Connecticut - Day 3 - New Haven

Totoket Valley RV Park
Saturday, 3 November 2018

today's route

I needed to refill a prescription, so I called it in to a New Haven CVS and decided to take a look at the city while I was there.

The first thing I noticed is that New Haven has clearly marked all its streets!  What a concept!  Street signs that are legible and at every corner!  I wondered if that would just hold for this one town or if all CT towns did that.  So even without a decent map I still found what I wanted to find without trouble.

New Haven is completely a college town: it's full of Yale University.  Yale buildings are everywhere, throughout the town.  It's a big school and, as far as I can tell, it's taken over the town and moved into buildings - either those already there or those they built - all over town.

Sadly, I found all the parking meters were the pay-by-phone kind, which I can't do.  Too bad because I found several spaces that would have accommodated my little guy that I couldn't take advantage of.

internet photo

I wanted to go to Louis' Lunch, recognized by the US Library of Congress as the Birthplace of the Hamburger Sandwich.  It's this tiny tiny place in the smack middle of town and, as far as I can tell, they're still serving their hamburger sandwich exactly like they started serving it in 1895.

my photo

It's 2 slices of white bread, a very thick chunk of meat, and you have the option of getting an added slice of tomato and/or a slice of onion.  That's it.  No mayo or mustard or ketchup.  Chips (in bags) and potato salad (in styrofoam cups with plastic forks) are extra. 

You order at a counter and hope you can find someplace to sit down.  There are 2 tiny booths on one side, one largish round table on the other side (I saw 3 separate parties sit together there), a few built-in single booths with tiny tables built in at the side of the bench (like in college lecture halls), a few stools by a shelf about 6" wide, one table in a back room pushed against a wall so only 2 or 3 can sit there, and that's it.  Every wood surface is so thoroughly carved with initials that there isn't a square inch of wood in the place that isn't carved.

I was glad I'd asked for mine to go.  I also asked for an extra patty to take to the dogs, which delighted the staff, aka owners, who gave it to me for free.  It was actually pretty good.  Certainly was a lot of meat and the dogs were very happy.

We were parked in that lot you can see behind the building, where I wasn't supposed to be (cars only) but the elderly lot attendant let me in anyway.  When I went in, the lot was nearly empty, but when I left an hour later it was full.  Glad I went early (11:45).

I didn't even get lost getting out of town, thanks to the street signs.  New Haven looked just like a New England college town in November should look and it was delightful.

Once back in the RV park, I did my best to deal with the lack of shower.  I boiled water on the stove to wash my hair and then did the same to take what used to be called a sponge bath.  Very unsatisfactory, but at least I'm a little cleaner.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what to do about a place to stay for the month.  I've checked every campground I can find on the internet (CT having given me zero tourist/camping information) and there really are only 2 open this month - this one in central CT and the KOA in far eastern CT. 

I called the KOA and they explained they've winterized only a few sites, which are in their expensive section but they're reducing the rates a little for everybody.  It makes the KOA $2.75 more expensive/night than this RV park.  On the other hand, this RV park makes a reduction if I pay a week at a time, which is what I've already done for the first week, which makes them significantly cheaper than the KOA, but without showers and 1½ hours away from Dexter's day care. 

The KOA will make a reduction if I pay $825 for a full month, but they add on an electricity charge per kilowatt.  On the other other hand, they do have showers and they're much closer to Dexter's day care.  I just can't decide what makes the most sense.