There’s Something About Connecticut

There’s Something About Connecticut

For the life of me I haven’t fully figured out Connecticut.  It’s a part of New England, but it’s also a big part of New York as well.  Nothing illustrates that more than the Red Sox-Yankees Mason-Dixon line that runs through the state.

Connecticut exhibits some of the characteristics of New England – Beautiful old towns mixed with postcard views and a rich colonial history.  Litchfield County is to most people the most beautiful part of the state, but you can make a case for Windham or New London County too.  What turns most people off with Connecticut are the highways and associated traffic, and the cities, which have some lovely parts to them but some really run down parts too.

Connecticut has that Yankee frugality co-mingling with that New York hustle.  It’s a place that’s hard to describe.  Look no further than that Connecticut accent.  It’s a mix of Boston and New York.  You know it when you hear it.  Or if you like, we can talk about the drivers.  Boston gets a bad rap, and deservedly so.  But Connecticut drivers are the worst.  They refuse to move out of the left lane on the highway no matter what their speed, unless of course they’re the other type of driver in Connecticut; the zig zaggers.  These drivers are bouncing between lanes at extremely high rates of speed relative to those around them.  Perhaps they’d stay in the passing lane if the former drivers would ever move over, but perhaps they just love the adventure of putting lives in danger.

I lived in Litchfield County 24 years ago, and while the memories aren’t great, I do remember loving the 200 acre farm that I lived on.  We had a small apartment in an old farmhouse on a working farm.  Most everything associated with that time in my life is gone, and good riddance to it.  That experience, combined with some epic traffic over the years, may have jaded me.  I like the people, I like the scenery when you get out of the cities, and I’ve had some great moments there.  And yet there’s something about Connecticut…