Vacations Blog

You thought the current maze of healthcare legislation was bad? Or the Washington twists and turns in The Lost Symbol? They’ve got nothing on the Barack Obama corn maze at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, Connecticut.

Following a child through the corn maze may be your best bet.

Here in New England, visiting apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and corn mazes are all a part of Fall. In fact, if you’re vacationing in New England during the season and you’re not doing one of these things, why are you here? Just for leaf peeping? C’mon, get out of the car and actually do something!

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And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?

With all apologies to the Talking Heads we know where said highway goes – wherever we want.  Eat that train tracks!

I put out a call to our Vacations staff for photos of summer and all that it entails.  The following are their contributions.

Don’t worry, if your favorite writer didn’t submit a photo as they’ve probably got their own story brewing, or they’re just lazy, but probably the story thing.

Ed:

Hatteras, NC

What I did on my summer vacation (in 53 words or less). Read More »

More boats at children's museum

There’s one more Monday in August for adults to get in for the kids’ admission price to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. So in this case, a family of two adults and two children get in for $30.

Our children are still very young, so the attractions for them were: big boats, hands-on fun in the Children’s Museum, the free water taxi ride from one end of the Seaport to the other, and whining. Lots and lots of whining. But still! Family fun!

We started our visit by taking part in an audience-participation re-enactment (in the very loosest sense) of a whaling journey, performed by some very enthusiastic young actors.  They did a great job of getting the kids involved and interested, and we referred back to the story they told when we looked at some of the historical items on display. Read More »

Where do you go to drop almost $100 bucks just for a few hours of family fun and maybe a drop or two of learning?  A children’s museum, of course.  We are visiting family in Connecticut, and so we took the late morning of a sunny Friday and headed to Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk.  Right off I-95 and set back from the road in Mathews Park, Stepping Stones is remarkable from the outside with its unusual roof that you can actually see from the highway.  Inside is a wonderland of hands-on activity for young children.

Stepping Stones Museum For Children

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We’re no Mother of Presidents like Ohio, but it’s not too bad a showing.  I’m talking about the number of presidents that have called New England home. In fact, it only takes four of New England’s six states to match the eight presidents (that’s nearly twenty percent of them, isn’t it?) that the Buckeye State has given us. Here’s a rundown of who they are and what they’ve left behind for travelers to see.

Birthplace of John Adams

John Adams (2nd President)

The Adams Family (no, not that Addams Family) was the first political dynasty of America. Our second president was born in 1735 in Braintree, Massachusetts (which later became the town of Quincy in 1792). Adams National Historic Park in Quincy is a nearly 14 acre compound that includes the birthplace of John Adams and his later home with Abigail which they called Peacefield. Both homes and the surrounding gardens are open for tours.

Not only was John Adams the only one of our first presidents to have a son, but one of his sons also became president.

Birthplace of John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams (6th President)

How about having to live up to John and Abigail Adams as parents? John Quincy Adams was born in 1767 in Braintree, and was groomed for politics from a young age. His birthplace also stands in Adams National Historic Park.

Adams wasn’t known as a great president, but interestingly he held more federal offices than most presidents—President, United States Senator and Representative, Secretary of State, and Ambassador. He was, in fact, one of only two former presidents to return to Washington after his presidency to serve in Congress, and was elected to eight terms in the House of Representatives where did have an excellent reputation. Both John and John Quincy Adams along with their wives are buried in Quincy in United First Parish Church.

The Pierce Manse

Franklin Pierce (14th President)

The 1804 birthplace of fourteenth president Franklin Pierce in Hillsborough, New Hampshire is now under water. But at least they call it Franklin Pierce Lake and it serves his hometown as reservoir. The year Pierce was born however, the family moved to a new home which does still stand in Hillsborough as the Pierce Homestead. A later home of Pierce, the Pierce Manse, can also be visited in Concord, New Hampshire.

Pierce too wasn’t known as a great president, but there are some interesting facts about him. Like you might expect from a mid-nineteenth century Romantic, he associated with writers—one of his best friends was Nathaniel Hawthorne and another friend was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. At least he had good drinking buddies. That’s probably why he died of cirrhosis.

Replica of Chester Arthur Birthplace

Chester Arthur (21st President)

Vermont calls Chester Arthur the other president born in the Green Mountain State. To me this assumes that people know at least one other Vermont-born president. I know all of us UpTake readers are smart, but Americans in general…not so much. (The tag also brings to mind “the other white meat” which is not, I think, what they were going for.)

Arthur was born in Fairfield, Vermont in 1829. There was some speculation at times though that he may have actually been born in Ireland or Canada—which would have made him ineligible to be president. His original birthplace in Vermont did not survive, but was reconstructed in 1950 and is a state historic site.

Childhood Home of Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge (30th President) 

That’s right, Coolidge is the president from Vermont. He’s also the only president to be born on the Fourth of July—in 1872. His childhood home in Plymouth Notch still stands and is actually the site where the thirtieth president was sworn in by his father, a Justice of the Peace. Vice-President Coolidge had been visiting his family when he received the news by messenger that President Warren Harding died on a speaking tour in California.

Coolidge was also one of the first presidents to have an official library. The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum is found in Northampton, Massachusetts where Coolidge was once mayor and where he returned to reside after his presidency.

JFK Presidential Library and Museum

John Kennedy (35th President) 

Kennedy might be remembered as the most popular president from New England—and he had the accent to prove it. Just visiting Kennedy sites alone could make up a vacation.

Kennedy’s 1917 birthplace is in Brookline, Massachusetts near Boston and is preserved as a national historic site. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is nearby in the Dorchester section of Boston.

Beyond Boston, the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod served as the summer White House during Kennedy’s presidency. The six acre area includes several Kennedy family homes, but they are closed to the public. The John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum however is open to the public. In Newport, Rhode Island, visitors can also enter St. Mary’s Church where John Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953.

Marker of the Birthplace of George Bush

George H.W. Bush (41st President) 

The first Bush in the office of president was born in 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts. The home is private, but a stone marks the site. Shortly after George’s birth, the family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut where George was raised. The family also spent much time at the summer home of Bush’s grandfather, Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush, in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Following service in the Army during World War II and college at Yale University in New Haven, Bush and his family moved to Texas where he still resides. Bush also still owns and visits the family home in Kennebunkport several times a year.

Childhood Home of George W. Bush

George W. Bush (43rd President)

Like his father, “W” is better known as a Texan. But he was born in Connecticut in 1946 at Grace-New Haven Community Hospital (later Yale-New Haven Hospital). Bush moved to Texas with his family in 1948, and resides there again following the recent end of his two terms as president.

There you have it—the Presidents of the United States with roots in New England. And even though they were born in four of the six New England states, Kennedy’s wedding and Bush’s summer home get in the other two.

Despite being six states, New England is a pretty compact area. It might be kind of interesting—especially to a presidential history buff (or maybe only to a presidential history buff)—to visit each of these sites. That could probably be done in just a few days time or it could take a couple of weeks if you take in other attractions.  But if you come, do it in the late spring, summer or fall. It’s still pretty cold and wet here for Presidents Day in February.

One of the best things about having a three-year-old is that their fascination with the world around them can, in turn, rekindle that same fascination in a 41-year-old codger like me. The fascination du jour? Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs. Isn’t it convenient then that we have near us one of the largest dinosaur tracks sites in the country?

Dinosaur State Park is located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut about 10 minutes south of Hartford. The Park officially opened in 1968—two years after more than 2,000 tracks were uncovered during a building excavation. The tracks are from the early Jurassic period and were made over 200 million years ago by a carnivorous dinosaur similar to Dilophosaurus.

Surrounding the geodesic dome that provides cover for 500 tracks (the remaining 1,500 have since been buried to preserve them) are a series of nature trails and the Dinosaur State Park Arboretum, home to conifers, katsuras and ginkgoes and others that would have been common when the great beasts roamed the earth.

In addition to the tracks, visitors will find under the dome life-sized dioramas depicting the Triassic and Jurassic periods complete with common plants and creatures including the aforementioned Dilophosaurus. There are also several interactive displays, a reconstruction of a geologic foundation, highlights of the tracks’ discovery, as well as a discovery room with several lizards, some Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dinosaur arts and crafts: emboss a bookmark with footprints or create a dinosaur-shaped ornament.

There is also an auditorium that shows educational films on the weekends. Most recently they were showing Dinosaurs with Bill Nye (the Science Guy), however the subjects do rotate. During warmer months, visitors can create their own track cast in the track casting area. If you’re so inclined, be sure to bring the necessary supplies.

The park grounds are open daily 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (trails close at 4:00 p.m.). The exhibit center is open 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Tuesday thru Sunday—closed Mondays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The cost is $5 for adults and teens (13 and over); $2 for youths (ages 6-12); and Free for children five and under.

Of all the vacation attractions in Connecticut, I think that Mystic Seaport in Mystic most defines the state’s history. From the seventeenth century, a naturally protected shoreline on Long Island Sound has provided safe harbors for trading, fishing and whaling ships. In 1929, Mystic Seaport—the Museum of America and the Sea—was founded as a maritime museum of these tall ships, ship building, and a recreated nineteenth-century coastal town. My family has a membership there which pays for itself with just two or three visits each year.

It won’t surprise anyone who knows me to learn that my favorite time of year at the Seaport is summer. Even in winter though—and especially around the holidays—there are some fantastic programs going on for visitors. This year Time.com listed Mystic Seaport as the number two holiday destination in the United States. Here are its three most popular holiday attractions.

Lantern Light Tours

Lantern Light Tour at Mystic Seaport

This is much more than a tour—it’s a show that moves its audience from place to place.  Groups are greeted by a costumed guide who’ll bring them through the town on Christmas Eve in the year 1876.  Based on the premise that the town is putting on a production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the tour blends Seaport history with the familiar Christmas ghost story.

Tours run through December 28 on scheduled dates and reservations are strongly recommended.  Admission fees and other details can be found at the Seaport website.

Carol Sing

On December 21, the Seaport hosts its annual Community Carol Sing which attracts thousands of visitors each year.  Even better?  If you bring a canned food to be donated to charity, your admission is free.  All ships, buildings and exhibits will open at 10 a.m., the Seaport’s carolers perform at 2 p.m., and at 3 p.m. the Community Carol Sing begins.

The Community Carol Sing attracts thousands to Mystic Seaport.

Another great attraction to take in this day is at the Seaport’s planetarium.  The Star of Bethlehem is a show about “the splendor of the winter skies, merging science, mythology, religious observance, winter traditions and music.”  (I didn’t think I could paraphrase that great description.)  The planetarium program runs hourly from noon through 3 p.m. and does require an additional admission of $2.50 ($2.25 for members), but it’s worth it.

Holiday Magic

We all know that museums sometimes bore kids to tears. And I literally mean tears. But even my seven year-old has been enjoying Mystic since she was about two. There are playscapes (for warmer weather) and a children’s building that a lot of kids don’t want to leave.

Taking advantage of kids’ love for the Seaport, they’ve scheduled some activities for the school break that cater to families and kids. Tours aboard a historic fishing schooner include sailors’ stories about their holidays at sea and their families back home. Daily nineteenth-century magic shows and even some how-to magic should interest young illusionists. Special shows are also at the planetarium, and another exhibit lets kids explore a far away sea—the Arctic—at the museum’s newest exhibit. Daily schedules and admission fees are available at the Seaport website.

I may be a warm weather type of guy, but activities like these at Mystic Seaport make even me think winter in Connecticut may be bearable. As much as I love the Seaport any time of year though, I’m still waiting for spring and summer.

All photos courtesy of Mystic Seaport, the Museum of America and the Sea.