what i did on summer vacation - part 2

part two of our vacation was spent at a friends in conneticut. we got to say in their guest cottage attached to their garage. very homey. 

these are some very old and dear friends. she and i went to high school together. he and hubby also went to high school together. above is an old old painting of mine that i gave them for a wedding present eons ago. 

they also have a little girl, just a bit older than my little. they hit it off famously. 

they had a pool on their property [shared by other houses on the same property], but it was a bit too cold to actually swim. [we tried]

there was also this MASSIVE wood pile on the property. their little informed me it was "bob's wood pile". reminded me of andy goldsworthy. 

after a couple days we headed to boston as we were set to fly out from logan. we stopped in hartford for a break to get out of the car and grab some lunch. we had no idea where to go so we just headed downtown. turns out the city capital building is quite beautiful !

and there was this weird castle thing in the middle of the road. 

there was a groundskeeper on the lawn who informed us there was a carousel right a cross the street. from 1914 ! and only $1 to ride !

so of course we rode. if i get back to hartford i'd like to go to the mark twain house. 

then to boston where we wandered around the park that was hubby's stomping ground when he was a kid.

we went to the boston children's museum  - where we walked past the boston tea party museum and this little boat. 

finally made it to the ICA where barry mcgee was on display [interesting to compare this installation to the berkeley art museum version. also to hear the little's comparisons]. i also learned that she has WAY more patience for video art than i do. she wanted to watch mary reid kelley's pieces in their entirety where as i was willing to leave part way thru.

we rode the T [both bus and subway] and experienced the weird underground madness of the "big dig". 

the little magically matched some construction markings. 

we also went to the new england aquarium before we headed out of town. it's a pretty great place with adorable penguins and a huge tank that you can spiral around. we learned about their 85 year old sea turtle merta who likes to eat brussel sprouts. i liked the puffer fish and the sea horses. 

it was such a quick trip we didn't do much else. a brief stop at faneuil hall... and we did grab lobster sandwiches [they are NOT rolls, but very delicious] from alive and kicking [this is a tradition].

and the little had her first dunkin donut. [why are they only on the east coast?]