I had my second shot of the Moderna vaccine on April 9, which meant that I could finally travel out of state overnight with no required Covid test or quarantine by the 23rd. So for my first trip I just had to go to Connecticut to see family that I've missed for over a year.
What used to be just a routine trip may as well have been an around-the world journey in terms of my level of anticipation.
Born and raised in Connecticut, it was strange for me to think that I hadn't been there since March 2020. Even stranger was the fact that I hadn’t been anywhere overnight in all of that time. I had to remind myself of the basics that I'd need to pack, because the last time I did any packing was for a ski trip to Montana just before the country started to shut down 14 months ago. That trip never happened for us because I broke my wrist just hours before we were to leave (as it turned out, I never completely un-packed from that aborted trip, which made packing this time easy because I found my travel-ready shampoo, toothpaste, and what-nots still in their TSA-approved Ziploc baggies stashed in the back of the closet).
All packed, and with a tank full of gas, I left home on Sunday morning the 25th.
First, a few random observations:
- As always, the drive south this time of year is a fast-forward trip through the season. As I got on I-89 in Randolph, I could see the snow on Killington in the distance; the foliage along the highway was just beginning to show some “fuzz”. But just two hours later, I was looking around at blossoming trees and neon green lawns in Connecticut.
- Crossing through Massachusetts, I noticed that the state has re-numbered its highway exits to match the highway mile markers, a practice common in the rest of the country, but not yet evident in Vermont or Connecticut.
- Approaching Springfield, I realized something else that I hadn’t done (nor missed) in over a year: driving on a three-lane highway. I was reminded of that fact as I crossed the line into Holyoke and immediately observed several cars doing the familiar high-speed ping-pong across multiple lanes of traffic. (A corollary question – when did Massachusetts and Connecticut stop putting directional signals in cars?)
Arriving in Newington, I got to meet my newest grandniece Adalina, just one month old, before proceeding to a small gathering with other nieces and nephews – all vaccinated – for a few hours. We had met a couple of times during the pandemic – a hike at Skinner State Park last September, a quick gift swap in a Brattleboro parking lot before Christmas – but those were masked and not long enough for extended conversation. I have to say that at first it did feel kind of strange to all be together, like we were doing something marginally illegal. It didn’t take long, however, until the intervening months were almost forgotten.
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| Then: September 2020.....vs....... |
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| Now: April 2021 |
Next, it was on to Waterford on the Connecticut coast for a relaxed visit and overnight stay with my long-time friend Nancy – and the realization that I hadn’t seen the ocean in over a year and a half! To make up for it, we drove to Rocky Neck State Park the next morning for a long walk. The park isn’t open to the beach crowd quiet yet, so the beach and the wooded trails were peaceful.
I hadn’t been to Rocky Neck since the early1970’s, but it holds a special place in my memories. Living in Hartford when I was a child, we spent virtually every Sunday in the summertime there. Saturdays were for working around the house and yard, but Sunday mornings we’d get up for the early Mass, then my parents would pack up the car with what seemed to be enough food for a week, and we’d head down the old Route 9 to Rocky Neck for the day.
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| Rocky Neck, 1954-ish: I'm the blur, second from the right, behind my father's hand |
With friends and extended family meeting us there, we’d set up “base camp” of several tables together in the grassy picnic area. There was always plenty of grilled kielbasa and potato salad, but we’d go up to the pavilion to buy cotton candy, ice cream, and French fries. If we were lucky, we’d hear the train coming and run to watch it from the bridge behind the pavilion. (I remember dropping French fries onto the train). I recall that the mothers mostly stayed in the picnic area throughout the day (someone had to guard all of the food!), while the fathers would head to the beach with the kids; we'd spend what seemed like hours floating around in those big old black inner tubes. The end of the day meant one more snack in the parking lot – it seems like our group was always among the last ones there – and a sleepy ride home with a sunburn and sand in my clothes and sneakers.
What was that that I said in my second paragraph? The one-night trip “may as well have been an around-the world journey in terms of my level of anticipation”. I’d say it lived up to the expectation – meeting the newest member of my family, hugging my nieces and nephews, spending time with a childhood friend, and a trip down memory lane to cap it all off. Who needs to travel around the world?
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| Inland brook at Rocky Neck State Park |
