We Call It Storrs...UCONN and Mansfield

Back in 1880, Charles and Augustus Storrs donated some land to make an agricultural school.  Who knew where that train was going?  Today's University of Connecticut at Storrs is it's own town.  And, the area that surrounds it is a lot of fun to spend time in.  My son has some inklings of pursuing his academic career there, so while we were out checking out Connecticut this summer, we went to take a look.  For yet another installment of my in depth study of travel and life in Connecticut I give you Mansfield, Storrs, and Manchester.

I won't lie, when we came into Mansfield on Route 44, I saw a little gathering of buildings wondering how on Earth 20,000 students managed to go to school in such a small place.  I also wondered where the top notch football and basketball teams were holed up.

Needless to say, when my son directed me down the road to the "real campus," I was impressed.  Storrs is the city that's in Mansfield, the tiny town.  There's positively everything there.  Every single building from Gampel Pavilion to the student union is impressive.  I got lost driving around the campus, to the point that we found the agricultural school on the other side.  It was one of the biggest farms I'd ever seen in the northeast.  Long story short, this gargantuan educational city just pops up out of the wilderness that tends to be northeastern Connecticut.  In the end I told my son that if that was what he wanted, I couldn't argue.  I already knew that they have an amazing engineering program and that they are improving that department as we were there.

Being summertime, there wasn't a whole lot going on, although it was busier than colleges used to be in the summer when I was in school.  I wanted to see what else goes on in the area, so our first stop was the UCONN Dairy Bar.  My son spends a lot of time out that way with school programs already, so he told me that I had to try the ice cream that they make right on campus.  He wasn't joking.  If you go out that way, give it a try.  It's worth finding a campus map so you can find the Dairy Bar.  It was some really great ice cream.

But, what to do with spare time in the wilds of northeastern Connecticut?  Well, on the deserted road to UCONN, there was a park called Shelter Falls Park.  You know me. It said falls.  So we stopped at the trail head and went in to take a look.  Along the road there was a little pond/swamp, so we knew that there was water.

It was a little dark in there.  The woods are thick.  There was a cute bridge to cross the stream on.  The walk was nice, and there were cascades.  I don't know if anything I saw was really a falls, but it was a nice park.  It would be a great place to escape when Storrs is a little much.  After that we checked out downtown Mansfield.  There isn't much there.  The whole town is basically Storrs.  The rest is barely a hole in the wall.  So, we moved on.  Where would you go to shop?  Where would you go to eat out?  Where would you go for activities?

We did find a lovely state park called Gay City in Hebron which isn't far.  There's a great picnic area there, with a pavilion and lots of space.  They have a beach on the pond which is quite nice.  They have hiking trails and the whole place is very scenic.  We liked it.  We also found an adventure park by Storrs where you can zip line and climb through the trees.

Manchester, Connecticut is a great place to spend your time, and it's just over 10 miles from Storrs and UCONN.  Case Mountain is the park of choice to visit there.  The view and the trails are great.  But there are many things to do in Manchester.  It's a hub of entertainment in that area of Connecticut.  You can do everything from shop til you drop to shooting archery.  They have an indoor adventure park and a rock climbing spot.  They have movies, arcades, and even a Sonic Drive In.

Manchester has a great downtown with all the small town charm you'd like to see in New England.  They also have a historic district and museums.  There are a lot of parts of Manchester that are scenic and pretty quiet where you can go and just do what you want.

However, where all the highways come together, there's the shopping and eating.  Buckland Hills Mall has been a shopping staple for decades.  It sits up on the hill above the main drag that connects to all the interstates around.  It does share that hill with a lot of other things from Walmart to Christmas Tree Shops to Home Depot and beyond.  Below the hill are strip malls with all kinds of other shops.  This is a great discount shopping area and it's full of really great restaurants.  If you want to get away from school, this is your stop.  Especially the discount shopping.

So, it's an area.  It's not a particular place.  If you want to visit UCONN at Storrs, remember that it's actually in Mansfield.  If you want to check out the neighborhood sights, you will drive around a little.  If you want, there are a lot of things to do right there on campus.  Your child will not be bored.  But, seriously; how did a gargantuan university end up in the middle of nowhere?  Probably because it used to be an agricultural school.  I wonder if Charles and Augustus Storrs had any idea what they were starting?  Enjoy!

http://www.mansfielddrivein.com/#_=_
https://storrsadventurepark.com/#_=_
http://www.mansfieldct.gov/
http://patch.com/connecticut/mansfield
http://www.mansfieldct.gov/filestorage/1904/5357/shelter_falls.pdf
http://www.wickhampark.org/#_=_
http://www.stoneagerockgym.com/#_=_
http://www.soarindoors.com/#_=_
http://www.townofmanchester.org/allsites/main/default.cfm
http://www.booking.com/city/us/manchester-connecticut.en.html?aid=801942;label=yahoogemini-city-manchester-connecticut-ABnyTO6FHpKkFp*Fj_j3LA&utm_source=yahoo-gemini&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ct-connecticut-ct:-manchester-20019012&utm_term=manchester-ct-e
https://www.theshoppesatbucklandhills.com/en.html
http://uconn.edu/
http://maps.uconn.edu/
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/
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http://dining.uconn.edu/uconn-dairy-bar/
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http://www.manchesterhistory.org/MHS3_Home.html
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http://www.zazzle.com/imagings
http://terri-dixon.pixels.com/
https://www.facebook.com/adventuresforanyone?fref=ts
https://www.fictionpress.com/u/530752/Nina-Kindred

One of My Favorite Spots in New York...Ausable!

When I first moved to New England, everyone I knew talked about vacationing in Lake George, New York.  I've done that, and I really enjoyed it.  However, if you drive a couple more hours up I-87 towards Canada, you will arrive in one of my favorite areas of the state.  The town is called Keeseville, but the chasm is called Ausable.

Ausable used to be a small attraction.  It was just the chasm, which is beautiful and amazing.  You walked through it, taking a raft for the last part of the tour.  Then they added the night tour with lanterns, which was really cool.  Now you can take the adventure tour, walk any of a dozen trails, to a photography tour and more.  You can even come up and take the winter tour where you wear crampons and stuff.  You can climb the rock walls, you can rappel down the walls.  If you stay in the campground, all the tours are at a discount and you can do all kinds of stuff.  It's a great place to spend some time.

There's a lot to do.  And in the evening, you can go into town and go out to eat and shop.  It's a lot of fun.

There are activities at the campground too.  You can play Frisbee golf, take a swim in the pool and many other things.

And if you aren't done after, not far away is High Falls Gorge.  I must admit, when I first arrived at this place, I thought it was a rip off.  I was wrong.  Even though it is fenced off and privately owned, it is beautiful and the admission price is well worth it.  It's a short stop, but a gorgeous one.

Also in the vicinity is Howe Caverns.  This heads a cave system that runs down the eastern part of the country.  Howe Caverns is a great place to spend any rainy times while you're in the area.  They have a spot where you can get married too.  They also have a boat trip inside the caverns.

About three miles from Ausable is Port Kent, which sits right on Lake Champlain, and the ferry that takes you to Burlington, Vermont.  There is a little beach there and a snack bar.  It's a great place to watch the sun set after a day at Ausable.

Burlington is the largest city in the vicinity.  They are a college town, and an old town.  The city streets are beautiful, the waterfront is beautiful.  The shopping and restaurants are great.  After taking on the wilderness, this is a great way to balance your trip with some urban time.  Or, at least as urban as you can get in Vermont.

Do you have kids to travel with, or a girl that you would like to romance?  Well, Burlington is home to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory.  You can stop off here and see the bears being made.  You can make one for yourself as well.  It's a lot of fun, I don't care how old you are.

So, take the road less traveled.  Spend some time in the true Adirondacks and spend some time with nature.  Ausable Chasm is one of my favorite places.  The whole area is beautiful and relaxed.  The people are friendly, and the scenery is amazing.  There's a lot to do, and time to reconnect with your family.  Take the time to go north of Lake George.  No offense to that area, but I like something a little less.  A little less crowded, a little less expensive, a little less inhabited.  It's back to nature in a lot of ways, and it's well worth the time.  Come to Ausable.  You won't ever regret it.  Enjoy!

http://highfallsgorge.com/
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/1236
http://www.lakeplacid.com/do/activities/ausable-chasm
http://www.adirondack.net/business/ausable-chasm-976/
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http://www.goodsamclub.com/travel/campgroundsandrvparks/SearchResults.aspx?city=Ausable+Chasm&state=NY
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/travel/what-to-do-in-36-hours-in-burlington-vermont.html?_r=0
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http://www.vermontteddybear.com/
http://www.adirondack.net/towns/keeseville/
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https://www.fictionpress.com/u/530752/Nina-Kindred

Just in Case You Wish To Get Out Of Rome

We've all heard of Rome, Italy.  It's one of the most famous cities in the world and it has been for thousands of years.  The thing is, when you go to a city and you don't come from the city; it can get a little crowded.  So, just in case you are out seeing St. Peter's and the Vatican, or one of the many churches and cathedrals in Rome, or climbing the Spanish Steps, or whatever; take the time to get out of the city for a while.  The place is Ostia Antica.  It's an ancient city just outside of Rome.

Ostia Antica has a Colosseum, but there's so much more.  It has everything.  There are apartment buildings, aqueducts, baths, temples, houses, streets, and everything that the Romans built everywhere they went.  It's not a huge tourist attraction like Pompeii, but it does draw a small crowd.  It's worth it to have that little window that tells us a little bit about how the ancient Romans lived.

The Romans were very advanced for their time.  The idea that there are still ruins marking an entire city is amazing.  In Ostia, you can even see the stone roads.  It's unbelievable that these people had every bit as much of a civilized lifestyle as we do now.  However, the idea of a public bath is unsettling.

This is a paradise for history buffs.  And, it's just around 30 kilometers from Rome.  The museum/park is open during the summer months from 8:30 to 6.  It cost 8 pounds for most of us, so it's not expensive.  It's one of the rare cases where you get to walk around an ancient town where no one lives.  It's a ghost town and historic at the same time.  And you can walk the cobble streets at your leisure.  You can also take a guided tour if you wish.

The beautiful part of this place is that it hasn't been lost on the locals.  There are many companies that will be happy to take you on a tour that includes Ostia Antica.  You can even hire a local personal guide for the trip.  This place is unique in that it's the one that flew under the radar.  We all know about Pompeii and thousands upon thousands of people go there all the time.  Ostia Antica is well preserved and a lot of fun to explore.

You can easily spend a day in Ostia Antica.  And why wouldn't you want to?  Italy is full of ruins and antiquarian sites.  It's just that Ostia is one of the better preserved sites, and you shouldn't miss it.  It's not Rome, but it's better.  It's the ruins without the traffic and extreme crowds.  It's the way to get away when you're in one of the busiest cities in the world.  So, get out of town and come to explore Ostia Antica.  It's one of those places that you didn't ever think of.  It's that place where life slows down for the tourist and the traffic melts away.  So, come and enjoy the antiquities of Ostia Antica.  See life from the perspective of ancient Romans.  Walk the town's streets and imagine a life gone by.

Take some time away from the regular sites and come by and check out Ostia Antica.  Seriously, it's a short drive from Rome, and it gets you away.  It's interesting to see how people lived.  Come by, check it out, step back in time, and enjoy!


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Fairy Tales? Come Visit Efteling!

I like to think that there's a little kid in all of us.  That being said, I still like to visit zoos, Santa Clause, science museums, aquariums, fairs, and theme parks.  Therefore, I would like to present Efteling Theme Park in Holland, The Netherlands.  Being summer, there's no place quite like a theme park to get your juices flowing, and this park is right outside of Rotterdam and is just waiting to amaze you.

Officially begun in 1952, this original park is somewhat of a Disney like park.  If you loved fairy tales growing up, then you will love this place.  Fairytale Land was one of the firsts sections of the park to open.  Now, all these years later, they have roller coasters, water rides and all kinds of amazing things to do.  It's one of the largest theme parks in Europe.

One big difference in this place is that not only are there dragons waiting for you at the roller coaster, but the park is full of fairies.  You just never know what you're going to find.  And, unlike most theme parks in northern latitudes, Efteling is open year round.  Not only can you visit fairy tales, but you can celebrate Christmas there if you like.

Talking trees and dancing fountains make this place special.  There's a little bit of Disney, a touch of Universal Studios, and a pinch of Las Vegas to keep you entertained.  One of my favorite parts are the fountains.  Not only does the water dance, but the fountains also shoot out flames.  That's not something that you see every day.  I wonder what Snow White thought when she woke up to that.

The rides are great.  Not only do you get shot out of a medieval tower, but you get shot through the water.  There are many surprises amongst the rides.  One of the biggest surprises ever is the bobsled ride.  You get to go down a makeshift bobsled run in a sled.  I've never heard of that one in a theme park before.  It may be a one of a kind.

But, if the bobsled isn't your thing, there are a ton of rides from looping coasters to spinning kettles.  There are a lot of things to do.  There's a ride where you sit in a vehicle and the room rotates around you.  There's a haunted house.  This place has it all.

You can ride a pagoda that lifts you high in the air.  Efteling is one of those places that remind you that there are parks out there that aren't Disney or Six Flags.  In Europe there are a lot of great parks, and we hardly ever hear of them because of our giant parks here.  Well, Efteling is huge and it's been a public gathering place for over a century.  Now it's a great place to take the kids.  And it's all right outside of Rotterdam.

So, before you book that trip to Disney; think about Efteling Park.  Let your childhood come to life and spend some time with the Brother's Grimm.  It's a one of a kind park, and it should not be missed.  Britain has Blackpool, and the Netherlands has Efteling.  It's the place to be for a great day with the family.  It's fun, it's literature, it's fairies, and it's a one of a kind experience in Holland.  Pack you bags and head for one of a kind fun at Efteling Park.  Enjoy!

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