Contact the yale farm. They have volunteer days. Maybe when you are there will be one of those days? I used to volunteer there till i moved away.

Bar makes its own beer and has great pizza. Its on crown st.

I know you said breweries - but chamard vineyard in clinton and goveia winery in wallingford are worth dropping by.

The breweries in stony creek are good.

Yes - the view from east rock is great.

Check out hammonasset beach.

Check out the bike trails in ct that go along the former trolley lines. Go running along them or find a bike to rent. They go for miles way up north.

Its either a squirrel or a monk parakeet.

Very sad

I love inshape

Gather new haven

Save the sound

Habitat for humanity of greater new haven

I’d say either milford/orange area or the guilford/madison area. All four towns on the train line.

Milford/orange will have the shops you are looking for.

Guilford/madison have nice schools - but less of the shops. But you can visit the places you are talking about from those towns. The kids would have to pretty much be in to either soccer or tennis as far as sports goes. (Grew up there)

Give old saybrook/old lyme areas a look too. Its on the train. Nice town. You could commute to the shops in either milford or in the crystal mall area. It would be about 40 min from new haven. Actually old lyme is not on the train, but old saybrook is. But they face each other across the ct river.

Make sure you have a good lock for whatever kind of bike you end up using. From november to april pay attention to the weather and plan for alternate ways to get there during big snow falls. Its only about 2 or so miles and there are no hills. I’d opt for a bicycle.

In the past there have been bands of kids on bicycles causing problems. So if you see a bunch of kids on bikes - stay away.

Get something in North Guilford or north madison. If you want you can take the train in and avoid 95.

This bugs me too. But i’m used to it. I grew up in a part massachusetts near new york state. But in MA - everything outside of the boston suburbs is western ma. So cities like springfied and worchester - really more central mass - were all considered western ma. I live in yakima now and have lived in seattle. I really think i’m in central wa now, not eastern.

Yeah - its high desert climate. The cascades stop the rain. Thats the wet side. Other side of the cascades is the dry side. They get lots of sunshine. So Boise, ID, Salt lake city, UT - pretty much all the same climate.

You don’t have a dry side in BC? Is it really all forest?

I am in complete agreement!

Nyc people are blunt and direct because so many people live close together. But NYC people are often pretty good natured and have good senses of humor under those exteriors. Try asking for directions sometime or even making small talk with people in a bar or restaurant.

And honestly - before i lived in LA for a while - i was as scared of LA as you are of nyc. If you can handle LA - you have nothing to worry about in nyc.

You’re welcome!

You’d be safe during the day. You can always take a cab from grand central to the natural history museum if you want to avoid the subway - but again - during the day - in crowds of people - you’d be fine. Or go with a friend. Sorry i don’t know of any - but if you hear about a bus tour there and back - you could do that too.

If natural history museums are what you are in to:

The indian museum covers natural history of CT since the ice age and of the history of the pequots. Many town libraries have discount coupons - you check them out with your library card.

Other than that - take the train into nyc and visit the natural history museum there. The boston museum of science is not bad either.

Yes it is totally worth going too. Sorry you have to wait. I’ve been several times.

In the mean time check out the yale art gallery. Or maybe the indian museum at foxwoods.

You’re right. I’ll edit.

Fyi - some people like to take the ferry from LI over to bridgeport.

The yale art gallery is free and very special. The pizza is good - there are a few places to go. Visit the new haven green and walk along chapel st. Maybe take a drive through some of the suburbs. Does she want to be in new haven itself or a suburb? For a birds eye view drive up the hill and look at everything from the top of the cliffs at east rock park. Its a nice city with a lot of little restaurants and coffee shops. There are many schools there besides yale, so a lot of these coffee shops are open late. Its a college town. Yet you’ll see a lot of similarities to long island because more than a few people take the train in and work in nyc - metro north goes from new haven to grand central. It has a lot of attractions and visitors, even though it is not the biggest city due to the influence of yale. She would not be too far from boston, providence, taking a drive to berkshires in northern ct and western ma or from maybe doing a ski trip to vt once in a while. Hope you enjoy your self, have fun!

I went to gateway in my 40’s. Study where ever you want. If you are a little older than undergrad - people might think you are a grad student or working remote? But going to gateway is something to be proud about! Take your spot and don’t be ashamed.

Now - any panera is good. Koffee. What about the ikea cafeteria? In ikea you can refill uour coffee. You can stay all day - the only bad thing is the bathroom is a hike. Starbucks in branford. Guilford panera? Try the town libraries. For that matter - what about the gateway library? Or is it just too busy? East haven, branford, guilford - all great libraries. The used book coffee place on chapel is good. You’d be surprized - but in a pinch a mcdonalds or dunkin can work too. They both have wifi! The dunkin in branford on exit 56 - not a bad place to try out. Cafe romeo too.

It was a nice hang out back in the day.

For a whole pie - modern.

For slices - est, est, est

Guilford harbor

End of west wharf road, madison

Make the drive and walk around mohegan sun

Ikea has a great view of new haven in the cafeteria

Unh and the va hospital are on a hill overlooking new haven - the hill is in west haven

Go to old say brook and drive to the say brook point in. Its on the ct river. You’d be able to look across it and see the bridges going to old lyme.

Anytime you are looking at long island sound - look for lights on long island.

Claires, ninth square or edgewood market over on whalley - they have a lunch buffet with lots of healthy options.

With out a doubt.

That could be. And usually i think of it mainly for people using it for trips to florida and back. I only flew out of there once round trip to dc several years ago and had no issues. I mainly included it because it is in the area and you never know, there just might be a good deal once in a while to chicago. And it was nice not having to cross in to queens or over the gw and deal with all the traffic.

Bdl is pretty easy. Take the train and then a cab or use one of the off airport shuttle services to park.

Nyc airports are not so bad. If i drive - for lga - there is a garage that national has with a shuttle service. Thats pretty good. Or yeah - metro north to 125 st and then take the m20 bus to lga. If you go via jfk - either take a shuttle from grand central, or - if not much luggage - grandcentral to subway to airtrain. Ewr - newark - take the train as close as you can then uber the rest of the way. All 3 big nyc airports have good off airport garages - call around for rates. And make your reservation in advance! Don’t drive there and assume they will have a soot open.

Westchester airport is another option if you ever see a deal - you’d drive and park on site. Trains don’t go near it. You’d have to take an uber from stamford area - that would be a long ride.

If avelo goes there from tweed - that might be your best bet if times work out for you.

Other than that - i’d really focus on bradley. Between the off airport parking and the train - it be your easiest.