Stu and I visited Connecticut back in February when it was freezing cold and kids were at school. We had always said we wanted to return with them. Due to Covid, Connecticut had been closed to travellers from New Jersey but since the NJ case numbers were down (and NJ, NY and CT had organised a tri-state quarantine for travellers visiting from states with high Covid numbers) we were now free to visit.

We set off at about 3pm on Friday afternoon for the 2 hour drive to Shelton where our Hampton Inn base for the weekend was. Also there is a Cheesecake Factory nearby and Tom and Izzy really wanted to visit as our local one was still takeout only.

The traffic was horrendous – what should have been under 2 hours ended up closer to 3 hours but at least by the time we reached the Cheesecake Factory it was a good time for tea and we were all really hungry!

The kids had already said they wanted the Chicken sliders from the kids menu but unfortunately they weren’t available. Izzy decided to have the chicken sliders from the appetisers, Tom opted for Chicken strips, I had my usual of Cajun chicken littles and Stu stuck with his normal BBQ Burger. When Izzy’s arrived it was hilarious as despite it being an appetiser she was presented with 4 chicken sliders!!! As normal we didn’t make it to cheesecake.

We headed to the hotel for the evening as we wanted to be at Mystic Seaport for 10am Saturday morning ready for opening and it was about an hour away.

We arrived at the Seaport and when we purchased our tickets were advised to head straight to the boat trip counter to book a trip time as they fill up fast. The 10.30am trip had already filled up (as the boat was limiting capacity to 15) so we got tickets for 11am. This gave us plenty of time to have a wander. It was ridiculously hot but we walked past all the old buildings and went onto the Charles Morgan Whaling Ship. Unfortunately we couldn’t go downstairs as it was closed due to Covid but we looked around the deck.

We also got to see the lighthouse (although it is a replica) which I was pleased about as it had been shut off when we visited in February.

There was also a replica of the Mayflower (the boat which brought the first people from England to America and arrived on Cape Cod). We were quite interested in this as 4 years ago had visited the landing site of the Mayflower.

It was time for our boat trip. One of the advantages of social distancing and limiting capacity is that these things are now very quiet. There were 15 on the boat (normal capacity 40) so loads of space. We were taken around Mystic Harbour and given lots of historic facts about the boats etc.

We then decided to see if there were any rowing boats free. There were also sailing boats but none of us know how to sail. Luckily there were and there was no queue so Tom came with me and Izzy went with Stuart. We were limited to half an hour but that was fine as they were free and rowed out into the harbour. By the time we returned the queue was huge so we’d obviously timed it just right.

^{Rowing in Mystic Harbour}

After a quick stop for lunch – we went and picked up takeaway from the Mariner in Mystic – it was time to head to the aquarium. We were on a 2pm – 4pm time slot.

The aquarium was actually really good. We saw beluga whales (first time ever), seals, sea-lions and penguins. The kids particularly enjoyed the touch tanks. One was of small sharks (I referred to it as the shark petting zoo) and the other was rays. It was a great experience due to it operating at limited capacity – we probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if it was full.

^{Mystic Aquarium}

By the time we left we were all a bit tired and jaded due to the heat. We had a quick stop at the Old Mystic Shopping Village to buy ice cream and headed back to the hotel. We were all still quite full from lunch so didn’t fancy eating out so Stu picked up a pizza from the takeaway next door and that was perfect.

We had no plans for Sunday so I started googling sea kayaking. Unfortunately most were fully booked but I found one company – Sea kayak Connecticut which had some free 1 hour time slots at 9am so I reserved 4 kayaks.

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to Westport for our kayaks (with a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for some treats after our kayak). We only had an hour but were able to kayak down the Saugatuck River towards the sea. It was really good fun – although we had to dodge sailing boats and rowers.

We needed to make our way home but wanted some stop off places. We decided to travel via the Hudson Valley as had seen one of the best walks was ‘The Walkway Over The Hudson Historic Park’ in Poughkeepsie. It was just over an hour away so we set off. At one point Izzy said she didn’t feel particularly well so we pulled over into a service station. On going in, Izzy announced she wanted a portion of curly fries…… they went down a treat and she was fully recovered. We reached Poughkeepsie, parked up and went for a walk.

It was on a bridge which stretched the width of the Hudson River and apparently is the longest pedestrian elevated bridge in the world. It was pretty cool and the views were beautiful. We reached the American Flag half way across before turning back.

^{Walkway Over the Hudson}

I then did a quick internet search to see where else was on route and found Sleepy Hollow. We had no idea what is was like but read there was a statue of the Headless Horseman, a bridge and a lighthouse so it was a definite stop off point. We had a quick subway for lunch and then made our way down the Hudson to Sleepy Hollow.

It was a cute town and we liked that all the road signs had a picture of the headless horseman on them. We found the statue and the bridge….although Stu was disappointed it wasn’t the ‘actual’ bridge. We then headed to the lighthouse and took a few pictures. On the way out Stu wanted to find the ‘Welcome to Sleepy Hollow’ sign so we did and parked up to take another picture. It was a good town to stop in for an hour but I probably wouldn’t go back. We then headed home.

^{Sleepy Hollow}