A free day of castle-railroad-lighthouse-bird-and ocean wandering

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

July 22, 2022

While we are wandering through a state that is new to us, we sometimes take off in a general direction to just see what we can discover. We didn't have high expectations for the day, but we were just curious what we could find to do. The other rule of this game is that everything has to be free. That's a particularly hard rule to follow in states like Connecticut. But we came upon what might be the only state park in this expensive state that doesn't charge admission--Gillette Castle State Park.

This rock castle was built for an actor, William Gillette, in 1919. He was famous for his role as Sherlock Homes, who he portrayed on stage over 1,300 times in his 33-year acting career. He spotted this land while on a boat ride on the Connecticut River, and decided immediately that this was the perfect location for his castle.

This eccentric man loved his unique house, and his unique railroad hobby. He had his own railroad station on his property.

His specially-made railroad engine is displayed in the visitor center and museum. Viewing the museum and the outside of the castle was free, so we didn't break our rule by buying tickets for a tour of the inside of the castle.

Looking out across the Connecticut River, we can see why Mr. Gillette loved it here.

We can also see the tiny car ferry that crosses that river. It's just leaving the dock on the other side with a single vehicle on-board.

When we left Gillette Castle, we were the only passenger going the other direction. We guess that it's cheaper to run these tiny car ferries in remote locations instead of spending the money to build a very big bridge. Speaking of spending money, we broke our rule of not spending any, because this trip across the water costs $5. But we don't count transportation costs like gasoline, so we're not counting ferry crossings either. We found that this is a state historic landmark because there has been a ferry at this location for over two hundred years.

Running a ferry takes two people--one to drive the boat, and one to load the cars and take pictures for the passengers. The woman with the second job is well-practiced at taking passengers' pictures with the castle on the hill-top behind them.

Now on the west side of the Connecticut River, we decided to head south towards the coast. We made a short stop in the town of Essex, where they have a free display of old railroad cars. After wandering around a few train cars, we were ready to leave. But then we met two couples from Rhode Island that gave us some tips on visiting their state. We didn't enjoy the railroad display much, but that stop turned out to be very informational after all.

When you don't have a plan and you're not spending money, chasing lighthouses can be a fun activity. We found the Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse, all decked out with red, white, and blue near the town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Next up was the Lynde Point Lighthouse. Now part of a private residence, it's tough to get a good picture and still stay a respectful distance away. We're glad that we didn't have to pay any fines for driving into private neighborhoods to take those two pictures. That would have busted our free-day budget.

When we crossed the bridge over the South Cove, we couldn't help but notice the large white birds on the water. We realized that there were hundreds of swans that spend their summer near Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

We took the next available right turn and found ourselves in a golf course parking lot. Denisa jumped out to take a closer picture of a few of the swans.

She was a little embarrassed that two golfers that were relaxing out front were witnessing her free bird watching. They must be used to people enjoying the swans here, because they also pointed out the osprey nest that can be seen nearby.

Then they told her about the free nature trail that takes off on the other side of the club house. It's another free activity, and we soon started seeing even more nature. Two deer just watched us as we walked by.

This little bird stood perfectly still on the branch in the open until Denisa had a chance to take his picture. Nice!

Our free day of unplanned activities ended at the ocean. We took a walk around the water's edge, seeing the yachts parked at the harbor. We're guessing that they spent more money than we did on this Connecticut travel day.

It's high tide on the beach, as the sand is gone and the beach umbrella is in the water. We didn't stop for any beach strolling, as the ocean has eaten the beach this evening. Besides, all the Connecticut beaches require an admission fee or an expensive parking fee. That would break our "free day" rule. Anyway, it is time to head towards home. It's been another day of castle-railroad-lighthouse-bird-and ocean wandering, brought to you by a couple of happy wanderers looking for free things to do in Connecticut.