dinghies, trains, and automobiles...from P

One of our many unplanned stops (actually they are all unplanned) was yesterday as we anchored just outside the little harbor town of Millford, CT. Once K figured out that we were only a "few miles" from New Haven, home of Yale University, we decided to do some land-side sight seeing. So we fired up the dinghy and bounced through the chop for about a half mile into the Millford Yacht Club where the helpful dockmaster allowed us to keep the dink tied up for the day. We called for a cab, waited a half hour, started walking, eventually caught a cab to the train station, caught a metro train, walked another mile or so, and finally found ourselves in downtown New Haven and on the campus of Yale. We found the welcome center, signed up for a campus tour and walked for another two miles or so around New Haven on the tour. If you want to attend an Ivy League school that has a nice walkable contiguous campus - don't go to Yale. It is scattered throughout the fairly large city of New Haven, which itself is dingy and unattractive. Once you get into the gates of any of the twelve "colleges" you step from a city street into a gorgeous courtyard surrounded by impressive stone buildings mimicking the architecture of Oxford. Each of the colleges has its own flavor, and its own mini-campus. The library, which was disigned and built to resemble a cathedral, feels like the hub around which all the spokes revolve. But the colleges are flung throughout the city - and I never did see Rory Gilmore's dorm! Nevertheless, some of the architecture is impressive. Even more impressive - you can graduate from Yale with a C- average and be the President of the United States!

Yale's library. It is a definite "wow"

The clock tower

After lots of walking and a stop at Starbucks we trodded off to the train station, got lost, got found again, rode the train back to Millford, called a cab, called again - and again. After an hour and a half wait, the cab finally showed up and deposited us at the yacht club. Apparently there are two taxi cabs in Millford and one was broken down. The cove had gotten whipped up into a big chop from the strong SW winds and though the dinghy ride was rough and wet, the spray felt good. It really was a fun and interesting day ashore but we were both glad to get back home -bobbing up and down aboard Senara. As it turns out, we really don't miss cars, horns, traffic, crowds, or schedules very much.