, it emphasizes Italian paintings, African sculptures, and modern art.

Hartford

The capital of Connecticut and home to over 120,000 residents, Hartford is known as the Insurance Capital of the World. It is where the financial services industry grew to be as important as the state’s maritime industry. 

Its most distinctive landmark is the 34-story Travelers Tower constructed in 1919 as the seventh-tallest building in the world. The headquarters of Travelers Insurance, one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, its 27th-floor observation deck is where you can get the best aerial view of the city.

Hartford is also a center of excellence in literary works not just in the state but of the country. Both the lovely Mark Twain House and Museum and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and House sit almost side by side. The landmark novel of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which graphically details the harshest of conditions endured by slaves in America, laying the groundwork for the Civil War. Mark Twain’s  (1835-1910) work, on the other hand, was published 20 years after the Civil War. They may have been almost a generation apart, but they were both addressing the same issue that we are still dealing with today.

Lastly, we visited the third unique museum in Hatford. The CRRA — Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority — established the  Trash Museum that demonstrated not only what trash accumulation does to the environment but also advocated single-stream recycling — leading the way in this industry. Unfortunately, it closed permanently in June of 2016.

Connecticut was the fifth of the original 13 states and even led all the others in the formulation of a constitution. Adopted in 1639, its Fundamental Orders heavily influenced the framing of the US Constitution and the development of the federal government. If you are in New York, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts, consider passing through Connecticut to see for yourself how such a small state is so beautifully successful.

FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.

PREVIOUS POST

Must-See Stops Along the Natchez Trace Parkway

Visiting Family and Making More Discoveries

Living in this big beautiful country allows us to settle where there are opportunities. Bill’s children live in Idaho, Colorado, and Alaska. My eldest daughter lives in California and a sister used to make Alaska her home. Actually, another daughter lives in Canada and the youngest lives in Australia. After all, it is also a big beautiful world! Having family all over allows us to visit many places and make more discoveries.

Denver, Colorado

Recently, we went to the high school graduation of Bill’s granddaughter Cassie in Denver, Colorado. It was an inspiring ceremony, there were joyous photo-ops, and lots of celebratory meals afterward. This granddaughter loves to visit different places, ever expanding her view of the world. We had cold May days with showers, however, so we went to the Butterfly Pavilion instead of the Wild Animal Sanctuary.

Rosie, the tarantula

my first ever butterfly photos

After registering, I found out I had the opportunity to hold a tarantula on my palm! Her name is Rosie and we learned how gentle these arachnids really are. Then we were led to the Pavilion. I was at first not sure if I would enjoy the trip. I thought butterflies, fleeting from one flower to the next, would be very difficult to photograph. Judge for yourselves how much fun I actually had. I was engrossed following them on their flights. Soon I became selective about the backgrounds, the flower, the leaf, or the ground, where they chose to settle, to provide great contrasts in colors.

This was a short trip since we had to go to the next family obligation. But, the surprise of surprises, the night before we left, it snowed…in late May! So we woke up to beautiful winter scenes right at the home of Bill’s daughter. The scenes at the backyard and in front were so wintry wonderful. And all throughout our trip down Colorado and even part of New Mexico, I could not put my camera down and even braved opening the windows to chilly air so I could capture the winter scenes better.

winter scene in May

Show Low, Arizona

When we reached Show Low, Arizona (to where my sister had transferred from Anchorage, Alaska), we found out that it also snowed there the day before. The town’s elevation is close to 6,500 feet…even higher than Denver at 5.280 feet. We were there for the housewarming of her home, now only three hours from our Phoenix home. It has natural wood siding, high vaulted wood beam ceiling, and huge windows all around with a large deck looking out to the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

the forest from the deck

When all the cooking and entertaining was done, we set out for a pretty little hike around the Woodland Water Reservoir of the towns of Show Low,-Pinetop, and Lakeside. With an area of 18 acres and a depth of 20 feet, it was not even a mile of a trail but it was an easy and comfortable hike as the temperature had climbed up to the low 60s. There was even a covered bridge, there were people doing trout fishing with friends and family and children were frolicking in the playgrounds.

Woodland Water Reservois

We stopped at the Saturday Farmer's Market on the way home. And there we all went our individual ways to taste the food that was offered: Schreiner’s (Phoenix’s favorite and ours) sausages, spicy lasagna, and hearty crunchy tacos. But what I was surprised about was that there was a kiosk selling CBD oil-infused soaps (very expensive though). I was surprised because I thought marijuana use is illegal in Arizona. Upon further research, I found out that medical marijuana has been legal in the state since 2018. Bill brought home bottles of green chile pepper jam, blackberry jam, and Asian sweet-hot dipping sauce. They are all yummy!

at Show Low's Saturday Market

The next day, we were already going back to Phoenix when my sister mentioned that Show Low has a Trump Store! Of course, we wanted to go…Trump is quite a character. It was the former headquarters of the Trump campaign in Navajo County. The enthusiastic owners converted it into the “only Trump Store in the country.” I bought this Adorable Deplorable tank top for a party and Bill bought a Trump Inaugural Mug for a friend. Also on display are four personal letters from the WH.

The Trump Store

Having the family all over the country (and the world) gives us lots of perks. Since we visit them, not just once but many times, we explore deep in the areas where they live. Each time we make new and exciting discoveries.

For mobiles, please click "View Web Version" at the end of the post, past the comments, and share buttons will appear.

Click this if you want to pin this image

Click this if you want to Pin this image 

                                                                                               


















Click here if you want to share this image

10 Discoveries You Will Love in the High Desert of the Colorado Rockies

Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde NP

The Rocky Mountains is a significant feature of the North American landscape. The The Canadian Rockies and the four Canadian national parks are some of its most popular attractions. But the discoveries we made around the high desert plateau of the Colorado Rockies should really be as popular, especially since a significant part of Native American culture complement its outstanding rock formations.

Mesa Verde National Park

We spent a week in this largely undiscovered area en route to the Denver High School graduation of Bill’s granddaughter Cassie. About an hour west from where we stayed is beautiful Durango, Colorado, a city of about 17,000 people at 6,500 feet in elevation.  Another fifty minutes west is the Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It sits very near the Four Corners, the intersection of the states of Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona at elevations of 7,000-8,500 feet.

an Ancestral Pueblo in Mesa Verde NP

One day we took the self-guided tour of Mesa Verde, the largest archeological preserve of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from 600 to 1300 CE. There are over 5,000 known archeological sites and well-preserved 600 cliff dwellings, including Cliff Palace, the largest in North America. The Park is easy to go through with over fifty miles of roads and many more trails. It is to me, the best national park of this type in the country. And it is just ninety miles from and “aligned” to the earlier ancestral Puebloan settlement of fifteen large buildings that comprise the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site which we visited in 2012.

aerial view of Durango, Colorado

The next day we asked the Durango Visitor Center to map out a plan for our city day trip. A few blocks around E 3^rd Avenue are historic Victorian Homes, original hospital, churches, and residences of the city’s storied past of gold.  We then drove up a winding climbing road to Fort Lewis College to enjoy the beautiful aerial views of the mountains and the city valley below. Back to the city floor, we had a good tour of the Durango Art Museum and the busy Durango Theater that is currently featuring Mamma Mia. Then we had my Mother’s Day lunch at Ken and Sue’s before we took a walk along the banks of the Animas River some sections of which are famous for river rafting. On the way back, we drove through the Ute Indian Reservation, southeast of the city, with its world-class visitor center and museum. There is a bigger UTE reservation in Utah and that is how Utah got its name.  

Wyndham Pagosa

We stayed at Wyndham Pagosa in Pagosa Springs, higher in elevation than Durango at 7,150+ feet and five hours southwest of Denver. Wyndham Pagosa had a week’s availability of a one bedroom unit for us and we decided it would be good to break our trip there. We were already amazed at what we discovered in Durango but there were two more great sites right where we were based.

Mother Spring in Pagosa Springs

The town of about 1,700 is named for its sulfur springs, including the world's deepest geothermal hot spring. At approximately 144°F, this is the Mother Spring that feeds the other pools hosted by three local hot spring soaking locations right at the outskirts of the downtown area, the largest of which is at The Springs Resort & Spa. They and the pretty Visitor Center close by are right at the banks of the San Juan River that cuts through town (and is excellent for fishing).

Chimney Rock National Monument from the highway

at the  ridge top of Chimney Rock NM

But the highlight of our week was our visit to the Chimney Rock National Monument, another important discovery just nineteen minutes south of our resort and at more than 7,000 feet in elevation. The rangers told us they were initially trying to incorporate it as part of the Mesa Verde National Park but in 2012 it was decided to be named as a separate national monument. The Great House Pueblo of thirty-six rooms and two kivas at the top of the ridge, close to Chimney Rock and its close neighbor Companion Rock, had a largely ceremonial role in the Chacoan culture that was centered in the Chaco Canyon, ninety miles away. As the moon makes its lunar cycle across the sky over a period of 18.6 years, it appears in a Major Lunar Standstill (MLS) between the two rocks for approximately 16 months. The latest began in 2004 and the next one will be in 2021. As a matter of fact the construction of the Great House was started during the MLS in 1076 and ended at the ensuing MLS in 1093.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Beginning with Mesa Verde National Park and ending with the Chimney Rock National Monument, the area should really be more popular than it is. I guess the reason it is not is that it is more remote, high up in the Rockies. The national parks of Canada in the Canadian Rockies are just an hour away from the city of Calgary. This Colorado high desert plateau is 5-6 hours away from the nearest big city, Denver. But I would like to encourage all, especially Americans, to visit this area for its cultural and natural significance.

     
Pin This

Unique Scenes, Unusual Stories, and Beautiful People in Two Small Magical Mexican Towns

One of the best things we did on this trip was to drive down to Mazatlan despite the warnings (see this previous post). Our car has been so handy for drives to Walmart and the mall, the dentist, and the art galleries. But it is the day trips to the small towns around the city that has been the best blessing of all. These two separate day trips have given us many delightful memories to treasure and to share.

El Quelite to the North

My husband’s college fraternity brother sailed from La Paz in the Baja Peninsula into the Marina Mazatlan beside El Cid’s La Marina Resort Hotel and Spa. It was an easy four-minute shuttle ride for us to meet him, visit the boat, “Derive”, and have lunch at El Cid’s La Terraza. We invited him to join us two days later on a trip to this famously cute town many people were raving about. It is north of Mazatlan, about forty minutes away. The town didn’t appear on our GPS so we had a MapQuest sheet to guide us.

As luck would have it, we got lost. We followed Mexico 15D, the toll road instead of Mexico 15, the libre (toll-free) road, and they were unusually far from each other. We found this out when we sought help at a truck stop. In my broken Spanish, aided by similar Filipino words owing to Spain’s 333-rule of my home country, I asked the truckers who were having their rest and some snacks, “Donde esta El Quelite?”   All of them, including the lady storekeepers, felt dumbfounded to reply because they didn’t speak any English. A brave fellow proceeded to patiently communicate to me how to get there. Lo and behold, I understood him perfectly because he so wanted to help. I had met a beautiful Mexican!

After an hour and fifteen minutes, we approached the town from Mexico 15 and bougainvilleas of all colors greeted us on both sides of the road. It was my utter luck that a yellow arch marked the entry to the lone street and the colorful homes on both sides. On the right, we saw a plazuela with a statue of a man playing the game ulama. The country is reviving this ancient sport. The oldest ballcourt is dated 1400 BC.

All the cars in town were parked at El Meson de Los Laureanos. You won’t believe the art and decor, the roosters and horses, all the colorful nooks and corners, and all thriving plants and people inside. It was the energy of Mexico in a nutshell. The food heartily complemented the lively atmosphere. We were immediately served with the traditional Sinaloan snack, coyotas. Our order of barbacoa de res (beef), carnitas de puerco (pork), and cordoniz (quail) a la parilla with arroz, tortilla, frijoles, salsa, and pico de gallo arrived soon after we made our order. It seemed to be consumed just as fast. Dessert was a selection of complementary Sinaloan specialties: candied papaya, squash, and sweet potatoes and leche quemada (burnt milk).

There is another restaurant in town, the Hacienda Tequilera Mi Quelite.  We wondered why it was absolutely empty in stark contrast.  We found the owner to be so kind and polite. He asked us if we wanted to see his little secret at the back. It was a small zoo with his precious collection of a family of llamas, a lone donkey, several peacocks, lots of rabbits, fighting cocks and pigs, and a beautiful banyan tree in the middle. We offered him a couple hundred pesos for the tour but he graciously refused. I had met another beautiful Mexican. Hopefully, he will be given a chance by tourists. We will next time!

El Rosario to the South

We also wanted to visit another Magico Pueblo (Magical Town), a program launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2001. So far there have been 121 named. The first one we saw was Teotihuacan near Mexico City (see this previous post) and the second was Todos Santos to which we took a day trip from San Jose del Cabo (see this previous post) El Rosario is only an hour south of Mazatlan. We invited another couple to join us. The drive was beautiful with all the beautiful agave and mango plantations on both sides of the highway.

Our GPS listed only one attraction, El Museo de Lola Beltran. When we got there, we hesitated to go in; we didn’t know who she was. But the admission fee was just $1 for all four of us. We found out that María Lucila Beltrán Ruiz (7 March 1932 – 24 March 1996) was an acclaimed Mexican singer of Ranchera music and a movie and TV personality. She was internationally renowned for her interpretation of "Cucurrucucú Paloma" which I knew by heart when I was young, owing to our shared history with Spain.

And that’s where we met Carmelita, a grandniece of the grand old lady, who proceeded to graciously tour us around town. She is another beautiful Mexican.  Across the Museo stands Las Ruinas which is what remains of the parochial temple that crumbled circa 1931. Minas del Tajo was mining a large silver belt that was discovered right under it. The town’s faithful painstakingly transferred the beloved temple, stone by stone, to this site. Close by is the lagoon at the old entrance to the mine and the old site of the temple. It was created by the flood waters from the 1935 Super Cyclone. There now stands a beautiful suspension bridge and recreation park at the center which the townsfolk lovingly call Isla del Iguanero.

Then Carmelita led us to the El Tiro San Antonio (Casa de Lola), a restaurant run by her twin brother, billed as the place where the song Paloma was born. It was right on Calle Beltran that had a statue of Lola herself at the intersection with the main street in town. The colorful walls are filled with mementos of Lola Beltran, just like at the Museo. They served us a hefty lunch of tacos de camarones, asada de res, pollo frito, enchiladas verdes, and candied camotes for dessert, all for only US $25 for all of us!

After lunch, we had a quick trip to the Museum of Regional History of El Rosario, built in what was formerly the Municipal Prison, as of seven years ago. That is where the glorious history of one of the wealthiest towns in Mexico in the past and the mining industry that led to the founding of the port of Mazatlan was told to us. Nearby is the Los Arcos Virreinales (Colonial Arch) which was the old bus station during the mining town’s heyday that lasted for 300 years.

pinnable image

pinnable image

Our last stop was the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in front of which is a plazuela with another statue of Lola Beltran. Built from 1758 to 1771, the church has an elaborate baroque style and a spectacularly intricate gilded altar inside. There are two places where you can have souvenir photos taken: the colorful town sign and a pair of golden wings. Both will have the church as a background.

pinnable image

pinnable image

As you can see, these are memories that are a treasure. They are both near enough to Mazatlan that we can revisit them anytime we want to when we are there for our annual three month holiday. Definitely, we will take our guests to them, especially those who have already visited many beach resort towns and want to see the magical side of  Mexico.

Paris, Lovelier with Someone You Love Who Loves You, Too

I had been to Paris a long time ago. It was a business trip. I was alone. Everything I did was perfunctory.  And it was understandable. At the time, I had no love in my life, long been separated from my husband who had replaced me with a younger woman. I had been father and mother to my three children for many years until I migrated to America and met Bill. So when he told me he had not been to the City of Love, I was excited to show it to him. After celebrating our tenth anniversary in August this year, we included it on our month-long October vacation in Europe.

Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe

We started our week with a memorable eggs benedict breakfast, Parisian-style, and chaud chocolat at the landmark Laduree on the Champs-Elysees. My friend Yogi from our University of the Philippines Corps of Sponsor days met us there. She even gifted us with those famous French macaroons people line up for at this legendary French luxury bakery and sweets maker. Yogi, a crowned Binibining Pilipinas-International, still radiates beauty, especially because she makes Paris her home for six months a year. After breakfast, she took our photo at the nearby Arc de Triomphe, copied the world over as a symbol of military success (even if it was not). 

Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur 

Then she took us to Montmartre, the Hill of Martyrs, with a foggy, mysterious, and romantic view of the city. At the top of the hill stands the gleaming Sacre Coeur, both a political and cultural monument. It was built as a national penance for the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the socialist Paris Commune of 1871. After all, Montmartre has been known as the city’s most rebellious neighborhood. The Cathedral was publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ.

Down Montmartre

Walking down the hill, she showed us the Artist’s Village, where painters were busy having breakfast, painting some scenes of gay Pareee, and selling their finished canvasses. At the foot of the hill, we wandered into the Moulin Rouge, the famous arisian cabaret, another world model for eventful nightlife. Hopping into the Metro once again, our last stop was at the Galleries Lafayette, the mammoth luxury department store whose domed roof and high floors are richly decorated and whose rooftop gave us our first view of the Eiffel Tower. Before parting, we had snacks at the Galleries’ Food Court.

Moulin Rouge

The Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Yogi taught us how to navigate the Metro and from that first day on, we ventured on our own. We spent a wonderful afternoon around the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars, constructed as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair. It has become one of the most recognizable structures in the world and the most-visited paid monument with more than 7 million people a year ascending it. The ticket to the summit was sold out and Bill convinced me to just walk around the 324-foot landmark from the Trocadero to the Peace Wall. Our photos will show you how much we loved this lovely afternoon, walking hand in hand and stopping for the Eiffel’s different angles for romantic poses to remember our union by.

The Louvre

The next morning was a visit to the Museum de Louvre which was originally built as the Louvre Castle in the late 12th to the 13th century under Philip II. When Louis X!V built the Palace of Versailles in the 17^th century, he transferred the royal household there and the Louvre became the depository of the nation’s masterpieces. It would have been a massive undertaking to tour this, the world's largest art museum, and we opted to romanticize about the grounds and its distinctive modern entrance and its fountains instead. That in itself took so much time that we had to have a French brunch at a Brasserie in front of the Louvre immediately after.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Then we made our way to the Notre Dame de Paris, crossing the River Seine from its right to its left bank. The Cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The rib vault and the flying buttress, the beautiful rose windows, and the many sculptural decorations set it apart from earlier Romanesque architecture. Built in the 12^th century and completed in the 13^th, much of its religious décor was damaged during the French revolution but interest in the building was revived soon after Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame was published. It is now the most visited monument in Paris with 12 million eager to witness its beauty every year.

Around Notre Dame

Hotel de Ville

The day was so wonderfully romantic that we finished it with an early cheese and beef fondue dinner at the Latin Quarter. After this satisfying meal, we chanced upon an old and seemingly uncared for Cathedral of St. Servin with its unique buttresses behind the altar, yes, behind. Then we did some shopping for souvenir items, finding my now oft-used inexpensive but elegant red shawl. Before going home, we also passed by the Hotel de Ville. It is not a hotel. It is the richly decorated City Hall

Musee d'Orsay

Musee d’Orsay

We devoted an entire day to tour the famous Musee d’Orsay, romantically housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art from 1848 to 1914, especially the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. We spent hours there and could easily have spent even more time, alternately admiring the beautiful masterpieces and dreaming about how to launch my own journey to painting.

Les Invalides

Les Invalides

Then we walked to the Les Invalides, just to make sure we got a photo of the largest and most glittering dome in all of Paris. We saw a glimpse of it when we were walking around the Eiffel Tower. It is the roof over Napoleon’s tomb at the Musee de l’Armee, the military museum of France. It helped us complete our view of the history of France with this tribute to the general who was supposed to build the French empire. But we were not in the mood for touring another large museum, not on the same day.  

Le Mur de Je t’aime

Instead, we trooped to the Le Mur de Je t’aime, the Wall of I Love You, a 40 square meter wall in the Jehan Rictus garden square in Montmartre, Paris, France. It is composed of 612 tiles of enameled lava, on which the phrase 'I love you' is written 311 times in 250 languages. Of course, the Tagalog “Iniibig Kita” is there just like its English version, “I Love You”! We found out that the station Abesses on Line 12 is just between Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge. We could have visited it on our first day with Yogi! But it completed our circle and neatly wrapped our Parisian gift box of romance.

the Love Wall

Vincennes

Royal Regency at Vincennes

Where we stayed contributed to all the good feelings we had in the city. We had been upgraded to a one-bedroom apartment at the Royal Regency in Vincennes, at the end of Line 1 of the Metro. It is part of our Diamond Resorts timeshare collection. It was about 350 square meters, including a patio, complete with a kitchen, a dining area, a living area, a bedroom, a bath suite, an enclosed toilet suite, and a foyer. Every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, there is a market around the city suburb’s own Hotel de Ville. The old Chateau de Vincennes is the city’s claim to fame. Around our neighborhood are a boulangerie, a U Express grocer, a pharmacie, an affiliate gym, and even an old cemetery.

We have never returned to any place we visited. With little time left on this earth, we always opt for a new place to visit except for Mazatlan which we have made a second home. But we want to return to Paris, maybe for another major Anniversary like our 15^th  in 2023. And I bet it would be even lovelier the third time around!

pinnable image