Connecticut Adventure

        After taking this road trip, I can't help but wonder why I have never visited the east coast before. I have been to New York City once before, but there is so much more to be seen in that part of the country. The obvious answer I've come up with is that when I've gone on vacations in the past, I'm seeking warmth, and even though Connecticut is on the seaside, it's certainly not known for warmth. Luckily for us, the weather this weekend was pretty perfect. There was one dreary day, but it mostly just threatened rain and all that was seen of it were a few sprinkles here and there. Honestly I was very happy for that day because it cleared some of the allergens out of the air and provided me with some much needed relief from my symptoms.

       New Haven was very beautiful. You could see obvious differences in the city immediately surrounding Yale versus the parts a little ways away. This may be the case for many college campuses but New Haven is a surprisingly poor area with the exception of the students who attend school at Yale. The city did contain some gems that me and Jackie had the pleasure of visiting though and we had a great time of it. There are lots of cafes/book stores surrounding Yale and I was basically in heaven every time we entered one. I could definitely see my self spending a lot of my time in them if I had them near by. Here is a photo I took in the one I especially loved. Rather than buying books, They had many that you could exchange and this sounds like a wonderful idea to me. They were piled up all over the place and I could have stayed there all day. I guess that's the perk of living near lots of smart people. Everyone probably reads books. But then again, who knows...really everything I thought about Yale and the people who would go to school there was wrong, so I could easily be wrong about that too. No more assumptions for this girl.
        Trey, the friend we were visiting was very busy with school and baseball, so we took the liberty of entertaining ourselves during the day. We decided to go to the children's museum on one occasion and it was hilarious. The girl working the front desk looked at us like we were crazy for actually wanting to pay to go in the museum. It was in fact, very small and quaint, but we still had a lot of fun. It was just our style and it was easily worth the $5 admission fee for the pictures we took alone. :) I love photos so much. Good memories are so much sweeter when you have something tangible to look back on like a picture.

       When we left the children's museum, I thought it would be cool to go to this light house park I found online. It was a little yucky out this day as I mentioned before, but I really think it just added to the seaside lighthouse beach affect. I think lighthouses are so neat anyways and the park we went to had a swing-set ON the beach! I have never seen this done before in all the years I've been to Florida and I truly think it was the best idea anyone has ever come up with. Two things I love so much in one. Swing set + the beach = a very happy Julie. I felt like we were in Ireland walking along the rocks and looking out to sea. I've never been to Ireland, but the moss was so lush and green which is how I would imagine it. So very beautiful and majestic. God is good and he has made so many beautiful things!

       I love Connecticut. It has a lot to offer and some day I'll have to make a trip up and down the east coast. There are a lot of places I want to visit, but I feel like I found a hidden treasure in the U.S. this weekend. Most of the places I want to see are in other countries. I wouldn't call it close to home....mostly because the extremely long drive is still so fresh in my memory, but it's much closer than most. The best thing about the coast is that you can take the train to the other coastal cities once you get there. This is relatively inexpensive and fun and next time I write all tell you all about our trip to New York City. :-D I am so lucky to have the opportunity to experience so much. May I never forget how blessed I truly am.

Ella Enchanted

I know this is sort of a kids book, but I'm sort of a kid still myself. This weekend I spent a pretty good amount of time alone and it was so nice. Sometimes I feel like I just need time to myself and this feeling had definitely been building in me for a while. I've been reading several books at once lately and it has kind of sucked some of the fun out of reading. The books I'm currently reading are made up or short stories or letters for the most part or my Bible which I always read in small amounts at a time. That being said, it has been pretty natural for me to read all of them at once, but there's just something to be said about reading a book straight though without ever having any desire to set it down, and that's precisely what I did with Ella Enchanted on Saturday. I was surprised at how much I loved this book. It was really well written which is rare for any book and more specifically I think for books written for this age group (teen). I know everyone says this about books, but I liked it a lot more than the movie (which I still like), and felt that the character of Ella was very strong and relate-able and well developed. If you're looking for an easy read and are a sucker for a charming prince, I definitely recommend reading this book. :)

p.s. Just trying out this new amazon link, I want to add photos, but I don't want to post anything that will be considered plagiarism and this seems like the easiest way of insuring that I don't.