Consider a Connecticut Vacation $1,000 Gift Card Sweepstakes

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Are you thinking about taking a vacation this year to a state where you can find a wonderful diversity of things to see and do? Where there are quaint towns, stone walls, historical sights, waterfalls, covered bridges, farm stands full of local produce, wineries, antiques, art galleries, designer outlets, world class casino resorts, fine dining and recreational opportunities, as well as scenery that will take your breath away? If so, consider visiting the beautiful state of Connecticut! Connecticut tourism, along with BlogHer, asked some bloggers to tell you why we love to visit Connecticut and is sponsoring a $1,000 gift card give away to one lucky commenter -- see the rules at the end of this post.



My husband and I have been regular visitors to Connecticut since the first year of our marriage. Above are some vintage mid 70's photos of us on a trip to Connecticut's Mystic Seaport and the Museum of America and the Sea, the nation's leading maritime museum. It is a wonderful place for the entire family to visit, and we brought our children here often as they were growing up. In Mystic Seaport you can explore American maritime history first-hand as you climb aboard four National Historic Landmark tall ship vessels, stroll through a re-created 19th-century coastal village or visit the on site Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard, where you can observe as historic vessels are restored using traditional methods and tools. For young children's enjoyment there is a Children's Museum Discovery Barn and playscape area, while older children and adults would appreciate visiting Mystic Seaport's Treworgy Planetarium.



Now that our children are grown and we have an empty nest, my husband and I love to take an occasional long weekend "get away" trip to stay in a romantic bed and breakfast located in one of the eight counties in Connecticut. We love to explore new towns and enjoy the wonderful hospitality we always find at each location. We also enjoy visiting the Foxwoods Resort and Casino on the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation in Ledyard, to see big name entertainers perform. On other occasions we've attended a play at the top notch Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, or attended one of the many craft, art, food or music festivals that are held throughout Connecticut during the year.

The scenic West Cornwall Covered Bridge over the Housatonic River

Litchfield County is one of our favorite Connecticut destinations because we enjoy all its natural attractions including the Housatonic River, Lake Waramaug, Lime Rock, the Appalachian Trail, and Mohawk Mountain for skiing.



Autumn is my favorite season, and Connecticut can rival any other New England destination as far as having the most spectacular fall foliage! I took all the photos above on our last fall trip. Now is the time to make plans and reservations for a trip to Connecticut this autumn, where you can take a scenic drive along winding country roads and keep your camera busy taking photo after photo of the crimson, orange, and yellow trees.

*As full disclosure, I am being compensated by Connecticut Tourism and BlogHer for this post, but my opinions and love for the state of Connecticut are all mine.

Which Connecticut destination would you like to visit? Leave a comment below and you will be entered into a sweepstakes from BlogHer to win $1,000 to help you plan your trip!
For travel information and inspiration, visit CTVisit.com!
Visit BlogHer.com to read other Connecticut travel stories.

If you find you are having difficulty leaving a comment in the special BlogHer aggregate comment box below please go directly to the BlogherSweepstakes page on this link where you enter the $1,000 CT Tourism Sweepstakes there. Thank you and good luck!

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 6/14 – 8/8.

Surprises in Litchfield, CT

My husband and I had such a wonderful time driving through Litchfield County, Connecticut a week ago on a Fall leaf peeping trip that I'm finding it hard not to show all the photos I took, so the collage above is a representation of the many scenic sights that we saw along the way. Fall is such a lovely time of the year!
(All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them once, and then again when they re-open on a new page)

Very often on a trip like this we come across the most interesting and unexpected sights...a few of which I'll show in today.....

The first is Lourdes in Litchfield, a ministry of the Montfort Missionaries since 1958. Located at 50 Montfort Road in Litchfield, Connecticut, the shrine is part of the grounds of Montfort House. The 35 acres is open to the public from dawn to sunset.  The grotto replica Mary's apparition to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France and is a place meant for prayer and meditation. Outdoor services are held from May 1 to mid-October at the grotto, weather permitting.

Past the grotto is a paved walking path up a hill that leads to the Way of the Cross.

Large statues winding around the steep hillside show all the Stations of the Cross. It was inspirational to see them in such a beautiful and natural setting.

Our next surprise is that there is a wine trail in Connecticut!  Having recently visited Sonoma and Napa Valleys in California, where we visited many wineries, we knew we'd like to visit a counterpart in Connecticut and stopped at the Haight Brown Vineyard which resides on ten acres atop the historic Chestnut Hill in the town of Litchfield.

Opened in 1973 it is Connecticut's first established winery!

The grape harvest was already completed for the 2010 season, but the grapevines were still green.

We decided to go inside and share a wine tasting. Since the growing season is short and the temperatures are cooler here than in California the Haight Brown Vineyards produces many white wines such as Chardonnay, Riesling, and Covertside White. They also have selections of strawberry and apple wines, and a limited selection of red wines made from imported grapes.

We did our wine tasting with an accompaniment of cheese and chocolates which complimented the wines. It was an interesting way to try them!

Last, we saw this pretty house in Litchfield that reminded us of many houses that we saw in Quebec, Canada, as it had a metal roof. The bright red roof is so bright and cheerful, don't you agree?

I'm linking with Susan of A Southern Daydreamer for her blog's "Outdoor Wednesday" event, and Sue's "Rednesday" on her blog It's A Very Cherry World, and Cathy's "Adventure Express" on her blog A Bit of the Blarney and Jenny Matlock's blog for her "Alphabe Thursday" as this week the letter is "F" and I can't think of a better F than all these fall images! Please visit these blogs and join in all the fun!

Top Foliage Town? Kent, Connecticut

The September/October issue of Yankee Magazine named the top 25 towns in New England for fall foliage travel, and Kent, Connecticut, won top honors and first place on the list. Although as I explained in my last blog post about our leaf peeping trip that the autumn foliage being less than ideal this fall, due to the dry summer and nor'easter storms that have passed through New England, we did see some beautiful sights on our drive through Kent. (All photos will enlarge if clicked on once, and then again when they re-open on a new page)

The Yankee Magazine article stated: "The heart of the New England leaf-peeping experience lies in the details: the farmstands and covered bridges, the waterfalls and antiques stores that provide the eye candy, framed by the colors of our most glorious season" writes Michael Blanding, author of the article. "All of these things Kent has in abundance, in a perfect blend of uncommon natural beauty and culture that might shame cities 10 times its size (just shy of 3,000 people in the 2000 census)."

The Town of Kent, Connecticut, is located in the scenic northwest corner of Litchfield County. Incorporated in 1739, Kent had a history as a farming community and as a thriving iron ore producer. My husband and I enjoyed strolling down its North Main Street, admiring the beautiful houses, many of which now are commercial businesses, art and sculpture galleries and antique shops.

The beautiful Kent Congregational Church has a history dating back to 1741.

A large crow sculpture near one of the galleries.

A vintage train engine near the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association located in Kent on U.S Rt. 7, less than a mile from the center of town. The Connecticut Antique Machinery Association is a non-profit, all volunteer organization and museum dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and demonstration of antique machinery from Connecticut's rich industrial and agricultural past.

The Kent Memorial Library was having a giant outdoor book sale which captured my attention for an hour. I was happily browsing all the books when I saw a sign that for $6 I could buy a bag and fill it with as many books that could fit! Here is some of the selection that I came away with.

Kent Falls is a series of several waterfalls, dropping 250 feet in under a quarter mile, located in Kent Falls State Park.  The largest cascade drops more than 70 feet into a reflecting pool, before traveling over the lesser falls. My husband and I climbed a steep trail that follows the path of the falls to the top with intermittent platforms to view them, to take this series of photos. To get a perspective of their size look at the upper right hand photo and you can see people standing near one of the cascades.

 Kent Falls from a midway viewing platform

According to the Department of Environmental Protection website information about Kent Falls State Park: "Kent Falls, located in the northeastern section of the town of Kent, is a series of waterfalls on a mountain stream known as Falls Brook. The stream begins in the town of Warren, draining an area of six or seven square miles. It then flows west to the big fall where it plunges approximately 70 feet in a dramatic cascade. From here the stream descends in a series of lesser falls and cascades to the valley, where it enters the Housatonic River some 200 feet below the brink of the big fall only a quarter mile away. Much of the limestone over which the brook flows has been carved into interesting shapes including numerous potholes of all sizes."

Bull's Bridge, built in 1842, is a single-lane vehicular wooden covered bridge across the Housantonic River in the town of Kent, Connecticut. It is one of three remaining covered bridges in Connecticut dating from the 19th century.  (To see the very scenic West Cornwall Covered Bridge see my prior blog post).  George Washington crossed the Housatonic River near the site of the present bridge in 1781.

We really enjoyed our ride through the back roads around Kent on a beautiful autumn day. It certainly was a wonderful area to visit and I hope these photo mosaics enticed you to plan a trip to this area one day.

I'm linking to Mary of The Little Red House "Mosaic Monday" Please visit Mary today to see her beautiful mosaic and links to all the blogs participating today.  Thanks, Mary!

Leaf Peeping in Connecticut

Autumn of 2010 in New York has been warm, but stormy, and it appears the fall foliage will be less than spectacular this year as many trees have already lost their leaves.  So this past weekend my husband and I decided to take a two hour drive up north to Connecticut to see if this New England state would satisfy our urge for autumn leaf peeping.

There was definitely much more autumn color, but even here many of the tress had lost their leaves from the nor'easter storm that had recently passed through.

There were trees in shades yellows and oranges, but not many were this brilliant shade of red.

Non-the-less, the scenery was beautiful!

We drove up to West Cornwall so that we could drive over their historic one lane red colored covered bridge.

Built in 1864, the West Cornwall Bridge is 172 feet long and spans the Housatonic River

After we drove over the bridge I walked back inside it to take these views from a few of the windows.

The Housatonic River as seen from a covered bridge window, facing west.

The Housatonic River, taken from a covered bridge window, facing east

In 1973 the Connecticut Department of Transportation rehabilitated the bridge by inserting a concealed steel deck to support the weight of traffic.The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. 

We sat by the river for awhile, enjoying the peaceful view.

We then walked through part of the charming town of West Cornwall.

There we saw that in this quaint toll house overlooking the Housatonic River, Ian Ingersoll makes reproductions of Shaker furniture.

A pretty residential home whose front garden's pink roses were still blooming!

Across the street, these attached houses were a pretty shade of pink!

Todd Piker's Cornwall Bridge Pottery Store, is 5000 square feet and covers two floors.  It showcases an ever-changing exhibitions of functional hand-thrown, wood-fired pottery that Piker has been crafting for over 35 years.

There was a farmers market going on in the town square with a wonderful array of fresh vegetables and...

.....a large selection of colorful gourds and squash and......

...delicious home baked goods!

We were tempted to buy that last whoopie pie on the pink dish, but instead bought a large oatmeal cookie to share, as we are trying to be diet conscious.

One of my favorite sights in the town was this colorful sculpture of a rooster standing amid the pink rose bush.  He's made from an old red Mobil Oil drum! I thought he had a lot of personality! What do you think?

I have more photos from our get away that I'll show next time, but for today I'm linking to Susan's Outdoor Wednesday, Sue's Rednesday, Cathy's Adventure Tour Express,  Sandi's Friday Favorites Linky Party, and Beverly's Pink Saturday. Please visit all the blogs to join in the fun!