Going To The Chapel, Day 3, Welcome To Connecticut

Leaving Pelham, NY

Yesterday we made the transition from the New York state of mind to a Connecticut one. All of the wedding festivities will happen in Old Lyme, Connecticut so we rented a car to drive from NY to CT. We got a Kia Sol, if anyone's interested. It drives well but doesn't have much trunk room.

Anyways... trying to get all the details down even if it's not my most articulately written blog entry. Fatigue has set in on me in a big way.

The drive from NY to CT took about an hour and a half. We followed the GPS and ended up at the end of a street in front of an impressive stone structure that said "private drive". Pop thought... that can't be it so we backtracked to the last house before the private drive but... no, that wasn't it. We called Bryan who said, "oh yeah, enter the private drive..." and then he had to guide us down the long and winding road past many, many workers preparing for the rehearsal dinner/reception.

Helen's parents' house is (searching for the right word) amazing/large/beautiful/breath-taking. Words like that. Even more impressive was the buzz of activity going on... a huge tent being constructed... porta-potties being set into place... wedding planner filling swag bags... landscapers mowing and blowing...Helen's mom, Sarah dashing around keeping all the figurative plates spinning. Helen's dad, Mark, met us and offered a beverage. He entertained us with details of the home and property. It's quite something. I promise I'll take some photos of the set-up but I don't want to spoil the surprise for arriving guests so I won't share until after the whole shindig.

We got the details for the rental house and left to get lunch. Lunch was at Johnny Ad's in Old Saybrook, CT. If you're like me and love to check out menus to places, even if you might never go there, we had the seafood platter. Bryan bought two seafood platters and they fed Bryan, me, mom and dad until we were stuffed. Best seafood I've ever had anywhere, hands down! The fried scallops were a perfect texture. The fried clams were tender and had just the right clam to batter ratio. The french fries were even awesome! Our only complaint... no sweet tea. We're in the land of unsweetened iced tea but it was a small sacrifice.

After lunch we headed to the rental house. I'll take more pictures today to share but I particularly love this view from my bed. It's on Niantic Bay which I guess is in the Long Island Sound? My CT geography is limited. It's basically the Atlantic Ocean and beach access is just a few steps away. The rental house is (having a hard time finding the word) old, rickety, full of odd little twists and turns, with floors that tilt a bit. Basically, it's the perfect, traditional shore house. We have a hot tub, internet (obviously), pool table, five bedrooms, large kitchen, huge tv (that nobody was able to figure out how to turn on)... there is jasmine blooming outside.. it's just (sorry to use the word again) perfect for us. There is another rental home for the Gants, an overflow space where my brother Michael, his kids Cory and Matthew and my son Ryan and his girl Sara will stay. Hoping they will hang out here with us and just go to the other house to sleep. The room I claimed is purple and has a big fluffy duvet on the bed. I have a balcony to look out on the water and... it's just a great little nest for me. The only real complaint (which is not even a complaint, just a little quirk) is that when you first walk in there's a coffee table with a topless mermaid made out of stones and tiles. We tossed a towel over her to preserve her dignity.

After we dropped our bags and explored the house for a bit, Bryan, Pop and myself headed to Walmart. At this point I was fading fast. The activity of the day plus the two days before was catching up to me. Every step in Walmart was like I was wearing ankle weights. My back was screaming. My evil (and here, in this place, it is evil!) gut pain was kicking in and I was just completely exhausted. So while everyone enjoyed a pizza party at Helen's parents' house, I stayed back in the rental and just rested. I had a fruit and yogurt parfait for dinner and enjoyed a bit of introversion.

Ignore the dozen chins... we were laying down and gravity is not my friend.

Mom, dad, Jim, Angie, Sarabeth and Jamie arrived back at... I don't even know what time it was! They toured the house and then the girls and I snuggled up in my bed and watched you tube clips of behind the scenes at Wicked, Simon's cat and other bits and bobs. Pop had bought us "sleepover" food so we snacked on gummy bears and sour patch kids and skittles until Aunt Heather was dozing off. I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 9:30 and I slept really well. I woke up once or twice in the night but feel well rested this morning. My legs/hips/back/feet are all quite tender but at least I've cleared the cloud of exhaustion that was surrounding me yesterday afternoon.

Today I think we're fairly unscheduled until around 5pm for the rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner. I've got to hunt down a hair dryer because my hair looks best the second day so I want to wash and set my hair today to achieve the best possible look tomorrow.

Thanks for reading! Having a wonderful time, wish you were here! Love and hugs, y'all!

View from my balcony

My purple room