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Relaxing Weekend

Planned a weekend trip to visit the Dinosaur State Park, Hilton Gardens Inn Hartford North was my choice for lodging for the weekend. Less than a 20-minute drive from the park. Conveniently located right off Route 91, Hilton Garden Inn is close to a selection of restaurants and shopping.

Arrival and check-in was quick and easy as I had done an online check-in the day before. Check-in desk had my key cards ready for me, I got the little amenities speech and I was off to my room. My room was the 1 King Bed with Walkout Balcony with Skyline View. The view was nice, a large panoramic view of the city and the airport was in the distance. I enjoyed sitting out on the balcony and watching planes land and takeoff for a bit.

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The room was clean, and the bathroom had nice fresh towels and a collection of toiletries for use. I noticed a lack of drawers for me to store my stuff in, but I made use of what was available. Entering the room was a small counter with a Kiering coffee maker, a minifridge and a microwave. A large counter made up most of the room. A television with a selection of local programming in the center of the counter for entertainment. On one side of the television was open area for what ever usage you could come up with, the other side of the television was a desk area with LAN ports, a desk lamp and a desk chair that was comfortable. balkin

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The bed and sofa/with pullout bed covered the other wall. Night stands on either side of the bed with lamps, a phone on one side and an alarm clock on the other finishes up the room amenities.

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I use WIFI to connect with my friends through Skype, the inn offers a complimentary level as well as a premium level for an additional 4.95 per night. I always get the premium level because of my WIFI usage. I had not issues with the internet access, listening to Pandora, watching streaming videos and such where seamless.

Sleeping was refreshing, the room was quiet overnight getting no outside sound or any from within the inn. The room darkening blinds did their job wonderfully, keeping out any light from the parking lot, as well as the morning sun.

With morning comes breakfast, and Hilton Gardens offers a breakfast buffet with a good selection of self serve items and cooked to order eggs, pancakes and French toast. I had a ham and cheese omelet with a couple of pancakes with some sugar free syrup.

Second night was as good as the first. Slept well, had a nice breakfast and got ready for my drive home. Checkout was a quick and easy, a quick visit to the front desk, turn in my key cards and off for my drive home.

Hilton Garden Inn was a great place to spend a weekend, if my plans bring me to the area in the future this will be where I will stay.

 
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Posted by on June 15, 2018 in Hotel Review, Travel, Weekend Trips

 

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Rained Out Plans

May’s weekend trip has come and passed. Had made my plans to visit Dinosaur State Park and enjoy the outside activities. My stay was at the Hilton Gardens Inn Hartford North/Bradley Int’l Airport in Windsor Connecticut.

Fridays work day ended well, and I was headed for the Inn around 3:00. I had already done an online check-in, so it was just a matter of getting my key cards and headed to my room. The room was nice and clean, and the temperature was very comfortable after a warm day outside. A quick shower and off to dinner and a bit of fun shopping.

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Dinner was at a restaurant that I have not eaten at previously, TGI Fridays. My server, Susane, was very friendly and helpful. Dinner was the Center cut Sirloin and shrimp, a bowl of the White Cheddar Broccoli Cheese Soup and I finished with the Red Velvet Sparkler Cake, Dinner was very filling, and I took more than half of my dessert back to my room with me.

A quick stop by Bookends Adult Superstore for a little browsing. I ended up picking myself up a new toy for the weekend. Let’s just say, I made a good choice. The store itself was fun to visit, the staff where pleasant and knowledgeable and I felt very comfortable.

Back to my room for a relaxing evening. Good sleep overnight. Breakfast in the morning was a buffet from the Inn. Had a made to order ham and cheese omelet and a short stack of pancakes with some sugar free syrup.

My plans for the day was to visit the Dinosaur State Park to wander around the outside area. Unfortunately, with the morning came rain and put damper on my plans. For a change up, I decided to find a place to play a little billiards. There is a Dave and Buster’s in Hartford and I know most of them have tables, so that became my first destination. Not really difficult to find as it is located near the mall, plenty of parking available.

As a weekend full of unfortunates, this location of Dave and Buster’s does not have billiard tables. I did spend about an hour playing some games of chance before I headed out to find a billiards table. A quick Google search for billiards and Hartford had me setting my GPS to Nomad Adventure Quest.

A 15-minute drive brought me to the parking lot for Nomads. The parking lot was rather large and packed. From what I could see, Nomads is a large, indoor entertainment complex. Besides the billiards I also saw a basketball court, a lazar tag arena, a small short order restaurant, a bar and a lot of games to earn tickets from.

As the weekend was shaping up for me, the billiards where not available for rental due to an event that was going on that day. I did not feel like playing any of the games as I had already done enough of that at Dave and Buster’s. So, back to my car and off to find something to do.

Sadly, I could not come up with anything. I decided to get some lunch and head back to my room for a relaxing afternoon. Got a chicken cutlet sub with an order of onion rings at the Family Pizzeria in Windsor. The sandwich and rings made for a tasty lunch.

Spent a little time with my new toy, had a shower and relaxed doing some channel surfing. Didn’t really find anything interesting so I took a nap. I woke refreshed and headed out for dinner. Ended up getting Wendy’s, a Ranch Asiago Club and fries. I know, I should be eating better but I was not in the mood for a sit-down dinner this night.

Back to my room and settled in for a good night’s sleep. The morning came with another breakfast, this time I settled on light fare, mostly because my day was going to be filled with driving. But before the drive came a Formula One race, watched while talking to my friends on Skype. Fun race.

Got myself together and checked out. The drive home took about 2 and a half hours, the weather was nice, and the traffic was light. It made for a nice drive.

 
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Posted by on May 30, 2018 in Travel, Weekend Trips

 

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