Packing for Adventure

I’ll be honest up front: New Haven is not a great tourist location. Come for the pizza.

We still managed to enjoy our time there, as limited as it was.

Getting Around:

We did a bit of every transportation option:

• Train – we arrived via from New York City to New Haven Union Station
• Walking – we did a lot of it
• CTransit – the New Haven bus system was convenient and much cheaper than Uber
• Uber – when it was time to head back to the train station we opted for a quick ride

Sight Seeing:

East Rock Park

Our first stop upon arrival was Sally’s Apizza. We had to get back to the train station in 4 hours, so we couldn’t go far. From there we made our way to the East Rock Park.

It was a nice enough park, but I imagine March is not the ideal time to visit. The hiking loop was a bit too swampy so we didn’t do the 10+ miles of hiking trails that are available there. We were the only ones there and we were able to walk around to our hearts content. There was a cool red covered bridge with a sign that said “STAGE ROAD TO BOSTON 32 MILES TO HARTFORD.” I was very intrigued by this and had visions of walking along a historic bridge that the Revolutionary War era men and women used in the nation’s infancy.

Turns out it’s a historic “style” mileage marker, and not a true relic from the original stagecoach era. It’s called the “Frederick Oberlin Covered Bridge.” It is a rather charming pedestrian bridge, not meant for vehicles.

Eli Whitney Museum & Workshop

We stumbled upon this cute museum and workshop while exploring the East Rock Park. It was free to enter. It was built on the historic site of Eli Whitney’s original gun factory. It seemed like a pretty neat place to bring kids.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

From that point we hopped on a bus that took us to Yale. I specifically wanted to see the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. It is free to enter. There is a security checkpoint you have to pass through to ensure preservation standards are enforced.

I love reading and I love literature and anything old, so I was interested to come, but I didn’t think I would actually enjoy it as much as I did! There are so many books! The Gutenberg Bible is the pinnacle of the visit, but all the books were awesome on their own!

As a book lover, it was frustrating to see all these amazing books behind glass doors and not be able to open them and read. But you could clearly see the titles and it was exciting for me.

Chris does not enjoy scholarly pursuits as much as I do… or at all. He found a spot to sit.

Yale University

The Beinecke Library is right on Yale’s campus, so we took a short stroll through the historic university grounds. The Gothic-style architecture and peaceful courtyards made for a lovely walk—especially on such a mild spring day.

After one more pizza stop at Modern Apizza, we headed back to the train station and returned to NYC. Our New Haven adventure was short and sweet.

Next up: the last day of our Pizza Crawl!

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