Connecticut Day Trip

Today we thawed. The temperature was in the mid-forties and the sun was shining. It was time for a road trip. But where to?

To me, a road trip means road food and thanks to the trusty Web site roadfood.com we found our destination - The Sycamore Drive-in in Bethel, Connecticut. An old fashioned diner that makes its own rootbeer and grinds its own meat every morning. Off we went.

We were not disappointed. This was a tasty burger, with two fresh, juicy patties full of flavor and complimented nicely by crisp lettuce and a lovely bun. But the star of the show was the rootbeer. The rootbeer at the Sycamore is out of this world - sweet, but with the flavor of brown sugar or maybe even molasses, and carbonated much more like real beer than soda. I wish I could have brought some home.

It is a family-owned place and when I complimented the woman at the counter on their tasty rootbeer she smiled genuinely and told me it was the pride of the family. And for good reason, I thought to myself.

We ate in the restaurant, but next time we will probably make use of the car-hop service. As would be expected, this is a family place and was therefore chock-full of children, most of whom were crying at various decibel levels. Being the non-breeders that we are, next time we will enjoy the intimacy of the Camry's front seat.

After our burgers it was off to Stew Leonard's, the trippiest grocery store I know. It is like a cross between Costco, a much less ethnically diverse The Dekalb Family Farmers Market and Disneyland circa 1975. My favorite thing: the animatronic displays scattered throughout the store, with chickens singing about the freshness of their eggs and lobsters riding trapezes. I felt like I was high and just didn't know it. Seriously, look at the close-up below...

"Helloooo BigMatty, we have been waiting to take you on the trip of a lifetime that will end with you eating a dozen hotwings and a bag of Oreos..."

 Like I said, trippy.

 But I wasn't high, we made it home safely and are now on the couch, drinking herbal tea and watching T.V. It was a nice little roadtrip and I am glad we got out of the house.