The Distracted Wanderer

I love me a good burger so when I recently read that the Sycamore Drive-In Restaurant in Bethel, Connecticut had been ranked as the #1 favorite place in Connecticut by more than 300 readers who had voted in CTPost.com's 2014 "Best of Summer" category for burgers I knew I had to head west and check it out for myself.  Add on the fact that they make their own root beer and it too had been voted a "Best of Connecticut" in 2010, that made the close-to-100-mile drive on a hot and humid July afternoon even less of a hindrance - I-84 traffic be damned! Having friends who live closer to Bethel than I do, we decided to get together for lunch and a bit of visiting but before we did that we had to check to make sure that the restaurant was handicapped-accessible as Ralph does his wandering in a motorized wheelchair. Though there was nothing to indicate it as such on their website, a quick check of Yelp! stated that it was so with plans set for a Wednesday aft

Image Credit Once upon a time when life was simpler and vacations didn't primarily revolve around pixie dust and mouse ears, there were over 150 summer resort hotels in the New England area that could hold upwards of 150 to 200+ guests as they were offered all of the comforts of home and more. Located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Adirondack region of New York, and along the New England coastline, these grand structures were the destinations of thousands of families seeking to escape the summer heat and humidity of Boston, New York City or whatever urban area they lived in that didn't offer fresh air, cool breezes, and summer-type things to do such as boating, swimming, arts & crafts, nightly dances, or simple relaxation. Unfortunately, due to destruction by fire for many or deliberate demolition due to a lack of profit for even more, today there are but a handful of these grand structures from a bygone era left. Happily though, one such destinati