Hampden County

We departed Provincetown before breakfast today, due to the amount of driving planned. After getting some petrol we realised that Rhode Island wasn’t too far of a detour from our schedule, so decided to divert so we could say we had officially visited all six New England states!

We probably should’ve asked some opinions though about the best part to visit! We went to the capital city Providence and visited Historic Federal Hill, one of the town’s popular neighbourhoods, and were underwhelmed by the look of the city, with old roads and run-down buildings. We thought we would go for a coffee and literally found only two cafes - both completely full - before deciding to try elsewhere instead.

We found a nearby Denny’s and enjoyed a meal there (despite an altercation between a female customer and the staff), before continuing towards Connecticut. Our first stop was the quaint seaside town of Mystic, famous from the film “Mystic Pizza”. It was fortunate we parked outside of town though, as the traffic was chaotic. I regretted wearing warmer clothes today - the cool weather of Provincetown wasn’t prevalent there.

Before leaving Australia, we had made plans to catch up with a couple we’d met on the Trans-Mongolian railway 12 years ago, John and Carla. John suggested we meet up in the town of Chester, Connecticut which was a beautiful town amongst the woods, holding a Farmer’s Market that day. They also brought their three daughters along, so the seven of us had lunch in a nearby sandwich cafe. They did mention how Seaport is actually the place to visit in Rhode Island so at least we will know for next time!

We continued through Connecticut past the cities of Hartford and Springfield, the latter I partly wished we’d visited as a sign indicated there was a Dr. Seuss Museum there! We arrived at Holyoke where our last-minute hotel is, and even got to place a pin on a world map, showing how the hotel now had their first ever guests from Adelaide!

After checking in and getting ready, we drove to nearby Northampton to see our friends Stephen and Woody who have recently moved here from Fort Lauderdale. Very recently actually, since most of their moving boxes are still unpacked! Whilst having appetisers, their son Tony came downstairs which scared us all as he’s still suffering from Covid! I’m guessing he was wondering who was visiting.

After taking their dog Augie for a quick walk, the guys drove us into nearby Northampton which they chose to live in as it’s a very gay friendly town. It actually impressed us a lot - for a small town it had a lot of shops, restaurants, pubs and parks. Ted and I agreed we could both easily live there. We went for a drink at one of the bars before heading back for Stephen’s home cooked meal of eggplant pasta. Delicious!

We probably could’ve stayed longer if it wasn’t so late by the time we left, but it was definitely wonderful to see the guys again. Tomorrow we leave New England for the Catskills so hopefully we can sleep in a bit tomorrow.Leggi altro