Stamford! I was just there last weekend, helping my brother finalize an apartment for his internship in Stamford this summer (starting next Monday!).
Which makes me wonder . . . any recommendations from you or your parents on stuff to do in Connecticut, starting from Stamford outward? Besides watching Blumenthal implode, I mean. I know that’s not your part of CT, but any tips I can pass along to my brother would be appreciated.
David K.
” I mean. I know that’s not your part of CT”
Are there really “parts” of Connecticut? The state is so darn small! You could almost 13 Connecticuts in Washington, 29 in California, 48 in Texas, and a whopping 119 in Alaska!
Brendan Loy
Oooooh, there are parts of Connecticut all right. Granted, it’s pretty difficult to find anywhere that’s 2 hours away from anywhere else (though Becky and I did manage to go on a 90+ minute drive from Essex to Kent Falls last week). But the Greater Stamford area is most definitely a distinct region from the Greater Hartford area. The geographic distances may be relatively small, but the socioeconomic distances are VAST. 🙂
I really don’t know Fairfield County very well at all, Brandon, so I’m not sure what to suggest. Although I know I were interning in Stamford, I’d probably spend a lot of my days off in New York City. 🙂 It’s gotta be a pretty quick Metro-North ride from there.
Brendan Loy
P.S. True story: I used to think “Stanford” sounded funny, because it was so similar to “Stamford.” After all, I grew up hearing a lot about Stamford, and virtually nothing about Stanford. Now, having moved away from Connecticut and become a Pac-10 football fan, I think “Stamford” sounds funny, because it’s so similar to “Stanford.” 🙂
kcatnd
David, I think it’s a phenomenon of smaller areas. The smaller an area, the more diverse its parts. Differences are amplified, like the distinct neighborhoods of Manhattan or regions in England. Someone should write a book about this. Not me, though. I’m busy.
Plus, having driven up there, Stamford is very much in the orbit of NYC. It is very close by, and is pretty well connected to the city. I didn’t expect that Hartford would feel the same, because it is far enough away to be “its own thing”.
And yes, he’s thinking about spending time in NYC. There’s a train station of some sort right in the downtown of the city. I think he’d like to drive somewhere cool within CT at some point, though. Any good parks/vistas to go to?
Brendan Loy
Yeah, there’s lots of pretty scenery in Litchfield County, which is due north of Fairfield County. The aforementioned Kent Falls State Park, where Becky and I went last week, is a favorite, and is probably something on the order of a 45 minute drive from Stamford (I’m guessing). I think Devil’s Hopyard State Park is in the same vicinity, if I remember correctly, which I might very well not, having not been there since I was a kid. But anyway yeah, there’s plenty of scenic stops, state parks and whatnot in the western and particularly the northwestern part of the state. And then of course there’s the shoreline, though I don’t know how much there is in the way of public beaches down there, as opposed to beachfront property owned by multi-millionaires. 🙂
David K.
ok mostly i was just trying to make fun of Brendan and his small home state 🙂
Joe Loy
David: well ok then, that’s OK. Fair Game. 🙂 We ARE rather proud that geographically, on a Smallest-to-Largest list of the 50 states, We’re Number Three!
B.Minich: Brendan (as he Allowed might well be the case) does Not remember correctly the Vicinity (as micro-measured by CT mini-standards 🙂 of Devil’s Hopyard State Park, which is in East Haddam over east in Middlesex County. But as he said, noplace up in This neck-o’-the-woods is Too far from anyplace Else.
Westport, just up the road a piece from Stamford, has the venerable Sherwood Island State Park, CT’s first such. Nearby Norwalk has its renowned Maritime Aquarium. Bridgeport, notwithstanding its undeservedly Dubious reputation, has among many other attractions the P.T. Barnum Museum, in which we Nutmeggers (with all due Obeisance to <a href="Hartford's claim on our Other bigfat rapscallion, Mark Twain,") take Particular pride. ;>
For tony & pricey dining & shopping, and to Gawk at the Rich people, just go next door to Greenwich — or (again) a littlebit east to Westport, which is very Artsy, don’tcha know. (And if you wanna peek at the even Richer folks, head for New Canaan & Darien. 🙂
Thanks, venerable Loy! Having grown up in Pennsylvania, the Nutmeg state is much more manageable than our fair home state. It does seem that any distance in the state is manageable for a day trip.
Stamford! I was just there last weekend, helping my brother finalize an apartment for his internship in Stamford this summer (starting next Monday!).
Which makes me wonder . . . any recommendations from you or your parents on stuff to do in Connecticut, starting from Stamford outward? Besides watching Blumenthal implode, I mean. I know that’s not your part of CT, but any tips I can pass along to my brother would be appreciated.
” I mean. I know that’s not your part of CT”
Are there really “parts” of Connecticut? The state is so darn small! You could almost 13 Connecticuts in Washington, 29 in California, 48 in Texas, and a whopping 119 in Alaska!
Oooooh, there are parts of Connecticut all right. Granted, it’s pretty difficult to find anywhere that’s 2 hours away from anywhere else (though Becky and I did manage to go on a 90+ minute drive from Essex to Kent Falls last week). But the Greater Stamford area is most definitely a distinct region from the Greater Hartford area. The geographic distances may be relatively small, but the socioeconomic distances are VAST. 🙂
I really don’t know Fairfield County very well at all, Brandon, so I’m not sure what to suggest. Although I know I were interning in Stamford, I’d probably spend a lot of my days off in New York City. 🙂 It’s gotta be a pretty quick Metro-North ride from there.
P.S. True story: I used to think “Stanford” sounded funny, because it was so similar to “Stamford.” After all, I grew up hearing a lot about Stamford, and virtually nothing about Stanford. Now, having moved away from Connecticut and become a Pac-10 football fan, I think “Stamford” sounds funny, because it’s so similar to “Stanford.” 🙂
David, I think it’s a phenomenon of smaller areas. The smaller an area, the more diverse its parts. Differences are amplified, like the distinct neighborhoods of Manhattan or regions in England. Someone should write a book about this. Not me, though. I’m busy.
Plus, having driven up there, Stamford is very much in the orbit of NYC. It is very close by, and is pretty well connected to the city. I didn’t expect that Hartford would feel the same, because it is far enough away to be “its own thing”.
And yes, he’s thinking about spending time in NYC. There’s a train station of some sort right in the downtown of the city. I think he’d like to drive somewhere cool within CT at some point, though. Any good parks/vistas to go to?
Yeah, there’s lots of pretty scenery in Litchfield County, which is due north of Fairfield County. The aforementioned Kent Falls State Park, where Becky and I went last week, is a favorite, and is probably something on the order of a 45 minute drive from Stamford (I’m guessing). I think Devil’s Hopyard State Park is in the same vicinity, if I remember correctly, which I might very well not, having not been there since I was a kid. But anyway yeah, there’s plenty of scenic stops, state parks and whatnot in the western and particularly the northwestern part of the state. And then of course there’s the shoreline, though I don’t know how much there is in the way of public beaches down there, as opposed to beachfront property owned by multi-millionaires. 🙂
ok mostly i was just trying to make fun of Brendan and his small home state 🙂
David: well ok then, that’s OK. Fair Game. 🙂 We ARE rather proud that geographically, on a Smallest-to-Largest list of the 50 states, We’re Number Three!
B.Minich: Brendan (as he Allowed might well be the case) does Not remember correctly the Vicinity (as micro-measured by CT mini-standards 🙂 of Devil’s Hopyard State Park, which is in East Haddam over east in Middlesex County. But as he said, noplace up in This neck-o’-the-woods is Too far from anyplace Else.
Westport, just up the road a piece from Stamford, has the venerable Sherwood Island State Park, CT’s first such. Nearby Norwalk has its renowned Maritime Aquarium. Bridgeport, notwithstanding its undeservedly Dubious reputation, has among many other attractions the P.T. Barnum Museum, in which we Nutmeggers (with all due Obeisance to <a href="Hartford's claim on our Other bigfat rapscallion, Mark Twain,") take Particular pride. ;>
For tony & pricey dining & shopping, and to Gawk at the Rich people, just go next door to Greenwich — or (again) a littlebit east to Westport, which is very Artsy, don’tcha know. (And if you wanna peek at the even Richer folks, head for New Canaan & Darien. 🙂
Erratum: Linkage correction ~ “…(with all due Obeisance to Hartford’s claim on our Other bigfat rapscallion, Mark Twain,)… “
Thanks, venerable Loy! Having grown up in Pennsylvania, the Nutmeg state is much more manageable than our fair home state. It does seem that any distance in the state is manageable for a day trip.
And having derailed this discussion, I shall attempt to rerail it!
OK, I’m not sure how to replace “in” with “during” in this quote:
“When we returned, we saw nothing like this,”
Hrmmmmmmm . . . . “During when we returned” just doesn’t help him here. “Misplaced words” indeed.