OT: Connecticut College

[BigTenFan]

It's a gorgeous campus - puts most others to shame, IMHO.

I really see it as a 2x UConn, with a STEM bent, and more picturesque.

Thanks- I haven't seen the campus. My older son at Purdue so it's between those two for Engineering

 

[8893]

Honestly, we did the same. Not because anyone would be upset, but because we were finally not chained by the K-12 school year. Suddenly we could take a week in late September or October. Another couple we are friends with who's youngest is one year ahead of our daughter had been waiting for our liberation so we could go on trips together.

Oh you don't have to sell me. My wife and I have two vacations planned in late September/October and our youngest daughter is still in high school. It's funny because the daughter is like "Wait, what? Why are you guys going on vacations without me all of a sudden?"

 

[Fishy]

Honestly, we did the same. Not because anyone would be upset, but because we were finally not chained by the K-12 school year. Suddenly we could take a week in late September or October. Another couple we are friends with who's youngest is one year ahead of our daughter had been waiting for our liberation so we could go on trips together.

My wife is a speech path in a school…we’re still chained.

 

[beerfan]

Right near Capt. Scott’s….my wife and I are ditching the parents’ reception and getting a lobster roll.

CC does a good job feeding you at these receptions if you want to save yourself $100

 

[HooperScooper]

CC does a good job feeding you at these receptions if you want to save yourself $100

He's paying $70,000 a year for tuition, room and board. What's another $100?

 

[8893]

He's paying $70,000 a year for tuition, room and board. What's another $100?

I don't even know him, but I know he would gladly pay $100 to avoid speaking with other people.

Oh, and the daughter earned an almost 50% merit scholarship from what I recall, so make that around $40,000 a year.

 

[Umami Zen]

House gets a little more quiet once the last one leaves

 

[CL82]

House gets a little more quiet once the last one leaves

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

 

[HooperScooper]

House gets a little more quiet once the last one leaves

Yup. It's good and bad. But I have to say I do miss having them home. It was 3 against 1 for the rights to sports on the TV in the family room. Now it's 1 v 1! Lol

 

[uconnfan68]

The three of us went to dinner the other night and my wife says that she wants to book a vacation for the week after we drop the kid off at college because “dad will be upset and I want to take his mind off of it.”

My daughter points to me and asks, “Do you even know him?”

Sounds like your daughter is more than ready to be on her own.

 

[Umami Zen]

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

Depends

 

[Fishy]

I don't even know him, but I know he would gladly pay $100 to avoid speaking with other people.

Oh, and the daughter earned an almost 50% merit scholarship from what I recall, so make that around $40,000 a year.

I will be well-past the point of wanting to make small talk at that point…actually thinking of going to Lobster Landing instead. It’s a few steps closer to home.

House gets a little more quiet once the last one leaves

The first one is also the last one. It will take some getting used to.

 

[superjohn]

I will be well-past the point of wanting to make small talk at that point…actually thinking of going to Lobster Landing instead. It’s a few steps closer to home.



The first one is also the last one. It will take some getting used to.

No way on the lobster roll. You'll find some red sauce joint that does a spaghetti and meatball right and a veal /chicken parm right and you'll go there for the next 4 years.

 

[Umami Zen]

I will be well-past the point of wanting to make small talk at that point…actually thinking of going to Lobster Landing instead. It’s a few steps closer to home.



The first one is also the last one. It will take some getting used to.

Same for us.. Difference in our respective situations was/is proximity of the college to the homestead.. Our son went off to Colorado from Ct..(app. 2,000 miles away).. Our visits were obviously limited during his college career. Met a Colorado native at school --got married-- and stayed to raise their family.

One of the toughest challenges that a parent has is when their kids leave the "nest".. She will be fine and you and Mrs Fishy will be fine.. Part of the Circle of Life..

 

[husky8273]

Same for us.. Difference in our respective situations was/is proximity of the college to the homestead.. Our son went off to Colorado from Ct..(app. 2,000 miles away).. Our visits were obviously limited during his college career. Met a Colorado native at school --got married-- and stayed to raise their family.

One of the toughest challenges that a parent has is when their kids leave the "nest".. She will be fine and you and Mrs Fishy will be fine.. Part of the Circle of Life..

having your children settle thousands of miles away after college poses another challenge when visits only occur a few times a year or less

 

[Northbound]

having your children settle thousands of miles away after college poses another challenge when visits only occur a few times a year or less

When i went to school i came back once a year - Christmas break was it. They saw two games a year, but when i left i left.

I’m like 300 miles from them now and don’t see them that much. Their social calendar is full and they travel a ton (pre pandemic 3 or 4 months out of country) so maybe 4 times a year. That’s just the way it is.

Last three times my wife and i were going to visit they had friends in town or parties to attend. Its possible they hate us, but not probable.

All i can say is damn good for them - they worked their asses off they should enjoy those fruits.

 

[8893]

I will be well-past the point of wanting to make small talk at that point…actually thinking of going to Lobster Landing instead. It’s a few steps closer to home.

Only been there twice so far this summer; from what we’ve seen the new owners have maintained the same quality.

If you want to mix it up this time or next, check out Liv’s Dockside in the Clinton marina. Also a very good lobster roll but also other good choices and sides (including A+ onion rings; I love them and I hate onions). It’s a couple hundred yards from LL and also BYOB.

Whatever you do, do not go to Shanks, which basically sits in between the two of them. It used to be decent, but my wife and daughter went there with friends the other night and reported that the food was inedible. Lobster was tough and chewy; apparently it defies your theory about the ease with which any toddler can make a good lobster roll.

 

[Chief00]

Wait until they move out for good. Then it hits.

 

[husky8273]

Wait until they move out for good. Then it hits.

haven't emptied their rooms and closets yet.

 

[Fishy]

Only been there twice so far this summer; from what we’ve seen the new owners have maintained the same quality.

If you want to mix it up this time or next, check out Liv’s Dockside in the Clinton marina. Also a very good lobster roll but also other good choices and sides (including A+ onion rings; I love them and I hate onions). It’s a couple hundred yards from LL and also BYOB.

Whatever you do, do not go to Shanks, which basically sits in between the two of them. It used to be decent, but my wife and daughter went there with friends the other night and reported that the food was inedible. Lobster was tough and chewy; apparently it defies your theory about the ease with which any toddler can make a good lobster roll.

We kept a boat at Cedar Island Marina for years and years..and somehow never went to Liv’s. We used to go to Chips a lot - I have heard that’s slipped a bit in the past few years.

A few years back, we were not using it that much and the dockage was expensive so we sold it….and now the kid is in New London and we could have basically had a floating apartment down the road.

 

[8893]

We kept a boat at Cedar Island Marina for years and years..and somehow never went to Liv’s. We used to go to Chips a lot - I have heard that’s slipped a bit in the past few years.

A few years back, we were not using it that much and the dockage was expensive so we sold it….and now the kid is in New London and we could have basically had a floating apartment down the road.

Yeah that would have been nice. I know you don’t live far, but if you do need an overnight in the area I am guessing that there would be a decent selection of AirBnBs available during the academic year. Otherwise, your wife would probably have you at the Madison Beach Hotel, which is nice but not cheap. I‘d bet you could find some real nice stays elsewhere for that same money.

We used to go to the Chip’s in Guilford more than the one in Clinton, but we haven’t been to either in a few years. Covid has wreaked havoc on most restaurants in the area—they just can’t find the staffing.

As for Liv’s, it is a bit confusing: there is the original Liv’s Oyster Bar, a brick and mortar place on Main Street in Old Saybrook, and there is the original Liv’s Shack, a seasonal place in Old Saybrook near Saybrook Point. The third one was initially another Liv’s Shack that was in the Pilot’s Point Marina in Westbrook where Boom used to be, and that was our favorite setting (and BYOB). Last summer they moved to Clinton Town Marina and changed the name to Liv’s Dockside, which I am guessing they did to avoid confusion (one of our daughters actually torpedoed a family meal at the Pilot’s Point one, when she drove to meet us but went to the Old Saybrook one instead).

tl;dr: If you are going to the one in Clinton, make sure you put “Dockside” in your search for the address or you will likely end up at the wrong place.

 

[8893]

Good luck today, @Fishy .

I don't care how stoic you are, today is always a moving day in more ways than one.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Good luck today, @Fishy .

I don't care how stoic you are, today is always a moving day in more ways than one.

We had no excessive emotion about it last year. My guess is that having my daughter home, in the house almost all year round due to Covid made us all happy to get some additional space. She did come home quite often, and now can do that even more easily on the commuter rail. If she was going far away (like overseas next summer) I think we'd feel differently.

 

[8893]

We had no excessive emotion about it last year. My guess is that having my daughter home, in the house almost all year round due to Covid made us all happy to get some additional space. She did come home quite often, and now can do that even more easily on the commuter rail. If she was going far away (like overseas next summer) I think we'd feel differently.

It was pretty emotional for us with our oldest. She was the first one, she was going five-plus hours away (i.e., not coming home often), and our youngest was also very emotional about it. I still remember her (the youngest) slipping a handwritten note to the oldest right before we walked away. It was very sweet, and now an indelible memory.

One of those life moments where it is the unmistakable end of one chapter and the beginning of another. All good, but can also be pretty moving if you allow yourself to soak it in. Everyone deals with it differently, though. My wife and middle daughter didn't really want to digest it that day, but dealt with it at different times before and after that.

 

[Fishy]

Good luck today, @Fishy .

I don't care how stoic you are, today is always a moving day in more ways than one.

Thank you.

Honestly, the day was so hectic and hot - they have the freshmen really heavily scheduled through Sunday - that there really is not a lot of time for too much emotion.

We actually skipped the parents’ reception and the lobster rolls. We had to rent an SUV to move the stuff out there and by the end of the day, we just wanted to return it and get home. (We also envisioned Connecticut traffic that actually did not appear.)

I am guessing that on Saturday morning when it stays quiet around the time she generally wakes up will be our moment.