Newhaven to Rocky Hill: In Search of More Dinosaurs

I know most people going to the East Coast don't think of dinosaurs, but my eye landed on a place called Dinosaur State Park on the map when I was figuring out our route.  Apparently, conditions in Connecticut were just right for the preservation of dinosaur tracks and bones in the early Jurassic; people had been finding bones and tracks in the area as far back as the early 1800's.

Therefore, we must go.  Two dinosaur days in a row!

To get up to the park from New Haven, we followed the Farmington Canal Heritage trail north out of town.  This route follows a former canal line that because part of the New Haven Northampton rail line, and is now a gentle paved rail-trail that cuts north across the state as part of the East Coast Greenway.  We followed it for miles and miles and miles -- a welcome change from the more traffic-infested road sections we had previously been on.

I found myself taking pictures over my shoulder to assess the mental state of the kid as the day progressed.  She liked the rail-trail.

Checking the map.  (Not that we needed it today.)

Wait, you're riding off the trail!  Clearly time for a snack.

Chad adjusted his light during snack time.  This is one of the mere three mechanical adjustments needed over the whole trip (not counting the three flats).

Energy restored!

We admired many old brick buildings lining the old rail route.

 Eventually, we left the trail for scenic country roads that cut over towards Rocky Hill and the dinosaur park.

As we entered the town of New Britain, we happened across the Nutmeg State Championship bike race.  All we were doing was riding along, looking for a snack, and heard the distinctive sound of a big peloton whooshing by in the park next to the road.  Naturally, we stopped to spectate for a few minutes.

I located an Italian deli nearby, where we got giant sandwiches and a big box of cookies that were, for once, as delicious as they were pretty.

Eventually we made it to our hotel for the night.  Kid is still smiling.

Even though we were only about a mile from the dinosaur park, it was getting late in the afternoon, so we opted to chill out, get dinner, and enjoy the hot tub, planning to hit the park first thing in the morning when it opened.

Dinner was soulless hotel food, but we did get ice cream.

Next morning brought dino tracks!  Lots of dino tracks.  The building is built right over the site, though apparently there are a lot more outside the building that have been reburied to protect them.

Nim's souvenir was a little tiny pterodon, which she then had to take for a little hike through the woods.  Apparently one does not outgrow these things :)

Bridgeport to Newhaven: In Search of Dinosaurs

Our second day was by far the easiest riding of the trip -- we only had 25 flat miles along the coast.  I planned this one to be short on purpose, as (1) we weren't sure if the first day riding the loaded bikes as a group was going to be a shock to the system and (2) I wanted to have lots of time to visit the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.  Because, well, dinosaurs...

A few of the days sights included picturesque bridges,

and very flat beaches

with a wee library.

We eventually made it to the dinosaur museum and admired the bones, including a brontosaurus with the wrong head on it

some scary leaping critters with large claws that hunted in packs

and other fine monsters.

We spent so long wandering through the various rooms of interesting things that we had to beg the woman closing up the gift shop to re-open for two minutes so that Chad could buy a copy of the postcard of the big mural in the dinosaur hall that he remembers fondly as a kid to send to his mom. (We got a copy for us too.)

Newhaven, being a college town, had no shortage of interesting dinner options.  On our walk back through Yale from the museum to the hotel, we found a most excellent modern fusion noodle soup place, where we laughed silently at the earnest hip young waiter who thought he had to explain the types of soup to us because we had never been to *that* particular restaurant before.  Bay Area denizens already know what ramen and pho are, of course :)

Nim enjoyed her dinner, through teen-like complaints of "this ramen isn't authentic" (it was a modern take on ramen, and was delicious).  

Noodle snob or not, the kiddo was inspired to produce a fine sketch in their comment book as Chad and I finished our drinks (Thai-style bubble tea spiked with cognac, and extra gingery Moscow Mule....mmmm...)

First day riding

After enjoying everyone's company in CT for a few days, it was time to get riding.  The first day's itinerary was pretty mellow: hare across country to the coast, where we would pick up the East Coast Greenway route and follow it to Bridgeport.

Mileage: 43 miles. 1700 feet of climbing.  Overall, the amount of riding was pretty average for the trip, and the climbing wasn't as much as it sounds like, coming in small rollers of 100 feet or less.  Because it wasn't going to be a particularly difficult day, we got a leisurely start.

We saw the first of what would be many of these signs as we followed parts of the route.


It was a day of firsts for the trip: first day riding, first mechanical issue (Nim's back wheel slipped out of position and started rubbing the frame), first detour (road construction just a few miles in), first flat tire (evil nail that went completely through my tire, making holes in two places!)  Still, it was good to be riding.  Even the kid agreed:

On thing I didn't fully appreciate was that Bridgeport is actually the largest city in Connecticut.  Needless to say, the approach in was a bit urban, despite the fact that we were on the East Coast Greenway Route at this point.  This section was just an on-the-road section rather than being trail like some of the later parts.

The highlight of the day was the most amazingly yummy clam and garlic pizza we had at a brew pub a short walk from the hotel.

Nim and I thought their rootbeer was also exceptionally good.

After dinner, we enjoyed the walk back in the early evening light, with many buildings to look at

and the usual teen dance shenanigans.  We must not have used her up!

Bookends

Continuing the vacation post
Bookending either end of the trip were family visits, which gave us time to see people, as well as friendly places for Chad to do bike packing and unpacking.

On the front end, there were cousins.  Notice our kid and the cousin her age were too cool for this photograph; they were probably both off playing computer games...

While in CT, we helped Andrew install a zipline in the yard.  I am happy to report that all three generations of people present took turns on the line!

On the other end of the trip, we had a few relaxing days in Maine, which were most appreciated after the voyage to get there.  Chad and I had fun coaxing the turtles in the pond to eat out of our hands.

(Thanks to all who extended hospitality -- including in the middle of the trip, which I haven't gotten to yet!)

The Grand Vacation Scheme of 2018

With the limited vacation windows offered when one is constrained by school and work, it is tricky to find time to visit far-flung relatives and also have the family adventure time that we crave.  This year, we decided to fit both into one trip.

The goal:

The strategy:
Put together a bike route that links multiple sets of relatives in New England, so we can both see family and do a bike tour.  In this case, I concocted a route that took us from Greenwich, CT up to Maine via Boston and Rockport. The route linked together parts of the East Coast Greenway, Adventure Cycling Atlantic Coast Route, Airline Trail, and other assorted interesting-looking connections I spotted on Google Maps, along with a couple of legs on a commuter train to avoid the traffic congestion going in and out of Boston.  Nim is strong enough that 40-ish mile days on a (lightly) loaded bike is no problem.

The first step on executing such an endeavor is to get both us and the bikes to the East Coast.  Instead of flying with the bikes, worrying about them getting lost on flight transfers, and having to figure out how to get things to and from the airport, this time we decided to try out BikeFlights.  The hardest thing this required was for Chad to carefully pack the bikes.  Despite the name of the business containing the word "flights", what actually happens (unless you want to pay an arm and a leg) is that the bikes go across country on a FedEx truck.

Overall, that process was pretty easy.  About a week before we left for the trip, a truck came and picked up the boxes, and over the course of the next week they made their way to the destination in CT.  

Our travel for that leg was somewhat quicker, and more scenic, as the weather was cooperative and gave us many fine views from the plane.

Once on the East Coast, Chad got to reassemble all the bikes,

and we were then ready to ride.

(How many of you noticed that I carefully made sure that all three bikes were represented in the pictures above?)

At the far end of the ride, when the truck came to pick up the bikes, it was too full for our big boxes, so the driver had to go make a couple of deliveries and come back, but overall that part of the scheme worked well.  We were lucky that Faith was kind enough to transport our empty boxes from CT to Maine; otherwise we would have had to ship them while we rode.

 So did we succeed in achieving this?


Of course!  Stay tuned for more details.