Staycation – Connecticut River Cruise

Yesterday I went on a free cruise down the Connecticut River on the River Quest. The trip was sponsored by the Stonewall Speakers as an appreciation for all their speakers (Stonewall Speakers are LGBT and allies who go out to speak in schools).

The cruise started at the landing across from the Goodspeed Opera House (The white building on the left, the building on the right is the Gelston House).

On the piling a Cormorant rests watching the river flow by…

A little ways down the river you can see the railroad bridge where opening scene for the Billy Joel’s River of Dreams video was filmed…

Other scenes were filmed at…
Come on Over Scene: The railroad bridge between Middletown & Portland CT
Cliff Jumping: Seldon Island Chester, CT
House on the River: Essex, CT
Train Bridge: Old Saybrook, CT
Ferry: Glastonbury/ Rocky Hill, CT
River Scenes: Connecticut River from Old Saybrook, CT to Middletown, CT

Farther down the river in Chester you can see the Essex steam train pass (Also in the opening of Billy Joel's River of Dreams) by the town boat launch.

Then we passed my dream sailboat…

I always wanted a sailboat, but alas it is not going to happen.

We cruise by Gillette Castle perched up on the hill…

It looks like that they are once again fixing the castle.

 An Osprey and her nest on a navigation marker.

On the way back we passed the Becky Thacher one of the other excursion boats on the river.

One of the many sailboats on the river that we passed.

The river traffic was heavy with powerboat, some of them were cigarette boats that flew by us as we slowly cruised along the river. It was a beautiful day; the temperature was in the low seventies and low humidity with a light breeze. A perfect day on the water.

P.S. And now I’m paying for it, I have a mild case of sunburn.