July 19, 2023
While in Connecticut for that ice cream I loved so dearly, I mapped out another photo opportunity as I like to do. Abandoned stuff… I would have to head to Northwest Park to access a trail to some ruins… As it turned out, I had a bit of a detour. Read more…
Because Connecticut won’t be so close to me soon, I headed to get my favorite vegan soft serve ice cream at Divine Treasures. Let’s talk a bit about this place Divine Treasures first. This blog has been going on for almost two decades. And I have devoted many years to Read more…
January 19, 2022
I am happy to report that I have been reporting on Divine Treasures in Manchester, Connecticut for 10 years now! Their quality is through the roof. Everything they make–chocolates, soft serve, cheeses–is so beyond anything happening in New York City. Yes. This strip mall shop off the interstate in Manchester, Read more…
December 12, 2021
Flora Plant Food + Drink in West Hartford was a welcome respite from braving the cold winds in several abandoned sites. This is a brunch menu one falls in love with before a visit… you start planning what to get to not squander the opportunity. Wanting to hit all the Read more…
December 11, 2021
This is one of my favorite types of eateries… great, thoughtful breakfast selections done well with minimal packaged processed food on the menu. The Stand Vegan Cafe in Fairfield, Connecticut does it right. My Seitan Bagel Sandwich, an everything with maple-mustard marinated seitan, grilled tofu, chive cashew spread, and tarragon Read more…
Just a few yards from the busy US Route 6 are the rusting abandoned remains of a zoo from the 1930’s. Just a few steps into the Blue Trail of the Shade Swamp Nature Trail, the cages offer some interesting photo opportunities. It’s an easy explore; you can find it Read more…
June 15, 2021
It’s been about 10 years since I discovered Manchester, Connecticut’s Divine Treasures. And it’s time I make a declaration about their vegan soft serve ice cream: It is the best I’ve ever have. 🏆 The nut-based small batch delight is even more fantastic when topped with their own hot fudge Read more…
May 28, 2020
This second haul of pictures wraps up a jam-packed day of exploring Connecticut’s abandoned places–a trip that took me four days to sort through the pictures. Since I wrote all about Norwich State Hospital’s history in my previous post, please enjoy these images without my chatter. Soon these structures will Read more…
And with this visit to the remains of Norwich State Hospital, I’ve visited all of Connecticut’s state psychiatric facilities, the other two being Fairfield State Hospital and Connecticut Valley State Hospital. Norwich’s story is much like other state-run psychiatric hospitals… bucolic location, sprawling rural campus, self sufficiency, eventual overcrowding, expansion Read more…
May 27, 2020
A small psychiatric hospital in Portland, Connecticut lay in ruins awaiting its new life, a mixed use retail and residential space called Brainerd Place (Ooh! Another Starbucks!) But before you can order your complicated coffee beverage using some multisyllabic nonsense words–a walk through the Elmcrest Hospital campus, which, like many Read more…
May 25, 2020
Holy Land USA has come a long way since my first visit 5 years ago. Heck, it’s come a long way since my visit last year! With an ongoing clean-up and, er, resurrection of the space, new concrete remnants are surfacing, new-to-me. It is a unique place to spend an Read more…
The burial ground for the unclaimed deceased patients of The Connecticut Valley State Hospital was active between 1878 through 1950. The small historically protected cemetery located in Middletown, Connecticut contains 1,686 numerical markers, each a life lost at the psychiatric hospital. Though the names of the interred remained private as Read more…
With a packed Connecticut itinerary, a stop at Middletown’s Connecticut Valley State Hospital, formerly the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane. Though the campus contains a still-functioning psychiatric hospital, many of the old buildings sit unused on the well-manicured property. But these derelict parts are sufficiently boarded up with no easy Read more…
January 5, 2020
There were only a couple of things on my list I didn’t accomplish during the holiday break from school. Visiting Fairfield State Hospital in Newtown, Connecticut, a lead from a nice person I met while exploring the Seaside Sanatorium, was one of those “to-do”s. I was told the grounds were Read more…
August 12, 2019
I like when an eatery has “vegan” there right in the name, proudly declaring it despite so many misinformed impressions of vegan food. Yes, those impressions are changing, so we just have to keep saying it… I also enjoy seeing “vegan” in strip mall signage amongst other businesses. The first Read more…
August 11, 2019
Holy Land USA in Waterbury, CT is on the up and up! Which, yeah sure, is great… but not when you specifically visit to take pictures of a decaying theme park. Yes, since my last visit 3 years ago, things have changed quite a bit. It seems they are getting Read more…
Warning: I’m on a mission to post all of my blog drafts in a very short period of time. If ever there was a time to “unsubscribe” or set boundaries on your V.V. screen time, it would be now. But I am quite excited for the ‘draft purge’ as it Read more…
During Cemetery Season (proper), I visited the Riverside Cemetery in Waterbury, Connecticut but couldn’t drive past the entrance due to ice and snow hazards. Enchanted by the robed mourning woman, I pledged I’d return. And so I did. Because I am a woman of my word. She would prove to Read more…
February 2, 2019
With an obligation-free weekend, I decided I’d hit the road in an attempt to get out of my head… and my apartment. And with the sun ablaze it almost felt like Spring. In the car. I had forgotten how much I love being on the road. But easy, Kerouac, I Read more…
February 14, 2018
I read this one as “You do all the others” at first. The beet is an important part of the sentence. You are the dapper apple guy of my eye… Wait what? Your unkindness? You have a red pepper temper, my dear. We would make a happy strangely dressed pear Read more…
August 6, 2015
I’ve been to Bloodroot, the feminist bookstore and restaurant in Bridgeport, CT, several times–the last being this time in 2007. I have never blogged about it because the food is pretty basic. But having visited the music store / vegan cafe, I thought I’d throw back to another Connecticut “slash/ie.” Read more…
August 5, 2015
Travel tucks you into new environments, which facilitate different experiences. And experience is the basis of all learning, all growth. So, travel is enlightenment…. Luckily, there is no need to head to an ancient Buddhist temple to derive this wisdom. There is plenty of beauty, adventure, inspiration, oddity (and vegan eats) just a couple of hours away. Read more…
February 20, 2015
Connecticut, New York’s northern neighbor, has plenty of vegan eats to feast upon. It’s an ideal destination for a day trip. I can get to Connecticut without heading far into the New York City area and her more messy crossings. The Throgs Neck Bridge is an easy breeze. A couple Read more…
August 27, 2013
Vegan food is just like “regular” food. You put it in your mouth, chew it, then swallow. And just like “regular” food, it can be made of junk or it can be made of quality. Vegan foods are not exempt from the simple truth that the more pure and unprocessed Read more…
July 6, 2013
I love New England. This I knew but had forgotten. As the hours of watching the scenery went by, I remembered. Here are some food highlights from our Day 2 in New Hampshire. Spoon Revolution is Concord, New Hampshire’s only all-vegan eatery. They offer a small seasonal menu of all-vegan, Read more…
February 15, 2013
Vegan Valentine surprises from The Electrician. Brownie dough-filled beckoning cat. I repeat, brownie-dough filled. Box 1. Divine Treasures from Connecticut. More here. Hand-picked treats. Hettie the Hedgehog, filled with coconut and almonds. Box 2, the “back-up” These are amazing. Happy Valentine’s Day!