Following our adventure in Boston, we went to the Boston Airport to pick up the hire car that would come with us all the way back to LA. We chose a brand new 2018 Toyota Camry that we quickly named Cam. We were nearly going to be walking back to LA instead as our bank declined the large overseas transaction, even though we had notified them in advance. However a few phone calls we were on the road!

Our first stop was Providence, Rhode Island where we walked around Brown University. It was really interesting seeing a proper American “university town” as we don’t really get those back home in Australia. It is possible to walk on to some parts of the campus but I don’t know if they actively encourage tours. Classes were not in session at the time but we still mostly stayed to the side-walk.

We walked down to Providence River and Memorial Park and crossed the river for a Starbucks before heading back.

From there we drove onto Olde Mistick Village in Mystic, Connecticut.

This was the most quirky and unique little shopping complex I had ever seen. There was a huge pet supply store, a popcorn store, jewellery store, general store, toy store.. all sorts!

We had lunch at Pink Basil where I got some delicious tofu fried rice.

After our lunch we carried on to Fairfield, Connecticut where we were staying for the night. We arrived in the late afternoon just as some dark clouds were rolling in.

We stayed at the Circle Hotel which was really nice, and I would recommend to anyone looking for somewhere to stay in the area. The ladies on the check in desk were so shocked to hear an Australian accent! I imagine that they get far less Australian tourists on the east coast, especially in the smaller towns.

We went for a drive to look at the neighbourhood and the houses were really lovely. Two stories with grand big patios and sprawling lawns. The Babysitter Club book series was set in a fictional town that was based off this Connecticut area and I could totally imagine the characters living in one of the streets.

We had dinner at Flipside burgers and bar where I ordered nachos. I asked for an entree size and still got a huge serving. The portion sizes are tricky to get used to.

This day ended up being around 180 miles (300 km) and it was a great way to see some of the countryside after our time in big city Boston.