August 3, 2013

Today was a very long driving day.  We got up at 4:30 and were on the road by 5:15.  We were already in need of a stop at the grocery store so we found a Walmart and I stopped in at 6:15.  Definitely the time to shop.  By this time we had made enough noise that the kids were awake and so we continued our drive up 95.  For the first time ever, we made it through DC with no traffic stops and quickly passed Baltimore.  In New Jersey and New York we started to hit more traffic and by the time we got over the George Washington Bridge, I couldn't wait to see less cars.  We held our breath going under a bridge on a road we shouldn't have been on in New Rochelle and were relieved to get out of the FunV by the time we hit Weir Farm in Wilton, CT.  I read online that their parking lot could not accommodate RV's and so we thought we would bicycle the two miles from the closest grocery store.  However once we were there, we realized the road was too hilly and unsafe for the kids but luckily there was room in the lot.   We parked, stamped our National Park passports and started to ask for junior ranger books when one of the rangers told us we couldn't park there.  Of course he didn't offer any options and said it was a safety thing in the event more people showed up.  So Scott went to the grocery store and took a nap while the kids and I did the park.  Here's the thing.  If you have been to 113 National Parks, Historic sites, battlefields, etc, you know that if the parking lot isn't full by 2:00, it isn't likely to get full.  The kids and I finished their junior rangers (only to find that there was a parking lot on the property used for NP staff that we could have parked in) and called Scott for a ride.  I gave the guy a hard time about the parking situation because when we left, there were less cars than when we started and after all, these parks are this American's backyard.

An hour or so later we arrived in Hartford, CT to stop into see the capitol.  I can really appreciate the age of these older cities with buildings from 1851 and this city has a beautiful capitol building.  But there was no one downtown at 5 PM on a Saturday night.  Another 2 hours and we are finally in Middleboro, MA.  This kids got to play outside a little before we ate a late dinner.  It was a long day but you have to drive those hours to get to the fun stuff and we all survived.  A little jaunt to Rhode Island and Cape Cod tomorrow.