Tag Archives: New England

Hartford, Connecticut: Elizabeth Park, oldest rose garden in US

On my way down the coastline, I decided to make a stop in Connecticut somewhere because it was the only remaining state in the Northeast that I had not visited. Of course, I didn’t research very much ahead of time and while I was in Portland waiting on a response from my host in Boston, I researched places to stay in Connecticut. And wouldn’t you believe it, there are no hostels to speak of in the entire tiny state! Also, the majority of the Airbnb rooms on the coast were out of my price range or poorly located. So by default I ended up in Hartford.

It ended up being a good choice, though, as I discovered later that there were a number of old, beautiful gardens and parks surrounding the city (who knew?). Since I spent a while in Rhode Island, I arrived in Hartford a little after dark and decided to stay in for the night. The next day I headed to Elizabeth Park, the oldest (and one of the largest) municipal rose garden in the country. Check out my pictures below. (Keep in mind that it was mid-September and had been raining all week, so just imagine how the garden must look in the summertime!)

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Afterwards, I wasn’t feeling too great so I skipped the other parks on my list and headed to White Plains, NY where I parked my car and hopped a train to NYC.

Providence, RI: Artsy Fartsy New England

Capitol Building, Providence, RI

Have you ever been to Providence? If not, you should plan a trip there, now. This is one of the most unique, quaint little towns I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Unfortunately, I only had about 2 hours in the rain there and my camera battery died after only an hour or so. But I still managed to get a few pretty sweet pictures.

Quaint Square in Providence, RI

The town seems like a cross between New England Port town, Portland, ME and artsy-fartsy Asheville, NC. With its quaint, beautiful New England architecture and carefully-planned squares, as well as its narrow streets, Providence reminds me of a magnified version of Boston’s Little Italy (minus the good planning).

Mural in Providence, RI

At first glance, Providence seems like your typical homogenous New England town. But after wandering around for an hour or so, I began to notice little artsy stores and cafés run by people with tattoos and alternative styles of dress. I spotted murals like the one above scattered around the city, their designs far from the pleasant unassuming murals of many NE towns.

Flags in Providence, RI

Later, I mentioned my observations of Providence to a friend, “Well, I guess that makes sense what with the Rhode Island School of Design located there and all…” Huh, right. Then I remembered that Brown is also located in Providence – arguably the Ivy League with the most alternative methods of education.

Pretty Square in Providence, RI

Thinking about it now, it actually makes a ton of sense that Rhode Island would be a more liberal/free-thinking state. It was, after all, the first state to truly embrace the concept of religious freedom.

Small Point Café in Providence, RI

After wandering a while, I ducked into a coffee shop called Small Point Café, ordered a latte and set up my laptop. Later, I headed to the bathroom before leaving and was surprised by the artwork that greeted me.

Bathroom Creatures in Small Point Café in Providence, RIBathroom Creatures in Small Point Café in Providence, RI

Bathroom Creatures! How cool! There were about 6 of them scattered around the bathroom, each with a unique space-robot look to it. At this point my camera had died, so I had to bust out my cell phone because these guys just could not go undocumented!

Bathroom Creatures in Small Point Café in Providence, RIBathroom Creatures in Small Point Café in Providence, RI

After only a couple hours in this cool little city, I unfortunately had to continue my journey – staying in Hartford next! Can’t wait to make plans to actually stay in Providence sometime!

Park in Providence, RI

[travelthursday] This town called Burlington

A week or so ago, I visited beautiful Burlington, VT right alongside Lake Champlain. I didn’t realize this, but apparently Burlington has been suffering from massive amounts of flooding lately. Due to the snow melt and a ton of rain, Lake Champlain has gotten up to 3 feet over its normal level, flooding neighborhoods, the beaches, bike paths, piers, et al. I have some pictures below of the flooding – there is actually a couple kayaking through a neighborhood right next to the Winooski River.

Luckily, my one day stop in Burlington happened on a beautiful sunny day – one of the first of the season according to my host, Nathan (who I found through Airbnb btw). He handed me a touristy map and explained that there is a ten mile long bike route that encircles the downtown Burlington area. “I think some of the path is swamped because of the flooding, though,” he said, mentioning that every one of Lake Champlain’s Burlington beaches was underwater as well. “The New York side of the lake is on much higher ground, so they didn’t get the worst of it.”

So I headed down to Ski Rack in the downtown area and rented a bike. Next time I think I’ll rent a kayak. Check out my pics below of the bike tour I took until the water level forced me to turn around. I also took a quick peak at Church Street, Burlington’s pedestrian shopping/dining street that was lined with food carts, souvenir booths, and musicians busking for money.

On my next trip, I hope to find somewhere to take sailing lessons!

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