5/13/06 (Saturday): Today we took the coast road into New Haven. It was very scenic, with lots of Revolutionary War era homes, fishing villages on little coves, and Spring flowers and trees everywhere. After yesterday’s rain, all the creeks were raging and foaming. The dogwood (pink and white), lilacs, rhododendron, azaleas, and wisteria were in full bloom. We're camped near the little town of Madison, CT, and I got a kick out of this sign in front of a local travel agency:

In New Haven, we went to the Peabody Museum of Natural History on the Yale campus. We enjoyed the Machu Pichu exhibit (the ruins were originally discovered by a Yale professor). We also saw lots of fossil skeletons of dinosaurs and other extinct animals. Their display on the Native Americans was pretty good, too.

We walked around the Yale campus some. There were some really old buildings and lots of old trees.

After a picnic lunch in the parking lot, we drove to Lighthouse Point Park on Long Island Sound in East Haven, across the sound from New Haven. We saw the New Haven Harbor Lighthouse and keepers house. Out on the horizon, we could just make out the southwest ledge lighthouse. There were lots of ring necked ducks paddling near the shore. Wiley fished (unsuccessfully) for about an hour. Some of the other fishermen told him to use squid, not shrimp, next time. I guess these northern fish don’t know a good thing when they get the chance!

We took the scenic route back. The shoreline here is amazing—lots of big rocks and coves. There were a number of tiny islands with houses on them. The islands weren’t much bigger than the houses! The only way to get to them would be by boat. We’re truly not in Orlando any more!

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back. We’re going to grill some bratwurst for dinner. Tomorrow we head for Mystic Seaport.