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Return to Maryland
We stayed in Connecticut for four days. My enjoyable highlight is the fact that daughter-in-law Beth always has a grape bowl on the table. Grapes are probably my largest sugar downfall. Granddaughter Jill helps me to keep them from spoiling.
Does eating grapes raise your blood glucose?
These glucose molecules get absorbed quickly and can raise blood sugar levels very quickly. On the other hand, Grapes do not cause blood glucose levels to go up when taken in moderation. The glycemic index of grapes is toward the lower end, which means moderate consumption does not affect blood glucose levels. (Thanks Yahoo)
Thursday evening would be Rebecca’s HS graduation. I elected to stay back and watch the IT feed of the graduation. Luna and I enjoyed the production.
After the graduation, the large extended family returned to Matt & Beth’s home for a celebratory event. Great finger food and beverages prevailed. The star of the evening (Rebecca) would be off to the BUBBLE. Recent years have seen the senior class locked into this facility for all kinds of activities. A safe environment to enjoy an entire night of contests and activities.
We had one more full day with the Connecticut family before our Acela ride to Maryland and Amtrak’s station at BWI. On Saturday of that week, Matt would play UBER and take us to New Haven to catch the train. Once again a nice wheelchair, thanks to my private Red Cap. I tried tipping him, but he refused.
Once again we were seated in car #5, only two seats together this time. The seats are very similar in comfort and spaciousness to First Class airline seating.
The ride to Baltimore was uneventful and on time. The train journey time between New Haven and BWI Rail Station is around 4h 13m and covers a distance of around 269 miles.
Once again Elevators eliminated stairs and we were quickly at the shuttle P/U area. Our plan was to Shuttle to Rental Car Shuttle at the airport and drive home. This method would be cheaper than a trip on Bay-Runner shuttle to Salisbury. This method turned out to be effortless and we were in our KIA in no time.
The Kia was quite responsive in the get-up-and-go area. The side mirrors were horrible for my use. Having an SUV at home I was not comfortable with the close-to-the-road seats. But, all in all, it served its purpose. We would return this vehicle to SBY the next day.
We would choose “The Fishermans Inn” on Kent Island for a dinner stop. I would have Fish & Chips and Mary Agnes would dine with a Sea Food Platter. Shrimp, Crab Cake & Scallops were featured. For dessert, we shared a large scoop of Vanilla Ice cream, made on campus and fantastic.
Our ride the rest of the way home was uneventful. The greatest obstacle, other than beach traffic is sharing the road with the Deer. They never seem to cross at the signs erected by the State Highway Dept.
So, we had a great trip, we highly recommend Amtrak and Acela, should you be traveling the DC – Boston corridor. Thanks for stopping by and glancing at my Rooster Scratchings. Have a safe summer and don’t forget to check on the elderly. One benefit of old age is that your secrets are always safe with your friends … because they can’t remember them!
Speeding to Connecticut
For the past thirty five years we have been driving to Connecticut from Maryland to visit with family. For twenty years we traveled from Connecticut to Maryland to visit family. Along the way we’ve had family in New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and Florida. We’ve made these adventures via Plane and automobile. Just two weeks ago we made the journey via Amtrak.
Our daughter Sarah and husband Greg provided transportation to the Wilmington, DE Train Station. Those two world travelers were inroute to Philadelphia’s airport and a trip to England & Spain. Wilmington is on the way should you not be geographically literate. So much for having to take the Bayrunner shuttle from SBY to BWI Amtrak station. Some bucks saved there.
The train we would travel on was the Acela. Top speed on this sleek train is 170 MPH. Thats 273 Kilometers per hour for you folks in the rest of the world. Change to the Metric System and get rid of Day Light Saving time I say. Amtrak has a great site for tracking it’s trains. I’m a bit of a map freak and I used this site often to orient myself.
At the present time I use a cane quite often, bum knee and vertigo make a 3 point upright position easier. Elevators at Wilmington and our destination in New Haven, Connecticut helped me immensely with my navigation in the train station. My son met us in New Haven with a wheelchair in New Haven. Thanks Matt. Entry to the individual cars on the train is level with the train entrance. There is a bit of a gap, use caution should you travel this way. As in Great Britain “Mind the Gap” they say.
Once on the train we found our assigned seats in our assigned car. The station platform is marked for where each car stops. We were in a four seat cube with a table in front of each seat, (foldable). Our seat mates as far as NYC were an unrelated man and woman, business types were I guessing. A nod hello and a smile and the words “pleasant rest of the trip”, from the woman who slept most of her journey. The man, dropped a gym bag on his seat and I’m guessing spent the ride to NYC in the Cafe Car. Here’s another bloggers analyses of the Cafe Car. While pulling into Penn Station in NYC our mail seat mate returned, gathered his bag, and set off to detrain.
While enroute to NYC a server, offering drinks and snacks came around, credit card and Apple Pay only. Funny, she never mentioned peaches or orange pay. Mary Agnes had herself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc wine. I stayed with my bottled water.
With our seatmates gone two new companions arrived. One, a woman from Minnesota now living in Bourne, MA, the other, a man from Connecticut now living north of Boston. We chatted off and on and learned the woman was in Plastic Sales and the man Software sales. Our female companions mother back in Minnesota was soon to turn 101 years old and lives in her own home. These two seatmates would exit the train in Boston. Our male companion arrive damp after a 25 block jog in the rain wearing shorts and T shirt. Only negative during the entire trip, It was a cold ride. I had a hoodie, the wife a jacket, and she was still cold. She said it was 53 f with a wind chill of 45.
We would arrive in New Haven four minutes late. Our son met us with a wheelchair, and several elevator rides to the parking garage we were on our way north to the kids home an hour away.
The reason for the trip, Granddaughter Rebecca’s HS graduation. Congrats Kiddo, Bryant College in RI, next stop.
As far as safety is concerned we never felt apprehensive at all during the trip. Uniformed law enforcement was visible in all stops as well as officers with dogs at Wilmington and New Haven. The trains were clean and seats comfortable with easy baggage storage. We will definitely ride the rails again soon.
Our return trip four days later would go from New Haven’s Union Station to Baltimore’s BWI Station. I’ll make that trip my next blog. Have a great day my friends.
Please, don’t forget to check on the elderly. Semper Fi
As The Rooster Crows 
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