Road Trip!

Yesterday Sally, Simon and I drove to Connecticut for the day. We didn't want to drive in scary Manhattan so we caught a train to a place called Stamford and rented a car there. It was my first time driving in America and I think I did pretty well. There were some frightening moments, but overall it was an easy introduction as most of the journey was on empty country roads.

We didn't have a special destination in mind but the Tanners decided we should drive to a town that the Gilmore Girls' fictional town Stars Hollow is loosely based on, called Washington Depot. It was a bit of an anti-climax but the journey there was nice. The houses in Connecticut are pretty cute, made of wood and painted neatly in different colours. The ones painted all white however looked kinda Amityville Horror-esque. Some towns had only white houses/churches/shops which creeped us out. We finished up at Yale University in New Haven, which was like the nicest parts of Melbourne Uni multiplied by 100.

And at one point when I was at the wheel a strange animal ambled slowly across the road, forcing me to break quickly. For a few seconds we had no idea what this creature was but soon realised it was a racoon! I'd never seen a real racoon before, and it looked like it was a feral dog-racoon...I thought racoons would walk like possums but this one had long dog-like legs and walked quite stiffly and slowly, and got a terrible fright when it saw us sitting in the car staring at it. Sally got a photo so I'll put it up when she sends it to me. Sally, send it to me.

So, that was basically our day: some driving, fresh air and nature. And for some reason Connecticut has many Dunkin Donut stores, and old cemeteries. So many cemeteries. I think it would be a creepy place to drive through at night. But overall, a fun day, and now that I feel confident driving hopefully Dave and I can go for some more little trips.
Our snazzy wheels - cuter than your average rental car.

The lovely scenery, although the bare trees made it feel a bit Blair Witchey.