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CTMQ > Damian

Amato’s Toy and Hobby

May 6, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

You Say Amato, I say Amayto Amato's Toy and Hobby, Middletown November 2014 Amato's Toy and Hobby of New Britain closed at the end of February in 2022. I blame the terrible movie that was filmed there. Yes, there is an Amato's Toy and Hobby on Main Street in New Britain that has also been there forever. Yes, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Everything Else, Houses, Communities, Libraries, & Businesses, New Post Tagged With: Calvin, Damian, Hoang, Middletown, Model Trains, Other Companies and Businesses, Trains and Trolleys

Hoppers-Birge Pond Nature Preserve

May 6, 2021 by Steve 3 Comments

Oh Snap! Hoppers-Birge Pond Nature Preserve, Bristol October 2014 Downtown Bristol, baby. Certainly one of the favored whipping posts of state residents. Not quite a big city, not a suburb, Bristol falls somewhere in between; a post-industrial small city that never regained its footing after several large … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, New Post, Town Land Hikes Tagged With: Bristol, Calvin, Damian, Hikes with my Boys

NFA: Brunot Preserve

May 4, 2021 by Steve 1 Comment

B-U-C-O-L-I-C Brunot Preserve, Newtown September 2014 Here we are, together again... writing (me) and reading (you) about a small little land trust parcel on the Newtown/Bethel Border. Surely there's nothing too interesting about this typical slice of land that was once a farm and is now a forest - the story of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, Land Trust Hikes, New Post Tagged With: Damian, Hikes with my Boys, Newtown, Newtown Forest Association

Gasoline Alley Automotive/Ford Museum

April 29, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Full Gas Stafford (Google Maps location) October 2017 I do not know if Donald Passardi still opens his private museum to visitors. Information on this place is very hard to come by these days - not that it was ever easy. Heck, I've never been sure what the name of this place is. I've seen it as Gasoline Alley … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Museums, New Post Tagged With: Appointment Only, Cars and Trucks, Damian, Free Museums, private museum, Rarely Open, Stafford

The Barker Character Comic and Cartoon Museum & Art Gallery

April 23, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

This Place Gets Me Quite Animated Cheshire (Google Maps location) September 2014 & January 2017 Most readers know that I rarely visit the same museum twice. That's not a statement on the quality of the museums, but rather a simple function of logistics and my oh-so precious time. I've been to The Barker … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Museums, New Post, Superlatives Tagged With: Calvin, Cheshire, Damian, Hoang, Largests Longests Mosts Smallests and Tallests

Avalonia: Barrett Preserve

April 15, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Grin and Barrett Barrett Preserve, Ledyard January 2016 It's always moderately interesting to hike through managed forests. Especially if they are being actively managed like Avalonia Land Conservancy's Barrett Preserve was when Damian and I checked it out. Several acres here burned in 1989 after which … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, Land Trust Hikes, New Post Tagged With: Avalonia Land Conservancy, Damian, Hikes with my Boys, Ledyard

Hillside Sweet Shoppe (Closed)

April 14, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

A Hillside I'd Die On... Hillside Sweet Shoppe, East Haddam June 2016 This placed closed at some point during the pandemic. ... And what is the "Hillside I'd die on?" That it's okay for me to write about candy shops that used to be on the Connecticut Chocolate Trail just because they used to be on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Food & Drink, Ice Cream, Cheese, & Chocolate Trails, New Post Tagged With: Closed/Gone/Former, CT Chocolate Trail, Damian, East Haddam

New England Motorcycle Museum

March 29, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

A True Triumph Vernon (Google Maps location) November 2018 CT museum visit #405. Here we are, at another museum that I can't do proper justice to while writing about it. I just don't have any motorcycle knowledge or background and since I had Damian with me, I didn't quite absorb all that my guide told me. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Museums, New Post Tagged With: Cars and Trucks, Damian, Vernon

The Dinosaur Place at Nature’s Art Village

March 23, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Digging Into Your Wallet Montville (Google Maps location) June 15, 2014 I'm wavering. Do I spend three paragraphs lamenting the prices at this place or do I celebrate the fact that Connecticut has an honest-to-goodness tourist trap? Actually, I think I can do both. And for the record, I don't consider our few … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Museums, New Post Tagged With: Calvin, CT Dino Trail, Damian, Dinosaurs, Hoang, Montville, Outdoor Museums, video

Roaring Brook Falls Park

March 8, 2021 by Steve Leave a Comment

Roaring? I'd be Lion. Roaring Brook Falls Park, Cheshire July 2014 This is a weird one. Roaring Brook Falls is most often cited as Connecticut's "largest waterfall" in the sense that it contains the largest single drop of any falls in the state. Somewhere around 80-feet of drop. Awesome. That mention almost … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Biology & Geology, Everything Else, Hikes, Bikes & Paddles, New Post, Town Land Hikes Tagged With: Calvin, Cheshire, Damian, Hikes with my Boys, Justin Coleman Photography, Waterfalls

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