English Tudors on Prospect Avenue

Here are three of our favorite houses on the way to Elizabeth Park in Hartford, CT. All three are English tudor in design with well manicured yards. Notice the slate roofs and unique brick patterns.  The last house is pretty much a mansion.  At Christmas, the home owner had lighted wreaths on each of the windows.  Christmas lighting here is usually a wreath placed on a front door that's lighted by a flood light.  Very few homes have elaborate outdoor lighting like we have in Utah. 

Tip Toeing Through the Tulips (and other Blooms)

Since the Elizabeth Park greenhouses were closed the first time we visited and I only got a chance to take pictures from the windows, we returned a few days later. The follow are pictures of some of the blooms.  Which picture do you like the best?

Did I mention how wonderful it smelled in the greenhouses? Spring smells good!

Is It Spring Yet?

Is it Spring yet? Yup, if you count the greenhouses at Elizabeth Park.  They have opened the greenhouses this week to the public. The display culminates with a plant sale on Saturday.  Aren't the blooms exquisite? The smell of hyaciths are wonderful too.  Oh, I love spring!

I Love the Ocean

Okay, I admit it. I love the ocean.  It doesn't matter if it's the Pacific or Atlantic. I could watch the waves for hours. When we leave the Northeast, the Atlantic Ocean is one thing I will really miss.

Goodbye Newport, Rhode Island

We're getting down to the "last time" activities.  We wanted to go to Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts last Saturday but the weather looked like storm so we chose to see Newport, Rhode Island one last time.  Now the problem was everyone in New England celebrates St. Patrick's Day early . . . on the weekend . . .  in Newport, Rhode Island! We stayed clear of the two-hour parade with a lot of strange people dressed in weird Irish get ups.  At lunch our waitress said after the parade the crowds go from pub to pub drinking and reveling.  We decided to do our best to stay away from the tipsy masses. Luckily most stayed downtown and the mansions weren't crowed at all.

The above picture is the view from the rear of the Breakers Mansion.  Notice the geese in the far right corner. They have wooden dog shapes in various locations on the back lawn to frighten the geese.  Hmmmm, I don't think it's working.

The above picture is of the exterior of the Breakers Mansion.  I've already blogged about it. We didn't go inside but took a few pictures to remember it by. Isn't the architecture gorgeous? And just think, this was a summer home and only occupied for 8-10 weeks. The mansion was named the Breakers because the waves crash into the shore or natural break. The view really is spectacular.

The above picture is for Cole.  He teases that at least half of our pictures are one of us by a tree.  This species is a beech tree. Imagine how beautiful it is in the spring when the leaves begin to bud.

Okay, here's me by a tree at the Elms Mansion.  It almost looked like someone had taken a clippers and shaped the tree.

The Elms was occupied by the Berwin Family who made their fortune in coal.  At the turn of the century, coal was king and literally ran the world like oil does now.  The family had more money than the Federal Reserve.  There main home was on 5th Avenue in New York.

The manion was designed after French palaces complete with unusual statuary, artwork and roof gargoyles.  Here's Doc by the entrance statue. Sadly they do not allow photography of any kind inside the mansions.

These two statues were located to the rear of the house gardens.

Here's another picture of the entrance to the Elms.

Use your imagination and picture these trees filled with wisteria blooms.  This is actually a sunken servants entrance.  The wisteria vines create a canopy in summer so the servants and deliveries were hidden from guests.

This is a picture of the huge backyard of the Elms.  In the picture to the right is the horse stable.  Below is a closer look at the stable.  Can you believe it, the horses lived in a better house than most of the regular people in Newport!

The other mansion we visited was the Marble House Mansion.  It was owned by one of the Vanderbilts and besides the Breakers, is probably my favorite mansion.  The interior is literally wall to wall marble.  The marble had been imported from all over the world and is absolutely gorgeous.  Mrs. Vanderbilt was a huge proponent for womans sufferage.  Her dishes even had blue writing that says, "Votes for Women".  Many a sufferage rally was held at the Marble House.

Perhaps the real draw for us to visit Newport was to see the Atlantic Ocean one more time.  The wind was blowing and it was cold but we still enjoyed watching and hearing the waves crash against the rocks and smelling the salt water. 

Behind some of the mansions is the Cliff Walk.  We just wanted to walk the cliffs one more time and enjoy. 

Goodbye Kent Falls

We made a list of places in Connecticut or close by we'd like to see one last time.  Kent Falls is one of those locations. It's about a 1.5 hour drive to the west of Bloomfield. We so enjoyed it in the summer and fall and had hoped to walk the trail to the top of the falls one more time. Alas, as you can see, it was still mostly snow and ice and impossible to climb without better footing.

This sweet covered bridge is the entrance to the falls area.

Driving back to our apartment we took a few pictures from the car of unique sights like this skinny long barn.

The Cornwall Covered Bridge isn't too far from Kent Falls.  The one-lane bridge is still in use.

Just across the street from the covered bridge is this Shaker furniture shop. I think the architecture of the building is typical early New England.  Notice the sign that reads tollhouse.  This must have been the place were tolls were paid during earlier times when to maintain the bridge travelers had to pay to cross the bridge.

Speaking of architecture, look at this beautiful church.  St. Bridget's Catholic Church is just down the road from the Cornwall Covered Bridge. Notice the cemetery that surrounds the church.  The church was established in 1886, which is a new church in the New England area. Many church's have establishment dates in the 1700s and early 1800s.