Where You Lead

So Ali and I always talk about how we want to take a road trip and have had some ideas floating around to go to Dollywood and ‘round country’ but it just hasn’t worked out yet. So a few weeks ago we were talking about when she would go back to school and how much this unseasonably warm weather sucks when we get the idea to go to New England. And so the story begins:

We left Gainesville at 4am on January 22nd which is an ungodly hour but we had a lot to fit into a small amount of time and needed to get up north asap. Ali is used to going to sleep at 3 or 4am instead of waking up at that hour so she began our trip still up from the day before (this later was pretty funny). Our first stop was for fuel and fuel (egg McMuffins and coffeecoffeecoffee!) and then we were really on our way!

Now, the thing to know about any ride that Ali and I take together is that we take tons of pictures...and mostly of ourselves. Actually, most are of me because Ali gets bored and likes to catch me in awkward poses. So as we made our way north on 15 and were both surprisingly awake and chipper as we enjoyed Pennsylvania (love PA). I think our first stop was right outside of Allentown at a nasty little Turkey Hill for gas and el bano (ew) and then a little after at a rest stop where there was a yappy dog. After that we didn’t stop again until New Jersey where I think we went a little crazy at their rest stop because after coming out of the bathroom we both started running. And ran up and around the little path they had, almost falling as we ran down the hill, and back to the car. And we were on our way again through smell New Jersey.

Decided to have no more stops in the Garden State but were excited to drive by Parsippany which is where Daniel Laruso is from! Kept on zooming along through NJ and onto New York:

“Hey Scarlet, where are we?”
”I dunno!”
“No, really..where are we?”
“Oh, New York!”

It’s amusing to drive up there because so many of the signs direct you to New York City which we were avoiding like the plague. Not that I don’t love NYC, I do, but we had a goal of getting to Providence, RI by 2pm and “swinging” through New York City would not have helped with the goal. It’s also around this time that we got a little camera happy which is also amusing because we tend to do this while driving through unknown areas. Almost missed one exit but I am proud to say we didn’t have to turn around once on our way!

Crossed the Tappanzee Bridge was exciting because bridges and water are pretty but again, we took pictures. Halfway across the bridge I decided to drive responsibly and set my own camera down and let Ali take over. After the bridge I saw a sign for “Sleepy Hollow” which was exciting. And this picture, while very cute, is actually about the start of Ali’s exhaustion. I think I told her to grab the peanut butter M+Ms and while reaching behind my seat she nodded off on my shoulder. Ok, I kid, I’m a kidder but the poor thing was so tired! I kept telling her to go to sleep but she felt bad. I’m amazed she was awake for so long.

But then....THEN we reached CONNECTICUT!!! I was so excited. I think one of the funniest parts of the whole trip was us putting on the Gilmore Girls soundtrack and singing along to it while driving through CT. I was like a kid in a candy shop driving through that mecca-like state: pointing out road sides and buildings, hott stone bridges and signs for Yale! But CT was not our destination yet so we continued on towards RI...and Ali went to sleep.

Oh but then I stopped at the Mystic scenic stop thingy and we took some pictures and stretched. But then it was back on the road...me speeding towards RI and Ali sleeping. This part of the trip was very uneventful and I think I spent it texting.

Okay, then we reached Providence and had directions to some random spot in the city but which turned out to be practically nonexistent and in what may have been the ghetto. There are no pictures from this part of the trip because driving there sucks and people kept honking. Apparently, the city forgot to put up road signs to let you know where you are and they also decided that markings on the road aren’t important either. But then we got smart and Ali looked at a map and helped navigate us to Brown University where we took pictures, were cold, and felt smart. We were also STARVING but had no idea where to eat and after driving around for a millisecond we decided to escape from Providence and head out.

So since my original plan had been to stay the night in Providence and then head to Mystic in the morning we had a decision to make: head to Mystic then or take the “long” way and see more stuff. Needless to say we took the long way and got to see more places including Fall River, MA which was conveniently across the bridge that served as our escape from Providence. It was interesting to see where Steven had grown up (did you grow up there?) and I was amazed by how “New Englandy” the houses all looked. I was also envious of their close proximity to the water. We weren’t there long though because we had no idea where to go and were still starving and kept finding ourselves in residential areas with no restaurants. I was disappointed to leave so soon though as I wanted us to buy “We <3 Fall River” sweatshirts to wear around Steven upon our return. We might still make some.

Ali went to sleep and I took over as both driver and map girl which was interesting and I’m still not sure how we made it. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was still photographer at this point, too, while she rested her eyes. We drove for what seemed like forever (but was only about 20 miles) and I was so worried we would read the end. Like, the end of land and we would hit water and have to turn around. But we didn’t, we reached Newport, RI! A cute little town that I would like to spend more time in. Especially after seeing the parts over by the water on our way out after eating cheeseburgers at an internet café place.

It was only about 5 or so then which I couldn’t believe since only about 12 hours ago we had been in Virginia. I’m still amazed by how much we did in such a short amount of time. Ali again passed out a little and I decided to take the “scenic route” towards Mystic, CT because it went by Watch Hill, RI (?) and that was one of the places Katherine said to go to. I didn’t really see any of it because I was driving and it was dark but it was still good to be near it.

Mystic Pizza was obviously our goal for dinner Sunday night but my tendency to see things when tired made the quest pretty amusing. We were about 3 miles from actual downtown Mystic when I exclaim, “MYSTIC PIZZA!” and start to pull into this parking lot. Ali starts laughing and says, “It’s Mystic PLAZA, Scarlet!” And so began the joke of me saying everything was Mystic Pizza and her correcting me. “Mystic Pizza!” “No, it’s Mystic Tire and Auto, Scarlet!” It was funny, I swear. We did finally make it to Mystic Pizza after getting the cheapest AND most comfortable hotel ever (love you, Comfort Inn!) Pizza was GOOD...beer was GOOD but against Ali’s hopes I did not get wasted because I was too tired and full.

Monday came and after getting some coffeecoffeecoffee at the continental breakfast and cursing the rain, we went down the main strip of Mystic to do a little shopping. Got more coffeecoffeecoffee and sent off postcards (if you didn’t get one, sorry but I didn’t have my address book) then bought out the Army/Navy store and picked up a few CDs at the used CD store with the guy who hated us. Maybe he was jealous of our good taste: Alanis Morissette, GNR Lies and Q Best of 2000!

And then...we were off....to....YALE!!!!!!!!! Got to New Haven, CT at noon or so and made our way to a Starbucks to refuel. Now, I’m not sure how to relay how excited I was to see Yale. Words would not do it justice and really, you would think I am crazy for loving a place I have nothing to do with. But I do (love it) and was ecstatic to be there. So ecstatic I made Ali pose for a picture in a Yale bathroom. One of the coolest things that happened was realizing that Yale bookstore is a Barnes and Noble and them telling me I could use my discount. This happened on the bookstore side and Ali got a book and I picked up some notebooks. There was a little confusion at the checkout because of what numbers they use for the discount but it worked so we headed to the clothing bookstore to try our luck there. And guess what-35% off Yale merch!!!!! The guy who rang us up was super weird and seemed suspicious of us, asking, “You’re a Yale employee?” to which I answered, “In Virginia” which makes no sense but when my number worked he had to let it go. 35% is more than I get off for books in a regular BN, it was so awesome!

2pm finally came and we had to race to find a parking spot to get to the visitor’s center for the tour. Unfortunately, New Haven hates all coins except for quarters and we had a hell of a time finding enough for parking. In fact, we only found two and began our tour with only 40 minutes of time on our side. Oh and also, I had forgotten to lock the doors so right before the tour started I had to sprint (yes) to the car, lock it, and return to rejoin the group. The tour, though, was really good and our tour guide was cute, “in that Yale way” as Ali said. It was awesome to learn about how history had influenced certain things and to also get to go inside some of the residential colleges. I totally loved Branford the best;) (GG!) My favorite part of the tour was when he told us about this crazy architect who brought over stones from Ireland for the courtyards floor. Upon hearing this, my Scottish arse quickly stepped off of the stones as I knew Ali would laugh. She did laugh but not for the same reason...she pointed out the two Irish girls in our group and while trying not to laugh, I stuck the tip of my shoe back onto the Irish stones in a gesture of peace;)

The tour ended (=/) and we found our car sans ticket and headed off to find Pepe’s Pizza. “Look, Pepes!” “No, Scarlet, “Popeyes!” hahaha. Pepe’s is in fact, some AWESOME pizza but it was totally intimidating to order. You don’t get menus and the waitress was like, “What do you want?” and I think she chuckled at our Pepe’s inexperience. But the pizza was hella good and so worth it. However, after eating that much pizza in two days we decided every other meal would so not be pizza.

We again had a decision to make: stay in New Haven or move on to Hartford. We decided to move on which turned out to be a good decision as we never would have had enough time to get lost in Hartford, CT had we gone on Tuesday instead. We got a hotel in East Hartford which for the nice price of $59 got us a double bed. It was a nice enough room but after the comfort of the last night, it paled a little in comparison. Famine had set in again so we started trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Ali wanted Chinese but mixed with my hesitancy to try new places we ended up having to abandon that idea. Japanese was out because they were all fairly far away and the other places we called seemed to all be closing at 9pm. We decided to just go driving and find something (always a great idea, right?;) and on our way out of the hotel we picked up a menu for a Chinese place and headed there. That didn’t quite work out and after leaving that area of town we got quite frustrated trying to find an on-ramp for the Interstate to take us to West Hartford where we knew a mall and restaurants were. It got kind of sketchy for awhile as we kept going the same ways and even ended up, “down by the river” and I was afraid we were going to get car jacked. Hopped on a main road and just went the longer way to what I like to call, Mecca. Or Olive Garden, whichever you prefer.

Our waitress was adorable and gave us both (yes, both) wine samples and then I got a margarita and we ate a ton of food. It was the best meal ever. Then we went back to the hotel and I passed out from exhaustion because the next day was a big one...

TUESDAY = DINOSAUR STATE PARK! So, story has it that Rocky Hill, CT has real dinosaur tracks and they built a little park thing over top it. It’s a really cool place and Ali especially had a great time there. We got there at 930am or so and were the first patrons of the day and probably their best after spending some time (and $$) in the gift shop. Then we continued on south en route to Woodbury, CT which in my mind is Stars Hollow!

I think it was while driving through Danbury (or maybe Waterbury, there are a lot of ‘buries) I spotted a Barnes and Noble so we detoured to get coffee and another book for Ali. Good times.

And then...STARS HOLLOW, CT (aka Woodbury/Southbury) which, next to Yale, was the highlight of the trip for me! These towns are so freaking adorable and I made Ali take 43920 pictures as I drove through town a couple of times. Ali then spotted a diner and we just HAD to eat at a diner so we went in. Yum, it was extra good and the coffeecoffeecoffee was just right! Was fun to be in what was obviously the town place to eat and see the people all mingling with each other.

I was sad to leave Connecticut but also knew we had a wicked long drive ahead of us so at about 1 or so we were on our way south again. The ride home was definitely not as easy as the ride up. We hit a little bit of traffic in stupid New Jersey and had a little confusion around the I287 area as we tried to make sure we weren’t headed towards NYC. Ali threatened to kill me and drive my car home if I tried to go that way. PA also felt like a million years and then we missed a road and the detour way felt like a million years. It was weird though because we kept seeing places and things we recognized from our many family vacations to PA. Finally, FINALLY made it home at about 8pm or so.

I love CT...I want to live there.