Just got back from 4 days in Connecticut

[proud2BlibKansan]

First of all, I had wanted to try to get together with some DUers while I was there but it was a business trip with a group of people and I didn't have the rental car. So I was disappointed that I couldn't see any DUers.

BUT Connecticut is beautiful and we were all very impressed. We were in Hartford but also drove to both casinos and to the coast. Yesterday, we drove up to Rhode Island and Boston. Hartford is a nice city. Pretty downtown. And the river is gorgeous. Our hotel overlooked it. We left there today hoping it would stop rising - it sure had gone up overnight. Anyway, it was fun to see rowers on the river. That is a sport we don't have here.

Our meeting was at the brand new convention center. It is a beautiful facility.

We ate at the Chowder Pot. Great lobster! I could move to Connecticut for that alone :)

The Mohegan Casino is absolutely beautiful. We loved it. We also went to Foxwoods. But everyone in our group agreed that the Mohegan was lots better.

Other random comments - You all have as many (maybe even more) Dunkin Donuts as we in the midwest have WalMarts. And we saw Dunkin Donuts with pizza shops in them and one with a Baskin Robbins. We also figured you guys must really love pizza. It seemed to be sold everywhere. And kudos for the lack of SUVs. Here, they have taken over the roads.

You all are also to be commended for resisting the WalMart craze. Maybe you could give lessons here? :)

[NewJeffCT]

1. my old town of Newington

My old town of Newington (just SW of Hartford) had a population of about 30,000 and had 5 or 6 Dunkin Donuts. 4 stand-alones, one in the local Stop & Shop and one in the local Wal-Mart (I think WM had one, too)

Believe it or not, a Dunkin Donuts franchise is more expensive than McDonald's.

Glad you like our state.

I actually like Foxwoods better, but the gambling is too rich for my blood. I can usually find a $10 blackjack table at Mohegan Sun, but I don't think they even exist at Foxwoods. I don't remember one lower than $25 minimum there.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. We are penny slot fans

Poor teachers. Anything else is too rich for our blood. :)

Foxwoods is big. Too big really. The atmosphere at the Mohegan is much more laid back. I loved the decor. The buffet was better too. Foxwoods had more food on their buffet but the restaurant was so crowded. It's like they want to cram as many people in there as they can.

And yes, I loved your state. The people were friendly and helpful. We also met some great teachers from CT. I told one of them about DU and hope she stops in.

We sat in a restaurant the night the Red Sox lost their final game. No one freaked out. Here, life is kind of over for a few days after a disappointing sports loss. So it was nice to see New Englanders can suck it up and keep on.

[NewJeffCT]

3. Most of Connecticut

most of our state lives & dies with UConn basketball. However, I think since the Sawcks won it all last year, it's kind of like they've scaled the mountain they've been climbing for 86 years and anything after that now is gravy.

Same with UConn basketball. I lived & died UConn hoops through the 80s until 1999 and suffered heartbreak year-after-year. Ever since 1999 when the men won it all, everything has been anti-climactic.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Sports is so funny

Our Chiefs won a Super Bowl 35 years ago and the fans are ready for another. The Royals won the series 20 years ago and are now a farm club; I think most here have given up on them. It's sad.

The Jayhawks won it all in 88 and have been back to the Final Four too many times since then not to have won again. And lemme tell ya, Roy Williams is considered a traitor here. There were loud boos rather than cheers when NC won this past year.

I bought my kid a UConn tshirt and he loves it. It was a bigger hit than the Red Sox hat he had asked me to get him.

[groton]

6. a true nutmegger

lol
you must not been with Real Sox Fans since We did feel it bad i was at the Fen's and there was not much noise on the whole walk back to the Mass T station.

as for which Casino is better i do any shopping and Eating at the SUN and my Gambling at Foxwoods(i like playing Poker)

as for Walmart love Afaire there is many Walmart Lovers here but many here in CT dont like Walmart all that much

[bigwillq]

8. UCONN SUCKS!

SYRACUSE RULES!

[NewJeffCT]

9. rules what?

we're even better in football, now

[bigwillq]

10. Well it's not tough

to be better in football than the 'Cuse. I only like Cuse for basketball.
I'm anti-UCONN. Cuse may not rule anything but they've always been my team.

[NewJeffCT]

11. 2 to 1

2 national championships for the UConn men, 1 for the Cuse.

and, on the women's side, it's like UConn 6 million, Cuse 0.

[bigwillq]

12. I don't care about the women.

I know 2-1, don't rub it in! :) I'm just happy the Cuse have one. It took so friggin long for them to win one.

Good night.

[NewJeffCT]

13. if it wasn't for Keith Smart

you guys would have had two as well.

Of course, if it wasn't for Christian Laettner, who knows how different UConn hoops history would have turned out?

[bigwillq]

17. That Keith Smart shot

killed me. I was just a youngin but I still remember how it broke my heart. I thought the same thing was going to happen in 2004 when Cuse played Kansas. Remember how Kansas had that last second shot?

[connecticut yankee]

5. Where are you from?

Glad you like our state. I'm a transplanted Noo Yawker -- I've lived here since 1983, and I wonder what took me so long.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Kansas

red state hell :)

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

14. THere are 3 Dunkin Donuts within a mile of my house

Early in the morning, you can smell that grease cooking !

We do have Walmarts almost everywhere - at least along the shoreline area. Maybe they are sparser in the Hartford area

Its too bad there was no time for a meetup !

[NewJeffCT]

15. Wal-Mart is making progress in the Hartford area

Unfortunately...

They recently opened a store in West Hartford, right on the Hartford border. They also have one in Newington on the Berlin Tpke, one in Manchester, Rocky Hill, Cromwell & East Windsor. Not sure about the Avon, Simsbury, Granby areas.

[danalytical]

20. Uggghh!!! The Newington Walmart

IS such a hellhole! It's like all the lowlifes from CT form a gang of rude obnoxious angry shoppers and then converge on Newington every damn day. I HATE that store. The problem is... they have the cheapest paper towels, and I need paper towels.

Glad to hear you like our state. Next time you're here do some country road touring up in Litchfield county and check out Old Wethersfield. "Most Ancient Town" one of the first colonies in CT. Cool old houses and neat to walk around.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Newington Wal-Mart

Is traditionally understaffed & has really long lines to check-out, so I went there.

[CTyankee]

16. You didn't make it to New Haven?

How could you not? It is the culture capital of CT.

Next time you come I will personally give you a tour of my wonderful New Haven. We'll go to Louis Lunch, where the hamburger was born and where you have to eat the burger exactly the way they serve it. We'll tour the New Haven Green (did you notice that every town has a green in CT?)which was founded in 1638 (there are still Puritans' bones buried in the under the basement of First Church on the Green). Then we can have a "best pizza" contest, Sally's or Pepe's or Modern (or that upstart in Westville called Dayton St. pizza). Get all kinds of Yale T shirts (I get them for my midwestern grandnieces). Tour the replica of The Amistad if it is in the New Haven harbor. Dinosauers at the Peabody. The street where Estelle Griswold, head of Planned Parenthood, got arrested for dispensing birth control and laid the groundwork for Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade.

Lots more, including a tour of Yale. Come back and let me show you around!

[drbtg1]

18. If you come back, try a big cheeseburger...

...at Shady Glen in Manchester. Paired with a cup of minestrone, it is truly a unique, wonderful experience.

[peacefreak]

22. With that, you made me homesick.

I grew up in Manchester & a Shady Glen cheeseburger is one of the things I still miss. And Hosmer Mtn. sodas. And an Augie & Ray's hot dog with everything on it (even tho that was East Hartford).

[drbtg1]

23. A personal disaster avoided

A few years back, I had an opportunity to purchase a business in Manchester. At that time, I knew if I proceeded, those Big Cheeseburgers at Shady Glen would have me "super-sized" in no time.

Sorry about the homesickness. (I used to have food homesickness about Boars Head deli food and Sabrett hot dogs, being originally from NY, but those have slowly infiltrated CT.)

[madinmaryland]

19. I guess you didn't make it to Fairfield County

Its infested with SUV's. They're everywhere. Not safe to be on the road there with all of them.