About living in Old Saybrook. It had been her home for most of her adult life where she lived on the shores of Long Island Sound. We originally found this town out of a conversation we had once while watching TV. We were watching a favourite music video of ours, Billy Joel’s river of dreams. The sun drenched pictures along with the gospel singers gave the impression it was filmed in the warm deep South. That is where I thought it was. Justin however saw it differently, he thought Up-state New York, and I summise this was mostly because he new that Mr Joel never strayed far from home when making his videos.
Some googling later and I discovered that the video was shot almost entirely within the area surrounding the town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The river of Dreams was indeed, the mighty Connecticut river.
It is a monster of a river, having it’s origins in Northen New Hampshire, almost at the Canadian border, all the way to Long Island sound.
We had crossed it many times already in the trip. Firstly at Hartford, then Springfield, where you could see it from the rollercoaster at six flags. Through Vermont and the ravaged town of Battleboro. Now we came to see her at her widest and most impressive.
Our intention today was to do the Essex steam train/ River paddleboat combination.
Essex was about five miles up river from Old Saybrook. The famous bridge from the River of Dreams clip was only about 500 metres from our hotel, so we had a peek at it before heading to Essex.
The old Connecticut rail company runs the tourist service from Essex.
We arrived at the station and had a little wait for the next train.
In the shed alongside the tracks was a gorgeous little museum, with some very kid friendly activities. It was just another example of how the Americans always remember children in all that they do, it is just a kid friendly country.
We boarded the lovingly restored Steam train in the open carriage. We were warned about the soot riding all open like that, but I didn’t think there should be any other way.
Off we went at walking pace, through the woods, past some gorgeous old houses and down to the Majestic Connecticut river where our steamboat was waiting.
The paddle steamer took us a fair way up the river, it was glorious. The captain and tour guide was amused that people had come further afield than Florida to ride his boat and so we were instant celebrities, the family from Down Under !
We really enjoyed the steam combo, and headed back to Old Saybrook with enough time to see where Katie had lived and watch the sunset illuminate the tranquil Long Island sound.
It truly was a beautiful place.
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