We’re back in the saddle again — this trip is the first we’ve taken in over a couple of months. The winter proved hard on the 50/50 tour. Bill started a new job, the kids had their hands full with sports and homework, and mother nature kept us guessing with snowstorms. We’re happy to be back on the road again — well, some of us are happy — but we’re a little concerned about our chances of wrapping up the tour. We’re a little over half-way through the states, but we have only about 4 months left in front of us. We’re gonna need some luck to get a good travel streak going. Speaking of streaks….
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Ninety in a row. That’s how many games the University of Connecticut Women’s basketball team won during their 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons. Ninety games. That’s two more than John Wooden’s famous UCLA Bruins. UConn is what is known as a powerhouse when it comes to basketball. In 2011, their men’s team won the NCAA tournament. But for our 12-year-old basketball fanatic, the UConn women’s team takes center stage. In fact, our player ranks UConn as the second best women’s basketball team ever — second only to her favorite team, Stanford. Did I say Stanford? They just happen to be the team UConn faced for game ninety-one.
So of course, when Bill suggested that we skip the scenic drive through Connecticut and go out of our way to visit the UConn campus and sports arena, it made perfect sense. Compared to some of the other detours we’ve made on the 50/50 tour, this was just a trip around the corner. And besides, with a high school sophomore in the family, this was a good chance to combine the 50/50 tour with a college tour. Turns out, the sophomore wasn’t interested in UConn, but in only 6 short years our basketball player can apply for admission. Look closely at her t-shirt — she risked life and limb for this photo.
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Our Connecticut tour included Hartford, which was the home to one of America’s most famous and beloved authors: Mark Twain. He and his wife built a mansion here and raised their three daughters.
I’m not really sure if it is a compliment or an insult to have a statue of yourself crafted out of Legos.
Anyway, we enjoyed learning a little more about Samuel Clemens. Like the fact that he dropped out of school at age 12 and ultimately married a wealthy, well-educated woman who played an important role as his editor. She also bankrolled their Hartford home and fancy lifestyle, which enabled them to hob-knob with the in-crowd.
We traveled along I-91, I-84, I-95 and I-395, plus routes 195, 6, 32, 2A, 20, and 401 in Connecticut, and our overnight stop was in Mystic. Good thing we had plenty of maps and an iPhone, because the girl at the rental car counter in Hartford was useless at giving directions. She lived just over the border in Massachusetts and knew close to nothing about Connecticut. At least she knew that a fair amount of basketball was played at UConn.
We spent a frozen afternoon at the Mystic Seaport museum. This was a fascinating place — a huge, open-air venue dedicated to all things nautical.
At the time of our visit, craftsman were restoring the world’s only remaining wooden whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan. We climbed aboard and received a detailed, if gruesome, explanation of how the ship plowed the waters during the 1800s, hunting the gentle giants. The ship’s crew hunted, harpooned, slaughtered, and cleaned the whales, then rendered the blubber into oil right onboard the ship, until the decks were full of barrels.
The Morgan was in serious need of repair. Much of the damage had been caused by a tiny wood-eating waterbug known as a gribble. I thought there was some poetic justice here. A tiny pillbug renders a huge ship into a sponge, thus preventing the ship from rendering a huge whale into oil.
The Seaport Museum also had an exhibit on tattoos. Inspiration! I suggested that we all receive 50/50 tattoos. Once again, my suggestion was not appreciated by others.
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We really had no choice in Mystic but to go for pizza. Julia Roberts would never have forgiven us if we’d skipped this place. Luckily, the pizza was tasty and the decor very nostalgic. You never know — we may even return some day after watching some serious basketball up the road a bit.
27. Connecticut
A basketball