Monthly Archives: April 2018

April and another weekend away for me. This month brought me back to Connecticut, Farmington this time around.

Friday work day was smooth and easy, the team seemed like we were all in sync and the day went quick. My drive started off uneventful and stayed that way through the two and a half hours that it took me to get to my hotel, Hampton Inn and Suites Farmington. Arrival and checking in where simple, a quick visit to the front desk, my key cards in hand and off to my room.

Got myself settled for the weekend and got ready to go out to dinner. The front desk had a list of local restaurants, so I checked the list out. For some reason, throughout the week I had Chinese on my mind and low and behold there was a Chinese restaurant local, China Pan, so that was my choice. Dinner went well, the egg foo young was just perfect and the lo mein was very tasty.

Back to my room for the night. Spent some time talking with some of my friends on Skype, sharing videos and stories of the day. Slept well, the bed was comfy and the room darkening blinds did a great job of keeping the out side light out.

Morning, had a small breakfast from the complimentary breakfast buffet. Headed out for my days adventures. Stop one, The Mark Twain House and Museum. The Museum had an exhibit running for the month called Tails of Twain. It was a bit of the history of Samuel Clemens pets, the man was a cat person but also had dogs, horses and a cow as pets. There were many pictures and stories to be read. The house itself was the first home built by Mr. Clemens and where he wrote most of his famous books. The Harriet Beecher Stowe house was right next door to the Mark Twain house so I walked over to visit that while I was there. Unfortunately the next tour was booked up. I decided to head off to the local mall, Westfarms Mall, and do a bit of shopping. When I came out I decided to go back to the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. They did not have a tour for 2:00, which is when I got back there, I did ask the attendant on duty for a suggestion where I could go locally and she suggested the Connecticut Historical Society Museum.

Less than a ten minute drive and I was at the CHS Museum. A couple of temporary exhibits where showing. The Shakers exhibit showing some of the fantastic craftsmanship of the Shakers as well as some history of the local Shakers. Next was the That’s Weird – History is Strange, Take A Second Look. So this exhibit lived up to its name, it had some very strange parts to it. The oddest would be the section on death. There was a warning at the door before entering that section. To be honest, I did not find any of it disturbing in any way, but that is just me. I found the entire exhibit to be very interesting and entertaining.

After the museum it was back to my hotel for a bit of rest and relaxation. Played some games on my tablet, watched a bit of television, nothing really interesting there and had me some dinner. Nothing special just a burger and some mac and cheese from a local sub shop whose name escapes me at the moment.

Saturday night or early Sunday morning, depending on your point of view, was the third race of this season of Formula One. I have been enjoying F1 for a few years now. Talking with a couple of my friends who also share the joy of F1, we stayed up to the wee hours of the morning watching this race. It was a fun race to watch even if the end results where not what we had been hoping for.

A very short nights sleep followed the race. Got up and had a light breakfast, mostly because I knew I would be on the road for a while. Packed up and checked out. Headed for home, for the most part the drive was uneventful up until I was about a half hour from home. That’s when the snow and freezing rain started to fall. Slowed me down a bit, instead of a half hour it took just over an hour to get home from that point. As with most April snow, it did not stick around very long but it was a pain at the time.

Got home safely and that ended my Mark Twain weekend.