Dates visited: 7/31/2020, 8/26/2020 & 12/19/2020

These two connected plazas serve as main pedestrian walkways for the thousands of people who work in this area of downtown Hartford. One of the times we visited, it was a weekday around 4PM. It would normally be booming with people, but with COVID and everyone working from home, it was practically deserted. These are nice places for a nice city walk, and they are also generally cleared in the winter months. Riverfront plaza crosses the river and connects with Great River Park in East Hartford. It features a sculpture walk.

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Dates visited: 8/26/2020, 9/16/2020, 12/22/2020 & 10/29/2022

I grouped these two places together, because they are connected by a long, mostly paved walking trail that runs from the south end of Hartford to the north end along the Connecticut River. The trail will eventually continue north and connect to Windsor Meadows State Park, which connects to the Captain John Bissell Greenway that crosses the Connecticut River on the Bissell Bridge with I-291. So eventually, the trail will run from the south end of Hartford all the way to South Windsor. This again, was a nice place to walk in the winter because the snow was cleared.

We retuened and hiked part of the dirt trail that runs North along side the western side of the Connecticut River. That part of the trail is a 5 mile loop, but we didn't walk the entire section. Once you get passed the starting area near the boathouse, and the old rail bridge, the rest of the trail is real "blah". We turned around about a mile and half in, so we walked about 3 miles here out and back that day.

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Date visited: 7/31/2020

This is a park with paved walking trails in Downtown Hartford. It was very warm the day we were here, and the dogs weren't too cooperative for pictures. It's an okay walk if you are already in the city.

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Date visited: 11/13/2021

This is a suprisingly nice park located in the southern portion of Hartford. There are a lot of athletic fields and playgrounds. Dillon Stadium is very close to here as well. We walked a mile paved loop trail that circles the park. After completing the loop, we walked up the hill to the statue of Samuel Colt. It had rained hard the day before, and the grass was still very wet, so the dogs are soaked in the pictures in front of the statue. We were here on a very bright and sunny morning, so the shadows hampered the photos in front of the statue as well.

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Date visited: 9/7/2022

I noticed that the Hartford Yard Goats were having a "Bark In The Park" day, where you could bring your dog. That sounded like fun, so we decided to check it out! Turns out the game was against the Somerset Patriots, the NY Yankees AA affiliate, so that was an added bonus. As you may know, Mandy and Lexi are avid Yankees fans, so this worked out great. After I purchased the tickets, the Yankees announced that All Star pitcher Luis Severino would start the game on his injury rehab assignment. So we get to see one of the Yankees best pitchers pitch right here in Hartford. The day before it absolutely poured buckets and that day's game was rained out. So our game became a double header!

The dog section was in the "picnic area" behind left field. We weren't allowed in any other parts of the ballpark. Our seats were in the front row behind the left centerfield wall. Luis Severino started the first game. I took a lot of pictures of the dogs with Severino warming up in the background! We even walked over behind the bullpen and took photos while he was warming up directly in front of us. We also took pictures with the Yard Goats mascot, Chompers! Mandy and Lexi weren't spooked by him, but some of the other dogs were absolutely terrified of him! Not many people knew of the earlier start time and that the game was now a double header, so there wasn't a lot of people at the first game. The Patriots won the first game, and after giving up a 1st inning homerun, Severino pitched well. The 2nd game started a half hour after the first one. There were a lot of dogs in the section by this point. They had large water trays out for the dogs, but no dedicated "bathroom" area for them. The solution was just to have someone walk around the grand stand with a mop! The 2nd game was even more interesting, because two Somerset pitchers (Yoendrys Gomez & Steven Jennings) combined to throw a no-hitter*! (* It was only a 7 inning no-hitter, because they only play 7 inning games for double headers in the minors). We weren't planning on staying for the entire 2nd game, but decided to stay because of the no-hitter in progress. We were with my Dad, and it was passed his bedtime! But we couldn't pass up an opportunity to see a no-hitter in person! It was a long, but fun evening at the ballpark.

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Date visited: 11/20/2022

It's surprising that this park is less than 20 minutes from us, but it took us over 2 1/2 years since we started these adventures to visit. The All-Trails app doesn't have any curated trails here, so that's probably why we missed it. The park is large, with 693 acres, including a golf course. We entered through the Windsor Street entrance, and drove past the golf course and parked near one of the walking trails. There are three distinct sections of the park, with street crossings in between them. We walked a four mile "figure 8" loop that incorporated all three sections. The nicest section was the Nature Trail area near the pond. Of course, the sun went behind some clouds when we got to that section, so the pictures aren't as nice. I thought the park was okay, but some sections were littered with broken glass and garbage. Mostly the section near the athletic fields. The walking trail was paved most of the way, but covered with leaves in the section near the golf course. The walking trail through the athletic fields section is a gated off road, which is probably open to traffic during the summer months. This park has some potentital, and probably looks much nicer in the spring and fall on sunny days. It just neeeds a little more maintenance, and people need to stop leaving their garbage all over the place.

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