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Over 100 pictures posted on “In Search of Colors" 2nd Wedding Anniversary trip!

It’s back at work for a day, and I realized that the vacation is over.  I think it’s one of the best vacations that I experienced.  I have over 100 pictures on the photo album site for the trip.  It will be moved on the left sidebar with all the other photo albums.  The pictures turned out better than expected.  There are many of my infamous self-portraits.  In a lot of ways, it was a lot of places I visited for the first time.

It was the first time to Connecticut and Washington D.C.  I will definitely remember this first.  I ended up driving through these states for the first time: Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.  Because of that, it’s always going to be special.  For the nine days, I was with my Sunshine throughout the journey.  There were many interesting stories during what I’ve called “In Search of Colors 2^nd Wedding Anniversary trip.”

In Washington D.C., the weather wasn’t really cooperative because it rain for about the thirty-six hours in the nation’s capital.  For the time that we were there (it wasn’t the first time for my Sunshine), I got pretty good pictures of the area, especially since we walked to the sites mostly in the rain, when I took the pictures.

I will be reflecting on the many interesting thoughts and feelings during the trip.  When I can give you a good picture of what when on, I’ll write about them.

We made it home!

We made it home! ... Sad, thinking it's back to work in several hours.

One full more day on vacation … Monday morning it’s back to work!

It’s a little more than a day till I’ll be back at work.  I’m opening on Monday morning.  It’s only a simple drive from Washington D.C. till home.  One morning and early afternoon of pictures, and it’s the long drive back home.  The vacation will be over.  I will work hard to stay in touch when I get my hectic schedule back.  Just don’t be strangers yourself.

Connecticut -vs- Smoky Mountain colors

I thought that I would give you a comparison on why Connecticut’s Fall Foilage is much more colorful than the Smoky Mountains.  I am comparing Connecticut this year –vs- the Smoky Mountains last year.  The pictures were taken with the same camera. 

This is a picture from this year in Connecticut.

    
I searched through numerous Smoky Mountain pictures in 2008.  I found this one.

Now, does everyone know why my Sunshine and I traveled to Connecticut?

Sunset of Hawaii –vs- Connecticut

I thought that I would share with you the difference between two sunset pictures from the Hawaii and from Connecticut. 

A sunset of Hawaii years ago ...
This is a Connecticut sunset ...

Which one do you like?

Connecticut “In Search of Colors” time is coming to an end …

I’m thinking about my vacation with Sunshine, “In Search of Colors,” is ending, since it’s back to work on Monday.  Today is quiet day of rest since the next two days will be travel days, trying to visit as much as I can to see what’s in Washington, D.C, and finally making the final leg back to our hometown.

Yesterday, we got a lot accomplished.  We did get the oil change on the Toyota Camry completed.  The service at this Valvoline in Groton, Connecticut turned out to be an entertainment visit.  Out of all of the locations I’ve visited the employee, Adam, was one of the most entertaining technician during the oil change process.

Right after we drove into Rhode Island.  It ended up to be the short drive to the capital city of Providence.  Since we were taking a visit to the Hard Rock Café in Connecticut, I entered the Foxwoods Casino.  I’m glad that I did because I discovered that there was an El Pollo Loco in the casino.  That ended up being lunch for the day.  It wasn’t a happy occasion when I suggested to my Sunshine that she eat in the car.  She lost a plate!  Lucky it was just the flour Tortilla on a plate ended up on the floorboard.

We thought that we would go through a corn maze in Middlefield, Connecticut.  When we arrived at the location, the maze wasn’t as “green” as on the Web site.  We ended up eating the El Pollo Loco meal that I purchased from the Foxwoods Casino location on the Lymans Orchard parking lot.

After a church service we ate at a local restaurant called Inn at Newtown.  It was an interesting dinner.  The structure is 200-years old featuring a long walkway to the restroom.  The building as pictured on its website is typical of the historical buildings that are all over the Connecticut landscape.  The place was not the typical cookie cutter type buildings that most of the chains structure around for their restaurant.  I could feel that this dining experience had a long history in its architecture.

Update of Thursday's pictures late morning ....

I just arrived back home to the home away from home. It's been a long day, so the pictures from Thursday will be posted on the photo album when I get up in several hours.

Thank you for checking in.

Another raining day … so shopping?

This will have to be a first!  When I am on vacation its usual for me not to take any self-portraits, especially for the entire day.  I guess it must have been the two days in a row that it was cloudy and raining.

It was a shopping day.  We started off trying to look for souvenirs for Connecticut.   My wife found a place called Olde Mistick Village.  It was a good choice.  It mostly sold products made in the New England area—Vermont, New Rhode Island, and other places in the U.S.A.  It cost a little more, but it was worth it. 

We took a drive out to New Haven, Connecticut to make a second visit to IKEA.  The first time was the night before on our anniversary night.  We arrived after 8pm. and that’s the time that this Connecticut closed.  We found some good buys.  The good thing is that there is a location in northern Georgia.  So we’ll just have to add that to our list of places to visit during our monthly visit along with Costco and El Pollo Loco.  The next stop was at Costco to fill up the gas tank; the price of the gas was about 7-10 cents less than at most gas stations.

After this is where the fun really began.  It’s been over 4000 miles since my wife or I changed the oil in the Toyota Camry.  I thought that today would be a good day to do so because of the rain coming down.  We were planning to go to Hot Tomatoes in Hartford, Connecticut.  I thought to find a Valvoline nearby.  On my phone, I found one less than two miles away.  The oil change has to wait another day.

To make a long story short, let’s just say that there wasn’t an oil change place at that location.  I couldn’t believe that we went around and around in downtown Hartford, trying to find this place and it didn’t exist!  It caused some friction with my Sunshine, let’s just say.

We also ended up finding the Hot Tomatoes, and getting a parking space for only one dollar on the street.  When we drove up, the rain was still falling down.  When we started dinner, it stopped.

Raining 2nd Wedding Anniversary Day!

It was a raining day yesterday on our 2nd wedding anniversary day.  Most of the day.  It was no doubt cloudy all day, as you can noticed from all the pictures taken yesterday.  One of the highlights was going to a small town getting new windshield wipers for the Toyota Camry.  We tried to get refills for the wipers because honestly, I didn't really know how to quickly replace them, so my wife gave it a try.  Even with the refills, it didn't work out as we planned.  The employee at the local auto parts store came out and just recommended that we replace the entire pair of windshield wipers.  Right after we replaced the windshield wipers, it didn't rain as often as before we didn't replace it.

We planned on driving around the northwest side of the state, most of where the fall foliage is past peak of its colors.  The Kent Falls we visited was good because there were only two other couples that visited the site as we did, so we could take as many pictures as we desired, as you may have noticed from the pictures.  We even traveled on the covered bridge in West Cornwall, Connecticut.

Then it was onto dinner in the southwest region of the state.  I've included a different post for that story.

Today, it's still cloudy and may rain throughout the day.  So it's shopping and indoor activities.

2nd Wedding Anniversary dinner in Stamford, Connecticut: Kona Grill

In keeping with my idea that we visit places that are local and not chains, we ate at a 88-mile drive away from our hotel in Stamford, Connecticut, at a twenty-three location nationwide Kona Grill.  It's where the "East meets West.  They Party."  The food was a little too sweet, because of the American influence of the food over the Asian/Pacific dishes.  But overall it was good.  I ordered the miso soup, potstickers, and the Pan-Asian noodles with the Thai rice noodles.  My wife had an avocado/cucumber sushi, and the Macadamia Nut chicken.  As mentioned, overall, the dishes were too sweet.  My miso soup was too watered down.  The potstickers were too meat, I thought, not enough vegetable mixed in to the entire dumplings.  I realize that it has to be cooked for the American market.  On my scale of 1 to 5 the food gets a 3 rating.  The service gets a 3.5.