As we drove northbound yesterday, I noticed that the trees slowly changed from slightly leafy trees to mostly bare trees. I guess the weather is colder up here.

Our first touristic stop in Connecticut was the Submarine Force Museum in Groton. Located right next to a naval base, the museum lets visitors walk through a (probably decommissioned) nuclear submarine. I was surprised to learn that (even today) enlisted submariners need to sleep right next to the torpedoes. Valerie noted that this submarine is a lot more spacious and comfortable than the old German U-boat that we walked through in Chicago. After the museum, we ate some great food at Chester’s BBQ. (If you’re hungry in Groton, it’s the place to eat.)

Next, we drove to Mystic to visit the historic Mystic Seaport. The seaport has been turned into a sort of open air historical museum staffed by a ton of volunteers explaining the many facets of life in colonial Mystic. They also had a couple of restored ships that we were able to quickly walk through before they closed.

Finally, we drove to our hotel, the Howard Johnson near Newport, RI.

In the morning, we departed the Westin and headed to the Thrifty auto rental near Dulles. We rented an almost new 2015 Kia Soul for our long drive through New England. Thrifty was charging a bunch of money for a toll tag, so we decided to pick up our own on the drive. Thus, our first stop was Reston, VA, where we ate lunch at Chipotle and picked up an E-Z Pass and some snacks from Giant supermarket.

Over the next 7 or so hours, we drove northbound to the small town of Guilford, CT outside of New Haven. The traffic was worse than we expected for a Sunday, especially through Maryland and around the George Washington Bridge between New York and New Jersey. Overall, I think we paid more than $40 in tolls.