a tale of two weekends

ok, so dad is a little behind with the blogging. that's no surprise, is it? seriously, it's been a little busy lately, really. anyhow, now it's catchup time. a few weeks ago we took in one of the area sites, Gillette Castle. as you'll perhaps read on the website, this is a CT state park on which you can find the former residence of famed American actor and playwright, William Gillette. that first website doesn't do it justice, so here's another one, for the truly interested. anyhow, the "castle" itself was not yet open for the season, but the grounds were. we had a nice time walking around, watching Arwyn run around, and just taking in the sites in general. here's a shot of her exploring the picnic area inside "Grand Central Station", the former hub for Gillette's narrow gauge railroad.



the next weekend we took advantage of the free rides being offered to area residents on the Essex Steam Train. it was basically just a short ride between Essex and Chester, with passengers riding in old Pullman cars that were pulled/pushed by coal-fired steam engines. our hope was that Arwyn would enjoy the ride on the train (something she reads about often in her many books) and we were happy to see she did.