#134: The Mark Twain House (Page 593; 2nd Ed pg 741)

August 12, 2012:  The front porch of Mark Twain's Home in Hartford, CT

Cost:  $16 for a one hour guided interior tour of the three-story home

Verdict:  I learned a lot about Mark Twain and have taken more of an interest in reading his works since seeing his home and learning about his life.  However, unless you are a die-hard Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens fan, you don't HAVE to do this before you die.

#133: Litchfield Hills and the Mayflower Inn (pg 595; 2nd Ed pg 742)

August 12, 2012

America's first law school

Verdict:  No.  This is not a "must do."  In fact, I have no idea how Litchfield Hills made it into this book!

#132: Essex (Page 592; 2nd Ed pg 741)

August 12, 2012

As soon as we got into town, we were greeted by this beautiful park with a gazebo and surrounded by water.

This lighthouse, water, boats and quaint one of a kind shops fill and surround this town.  Fittingly, while I read that there was one stop light in this town, I never saw one.  Likewise, I did not see any chain stores or restaurants.  Delightful!

The Griswold Inn, the oldest continuously operating inn in the state and, built in the 1700's, one of the oldest in the country.

Fortunately, we were visiting Essex on a Sunday because the Griswold Inn is well known for it's Sunday brunch that runs from 11am - 2pm.  The cost is $20.95.  It was delicious!  The buffet line had fruit salad, a delicious cold pasta salad, stuffed shrimp, Griswold's famous sausage, etc.  In addition, there was an omelette bar and a waffle bar with real maple syrup.  Yum!

Verdict:  Like Mystic, this was a beautiful, quaint, charming town with great shops and surrounded by water.  But also like Mystic, while I think this town is worth visiting if in the area, not something you HAVE to do before you die.

#131: Mystic Seaport (Page 594; 2nd Ed pg 743)

August 11, 2012:  Located on the water in Southeastern Connecticut, Mystic Seaport is a beautiful area, especially in the summer time.

Mystic is home to America's leading maritime museum.  Starting at the Visitor Center, you can purchase tickets and pick up a pamphlet full of that day's activities, which includes everything from climbing aboard the world's last wooden whaleship to taking horse and carriage rides or renting sailboats and rowboats.

And no trip to Mystic is complete without eating at Mystic Pizza!  Mystic Pizza, starring Julia Roberts was based on this restaurant and filmed in this town.  We certainly enjoyed our "little slice of heaven!"

Verdict:  I loved Mystic.  If I had to say yes or no, I would probably go with a No, you don't HAVE to see this place before you die.  But if you ever find yourself in Connecticut, I HIGHLY recommend it!

#130: Hudson Valley (Page 676, 2nd Ed pg 839)

August 11, 2012:  The Hudson Valley is the stretch of land next to the 314 mile long Hudson River.  We chose to visit Hyde Park, home of "the other CIA" (Culinary Institutes of America).  Unfortunately, we were there on a Saturday and the place pretty much shuts down on weekends, but we still had fun roaming the beautiful campus and shopping in their gift shop.  Parking is free and it's definitely worth the visit - especially if you are there M-F and can check out one of the student-run restaurants.

Hyde Park is also home to the FDR home, library and burial plot.  Here is the grave of FDR and his wife.  The grounds are lovely.

And here is his home.  Parking here is free.  There is a charge to enter the library or home, but roaming the grounds is free of charge.

Verdict:  A beautiful area, but No, not a "must do" before you die.

#129: The Catskills (Page 671; 2nd Ed pg 836)

August 11, 2012: Woodstock is the Catskills' most famous area/town and also the place my friend Mindy most wanted to visit.

Woodstock is covered with little bohemian/hippie type shops and we all soaked in the peace, love and tie-dye!

Verdict:  We had a delightful afternoon here, but No, this is not something you HAVE to do before you die.

#128: The Adirondacks (Page 670; 2nd Ed pg 835)

August 10, 2012:  The Adirondacks is the largest park in the continental United States covering ~6 million acres.  We settled on Lake George as our destination.  We walked all around the town.  The "main street" has countless shops, restaurants and ice cream shops.  There are also boat rides you can take out on the lake.  We chose the Minne-Ha-Ha Paddlewhell Cruise.  It was a one hour cruise and cost $12.75.  

Verdict:  Yes.  I LOVED Lake George and absolutely could have stayed a week or two exploring as much of the park as possible.  However, it is expensive to stay here during the summer.  We paid $180/night for our motel and it was a total dive.  

#127: Saratoga Springs (Page 688, 2nd Ed pg 849)

August 10, 2012:  The famous Saratoga Race Course was built in 1864 and is open to the public for horse races for 6 weeks during the summer.  For just $3, you can enter the race course and view the races.

I went to the races with my friends Mindy and Mariellen and it was the first time any of us had been to a live horse race.

Ready for the races to start!

Warming up...  The races go all day long until ~6pm and run a different race every 30 minutes.  Very fun to watch!

Verdict:  As you can see from our pictures, we were there on a rainy, muddy day.  So, maybe if we were there on a sunny day and maybe if I was totally into horse racing, I would feel differently, but while we did have fun and while I'm glad we had the experience, NO, this is not something you need to do before you die.

#126: Finger Lakes (Page 674; 2nd Ed pg 838)

August 10, 2012:  I went with a couple friend to Upstate New York and visited the Finger Lakes.  We stayed in Geneva right by Lake Seneca, the largest of the 11 Finger Lakes.  There is a delightful walking path around the lake.

Verdict:  Beautiful lakes, towns and walking paths.  But No, not a "must do" before you die.

#125: The Outer Banks (Page 691, 2nd Ed pg 851)

July 21 - 28, 2012.  Outer Banks has been on "my list" for years now.  I never even heard of the Outer Banks before moving to Maryland in 2005, but it's definitely a popular excursion for Marylanders (just 6 hours away without traffic; 8-10 hours with traffic!) and so I've been wanting to do this for years.  Well, this summer, the stars aligned and we got our chance to come here on a family reunion.  Here we are at the tallest lighthouse in the country, Cape Hatteras.

 And here we are at the top!  You can climb to the top for a fee of $7 per person (ages 11 and over) or $3.50 for those under the age of 11.  To climb, you must be at least 42 inches tall, so my 4 year old just barely made it.  But he was thrilled and did a great job climbing to the top by himself!

Just south of Hatteras is Ocracoke Island.  You can take a free ferry (about 30-40 minute ride) to the island.  It  is a car ferry, so you can bring your car to the island and then drive around and explore.  The first thing we did was visit the Ocracoke Lighthouse.

 Unfortunately, you can't climb inside this one.

 Another "must do" in the Outer Banks is visiting the Wright Memorial

This is the spot where the Wright brothers made the first successful airplane flight in history on December 17, 1903.  Amazing to see the place where that happened. (Cost:  $4/adult.  Kids are free).  Admission includes parking, and several exhibits including the memorial, a movie, etc.  

And if you're a "Hollywood buff" then you can also see the exact home used in the film "Nights in Rodanthe."  Where is it, you ask?  Well, in Rodanthe!

Here is a picture taken from the back yard pool of the house we stayed in.  The Outer Banks is known for it's huge rental homes.  We had a group of 35 people and stayed in 2 big houses.  It was perfect!

And no trip to the Outer Banks is complete without beach time.  Our two houses were right on the beach.  It's more expensive that way, but totally worth it in our opinion since we all spent tons of time at the beach.  I chose to use the one formal picture we took on the beach, but I have about 100 others of all of us in our bathing suits playing in the sand and water.  The water temperature was great and we all had a blast at the ocean!

Verdict:  Yes.  Do it!  BUT.... I would highly recommend doing it with a big group of family/friends.  There isn't a ton to do aside from playing at the beach and exploring a couple nearby towns, so half the fun is just playing in and around your big house with all your friends and family.