I’m sorry Connecticut, but you were our least favorite state so far. You were only our 13th state though, so you might not end up in last place by the end of the road trip.
We did find a few fun things to do though during our 3.5 weeks there, with our final week including some of the most fun stuff.
Here’s a list of everything we did in Connecticut in case you ever find yourself there and need some ideas of things to do.
Hotels
We stayed at three different hotels in Connecticut – one in Shelton, one in Milford and one in Windsor. The Hyatt House Shelton and Residence Inn Hartford Windsor were both great options and I’d recommend them both.
You can check out reviews of all those properties below:
Activities
Beach
Connecticut isn’t the most dog-friendly of states and that includes their beaches. Some areas don’t even allow dogs on the boardwalk, but we finally found a stretch where we were allowed to walk Truffles.
I was surprised that we didn’t see more people on the beach seeing as we were visiting in the summer.
I’m not sure it was worth taking Truffles for a walk along the boardwalk though. It was a fairly hot day when we visited and she’s not a big fan of the sun, so she hunted out the shade when possible.
Bubble Run
One of the first activities we did in the state was a 5k Bubble Run up in Hartford.
One surprising feature of the 5k was that it was pet-friendly which meant Truffles was able to join us. You can read more about the 2019 Hartford Bubble Run here.
Castle Craig
We drove up to Castle Craig one evening as I think someone had recommended we visit it. We’d originally planned on hiking up there, but I’m glad we didn’t as it was hot and humid that day and it wouldn’t have been worth that much effort.
Castle Craig is basically just a tower at the top of a hill. It’s well-positioned to give good views of the area, but unfortunately Connecticut doesn’t give you much to look at.
Gillette Castle State Park
One castle that was worth visiting was Gillette Castle. It was built by William Gillette, an actor who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on stage more than 1,300 times and who was responsible for how we perceive what Holmes should look like, such as the deerstalker cap, curved pipe, magnifying glass and more.
It’s free to walk around the grounds, while a self-guided tour of Gillette Castle is only $6 for adults, so it’s very reasonably priced. I’d highly recommend checking it out as it’s beautiful inside and has all kinds of interesting architectural features. Read more about Gillette Castle State Park here.
Hartford
On our last full day in Connecticut, we finally made our way into downtown Hartford to check out the state capital. Similar to Springfield, Illinois, Hartford has both an old State House and new State House that you can visit.
We spent an hour or two wandering around Hartford, although it wasn’t the most interesting of cities. Having said that, we did learn that someone from Connecticut was responsible for discovering anesthesia…
…as well as the history of Hartford’s name.
We also happened to visit while the One World Market was set up. This had a number of food stalls and music; we got lunch from there which was very tasty – more about that in the food section below.
Indian Well State Park
We visited Indian Well State Park during our stay in Shelton as it was fairly close to our hotel. The park is on the river and has an enclosed swimming area that was popular with families the day we visited.
One downside of the park is that parking was $10. There’s a waterfall in the park, so we wanted to drive over to that and then return to the beach. However, the parking attendant advised we’d have to pay the $10 again, so we stayed at the beach a little longer before making our way over to the waterfall. The beach isn’t dog-friendly either, so we had to leave Truffles at the hotel.
There was a family at the waterfall when we visited, with the kids jumping off the side into the water. There are signs saying you shouldn’t do this, but I got the impression that’s not enforced.
4th Of July
4th of July fell while we were in Connecticut, so we invited Jenni and her family over to our hotel who we know from our Facebook group. We’d met them a week or two earlier as she invited us to the 5k Bubble Run.
Medal Packing
Shae’s part of Potterhead Running Club – a virtual running club for fans of Harry Potter. Members can sign up to participate in runs and get awarded with medals, so Shae offered to help with the medal packing as that was in Guilford, Connecticut.
She had a lot of fun and got to meet a bunch of new people…
…as well as Spike the Chameleon.
Mystic
Mystic came highly recommended by several people, so we made sure we visited one day. It was definitely one of the cutest parts of Connecticut that we visited.
Mystic Seaport Museum came highly recommended too and is dog-friendly. Unfortunately it was a little more expensive than our budget could allow this month, so we sadly had to give it a miss. Mystic definitely seemed like somewhere that would be worth visiting for a weekend away.
It’s also home to Mystic Pizza, the restaurant from the movie featuring Julia Roberts.
National Bikini Day
In addition to 4th of July, National Bikini Day also fell during our time in Connecticut. Don’t worry – I didn’t get dressed up in a bikini.
Truffles did.
If you’ve been following our blog for the past 18 months, you might recognize this outfit as the one we found when visiting the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama.
Tubing
In addition to Gillette Castle State Park, another of my favorite memories was going tubing on the Farmington River.
The stretch of the Farmington River we went tubing on had some rapids along the way, so that made it a little more exciting. Check out this post about our experience with Farmington River Tubing.
Olde Mistick Village
After checking out of our third and final hotel in Connecticut, we stopped at Olde Mistick Village on our way to Rhode Island to meet up with Jenni and her family again.
Olde Mistick Village has a bunch of cute, boutique shops, most of which were pet-friendly. One of those stores was Raining Cats & Dogs – a pet store that had an outfit Truffles (AKA Shae) was interested in.
She also got to go in The Sock Exchange (we loved the pun)…
…Sofia’s Mystical Christmas store…
…Sticky Situations where we were able to taste a bunch of different types of honey, oils and vinegars…
…and even Kitch, a store selling kitchen stuff.
She didn’t get to come in to Munson’s Chocolates, so I waited with her outside while Shae got us a few chocolates to try.
Dog Parks
Seeing as we’re traveling full time with our dog, we’re always on the lookout for dog parks. We checked out a few different ones while in Connecticut – here’s what they were.
Shelton Dog Park
Shelton Dog park has separate sections for small and large dogs which was nice. There was plenty of shade on both sides which was appreciated as we visited while it was pretty warm out.
Mind your footing at this dog park though as there’s uneven terrain throughout, especially on the large dog side.
Eisenhower Dog Park
The large dog section at Eisenhower Dog Park was a great size and had a water station, although there was very little shade on that side. I didn’t end up getting a photo of that section though.
Truffles stayed in the small dog section which was much smaller. We visited two or three times though and she had it all to herself most of that time, so there was enough space for her to chase her ball. A couple of corners of the small dog section had some shade which was much needed.
Windsor Dog Park
Windsor Dog Park was the least impressive of the dog parks we went to in Connecticut. The small dog section was overgrown – the photo below doesn’t really show quite how high the grass and weeds were.
The large dog section had shorter grass, so we took Truffles over there as there were no other dogs around. This side wasn’t particularly large and didn’t have much shade either, but it gave Truffles an opportunity to have a good run around which she needed.
East Windsor Dog Park
The nicest dog park we visited was East Windsor Dog Park. There were separate sections for small and large dogs, with both sides being a pretty good size.
There was shade on both sides, plus it was on a hill which helped tire out Truffles.
Food & Drink
We didn’t eat out much in Connecticut, although we did try a few different restaurants.
Deviant Donuts
Deviant Donuts is located in Olde Mistick Village and we had breakfast there on our final morning in Connecticut. Jenni was very generous and bought one of every type of donut for us all to try. This included a giant oatmeal creme pie donut, a Samoa donut (coconut, chocolate & caramel, like the Girl Scout cookies), a giant blueberry crumble fritter and more.
I think Hurts Donut and Round Rock Donuts are still my favorites, but Deviant Donuts were very good too and definitely worth trying.
iD Brazil Churrascaria & Restaurant
I came across a Groupon for iD Brazil that turned out to be excellent value by stacking a couple of additional deals. The Groupon itself was $40.50 for a tasting meal for two people, plus two drinks and a dessert.
There was a promo code to take off an additional 20%, then I paid with a Groupon gift card I’d bought for 10% off. That meant our entire meal had a net cost of $29.16 which was incredible value for what we received.
The drinks even included alcoholic drinks, so Shae got a glass of wine and I got a mojito.
The meal includes an unlimited salad bar. While not as fancy as Texas de Brazil’s, it still had a bunch of tasty options.
Our server brought over loads of different meats on skewers which included beef, sausages, bacon-wrapped chicken and more. There was so much food, I think we had to stop eating before we’d even gotten to try them all. The photo below doesn’t make it look particularly appetizing, but the meat was all very good, especially the bacon-wrapped chicken.
Despite being so full, we had just enough room left for dessert. We shared the chocolate truffle which was very rich and was just the right amount to round off the meal.
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
Frank Pepe’s came highly recommended, but we didn’t find it to be as amazing as everyone else seems to. Shae didn’t care much for hers; I liked mine more than she did, but it wouldn’t get close to cracking my top 10 pizzas ever.
You can read our full review of Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana here.
Mystic Pizza
At the end of our day out in Mystic, we grabbed dinner from Mystic Pizza because, y’know, it’s Mystic Pizza. Shae ordered a cheese & tomato pizza which she loved…
…while I got the Chili Chicken Delight. This didn’t have regular pizza sauce but did have sweet chili sauce, chicken, green pepper, red onion, pineapple and jalapenos. I actually preferred the pizza base at Frank Pepe’s (Mystic Pizza’s reminded me of Pizza Hut’s pan base), but despite that my Chili Chicken Delight was far tastier and came loaded with toppings.
The Rockin’ Chicken
On our final full day in Connecticut, we checked out downtown Hartford. There were several food trucks and food stalls and so we got lunch from The Rockin’ Chicken which serves charcoal chicken.
I got a quarter chicken with chicken fried rice, both of which were very flavorful. They also had a few homemade spicy sauces that were also tasty, so I’d be happy eating there again if we ever end up back in Hartford.
Lucky Lou’s Bar & Grill
After the 5k Bubble Run, we went out for lunch with Jenni and her family. Seeing as we both had our dogs with us, we had to find somewhere with a pet-friendly patio and ended up at Lucky Lou’s Bar & Grill in Wethersfield.
It was a bit of a mission getting seated; despite there being loads of empty tables, the restaurant was incredibly disorganized and it took something like 10 minutes to get seated even though we could’ve been seated straight away.
The food was pretty good though. Shae ordered the steak baguette sandwich which she loved…
…while I got the lamb gyro plate. I enjoyed mine too, although they’d poured far too much oil over it and so the flatbread ended up very soggy.
Priam Vineyard
On our way to Gillette Castle, we spotted a sign for a winery, so we stopped there for a quick tasting on the way back. Priam Vineyard offers a few different tasting options, although they’re all pre-picked for you.
I was a little disappointed that the option we chose included three wines I wouldn’t have chosen if it had been up to me. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the white and rosé wines were, so I’m glad that we got to try those after all. Toussaint who served us was also a very friendly guy and gave us some suggestions of things to do in Rhode Island where we’d be heading next.
Final Thoughts
So that’s everything we got up to in Connecticut. Looking back, there was more fun stuff than it seemed at the time, although I still prefer all the other states we’ve visited so far.
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