We had a classic Connecticut gals day, driving around the winding backroads of Yankee shore towns north of New Haven, past historic homes and graveyards, pretty village greens and toney shops. In Madison, we duly visited the fantastic independent bookstore RJ Julia’s , with other stops at clothing/home decor/gift shops and a good Mexican meal atComomango., which has a beach/surfer vibe and good bowls no small tacos.
Dinner was at The Place (since 1971), which reminded me of a fish boil in Door County, Wisconsin except this was a seafood grill in Branford, Connecticut, with guys tending fires and cooking lobster, clams, mussels, salmon, and corn on the cob. We sat under a big red and white circus tent at round tables with tree stumps for chairs (we went with the green plastic chairs with backs). Nell wisely thought to bring basics like a table cloth and less flimsy paper plates. I had clams with bbq sauce, corn, and a hot fudge sundae.
Nell, Laurie and I took a walk in the mist under grey sky though the lovely seaside village of Stoney Creek, past the dock for the ferry to the Thimble Islands that I took years ago when our kids were very little with our Trumbull pals! Stoney Creek has beautiful homes on the water facing a winding two- Lane road.
After picking our friend Holley up at Hartford airport, we had a late lunch at a good Italian place in Middletown called Luce. Hartford airport is way bigger than New Haven’s Tweed which I flew into on Avelo airlines.
It was great flying to New Haven, only 20 minutes from Branford. But note to self: buy seat in future. I had the worst seat – last row, aisle. There were two very large people in my row so I had to shift in my seat to face the aisle and occasionally free my left arm from under my neighbors’s arm. Then no service or drinks, even water without requesting. And people lining up for the bathroom just behind us.
Glorious day biking, kayaking, hanging out with old friends from Des Moines and Ithaca. I’ve loved Connecticut since my mid-20s when I worked briefly at the Stamford Advocate (newspaper) in the mid-1980s. (I couldn’t afford to stay, professionally or financially.)
On a muggy morning, we biked around Pawson Park, a pretty, narrow peninsula between the Branford River and Long Island Sound, with the Thimble islands in the distance, with red cedar shingled cottages and bright purple hydrangeas in the foreground. Later, we kayaked in the still water, past large shoreline homes, large rocks in the water, the occasional motorboat, the occasional barge in the distant haze.
Dinner tonight was BLTs from The Shanty, a food truck, eaten overlooking the Sound and The Thimbles at the graceful OwenegoBeach club, circa 1847, a lovely sprawling, white wooden building, with a lush green lawn leading down to gardens and a swimming area with white rafts in the seawater. It’s a refreshingly unpretentious and welcoming for a private club. Nonmembers welcome after 5 pm and the Inn offers sweet, affordable rooms for a short stay. see: https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=owenego&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5)
And then came summer. Or close. In the three days we’ve been here the temperature went from blustery 40s to balmy 70s. Today was perfect for a lot of walking south to the Italian market which is actually several blocks along 9th street lined with old food shops and fruit markets.
Italian market
We visited several including diBruno Brothers house of cheese, whose large selection spanned cheese from Francine and Russ’s London (Neal’s yard) to Myra’s beloved finger lakes (Cayuga blue cheese from Lively Run creamery near Seneca Lake.)
Cheesesteak
We had gooey chewy meaty Philly cheese steaks at Angelo’s. I could eat only half of mine, which in of itself was enormous. We ate outside at a picnic table in an open lot provided by Di Bruno brothers.
Bok building view
The Bok building is an enormous former technical high school, art deco, turned into makers and artists studios and some shops, pricey sandals make out of old Kilims. That sort of thing. There’s a club at the top with an amazing deck overlooking the city. Dinner was Filipino at Tabachoy, which we all decided was a little too odd for our tastes. It makes me question again the NYTimes annual list of innovative restaurants. Maybe a little too innovative for my tastes.
breakfast on out last morning was at the lovely Parc, which resembles a French bistro, overlooking Rittenhouse Square. our London pals checked into the Alexander Inn, an old world, well-located place that was a reasonable $165. Next trip:Washington Square. Elspeth place, walk along the river, old prison. But as is, we feel like we got a good feel for this historic old city that is my grandfathers hometown.
We are staying at a great Airbnb on Otis and Holmead in Columbia Heights a few streets north of where Noah lived for several years. The neighborhood is still slowly gentrifying – our snazzy airbnb is one sign, an old brick storefront (we’re guessing) that is now a vertical townhouse with blond wood floors and contemporary furniture and a spacious rooftop deck where I’m lounging on a couch.
The Londoners…and Chicagoan
Dinner was nearby at Trip Khao, a Laotian restaurant. very good. Today Francine and I took the bus to near DuPont circle and the weather was so lovely that we got sandwiches at Call your mother deli and sat in Adirondack chairs around the fountain. perfect dining Al fresco spot.
Going girly
Francine and I got our pre wedding manicure at allure Nails, I lost it briefly at the rehearsal, had excellent pork asada for rehearsal dinner at Mi Cuba and drinks/roast by the couple’s friends at The coupe, where the mashup of people from various chapters of Noah’s life (and mine) was a dizzying treat.
My baby boy is getting married.
We returned to the coupe on a rainy Saturday for brunch and the place was packed. Nice upscale independent market Odd Provisions a few blocks south on 11th for a baguette. The wedding was at the Josephine Butler House, pretty old mansion and worked well for lovely wedding. The day after brush was at the Georgetown Marriott which isn’t really in Georgetown and then a treat – post wedding lunch with the groom/ husband at the duck and the peach in Capitol Hill neighborhood.
First two days here are for work so had some lunch meeting dining. Good crab cakes at Row 34 (and ridiculously expensive parking – $42 for day) in Fort Point area, seaside in Boston with lots of glittering high glass and steel buildings (Including the contemporary art museum.) Flour bakery is a great lunch and coffee spot near my publisher’s office on Farnsworth.
Harvard square installation 🥲
Finn for seafood in Salem. Lunch today at Toscano in Cambridge – good pasta and thin crust pizza near Radcliffe’s Schlesinger library where I had a great morning looking at old diaries including one written on toilet paper. Single ply! Also went to an excellent craft gallery: Cambridge Artists Cooperative. And saw a sobering tribute to the people kidnapped in Israel.
There is nothing like old friends and it was a particularly wonderful treat to see old friends Art and Nell after some very trying times. On a warm fall day we wandered around several lovely towns along the coast north of Boston on Cape Ann (Gloucester/Rockport), soaking in the scenery and catching up after over two years apart.
Rockport
We started at a little coffee shop in Gloucester, which seemed a tad less touristy than Rockport, but both are on breathtaking spots on the ocean. We splurged on a lobster roll (hot, buttered) at the Fish shack in Rockport, which has big picture windows overlooking the water and walked on the big rocks that form a walkway into the water. Lots of art galleries, old Yankee monuments and wood frame shingled homes.
In Marblehead, my favorite, we walked down narrow streets lined with multi colored (powder blue, navy blue, mustard yellow, rust red, Forest green) wood shuttered and shingled homes from the 1600s to the 1800s with historic plaques telling us who lived here and there (yeoman et. Al.). Our friends found a charming inn in historic Marblehead (Harbor Light) with an outdoor veranda overlooking the small garden and pool. (They also found a good is place in Gloucester: Ocean House Hotel at Bass Rocks.
RockportRockport
Harbor Light was a Great place for an evening drink, admiring the sky and stars. The occasional flight heading to or from Logan, I gather. We had a good dinner at the popular Five Corners Kitchen in Marblehead.
Gorgeous fall weather here in Burlington where we are visiting my cousin who lives in the “new north end” by the shoreline of Lake Champlain, with spectacular views, a sandy beach you get to though a staircase in the woods, and a shady greenbelt bike path that unfortunately we didn’t have time to ride. Next trip.
Lake Champlain
We visited some fun hipster drinking spots including St. John’s Club, a private drinking spot, with a back lawn overlooking the lake, and dinner at Burlington Brewery (burgers, salads, a Mexican stew). Breakfast was Montreal-style bagels (chewier than US style) at Myer’s, including good breakfast sandwiches (ex: scrambled eggs, cheddar, sausage). It’s in a former warehouse district along the water that’s turned into arty shops and restaurants.
About a half hour east in the hamlet of Duxbury, tucked into the tree-carpeted hills is Moose Meadow Lodge, run by family friends. It’s a sophisticated but cozy contemporary log-made lodge high on a wooded hilltop with amazing views and rooms with handmade, one-of a-kind bent twig furniture, petrified wood sinks, and decorated with weathered snowshoes, ancient sleds and taxidermies mounted on the walls. Even the refrigerator and dishwasher are camouflaged in birchbark and bent twigs. Behind the lodge is the treehouse, a dreamy two stories, electrified with a fabulous outdoor bathroom/shower in the woods overlooking a gentle pond.
At Leunig’s A Moose Meadow viewWaitsfield, VTDuxbury
In nearby Waterbury, we had excellent nachos with chunks of barbecued brisket and Vermont cheddar on the dog friendly patio of Prohibiton Pig Brewery, aka Pro Pig. In the sweet smaller town of Wainsfield, we visited the covered bridge, the Vermont Artisans Store (the art and crafts here are good quality but pricey) and a little outdoor cafe, The Sweet Spot, in a pretty rock garden beside a sun-dappled stream flowing under the covered bridge. Classic Vermont. The leaves are starting to change, with a few reds and oranges and purples. In another week or so, they should be a full spectacle. We didn’t have time to visit another small town, Warren. Next trip!
Dinner with old friends who live in Burlington was fun at Leunig’s, an old fashioned “Burlington institution” specializing in steak frites and beef Bourgignon. As we were walking there, along the pedestrian mall I spotted a local celebrity…”Mrs. Bernie” (Bernie Sanders’ wife Jane.)
Another spectacular day of weather in the 70s, bright sunshine. We took the metro to Foggy Bottom and walked an easy 15 minutes to Georgetown (so there is a metro there, sort of) where we met up with the grandsons and their parents at a friendly little cafe called Feta and then went to a pretty playground Rose Park Tot lot. I had a surprisingly easy 15 minute scenic walk to DuPont circle for a working lunch at Sette Osteria with my literary agent (who just happens to be based here, as fate would have it.) and a quick browse and purchase at Kramers, which used to be Kramer Books and afterwards in the 80s.
I had no idea DuPont circle was so close to Georgetown but then I’ve never really gotten a handle on the lay of the land in DC, despite my many visit. From the playground I walked on a path through a ribbon of a park high above rock creek parkway. Later in Georgetown we stopped along the wharf for an overpriced ice cream cone at the Hershey’s shop. This area of Washington never seems like dc to me, which I don’t associate with waterfront and boats, although the Wharf development by Navy Yard also has both.
On our walk back to the metro we bumped into a friend of Noah’s who stayed with us in iowa (while volunteering during the caucuses) so we stopped to chat. DC felt like a small town. very Des Moines, and gave me hope that this can happen in places like Chicago. Dinner was at Carmine’s – two long tables and maybe 30-40 people, mostly family and heaping platters of pasta, clams, meatballs etc.
Noah and I wandered into the bakery Souk on 8th Street just south of Eastern Market (and our Airbnb) at 6:30 pm and found out it had just closed for the day, but we ended up leaving with a bag full of baked goods, two muffins, a jalapeño biscuit, a cinnamon bun, a scone…all free although we practically begged the guy there to let us pay. What a nice welcome to Washington DC. We will definitely try to return as paying customers.
Dinner was at a Cambodia/Taiwanese restaurant Maketto on H street with an unusual decor/vibe – a large display of designer sneakers which apparently they also sell – and delicious food, not much of which I recognized, although we have been to Cambodia. The steamed pork buns were the best I’ve had, very soft and savory. The crisp scallion pancakes were perhaps my favorite item. The fried chicken served on crisp toast reminded us of Japanese Chicken Katsu and some greens ( book Choi) had unusual additions of olives and dried anchovies. We ate out side in a courtyard in the rear with high brick walls briskly painted with manga style illustrations. Fun vibe and delicious food. Lovely walking in this pretty old neighborhood, Capitol Hill, with flowers in full bloom, tulips, azaleas, dogwood, lilacs, redbuds, flowering crabs, a riot of colors pink, purple, red, yellow, orange, white and lots of green. A sight for sore eyes, as was Noah!
TakeBetsywithyou 