Replacement Fun in New Haven

Before we moved to Connecticut, people encouraged us to visit as many places as we could in the short time we were there.

And, you know, we did pretty well. We hit all of New England and all of the mid-Atlantic except Delaware (sorry Delaware . . . we sure thought about you a lot!). We went to national parks, state parks, beaches, plays, concerts, and playgrounds aplenty.

But we didn't hit everything we had hoped to while we were there. So in true Moon fashion, we found replacement fun closer to home that (hopefully) gave us a similar experience with less work.

For example:

The Mansions of Newport: To be totally honest, I've been a bit opulence-d out ever since we went to Versailles in 2013. But I still heard really great things about the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island, especially the Breakers, so it was always on our to-do list, especially during Christmastime. But the weeks surrounding Christmas were consistently 0 degrees and we didn't want to go outside if we didn't have to, and then other things came up. Plus it was far.

Replacement: In June we drove about an hour over to Gillette Castle. It was a quirky building built by a quirky man who loved cats, trains, and Sherlock Holmes. It might not have been as resplendent as the mansions in Newport, but he definitely got lots of points for creativity when it came to doors.

Other replacement: We looked at Google Images to see pretty pictures of mansions. (And we've also spent a lot of time looking at McMansions to know what not to do in a house, haha.)

Eric Carle Museum/Dr. Seuss Museum: We have a lot of Eric Carle books, and many of them mention the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was about 1 hour 45 minutes from New Haven, so I thought it would be doable sometime. I was mostly interested in the gallery of picture book art, but other parts like the craft room sounded good too. While we were at it, I thought we might be able to swing by the Norman Rockwell museum, the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden, and the newly-opened Dr. Seuss museum.

However, it kept getting pushed back and pushed back. It eventually seemed like a lot of work to drive all the way up there, so we opted for different outings.

Replacement: We read picture books and admired the art in them. (Looking now at the pictures of the museums, I sort of regret not going, and I think the kids would have enjoyed the exhibits well enough, but oh well. Maybe someone else we know can go and live it vicariously for us.)

White Mountain National Forest: We would have to loved to spend some time in the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire, but then we realized that

Replacement: We were moving to Utah, which also has beautiful mountains.

Albany Tulip Festival: I marked this on my calendar months in advance (also figuring we could see some mansions in the area while were there), but when the time came I had just come back from my trip to Michigan and I was exhausted. So we stayed home and went to carnivals in the rain but at least we weren't in tulip festivals in the rain.

Replacement: We went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point last year. And I'll hold onto my dreams of going to a tulip festival in the Pacific Northwest.

Professional sports:  I'm sure there were plenty of opportunities to go to baseball games, basketball games, hockey games, and football games in the area.

Replacement: I took Joseph to soccer and spent the whole time trying to keep Matthew from joining in and chatting with friends.

We also visited this track sometimes. 

Bronx Zoo -- We knew our kids would love this incredible zoo. We knew we wouldn't love the price.

Replacement: Last year we got library passes to the Bridgeport Zoo one time so we paid $15 to get in, which seemed about right for the variety of animals there. Joseph then went there this year on a field trip, and Matthew was eager to go to a zoo too.

So we tried to count a Saturday visit to the Ansonia Nature Center as a zoo. I think he could tell the difference but he liked it enough.

Splash pad: We tried several times to go to splash pads that promised they were open after Memorial Day. Each time ended in bitter, sweaty failure.

Replacement: Rain worked okay.

Children's Museums: After we got a museum pass from the Providence Children's Museum, we hoped to use it at several museums in the area. However, we didn't realize that a) Providence is more north than east on I-95 so that it's less than 90 miles from most of Connecticut and b) my address on my driver's license wasn't 90 miles from those museums either. So after going to Stepping Stones I decided I was done with museums in the area. (For some reason I'm just not a children's museum person that much . . . you have to drive somewhere, park somewhere, meet up with friends, abandon friends while you chase your respective children, share toys with unfamiliar children, drive home, and then later catch whatever cold was left by those children.)

Replacement: People were kind enough to watch my kids at their homes during the last few marathon days of packing, and my kids got to play with their toys. Besides the water exhibits and interactive game projector, that's all they really ever want from children's museums.

(Oh, and since being in Utah we used the museum pass at Thanksgiving Point. I still had to drive somewhere, park somewhere, meet up with friends, abandon friends while I chased my children, share toys with unfamiliar, children, and drive home, but at least it was free!)

Statue of Liberty: This is one of the most iconic sites in New York City, and it definitely would have been cool to visit it. But based on past experience it would have also involved a lot of waiting in lines.

Replacement: We waited in lines at the airport when we moved.

(okay, that one is really lame. Someday we'll go when the kids are older!)

Grove Street Cemetery: I'd seen this one recommended a few times because it is old and has famous names in it. It was close to our church so I thought we could stop by sometime on a Sunday.

Replacement: I just looked up the cemetery on Wikipedia for my cemetery blog post the other day, and I guess that will have to count.

Brooklyn Botanical gardens: We had a few friends go down to visit the stunning gardens in Brooklyn, and if the traffic hadn't scared me I would have gladly joined them. (I think it was okay to be scared of a 4 hour drive home, to be honest.)

Replacement: I was sure to visit the Pardee Rose Garden at the back of East Rock Park in June. We also liked trips to Edgerton Park and walks through various colleges at Yale.

Good old Edgerton

How God does June in Connecticut.

Camping: You know us. We have never done a proper camping trip in all of our years of marriage, and as tempting as it sounded to camp at Hammonassett Beach (ticks don't live on the sand so much), we just never did.

Replacement: We had s'mores behind the Divinity School right before loading all of our boxes and bedding into a trailer so that the next few days felt like camping.

Looking back, one of the great things about Connecticut was just how much there was to do there. I felt like I had to drive 20 minutes to get anywhere I wanted, but then within a 40-45 minute radius there were all kinds of attractions, both rural and urban.

Logan is different. It's a half hour away from the freeway and almost another hour past that to Salt Lake City. Much of what I came to love in Connecticut just isn't here.

But I'm not worried one bit. We're always good at finding replacement fun.