Our flight was smooth and quick, and soon we were back in Connecticut. For some reason I was up early the next morning, and there was an absolutely gorgeous sunrise.
Spent the first day cleaning, catching up on emails, etc. and then that night we went to a yummy Chinese restaurant in Middletown and to see Jumanji, which was hilarious :)
The next morning I worked a bit and then we went driving. We didn't have much planned, and kind of spontaneously ended up going to Dinosaur State Park. It ended up being one of my favorite days from his visit, even though it was "simple." We were both in a good/silly mood, and we laughed a lot and just had a nice time together.
Over the next 9 days, whenever we had some free time we went on a fieldtrip. Here's some of the highlights...
Devil's Hopyard State Park--wet, cold, and mushy.
Yale Peabody Museum--awesome.
Lunch at a Thai Restaurant in Guilford, which was a silly/delicious adventure.
The Connecticut River Museum...
Probably the most delightful thing here was the "pecking" chickens in the toy train exhibit,
don't ask me why...
Took a very long walk one evening and saw a beautiful sunset.
Took a strange stroll around the Foxwoods Casino...
and had a delicious nostalgic lunch at Fuddruckers.
One day we went to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, which has been on my list for a long time.
People are so weird, isn't it wonderful?
I especially liked this piece by William Holman Hunt, titled The Lady of Shalott, which is also a lifelike rendering of me trying to tie up the loose ends of my life...
Probably the most "adventurous" day was our big Saturday--a trip to Nomad's where we played black-light mini golf...
An actual photo of me after I crushed Cody...
We also played a few arcade games, but the place was a little crowded and "not adventurous enough," so I ended up dragging Cody another 45 min. away to New Haven to... (drumroll please...)
JORDAN'S FURNITURE.
No really, it's a furniture store. It's also the location of the largest indoor ropes and zipline course, which we also did. The course is set up in a genius way--where once you are harnessed up, you can explore the whole thing--4 levels I think, in any direction or order you want. Some sections are easier than others, and it's the perfect blend of scary/fun/exercise.
Now, winter is a challenging time to find things for someone like my brother to do, b/c he's not as into art and museums as... well, me. But we both loved this attraction.
Our last day I was looking for any fun/random/silly thing to do, so we went to Nature's Art Village. Most of it is closed for the winter, but the Gateway Museum was open, and that was kinda cool.
Each section has a different theme, like the Barber Shop, Country Store, etc.
Then there's the Antiques & Collectibles shop itself, which is basically a giant museum of random stuff all stirred up together. We especially enjoyed the "Frog Room," because well, who wouldn't?
All in all, Cody was pretty good company and an okay sport about me dragging him around.
Tuesday morning we had a fresh blanket of snow, which was a cool send-off. Dropping him off at the airport was kind of a surreal feeling for me. I was 12 when Cody was born, so I remember him as a baby. It's so weird sometimes to see him as an adult and to realize how much time has gone by. But I'm grateful for the friendship we have now, and I'm so glad he was able to come visit.
Now that the holidays are behind me and the family visits are over, I'm taking some time to clear the decks and plan for the future. We already have quite a few events spread out over the coming year. Tonight we're hosting another East Hampton's Writer's Guild meeting, which I always enjoy, and more snow is in the forecast (hooray!).
Here's hoping February has even more fun (and a little less flu...).
