Road Trip Summer

            This summer has been one of local exploration.  I’ve taken road trips to the city of Boston, the states of Connecticut and New Hampshire.  The best part of living on the east coast is that all of the locations are drivable.  It makes road trips easy!

            I’ve already written about my Boston vacation (On the Freedom Trail), but I haven’t gotten into the details about my sojourn to Connecticut.  I had the pleasure of traveling with an old college friend to the Goodspeed to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof.  The theater, located in East Haddam, CT, is in a historic Victorian building that was originally called the Goodspeed Opera House.  Fully restored in the 1960s, the building stands as a testament to Mr. William H. Goodspeed who had it built in 1876. The location is picturesque, right on the banks of the Connecticut River with lovely landscaped grounds. 

            The company that occupies the space is known as Goodspeed Musicals.  Their mission to present top quality productions of both recognized works as well as promising new musicals stands front and center.  The cast of Fiddler on the Roof was outstanding.  The actor who portrayed Tevye was Darren Matthias and he was just brilliant.  He brought sweetness to the character that made me smile.  Apparently, he was a stand-in for the role and it appeared this might have been his first time performing as Tevye.  I can only gather this from the reaction of his fellow actors on stage during curtain call as they congratulated him.   Another stand out for me was the young actress Allegra Rosa who played Bielke.  This young girl of 13 was outstanding!  If I were in college admissions, I would follow her career very closely and encourage her to apply for the Theater program.

            I would recommend seeing any musical production at Goodspeed Musicals.  Visit their website at www.Goodspeed.org and look at the upcoming schedule.  But, be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to drive there! Coming from RI we encountered a great deal of traffic and arrived 35 minutes late for curtain. 

            My next trip was up north to New Hampshire, which is both scenic and a great deal of fun to explore.  My friends and I set out on a mission to enjoy Canobie Lake Park over the long weekend.  This amusement park has a little bit of everything, rides that go high, rides that go fast, rides you get soaked on and rides that spin around.  Personally, I enjoy spinning around the best! However, on this particular trip I decided to face a fear and go on the Ferris wheel.  I’m terrified of heights and generally turn sheet white and break out in a sweat.  It’s not pretty.  This time I was determined to do something I would usually avoid.  The Giant Sky Wheel features enclosed basket style seats that look like they came out of the 1960s.  The colors and the styles are very retro. The ride itself is gentle and sweeps across the sky slowly.  I am very proud that I followed through on this even when I became increasingly nervous as the wheel turned.  Eventually, I opened my eyes to see the wonderful view of the park.  It was just lovely! I even took out the cell phone and snapped photos, selfies as well.  I had to have proof that I had actually been that high in the air and not completely terrified.

            It’s hard to believe that it is mid-August and the summer is getting ready to come to a close.  I still have some time for a few more road trips.  I just have to take a good look at the area and see where I will be off to next.