Part 2 of the July 4th Celebration

I think I learned today that the best plans are no plans at all. We had no agenda or purpose to the day, but it all came together in perfect form. We got a nice early start and crawled out of the tent around 6am. Our campfire was still burning and the birds were singing up a storm. The first thing I saw upon waking was my bike through the tent window. Such a nice sight.


We had a leisurely breakfast and a glorious Chai-sipping session in the new gazebo tent, while overlooking our private campground.


Yeah, camping just doesn't get any better than that. Karlo wanted to do 30 minutes of work today (on that little wood project I mentioned last week) so while he went out to the shed I laid on the porch swing with my iPad and watched a few Scott Kelby photography lessons. Heaven! Those 30 minutes flew by.

The next thing on our non-existent agenda was to take a bike ride. It was the perfect day for biking. The weather could not have been better and we really should have taken advantage and went a longer ride. Maybe we just didn't want to over-exert ourselves on the lazy weekend.


After a nice lunch at home we decided that we deserved a motorcycle ride. This time I jumped on the back of Karlo's bike (for reasons we will discuss in a future blog posting) and again, without much of a plotted course we made our way to Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry (the site of our wedding). Karlo ended up taking our old bicycle route and it was so so nice to revisit our old stomping grounds. We went to Coventry Lake (where we used to kayak nearly daily) and made a stop at the ice cream stand that we used to frequent. It was so nice to see Nathan Hale again. We reminisced about the first time we let Bentley off the leash (he ran away from us - straight back to the car!) and our wedding day.

I actually had thoughts of renewing our vows next year in the same spot.

We took a different route home, this time stopping at a little country store that sells my jewelry. We had a nice chat there and picked up some locally grown goodies. It was time to make tracks back to Eastford for our big evening plans. OK, maybe we did have some plans for the day.

Our original idea was to have dinner at a Mexican joint in Putnam. The GPS took us right to it, only it was closed. I was so upset and we had no idea where to go. Enter the handy little Droid app that gave me every restaurant choice in the area. I quickly read some reviews and picked a new destination . . . which turned out to be my new favorite restaurant in CT! The place was called 85 Main and it was spectacular. We arrived in time to grab the very last table outside on the sidewalk. The city was bustling with people waiting for the fireworks. I can't get over the quaint atmosphere and outstanding food at this place. I just couldn't believe we were in Putnam and not some fancy place in a big city. What a ball we had and I'm still thinking about how delicious that meal was. Can't wait to go back. I think it's going to be our new hangout.


We had about an hour or so before the fireworks so we strolled along the river and did some people, car, and motorcycle watching. There was no shortage of interesting things in all three categories. Finally we set up our chairs and waited for the fireworks display. I'm ashamed to say this, but I only took a little point and shoot instead of my real camera (I just didn't want to work too hard today, remember?) and I got some really bad, but almost interesting pieces of art out of the deal.

And to think, we still have 2 more days of celebration to go . . .