We passed the Old State Capitol Building which I loved - it is a small brick building with a clock tower on top - I thought is was great. We didn't get to go inside since it was already closed. So we continued on. It was Thomas, his boss Rhonda and myself. Rhonda wanted some wine and we stopped at The Goodwin Hotel thinking that they would have a nice little bar that we could sit and have a drink and eat something - it really didn't have anything so we continued down the street. At some point we ended up on Asylum Street. At this point we were all hungry so we decided the next restaurant we came to we would go in and eat. That restaurant ended up being Mayor Mike's. It was a nice little restaurant that sort of reminded us of a pub. Rhonda ordered her wine, I ended up with a pint of Guinness and Thomas just had tea. We looked at the menu but I kept going back to something I saw on the Specials Board. - so I decided to close the menu and order the Sweet Potato Ravioli - it came with a tarragon sauce and a sprinkling of cinnamon. It was incredible - I almost ordered a second plate (but decided against it so that I could have dessert). Once we were done with dinner we decided to order two desserts and share them. We had carrot cake and apple crisp a la mode and the waitress gave us a little history lesson - Mike was the Mayor of Hartford for eight years (four terms), he is currently in the hospital (having a liver transplant) and is seriously thinking about running for Mayor again. [Sidebar: Tonight at the mini-meet I found out that most of Hartford really likes Mike and they would love him to be Mayor again.] 
After dinner we walked a little and ended up going through the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch as we made our way to the Capitol. We were walking through Bushnell Park and we could see a fountain to our right and we wished it was still light out so that we could actually see the park better. But we continued on to the Capitol. It was really nice all lit up but unfortunately it was still too dark to get any good pictures and we couldn't go in because it was closed. So we walked all around and admired the architecture and made plans to come back today to see the inside. It was around 9:00 pm and we were all tired from the day of traveling so we returned to the hotel. After showering I looked through clues and mapped things out and then hit the pillow. I think I may have fallen asleep before my head actually hit the pillow and I didn't wake up until the alarm went off at 7:30 this morning.Once dressed I decided to take a walk along the Connecticut River going through Riverfront Plaza.
There are some statues along the walk and it is a paved trail with lots of trees alongside the trail. It was a peaceful and easy walk - I only encountered four or five people during my hour walking around. I did try for two letterboxes even though they had been marked as attempted and neither of them had been found in about a year - I was unsuccessful at finding either of them. After my walk I returned to the hotel and Thomas and I got into the car and headed back to the Capitol area. And since it was daylight we actually got to see the Capitol building a bit better and walk around Bushnell Park a little more. After finding a parking spot (which took way too long) we walked into Bushnell Park and went to see the Carousel. It wasn't open yet so we walked around and I took some pictures of a few statues and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch as well as the Corning Fountain with the Capitol in the background. 
When the Carousel was opened we returned there and I got a few pictures fo the horses. Then we headed for the Capitol - I took a few more pictures of the outside of the building and then we went inside and did a self-guided tour. It is a beautiful Gothic inspired building. When we had walked around the night before I noticed stained glass windows all around. Today I found out that the architect that designed the building was well known for designing Gothic Churches - and you can definitely see that in the Connecticut State Capitol Building. This is a truly amazing building and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit.Next we headed for the Mark Twain House. Mr. Clemens lived in Hartford from 1874-1891. We weren't able to get a tour until about an hour and a half after we arrived so we decided to just walk around the grounds. The house is beautiful and we had a nice time walking around. We then headed to the Store at the museum to find Mark Twain's Letterbox by MayEve.
It was a beautiful stamp and I enjoyed finding this box - my first find in Connecticut. From here we headed to Elizabeth Park. We entered the park and parked near the Rose Garden - we were both surprised to find quite a few roses in bloom. But first things first - we searched for two letterboxes. We found both Happy Birthday to Us 2008 and A Rose is a Rose. After stamping in and rehiding the boxes we decided to walk around the park. We enjoyed the roses and dahlias and then walked across a beautiful stone bridge, grabbed a snack at the pond house and then watched the ducks at the pond. Two hours after we arrived we haeded out to our next destination.There was a Mini-Meet put together by Music Woman in Rocky Hill and we needed to be there by 5:00pm. So we thought we could spend some time letterboxing in Rocky Hill and we would be closer near the restaurant for the meet. It only took us about 15 minutes to get from Elizabeth Park to Dinosaur State Park. After checking in at the Visitors Center we found out we only had about a half hour to do any letterboxing because they close the trails at 4:00pm.
So I looked at my clues and we decided to try for a six box series. We headed out on the Red Trail to its junction with the Blue Trail and then hiked the Blue Trail in its entirety. Along the way we found all six boxes in the Creation Series. They are nicely carved stamps and the trail was a pleasure to walk. By the time we found all six stamps and got back to the beginning of the trails it was 4:30pm - all I could say was thankfully there were no gates to the trails so they couldn't lock us in - but there was a sign at the trailhead stating that they were closed. Anyway, we got into the car and headed for the restaurant. We arrived in about three minutes and saw a familiar face - smooth mtn biker ct was there already (she along with smooth mtn biker ma visited Santa Fe in June of this year and Astro D and I had afternoon coffee with them). It wasn't long before everyone arrived and we had been seated and the stamps started flying. Music Woman had carved an incredible event stamp, and of course there were all the exchanges to do and a few personal travelers - it was fun and chaotic - but I managed to get everyone's signature stamp and all the available PT's before leaving. Music Woman also gave me the event stamp and logbook - what a great momento of a wonderful little mini-meet. Who was there? - Music Woman, Brandy, Kit Kat 61, Miss Birdie, OpalsMom, smooth mtn biker ct, smooth mtn biker ma, Connfederate, Jei, TsukiAmes, JudyintheSky, R, Highwayman and me and we also had a surprise visit from Wanda and Pete. It was incredible meeting all these nice letterboxers who took the time to meet with me and I thank them for a fun evening and for some wonderful suggestions of where to go while I am here.So here I am now - after a good shower and some coffee trying to get everything logged in and this blog written. I also need to get my day planned for tomorrow and get some sleep. I'll be back soon to let you know how things are going here in the Constitution State.
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