Coastal Connecticut, dinner with a fellow Edgewood alum, & being a Yalie for a night

My first trip as a solo female traveler was a success! Saturday morning I set out on my adventure to explore coastal Connecticut. I have been fascinated in the towns along the coast in Connecticut ever since I took a train with my mom from Boston to New York a few years ago, so I wanted to explore these places that looked beautiful out the window of the train.

I started by going to Stonington, which is only a few miles from the Connecticut-Rhode Island border. In a recent article in Coastal Living (if you didn’t ready my first post, I use this magazine as inspiration for places to go and things to do) they had an article on coastal farmers markets and there listed one in Stonington, so I decided to check it out. Looking back, I suppose I had high expectations since I am used to Madison’s Farmer’s Market which has over 100 vendors. Stonington’s farmer’s market had about a dozen stands, selling such items as bread, organic produce, and maple syrup. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed, but I suppose it was sufficient considering the size of Stonington. I walked along the downtown, which was only about 2-3 blocks and consisted of boutiques, shops, and restaurants, then continued to walk down Main St. all the way to the water where there was a small beach. As I was walking, people said hello to me and had conversations with each other they happened to see on the street. There were not many people out and about, but the majority of those I saw were at least middle aged. Overall, my impression of Stonington was a small, quiet, friendly town where people can live a relaxed lifestyle. Of course, as with all the towns I visited, things may be very different in the summer when families come to stay in these coastal towns.

Next I stopped at a coffee shop in New London called Bean and Leaf Café. While the 7-layer bar I had was delicious, the rest of the coffee shop was nothing special. I thought New London’s downtown was nearby, so I started walking but quickly realized it was not. I walked around the block and decided to drive around instead to try and find a downtown area. I did find a stretch of about 2 blocks not that far from where I was that had a few stores and restaurants, but nothing worth checking out. New London is not a place I would go back to unless I had a good reason.

Old Mistick Village was my next stop. It is a touristy shopping area with sidewalks that lead you around the “village” to various shops. It happened to be Garlic Fest when I was there, so there were some stands selling food with garlic and I even saw a garlic magnet. This would be a great place to go Christmas shopping because of the variety of stores! There were Italian, kitchenware, dog, and hippie stores.

Then I headed to Mystic, which was the closest to what I had imagined as a classic Connecticut seaside town. It had the most populated downtown I visited and had several clothing shops along Main St. There was even a drawbridge, which I got to see in use up close!

Next I went to Old Saybrook, which didn’t really have a downtown like the other places I visited. I didn’t even get out of my car to walk around because it there weren’t many shops that looked appealing and there weren’t many people around.

The last town I visited was Essex, which was another small, quiet town. I stopped in at Essex Coffee and Tea for an apple cider chai. The coffee shop was quite small and unfortunately didn’t have Internet. The rest of the downtown had a few shops, a park with a view of a cove, and not too many people around.

I then made my way to New Haven, specifically Yale. Just a few days before, I used a website called CouchSurfing, which is a network of people worldwide that allow other members to stay on their couch or just meet for a drink, to find someone to stay with. I narrowed my search to females between the ages of 18 and 20, and found my host Nicholle. She told me that she wouldn’t be able to meet me until 8:30pm, so I was in need of someone to have dinner with since I didn’t want to be out by myself after dark. The only person I knew who lived in New Haven was Matt Everts, who was a year ahead of me in school at Edgewood. Fortunately he was free, so when I arrived in New Haven we went to a restaurant called Yorkside Pizza and had dinner with 2 of his suitemates. Matt then showed me around campus, until Nicholle was free. Later that night, she took me to 2 parties hosted by Yale groups, the first one by the Gay Co-op (according to Nicholle, 1 in 4 guys who go to Yale is gay) and the second by the Latino club. We then went to a dance club called Toad’s Place and were there until it closed. I wish more schools sponsored parties like the ones I went to! Sunday morning I had brunch with Nicholle and some of her suitemates in one of Yale’s dining halls, which are so beautiful. Nicholle showed me around the rest of campus, which seems so huge for just over 5,000 undergrads. I was amazed by how many beautiful and hidden places there were all over the campus.

 After a very busy and exciting 30 hours I arrived back to Westfield and felt very accomplished that I successfully completed my first weekend traveling on my own!