Since they were both close to our hotel, we decided to visit two college in the area. First, we drove by (and accidentally through) Amherst College. Next, we walked through Smith College to visit their botanical garden. There was very little activity on both campuses, which we thought was weird for a weekday. Valerie looked it up and both schools finished finals last week.

We drove to the Springfield Museums quadrangle. Sadly, all the museums were closed on Monday, but we were able to walk through the outdoor Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. There was a small lorax and a giant cat in the hat.

Next, we visited the Mark Twain house in Hartford, CT, and the adjacent Harriet Beecher Stowe house. We didn’t actually take the guided tour through either of the houses, but we did walk around the buildings and tour through the accompanying museums.

Valerie was getting frustrated trying to book a hotel using her phone, so we stopped by the Portland (MA) Library to book a hotel using our laptop. We ended up at the La Quinta in Danbury, CT.

On Tuesday, we decided to take a rest day before heading to New York City. We ate the free breakfast and then returned to bed. We checked out around noon and then we stopped by Tarrywile Mansion for a self-guided tour and a hike around a pond. For dinner, we ate at Mima’s Meatballs in Danbury, which has a great service and a BYOB policy. We spent the night in Danbury, CT, just about an hour from NYC.