Katie Travels: City Girl in the Country

I grew up on the east coast, so I am no stranger to that neck of the woods, however after spending more than a decade of my life here in the concrete jungle that is Los Angeles, heading back east to Connecticut turned out to be somewhat of a culture shock to my system. It is amazing how different two places can be. Now that I am older, the differences seem more pronounced than I previously remembered. Most notably everything in Connecticut is green, as opposed to L.A. which is in the midst of a serious drought. In addition to the blindingly green landscape, the quantity of land is also a shock. Even in the suburbs of L.A. (where I live) people live pretty close to one another on tiny "postage stamps" of land, but in Connecticut everything is sprawling and dotted with the most beautiful historic homes.

I wasn't able to do a lot of things due to my limited time in Connecticut, but it was fun to catch up with family and take in some different scenery for a change. Here are some shots of my adventures back east in Connecticut:

Above is a covered bridge in New Cornwall, Connecticut.

Here's all the green I was talking about, courtesy of Mohawk Mountain State Park. It's almost like being on a different planet compared to L.A.!

Everyone knows that California is home to numerous wineries and vineyards. If you go to Paso Robles or Napa you can easily spend days wine tasting at such spots, but did you know that Connecticut has its own wine trail? About 30 vintners call Connecticut home and produce some interesting wines. We went to a couple of these wineries and I must say Californian wines will always rein supreme to me, but it was fun to try something different. 

Digrazia Vineyard and Winery 

Hopkins Vineyard and Winery 

We had a picnic lunch at the Hopkins vineyard and these random sculptures were all over the gardens. They made for an aesthetically interesting picnic experience.

Since my Aunt lives on a farm, a lot of time was spent gazing at animals such as horses, chickens, ducks and dairy cows and her beautiful blooming gardens. My favorite creature on the farm might have been this handsome and very large and imposing rooster. Below you will see a few more shots of the flora and fauna found on the farm. Since we spent the majority of the time here and at a 4H fair, the vast majority of my pictures were animal related, so I had to be very selective with my editing!

Last of all, I was finally able to take a horseback riding lesson! I grew up riding horses and doing show jumping, but I stopped when I was about 16. I did some math and realized it's been over 15 years since I have last been on a horse. That equaled being seriously sore for a few days after my lesson. Horseback riding is actually an intense workout and you use muscles you normally don't, hence the aches and pains that occurred afterwards!