Day in the Life of an Idiot

I am an expert come-along friend.  One of the things I specialize in, as your come-along friend, is a keen desire to see really weird things and to try to talk you into following me on some odd adventures along the way.

Today, Indigenous People's Day, my friend naomikritzer has a gig at a library in Luverne, Minnesota. She and a couple of other writes (though not me) will be talking to whoever shows up at the local library. Laverne is not all the far from the Twin Cities, but the timing of the event made it difficult to make into a workable daytrip (for a late riser.)  So, we headed down yesterday.

I pulled out my handy-dandy Roadside America map and had us make a few stops along the way. The one place that I knew that Naomi needed to see, if she had not before (and she had not!) was the candy store in Jordan, MN This candy store bills itself as The World's Largest, but I have noticed some signs now proclaiming only to be Minnesota's largest. 



Image: Me and Naomi next to the sign proclaiming the shop to be Minnesota's largest...

The internet is pretty sure that the actual largest candy store in the world is b. a. Sweetie  in Ohio. There is another in the running in Dubai. But, the one in Minnesota is well worth the stop, regardless. They have a whole section on nostalgia candies, imported candy, as well as things that aren't candy at all, like local apples, beef jerky, sodas, and more. The only thing we did backwards here is that we probably should have stopped for lunch BEFORE braving the massive crowds. 

Generally, however, well worth the detour. 

Pickings were a little slim on Hwy 169, but in Saint Peter, MN, we stopped at the Saint Peter's Pearly Gates.


Image: A bad selfie of me in front of the Pearly Gates

I jokingly noted that I now have the perfect obituary photo. Though most people who know me at all would be vey surprised to imagine that I'd be standing in front of the Other pearly gates, as I'm pretty sure they officially bar pagans and dykes. What's amusing about these gates is that they're just there to be a photo op. They are next to a park building in Levee Park, which otherwise has a very nice view of the river (the Minnesota, I think.) Naomi, who plays Pokemon Go, was not at all surprised to discover that this spot was a gym and was able to take it over and leave behind a ghostly pokemon. Seems very appropriate, IMHO.

We had to skip the two story outhouse, but did see along the way the last Big Boy and the sign for the Jolly Green Giant.

The final stop was off Hwy 60. It's called Curt's Aluminum Statues. We managed to miss getting in, as they have Thursday-Saturday hours, but we were able to park and walk around the exterior. This is fully my kind of weird place. It should be noted that all of the statues are on sale (and Naomi said she would actually have priced a set of gnomes.)  



Image: The "Oh Dear Driving School" with a taxidermy deer at the wheel, the VW Bug is painted to resemble a ladybug (sort of).

It was a little disappointing not to be able to go in, but we could see a lot of it by walking around the exterior.  

Luverne itself is apparently the home of a large collection of nutcrackers (over 5,000?!) in its historical society. We may try to see those, but a lot of museums are closed on Mondays, generally, and, of course, today is a Federal Holiday (though not one celebrated by Minnesota.)  Their website claims they have Monday hours, but we'll see. 

But, I will also be doing some research for what we might stop and check out on the way back. 

 
Image: Dr. Evermore birds... in Madison (Me for scale. I am only 5'2" but not ant-sized as picture might have you believe.)

I must apologize for the radio silence. After we packed up Mason, we did a LOT of days of just driving. I can report for "What Are You Reading Wednesday," that I finished up the audiobook of Darcie Little Badger's A Snake Falls to Earth. I tried to start a number of other books, but bounced out of them due to narrators that drove me a little crazy for various reason, the most annoying of which was a female reader who decided for reasons known only to herself to read the one female character on the crew in a falsetto. It was oddly off-putting, so I sent that one back, unfinished. 

But, so, other than just driving and listening to audio tapes, we only made a couple of stops on the way back. The first was to see my mother-in-law, Margaret, whom I think I noted is in hospice. She apparently waited for our return and a chance to talk to Mason because we just got the news that she's taken a downturn. She's now on oxygen and morphine. You wouldn't have known it during our visit though. She rallied for us, following the conversation like a trouper, even offering candies to Mason, like she did when he was just a smol. 

I'm glad that we had no other plans that day and so we could spend as much time as we needed. Then we only made the short jump from Indiana to Madison. I really wanted to be sure to devote some time to the Deke Slayton Museum (more on that in a moment) and so didn't want to be rushing through Chicago traffic to try to get there before it closed. Because it was such a short drive, we ended up at our hotel super early and the room wasn't ready for us yet. Luckily, I am always ready with roadside attractions. 

The first place we stopped was the site where Elvis broke up a fight...


Image: a really bad silhouette of Elvis and a long description of the event of June 24, 1977.

Roadside America is one of my favorite resources because, literally, this plaque is on the corner of a car dealership. I mean, they actually keep it up and it's not as difficult to find as you might think given it's obscure history, but the gas station where this fight took place is long gone. 

From there, we drove past a gold Civil War Statue, but did not stop for a photo op because it wasn't really worth a detour. If you follow the link, you can decide for yourself. Then, we checked out the scrap metal birds (picture above) which were ABSOLUTELY worth the detour. 

By the time we were finished with all that, we were able to check into our hotel room and take a short nap. When it was time for dinner, we briefly thought we wanted Japanese fast food, but it turned out that fast food is always kind of gross no matter which country of origin. So, Mason and I headed to State Street (Shawn opted to eat some of the not-great food to save her arthritic knees.) I think it was just as well that we left Shawn at the hotel, because Mason and I ended up being storm chasers when the TORNADO SIRENS went off. Luckily, that was after we ate at a really wonderful Taiwanese place, and were headed back to the car. As the sirens were wailing and our phones were yelling at us to shelter in place, we sat in a the car parking ramp for a long time trying to judge just how green the sky was and whether or not it was smarter to go or stay. But, after the second call from Shawn, who was worried sick, of course, we decided to make a break for it. We timed it between bursts of storm, but it was pretty harrowing. There were branches down and whatnot, but other than very threatening skies we never saw (or heard) anything truly scary, but it was still freaky, you know? Not going to lie. This will be an adventure we'll talk about for awhile.

Back at the hotel, we sat in an interior hallway with a bunch of other Midwesterners. The tourists were all outside watching the storm. 

Today, we struck out for LaCrosse to visit my dad the day after his 83rd birthday. But, we got up early enough so that we could be at the Deke Slayton Bicycle and Space Museum around when it opened at 10 am. 


Deke Slayton statue (me for scale.)

I absolutely LOVED this museum. The bicycles and Deke really aren't connected in anyway that is obvious in the exhibit, but both stories are told well in their own way. There's a TON of astronaut memorabilia, specifically around Deke's story. And, if you're at all a fan of space, real life NASA stuff, and/or For All Mankind, this is an absolute must of of detour.  It's a very unassuming little museum, tucked into the top floor of a historical Masonic Hall. Likewise, Sparta is a surprisingly lovely town--given how many Trump signs we saw in the other small Wisconsin towns we tried to visit for these kinds of things. 10/10 would recommend. 

 In LaCrosse, we had a great visit with my folks and got to have the traditional poppyseed cake for my dad's birthday and a lunch out at Rudy's Drive-In. (And, yes, our food was delivered by a young women on roller skates!)

Now we are home with a pizza delivery on the way. I'm just relieved to not be in a car anymore. Though we could not have asked for better driving conditions along Scenic Highway 61. 

Despite starting out under an air-quality alert with a lot of smog and then driving into misty rain near Madison, I'd say that the first day of our trip out to Connecticut was a rousing success. 

For those of you just now tuning in, Shawn and I are on an extended road trip to pick up our son, Mason, from university. He's ending his junior year (3rd year) at Wesleyan, which is located in Middletown, Connecticut. Because this is also sort of our family vacation, Shawn and I always try to plan an extra day of travel so that we can do a little light exploring of at least one state along the way. (Depending on how we go, we tend to pass through several: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut.) This year, despite it being my home state and the closest to Minnesota, where we are starting out, we decided to start with a meander through Wisconsin. (We will do more of the same on the trip back home.)


Image: a steampunk-junky scrap-metal cockroach

 
Image: Wildflowers at the Great River Bluffs State Park.

On Monday, my family and I went down to LaCrosse, Wisconsin for a somewhat impromptu visit to my my parents. Ostensibly, we were also there to give Mason a chance to drive around in a very low-traffic, smallish town, but, honestly, since recently discovering the very Stepford suburb of North Saint Paul that was less of a priority. It'd been way too long since I'd seen my folks, so this was a nice excuse.

To explain my comment regarding North Saint Paul, I should say that I thought of taking Mason to North Saint Paul because I used to rather enjoy my shifts at their Ramsey County Library Branch. I remember the suburb as being kind of quiet and forgotten, but in the best possible way.  So, I don't mean to dis this town in any serious way. However, driving around we seem to have discovered that the city has a series of streets named after women on one side of a rather busy thoroughfare and men on the other. And, we're talking about very WASPY names, like Betty Avenue and Margaret Street. (Betty, by the way, total dead end.) And, there are also streets legitimately named Memory Lane and Memory Court. So, while I'm sure the residents of North Saint Paul are all nice people, except for that one person with the Don't Tread on Me flag and F*ck Biden signs in the yard, it's just that their street names are a bit... spooky, in a Stepford sort of way.

Great driving, though.

The trip down to LaCrosse was great fun. We managed to roll Mason out of bed and into the car by 8 am-ish. The weather continues to be phenomenal. We normally take Scenic Highway 61 down and that drive is insanely gorgeous.... and closed somewhere between Red Wing and Lake Pepin. Except somehow we missed the detour signs in Red Wing and ended up having to depend on GPS to get us around the torn up bits. GPS has us off-roading? Like, seriously, dirt and gravel roads? But, it worked out. As I was telling naomikritzer earlier today, I wish we hadn't missed the signs? Because on the way home we got on the official detour and it was just as GORGEOUS only the views we had were up and down the bluffs... I would go that way for variety some time, if I can remember it!  

The visit with the folks was pleasant. We had a great lunch, good company, and my dad got to drive around with Mason (who did amazingly with the extra pressure of needing to impress Grandpa.) 

On the way home, I talked my family into a couple of short detours. One was to the Great River Bluffs State Park, which we didn't fully explore, although we did hike out the full 0.1 miles to this amazing overlook:


Image of the Mississippi and the Black River delta.

For those of you who imagine that the Midwest is entirely flat, that dark line on the horizon is the Wisconsin-side bluffs. We don't have mountains, it's true, but the bluffs are also NOT FLAT. This is the landscape I grew up in: deep river valleys and sandstone bluffs. You can perhaps see how I feel a certain affinity to Pennslyvania's rolling foothills and mountains. East Coasters are welcome to look up the elevation of our bluffs and snicker into your sleeves, but I dare you to drive down this part of the scenic highway and not be at LEAST a little awed by the majesty of the landscape. 

Then, I talked my family into stopping at John A. Latsch State Park. I've heard that this is the tiniest of State Parks, but it really has to be seen to be believed. For one, when you turn off the highway you're literally already there. There are zero amenities. No camping. Two picnic tables and a singular trail...


Image: my old enemy! (Stairs).

...entirely comprised of stairs. 580-some stairs? Since the signage made it very clear that we could not expect to make it to the end of the trail in less than an hour, we chose not to take the trail. I sort of regret it? I may already be making plans to return! I honestly sort of love this ridiculous park for its singular, insanely challenging trail?

Today meanwhile was vacation hangover. I have been a grouch all day and have gotten NOTHING done.

At least tomorrow is another day.

 
Image: Brat and German potato salad

German-Americans sure know how to party. I say this having grown up in LaCrosse, Wisconsin which hosts a gigantic Oktoberfest every year. Turns out, this is true on a smaller scale, too. 

On Sunday, when the weather was nearly ideal here in St. Paul (72 F / 22C), Shawn and I decided to check out the Deutsch Tage / German Days festival being put on by the Germanic American Institute, a building on Summit Avenue that we drive by nearly every day on the way to Shawn's work at the History Center. 

It was amazing.

Now, keep in mind that I am easily amused, so... if you decide to book ahead for next year, this might not impress you as much as it did Shawn and I. Both of us, at heart, are small town girls. So a big band tent and a bunch of metal folding chairs and tables on a large lawn screams PARTY TIME to the two of us. 


Image: I mean... wild times, am I right?

I was most interested in the food; Shawn was most interested in getting a peek inside the Germanic American Institute's building. We started off with Shawn's goal. After walking around the exterior of the festival--food trucks parked on Summit, a couple of informational/arts booths (ranging from local jewelry artists, German hats, and random things like All Energy Solar,) the beer garden in the back parking lot with more food stalls and a whole lot of German beers on offer, and some German language booths/booksellers--we ventured indoors. They were giving an official tour on Sunday at 1 pm, but the building was open for exploration to the public. It's a nifty old building--



Image: yoinked from the internet, but this is what it looks like on the exterior.

The ground floor had two big halls, one of which they had filled with desserts made by the ladies of the Institute. Since we had not yet had lunch, we didn't stop to sample them. However, Shawn picked up some literature and discovered that they are doing dessert and coffee EVERY SATURDAY for the public. We have this set of errands we religiously do every Saturday (which, for reasons of being silly we always try to make alliterative.) At their basic they are cardboard (a stop at the Waste Management site in order to drop off the larger cardboard that we tend to accumulate that doesn't fit in our bin), coffee (self-evident), and car (a stop at Mr. Car Wash to buff up the Camry.) We are now thinking about how to include dessert. Perhaps we will do the thing where we change all the "c"s to "k's and call it Klatsch, Kardbord, Koffee, and Kar. I dunno, maybe too many "K"s for comfort.... or should I say "komfort."


Image: small sample of the deserts on offer

We then wandered the second floor which housed their library and game room, as well as a few other meeting rooms. The third floor is where they had a model train exhibit set up and a craft/makers' space for kids. I took a video of the model train set-up because, of course, they had it themed as an idyllic German town. I was particularly amused by the tiny cow miniatures. There was also a basement ratskeller (basically a basement tavern). 

It was fun to just wander around and peek in places. Shawn had heard that the building had once been a nunnery? I have not done any research to confirm, but you could see it. There were a lot of small rooms to fit a little community of people. 

Back outside, I finally got my brat.  There were a couple of options for brats. The line by the "brathaus" which was run by the Germanic American Institute themselves had a super long line, so I opted for the food truck, which specialized in Austrian bratwurst (pictured above.) I got the potato salad as well, though I later also stood in line to get a potato pancake (basically latkes?)  I had to stand in the beer/schnapps queue in order to get sodas for Shawn and I and I happened to be directly behind a youngish man who was test tasting the schnapps. At one point his eyes bugged out and I said, "Yeah, that stuff will kill ya." And he turned to me and said, "OMG. YES." 

So, I mean I suspect that a lot of the fun that was had was alcohol fueled (much as it is in LaCrosse.) However, we sat on the grass, ate our food, and watched people who had come dressed up to polka, waltz, and do a fun little conga line.

Several hours well spent, IMHO.

How about you? Do anything fun this weekend?

 Today was not a day for putting miles behind us, as it were, but a day to take in some sights. I fell in love with Pennsylvania the first time we drove through it on the way to drop Mason off at college. The stretch we drove along I-80 is full of rolling hills that remind me strongly of the bluffs and coulees of my hometown in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and the surrounding Driftless Zone, as it's called. 

As I mentioned before, growing up, my family used to send out Groundhog's Day cards, and so I've always kind of "celebrated" Groundhog's Day in some fashion. So, it seemed only fitting that since we were passing right past Punxsutawney, we should stop. 

I found this whole town to be rather delightful.

First of all, there were statues of "Phil" all over town, much like there are statues of Snoopy all over St. Paul. The first one we saw was actually outside a Wendy's. 


Image: a statue of a groundhog dressed as Wendy's.... 

If this horrifies you in any way, Punxsutawney is not for you. The whole town has gone ALL IN on the cheesy goodness of their beloved rodent, Punxsutawney Phil. You can see the actual groundhog at the local library, where he has a den he shares with Punxsutawney Phyllis. Here is a picture of me and the statute right outside of his "burrow."


Image: Me and Phil outside his library burrow.


I did not get a great picture of the rodent himself, because the glass he was behind had been scratched and smudged by a thousand faces all pressed in to see him. But, you can view him either from outside or from the inside of the library, in the children's section.

Here is the terrible picture of this world famous rodent:

Image: A smudgy view of the furry butt of the world famous weather predicting rodent.

He looks like he's hiding here, but he was actually busy digging up wood chips. They were both every active and adorable to watch. I can see how they'd be a big hit with the kids. We drove around the town a bit, found the official gift shop on Main Street, and then decided to brave having food at a diner called Punxsy Phil's. All I can say about that experience is that the food was very perfectly greasy spoon and the waitress really wanted these two ladies to want separate checks, even though Shawn very pointedly said she was waiting for her wife, while I was off in the bathroom. Le sigh. This, unfortunately, jives with all of the "Trump 2024" bumper stickers and lawn signs we saw as we drove through some of the backroads.

Le sigh.

We then drove around a bit through the Elk Scenic Highway. We did not see any elk, alas. All of the tourism guides say that if you have any real chance of seeing elk, it's in the fall. So, of course, we're here in the spring. 

Even so, the scenery was amazing, though I swear to god, every semi truck on the planet was careening down these tiny, winding roads right on the back of my bumper. Insane!

The last sight we really wanted to be sure not to miss was the Kinzua Sky Bridge.  This used to be a railway bridge, but a tornado destroyed it and now it's a walk way. 


Image: a very tall bridge. 

The Interpretive Center told us that this bridge is taller than the Statue of Liberty. I would believe it. There were hawk soaring BENEATH us at points. The view is spectacular. They also have a glass panel in the floor of the thing where you can look down (or, you know, if you're INSANE, stand on the one inch thick glass.) Shawn, generally, was uncertain.


Image: Crawling seemed safest, honestly.

Then, after enjoying the sky walk and the amazing giftshop, we hit the road. We had not actually booked a hotel anywhere because we wanted to remain flexible in our plans. Shawn started searching for interesting places and stumbled across the Kane Manor Inn. The inn itself was booked solid, but they have an overflow guest house and so we snapped up a room there. It's actually in a house across the street from the manor, but the room is lovely. The manor itself is amazing and we'll be have having breakfast there in the morning.


Image: The breakfast room.

Anyway, today was a wonderful day. The temperatures never crested 70 F/21 C. I think, actually, it stayed in the mid-60s (around 18 C) all day. 

Tomorrow may be mostly driving? We'll see if we stumble across anything interesting. 

 
Image: A stand that looks a bit like an award plaque with a tiny vestibule containing the supposed remains of Saint Charles Borromeo

My friend Gerriann is an Italian art/art historian blogger who is thinking about writing a book about relics. As part of her research, she discovered that there is a church in Saint Paul that has several saints' relics which they display at certain times of the year, The Nativity of Our Lord.

I don't know about you, but I find this sort of thing deeply fascinating. I grew up Catholic adjacent (my grandparents were very devout Roman Catholics) and, as many of you know having read my Archangel Protocol series, I was very affected by being an insider outsider to this culture/religion. In particular because I also spent my formative years (4th through 6th grade) at a Catholic middle school, where as part of the end of the year celebration we received our report cards at the altar at a Mass during communion (this may have only happened the year that my Catholic colleagues were doing first confession, but it was memorable). Regardless, imagine if you will, a very smol Lyda going up with the other students to receive the body of Christ, having to say 'uh, sorry, no thank you, I'm not Catholic," to the priest and then scurry over guilty in order to get my report card. I remember going back to the pew while my friends and colleagues prayed looking to see how I'd done in religion. As a non-Christian Unitarian, I was very confused by the "A" I saw there. Didn't this Christian God know that I was a heathen?  Apparently not. Or, perhaps, they liked me anyway.... which, oddly, fit with my Unitarian Universalism belief that all religions are shards of one Higher Power, if you will.

So, don't think that I attended this church merely to mock the practice of worshipping the bones of saints. When I say that I find this fascinating, I mean totally, respectfully FASCINATING. 

The thing that struck me about the relics at The Nativity of Our Lord was how many they seemed to be in possession of.


Image: A kneeler in front f a display case full of SIX different saints' bones in their odd, award trophy like cases.

Except for the height that they were placed on the wall (these obviously being placed so that you could view them while you knelt), this display case really reminded me of a high school's trophy case. The image above was only one side of this little room. There were at least another half dozen on the other side. That makes for at least a dozen saints' bits... and all of these were only the saints that were being displayed in November, for their feast days. There will be a whole new set on display in December. They have a whole list of the relics and when they are on display here: https://nativitystpaul.org/relics

Today the little reliquary room was open because it is the feast day of Saint Charles Borromeo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Borromeo.  A fascinating dude, who is, in fact, related to the Medici (the Milan branch, at any rate). The House of Medici are, of course, (in)famous for their connection to Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. So, I feel like if you're a Machiavelli fan or a fan of Ada Palmer's Papal Election LARP, it might be worth a detour to come check out Charles' Borromeo's bones, as it were.

The room the relics were in had a heavy iron gate that looked locked, but the church had very helpfully put up a sign that said, "This door is open. You're welcome to go inside." Otherwise, I might not have felt like it was okay. There is no donation box at the door to the reliquary, but Gerriann and I took a moment to light a candle in front of the side altar to the Virgin Mary and you can make a cash donation there, if you like. The candles are a dollar a piece, so we left two bucks? Obviously, it's not required, but since we were strangers to this church and were taking pictures, it felt like the decent thing to do. I say this in case this seems like something you might like to see for yourself but feel weird about the idea of going into someone else's holy place when you might not be a believer. 

The church itself is also worth a visit. It's gorgeous and just celebrated it's hundred year anniversary. 


Image: The exterior of the Nativity of Our Lord on a grey and overcast November day.


Image: Interior shot--A view down the main chapel walkway towards the altar, there is very pretty blue stained glass windows visible on the right.

Ger and I wandered around the church a bit to admire the architecture both inside and out. It was a fun little excision. There is another church over in Minneapolis that also has relics on display, so, if we get the chance, we will also check those out and I will report back. 

 
Image: The perfectly reflective Clam River (Wisconsin.)

Shawn and I went back to the quilt show in Weber, Wisconsin, to see which ones won, and on the way back to our friends' cabin we spotted a sign that said "Clam Dam." HOW DO YOU RESISTS CLAM DAM???  So, we turned down the road and followed the signs to the quirky little public park around the dam that dams the damn clam river.



Image: Shawn crossing the damn clam dam.

The park, as my grandmother might have said, wasn't much "to write home about," but today is just such a lovely day that we spent a good half hour just sitting on the banks of the river, listening to the water flow, and watching the waves leap and pop, sending spray up into the air.


Image: a moss-covered rotting wooden fence in Clam Dam park. 


Image: The damn narrow dam walkway.

 
Image: the view from the Interpretive Center

We are up at a friends' cabin for the weekend, but on the way we decided to take a detour to check out Wild River State Park. It is overcast today, as you can see in the picture above. The leaves are at peak, though just a little past as we travel north. 

\

Image: yellowed fern leaves

The temperatures are really cold today (40 F/5 C), so Shawn and I didn't wander too far. But, this State Park has a bit of restored prairie and a number of small creeks run through it on their way to the St. Croix River.


Image: restored prairie


Image a path in the woods that leads to a wooden bridge over a creek.


Image: a milkweed with its seedpod blown

Despite the cold, we had a lovely walk. I managed to forget my state park passport AND my hiking club booklet, but we weren't up for much with the chilly air. Even so, we decided it was a lovely little park and will try to make a return trip at some point. 

 
Image: The Book Barn in Niantic, CT

The Book Barn in Niantic was pretty much everything I ever wanted from a used bookstore. They even had cats (and goats.) I mean, I will admit that I kind of hate driving in New England because the streets are narrow and if the speed limit is posted at 35, all the drivers read that backwards and drive 53 and THEN also slam on their breaks when they need to make a sudden turn. It's terrifying. However, it was worth the harrowing driving to make our way EAST to Niantic, CT to see the many versions of the Book Barn. We stopped in downtown first because it was where the science fiction was located (as well as the other genre books) and then we headed to the main sight, which is kind of a book wonderland.


Image: yet another barn/outbuilding with books in it


Image: a secret garden at the Book Barn (complete with koi pond.)


Image: "Barn" cat on the pavement. The Book Barn has five (?) cats. We saw three.


Image: book section reads, "Radicals, Anarchists, and Other Troublemakers."

We spent several hours here before driving a little further down the coast to a restaurant called "Skippy's" where Shawn had heard they had good lobster rolls. Lobster rolls are one of those legendary things that Shawn had been reading about forever and really, really wanted to try. In fact, her great regret last time we made it out to Connecticut to drop Mason off in the fall was that we never stopped to have one. So, this time, we came prepare. She'd read up on the places to go and the fact that Connecticut lobster rolls are special. In Connecticut you have lobster rolls hot, slathered in hot butter, on a toasted bun. Apparently, (she says uncertainly, as she is a Midwesterner bred and born,) other places lobster rolls are served cold, with mayo. 

But, we really enjoyed the Connecticut version!.



Image: A lobster roll, sweet potato fries, and coleslaw

MMMMMMM, so good!  I am determined to try the cold version at some point, but I am unsure how anything can compare.

Our last stop was Hammonasset Beach State Park. Shawn and I had been there before, but this was Mason's first time. He's seen the Atlantic before, but I'm not sure he'd dipped his toes into it before. Those of you who have not been following me for very long may not know that my son used to dream of being a marine biologist. He got the ocean bug, I think, by watching Blue Planet as a small, but it is honestly stuff like this that make me believe in past lives. There are so many stories I could tell on this child, but just know this--this is the young person who, at the age of six, came running down to the landing when he was supposed to be asleep wailing so much that I thought he must have injured himself saying, "Mama, Ima, mama, ima!" (I am ima, Shawn is mama,) and when I ran to comfort him, he wept into my arms, "Mama, ima, megalodon is extinct!" 

I was only able to comfort him by saying that while, yes, this was true, there were still a lot of smaller sharks still around. 

So, he LOVES the ocean.

Thus, I was surprised when Mason was initially kind of meh about the beach. I suspect some of it had to do with the fact that it was bit crowded. There were a ton of people at the beach, despite the overcast day and fog. Mason likes his alone time with nature. But, some people started shouting about jellyfish and so I went to look and managed to coax him into the water. After seeing the jellyfish floating in the surf as well as spotting a hermit crab shuffling long on the ocean floor, he got into it.


Image: Mason inspecting the shallows for signs of marine life

I had a lot of encounters with sea life, myself. I am often nibbled on when I go to lakes by sunfish and the like, but I did not expect to also be tasty to whatever small fry hang around near the shorelines of the ocean!  But I got nipped by some small fish that I could see, plus a little ghost shrimp briefly landed on my foot as I was leaving for the shore (I shook the little guy back into the water safely.) 

We ended up having quite a lot of fun despite the weather. 

Then we drove a few miles and checked into out hotel. Time to settle in with a few of the many books we bought at the Book Barn!  'Night all!