We only had about a 3 hour drive from our deluxe (far from) accommodations to our resort in Stowe, VT, so we made a few stops on our way. Our first stop was The Waybury Inn.
The Waybury Inn is located in Middlebury, VT, the Inn was built in 1810 and is one of the oldest travelers accommodations in Vermont. The reason we stopped was this Inn was used for the exterior shots of The Stratford Inn on the Bob Newhart television series. The Inn was painted white for the show and in 1990 after the show went off the air, the Inn was repainted green.
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| "HI, I'm Larry. This is my brother, Darryl. This is my other brother, Daryl." |
Our next stop was Ben and Jerry's in Waterbury, VT. We were unable to tour the factory it is closed until October 2021. We did stand in line to get some ice cream. Having ice cream was definitely a treat. We toured the flavor graveyard before moving on.
Finally, we arrived at Golden Eagle Resort, I was pleasantly surprised. The location was perfect. We booked this place using Priceline. When checking in, the receptionist informed me that I was upgraded to a Whirlpool tub unit. Woohoo!
We walked to Main Street, which was just a short walk from our room. We walked under the covered walkway. We skipped dinner because we were still full from all the ice cream.
What do you do in a ski resort town in the summer, go hiking of course. We chose to hike Stowe Pinnacle. Stowe Pinnacle is a moderate difficult hike, I thought it was supposed to be easy.
We were unable to park in the lower parking area and had to drive to the Pinnacle Meadows lot, which made our hike only 2.6 versus 3.6 miles. The hike for me at times was difficult and I had to stop to catch my breath (I'm such a couch potato 🥔). We had rocky inclines, thick forest, and rooty steps, the most challenging hike we've done so far. The view at the top was amazing, well worth the climb.
The following day, we visited the Stowe Mountain Resort, the place to ski. We parked in the free lot, because we are cheap, and then took the gondola to The Village at Spruce Peak to check out the shops and lodge.
On the trip back down the mountain we stopped at the Trapp Family Lodge. The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrew's, was based on The Von Trapp Family. They fled Austria in 1938 with 9 children. They were granted asylum here and settled in PA. The Trapp Family toured the United States as the Trapp Family Singers. They eventually settled in Stowe, Vermont, it reminded them of Austria.
In 2010, the Trapp Family opened their own brewery inside the lodge. In 2015, they opened a 30,000 sq. ft. brewery and beer hall. The beer is served in bars and restaurants in VT, CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VA. We tried a beer and a glass of wine, we were not overly impressed with the service or products.
We finished our day off with burgers, fries, a beer, and a Moscow Mule at Doc Ponds. Cute little pub and service and burgers were amazing.
On Thursday, July 15th, we left our little resort in Stowe and headed to Groton, CT. Our route that I created, had us go through the Golden Brook Covered Bridge. Supposedly, the bridge is known as "Emily's Bridge" because Emily killed herself and haunts the bridge.
We had reservations at the Navy Lodge, New London. When booking our stay you could only request 1 night at a time and you had to call 7 days prior to your request. We booked the first night, called back the next day and they had no openings. We called back in the afternoon and we were able to book a second night.
This is my first time staying at a Navy Lodge, Rob doesn't like staying on base. The Navy Lodge is located off base, but not really close to walking anywhere 😕. The room itself was perfect, we had a king size bed, sitting area, small kitchen, and bathroom. Great deal for only $84 a night with breakfast included.
While in Groton, we explored a few small towns. Our first stop was The Avery Point Lighthouse located on University of Connecticut, Southeastern Branch Campus, beautiful grounds.
We then headed to see the upscale residential neighborhood of Groton Long Point. The homes were impressive, not sure why anyone would want to live here in the winter time, but gorgeous in the summer.
We made our way to Noank, CT, there was a line forming at Ford's Lobsters 🦞, so we thought has to be good and it was almost lunch time. So we waited in line, they opened at noon. We both ordered the lobster 🦞 roll, the cold version (with mayo), it was good, but I didn't need to go back a second time. Apparently, from what we have been told or read we should have had the hot version (smothered in butter 🧈).
We did drive to Mystic, but did not spend any time there because someone was not feeling well. Must have caught my cold.
We explored Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park. It is the site of the 1781 massacre by British Forces led by Benedict Arnold. One of the last battles of the American Revolution. In the Monument we ascended 166 steps up a spiral staircase to reach the top. Each step represents the men who fought at Fort Griswold that day. We also toured The Ebenezer Avery House.
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| View from the Monument |
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| View from the Monument |
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| Walkway to protect the soldiers |
For the next week we booked an Airbnb in Old Saybrook, CT. This apartment was perfect for us, quiet neighborhood, above the family's garage and within walking distance to Main Street. The apartment was the perfect size, living area, kitchen, bedroom and bath with washer and dryer. The owners, Lee and Kelly, thought of everything, the apartment was very well thought out and provisioned with little extras.
Our week here was to be relaxing and spending time at the beach, as we would be doing plenty of hiking and sightseeing once we get to Maine. Of course our very first day we went on a hike. Our hike started at The Chapman Falls located in Devil's Hopyard State Park.
On our way home we stopped at Gillette Castle State Park and Essex Steam Train & Riverboat.
We explored some of Connecticut, mostly by car and spent time at the beach. Our first beach outing was different. The tide was out and the beach was basically mud. We were able to walk from the Town beach to Harvey's beach.
On Thursday, July 22nd, we drove to Mystic, CT, to spend the day at the Mystic Seaport Museum and exploring the little shops in downtown Mystic.
Our last day in Old Saybrook, we walked Main Street before Rob's haircut appointment. We spent the afternoon at the beach, much different experience from the first time. We finished with dinner at Jack Rabbitt's. The burger was delicious but they definitely need additional staff.
So it has been over 30 days since we have been homeless. Do we miss the boat, yes, we miss the lifestyle and the boating community. We do not miss the problems and daily fixing things.
The driving can be tiring, can't just get up and walk around. There are also the driving issues: such as people pull out in front of you and then don't even do the speed limit, stopping for pedestrians before they even get to the crosswalk, merge, there is not such thing. Definitely different doing 8 knots versus 70 mph. But the seats are really comfortable, climate is controlled and we aren't getting waked by dangerous boaters.
Finding places to stay with reasonable rates and in decent condition is a lot of work.
We were both missing and needed a good home cooked meal. I brought my crock pot and egg cooker along so we could use in a hotel room. We had 2 home cooked meals during our week stay in Old Saybrook. Our first meal was chicken with broccoli and rice. Our second meal was pork chops, sauerkraut and green beans.
I still keep track of our expenditures, slip fees are now lodging, fuel is gas ⛽, all other categories still apply. We of course are spending more on restaurants and sightseeing. I think I'll be able to better compare costs after another month.
We still believe we made the correct choice in selling the boat.
Heading to Maine for 5 weeks.
