Fairfield - 19th to 23rd July

Mystic house

Well, rumours that we crashed and burned on the turnpike between Boston and Fairfield are
unfounded. I've just been either too busy or just too relaxed to write, but the real reason is humidity. We arrived during a heatwave and incredible humidity so I just couldn't get motivated to write the blog. Honestly, five minutes after getting out of the shower I was dripping in sweat again. The only saving grace was air-conditioners in the bedroom and the pool. Anyway, I digress. The drive down was about 2 hours and we stopped at a little town called Mystic, a 19th century nautical village, with houses like you see above.

USS Nautilus

We also stopped at the USS Nautilus, a submarine museum, right next to a real US submarine base, which I discovered when I turned one road too soon and came face to face with an armed marine demanding my identification. Fortunately he accepted that I had turned into the wrong road and wasn't actually trying to infiltrate the base. The museum was interesting but just as we were going to enter the actual sub, they closed it for some reason, so I never got to see the inside.

Rick & Nancy's house

After an "entertaining" drive on the interstate (let me just say, speed limit signs are only a suggestion, most people were doing at least 10-15 mph over it) we arrived in Fairfield, Connecticut. Fairfield dates back to before the American War of Independence (1776) so some of the houses date back to the 1600's. Rich and Nancy's house is of more recent construction, having been built last century, then extended as the family grew. In case you don't get the connection, Josh, Ros's middle son, married Samantha, Rick & Nancy's eldest daughter.

View from the backyard

Their house sits on a river bank, and the view has to be seen to be believed. Oh, wait, you can see it in the picture on your left. Every day we could see a parade of different birds on the river, swans, Canadian geese, Blue Herons, Great White Egrets fishing, ducks, ospreys also hunting, gulls and kingfishers to name a few. We spent many a lazy evening (in fact, all of them) on the back verandah drinking in the view. We also ate our meals here as it was cooler than inside the house.

Lightning bug

As dusk fell on the first night we were there, I was spectator to something I have read about but never seen before, lightning bugs! They would fly up by the 100's from the gardens, and briefly emit their "cold light" before fading out. Attempts to capture the sight on camera, even with a time exposure were fruitless, but Sam managed to catch one and hand it to me. A gentle squeeze makes them illuminate, as you can see by the picture on the right. Certainly a cool experience!

Big house

Rick took us on a guided tour of Fairfield, past millionaires billionaires row, where houses such as the one on the left are the rule, not the exception. The city of Fairfield has recently increased property taxes drastically, and many of the houses had For Sale signs up. What puzzles me is that most of these houses had maybe, two occupants and even that wasn't year round, only in the summer. Must be great to have so much money.

Doe with fawn

Of course, nature trumps big houses, and outside one estate, we came upon this absolutely gorgeous sight, a doe, standing stock still while her fawn vigorously fed from her. Her concern for her fawn's welfare overcame her fear of us, just a few metres away from her. I don't think the fawn was even aware we were there. Simply awe-inspiring.

Blue Heron

Just some more wildlife for you to see.

Chipmunk

And a bit more, saw this little fellow on a walk one morning, along with a miniature rabbit.

Josh, Rick, Nancy & us

Finally, after four wonderful (although very hot and humid) days, it came time for us to bid farewell to our gracious hosts. They looked after us as good, if not better than a high-class hotel. Beautiful food, spotless house, gorgeous views, incredible history and wonderful stories of the past. We even attended Calvin's birthday party, Sam's sister Jill's little 2 year old boy, who was just delightful.

Then it was another interesting drive down to New York to catch our plane to L.A., again on the interstate where the speed limits are still only a suggestion. It seems that as long as the traffic is flowing and you're not doing something dangerous or incredibly stupid, the law will turn a blind eye to the speed of your vehicle. In WA, I would have clocked up my maximum number of points and either had my license suspended or car seized or both! I only had a four cylinder Hyundai SantaFe, but the engine was willing and I even ended up passing some Americans - go figure.