Castle Craig

I am completely accustomed to Mark being gone during the week, but when he is gone on a weekend day, it is - psychologically anyway - much harder. So I always try to find something - anything - to do to pass the weekend away, however much of it is left once he leaves.

Today he left after church, so as soon as we got home, I immediately googled "things to do in CT". One of the first things that popped up was a blurb about Castle Craig in Meriden. We have passed this castle tower - which sits high atop the rock face of a high hill - several times and have always mentioned that it would be fun to visit.

The castle is part of Hubbard Park down in the valley, a park named after Walter Hubbard who donated Castle Craig to the town of Meriden.

It is possible to hike on one of several trails up to the tower; however, it is quite a distance and perhaps not a hike for a 6-year-old princess. Besides that, a storm was brewing on the horizon, so we opted to drive up on the narrow, winding road.

By the time we reached the top, the storm was indeed brewing, and it was an awesome sight to see it advancing.

We enjoyed the view from the top,

and the boys continued to marvel at the sight of an advancing downpour.

The wind kicked up as the storm drew closer, and the kids embraced it.

As the rain began to fall, we made our way back down the narrow, curvy road.

Following our castle adventure, we ended our outing by visiting Big Dipper in Prospect. We have several favorite ice cream spots now in Connecticut, and after our first visit today, this place will be added to that list of favorites. They hand make their ice cream daily and offer so many flavors, it's difficult to make a choice. But choices were made, and ice cream was enjoyed.

We had a fun outing, the afternoon passed quite quickly; and as the storm continues to thunder outside, the weekend will soon become the week.