A day up at college

It was parents weekend this past weekend and we drove up with Josh.  The perfect autumn crisp day.  In the past I have made a picnic for the afternoon activity but thought it might be just a little too crispy to sit outside.  So we took a short drive to Chester, CT. 

Chester is still a quaint New England town.  So nice to see that these towns still exist.  No Gap and no large grocery store chain but a few restaurants and shops on a windy street. 

We had lunch at the River Tavern (Jessicas recommendation all the way from South Africa).  There is a river that runs thru the town.  As you drive out of town there is a huge lake that was absolutely beautiful with all the leaves changing around the landscape. 

Lunch was really good.  An interesting clientelle that definitely scaled older.  People were having a leisurely lunch with a bottle of wine.  Maybe there is an inn in the area.  I had a simple green salad with feta cheese, walnuts, sliced apples and a champagne vinagarette. 

For my main I had the mussels that were cooked in a white wine cream sauce with shallots. 

We all split the spicy pumpkin bread pudding with vanilla gelato.  Just couldn't pass that up.

We walked through the stores.  This place had a deli with places to sit.  Everything was being made right there by the owners and there were a bunch of items to buy.  This is the balsamic vinegar filling station.

Em picked up a few things at the co-op. 

When we got back to the campus the football game was going on.  We watched for a short time before taking a full on campus tour.  Fred had never seen all of it although I had when I went a few years back for the initial tour.

Nice pool.

We stayed to drop by the parent cocktail party and then made our way back home to the city.  Josh stayed with Emily for the night.  A really nice day and certainly refreshing to get out and breath some country air.