Postcard from Connecticut

one-girl camp

Having argued with the GPS all the way to Newport (I was opting for a more scenic route than it advised) I decided to let it win for a day and followed the pink line to Baltic, CT. I swear it took me the direct route over every hill in eastern CT just to get back at me.

Spitting rain, but with a tailwind so I couldn’t really complain about the weather. It is April after all. April showers bring May flowers and all of that. Except that in Seattle, the early flowers start popping up in February, blossoms in March, and by April the bulbs are all in full bloom. I had completely forgotten that March and April are the ugly months in New England when winter’s just over and spring green has barely begun. I remembered when the plane descended towards Logan and I saw frozen ponds. And again when I encountered a huge pile of filthy rotting snow decaying in the corner of a parking lot. Hmmmm. Good thing I brought warm socks and rain gear.

The trip through Connecticut was really pretty. Winding roads through small towns with large cemeteries, past family farms and steepled churches. The trees are beautiful. The one thing I miss from the east are the trees. We just don’t grow the big leafy hardwoods out west like they have here. It’s kind of nice to see them just as they’re starting to bud, before the leaves completely conceal the structure.

GPS deposited me at Annie’s front door in Madison. Out her back door is the Neck River estuary. Regardless of the season, it’s a beautiful view. I traded in the bike for a car for the weekend and proceeded to double the miles of my trip thus far tooling around visiting old friends.




Click here for the route from Westport to Madison