Weekend getaway

Once a year, my mom takes one of us girls on a trip to a fun place of our mutual dicision. After much debate, she and I finally decided to spend some time in Hartford/New Haven, Connnecticut. Neither of us had ever been to Connecticut and we thought it might be a fun destination, especially because New Haven is where Yale University is located. We actually only spent about 2 hours on Yale Campus, which ended up being fine, because we did lots of other fabulous things. We spent part of a day in Hartford at the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses, both of which were interesting and fun. Twain's home was especially interesting, an 11,000 sq ft marvel with a 13 ft tall elaborately carved fireplace, a little greenhouse/observatory off the living room, 3 stories of hand painted walls and beautiful walls and furniture. Also, because Twain was awesome, he has two very thin etched marble windows in his billiard room/office.  Seriously, so cool. On Saturday we decided to drive out to Newport, RI to check out the million dollar homes that you can tour. We drove out there, enjoying the amazing colors of fall, and toured 4 gigantic mansions, the largest of which was called "The Breakers," which belonged to one of the Vanderbilt families. On my goodness, it was SPECTACULAR!! It was 138,000 sq ft. and had 4 floors and the most amazing view off the back balcony of the ocean with a fresh salty breeze blowing in! It was their summer house that they only used for about 12 weeks of the year (talk about some serious money...).  I really ought to take a pilgrimage out to the East in the fall, because there is nothing like crisp fall air and leaves changing colors to act as a perfect tonic for a stressful October.

Shoes, Mark Twain's House and Harriet Beecher Stowe's house, in that order

Leaves, Boats, a house on a wharf, and Alexandra Stoddard's home in Stonington, CT

The Vanderbilt's 138,000 square feet in all its glory. 

When we build a house, you can bet there will be a pagoda in the back yard. 

Lest you missed the shift dress the first time, I just had to show it off again in front of a gate at Yale.