Stacey, Mike and I drove up to Groton, Connecticut to visit and spend the day with Danielle. It's a tedious three hours each way on grinding Interstate 95 - not your pleasant drive in the country. Stacey drove, Mike hooked his laptop to my Treo 600 smartphone so he could surf while we drove, I read the Times in the back seat and off we went.
When we got there we hung out at Dani's house for a while watching some old family video tapes. What a treat. Movies of Thanksgiving celebrations at my mom and dad's house in 1983 and '84. Lots of those people are gone now and the ones who are still here looked much younger than they do today (including me). The movies entranced us and brought us back to long ago times and we watched them for an hour or so. But finally, hunger caught up and we drove into Mystic for lunch at a nice seafood restaurant.
Danielle and Mike and S&P Oyster Co. in Mystic.
Mike, Brooklyn, Dani and Annie (Annapolis) in front of the house.
After lunch we went for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery - a new ice cream store that we discovered while in Florida. Little did we know that Dani had one for us to visit in Connecticut also. The gimmick here is the mixing of the ice cream (right before you) with your choice of "fixin's" such as Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, sprinkles, roasted almonds, etc. The mixing is done by the Cold Stone personnel on a cold marble slab, thus the name. It was not bad. Actually, it was pretty good.
We left Dani and the dogs at about seven and arrived back in Brooklyn (after a tedious drive) after ten. It had been a nice family reunion. And I miss my daughter already.
Dani and Annie.
I'm glad Mike is home - even if only for a few days.
