Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
and as far as choice of restaurants, if you like restaurants, Connecticut is heaven.
CT is one of the most diverse states in the country. Ukrainian, Russian, Syrian, Albanian, Portugese, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Japanese, Indian, Dominican, Brazilian, Peruvian, African, Jamacian, Lebanese, Israeli, Pakistani, the list goes on.
Shelton is a suburban area. The nicest part of it is the Huntington section, near Trumbull. People do go in the water here. There's the Long Island Sound which has salt water, and there are a number of fresh water lakes too with swimming areas.
The best way to get into New York City is by train. From there, you can walk, cab it, or take the subway. To drive to Long Island, you must go through the Bronx and take the Throgs Neck or Whitestone Bridge. Or you could take the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry.
I've been told I'll fit in well politically there. I'm big on getting involved.
From all these discussions and a lot of google mapping and wikimapia, I'm getting a better feel for the area. Doesn't suck from I can see. I'm looking forward to taking a trip out there to explore my options!
I figured train was the easiest way of getting to the city. I'm used to using public transportation, it's pretty much a snap once you get the hang of it.
thanks for answering my questions!
Last edited by oopsydaisy; 08-16-2010 at 08:52 AM..
You can drive to LI or you can take the ferry during the season. Depending on where you live, and which part of the island you want to go to, it can take between 1/2 hour to 2 hours and up. The island is a peninsula that extends pretty much the entire length of Connecticut, but it's a narrow strip.
On a very clear day, if you're at Lighthouse Point, you can actually see Long Island across the water. Barely.
Yes, people -do- go in the water on the beaches of Connecticut. However, our water can be colder in the early parts of the summer, and sometimes we get schools of jellyfish come through. There is also occasionally a thin oily film in splotches on top of the water - it's not raw sewage, it's not disgusting, it's actually pretty tolerable. But it can be a little perplexing to people who aren't used to it.
Distance to NYC is..well - if you're in Greenwich, it's around 15 minutes, heh. If you're in New Haven it can take around an hour, depending on traffic and which highway you take. Bridgeport would be around 35-45 minutes. That'd be to the last exit before the George Washington Bridge. I wouldn't know any other exit since that's the only one I ever take to get into the city. You end up uptown on the west side and drive toward downtown til you get to the section you want to be in, then get off and find parking. I always park at West End Ave and 59th St, they have a lot there that's reasonably priced and the family that runs the office (which is a trailer) let you use their bathroom before you head off to explore for the day.
When I was looking at travel options, I noticed that getting from point A to point B on Long Island could take a few minutes to hours depending on where you want to go.
Where does the ferry start and end? And what are the seasons that it operates (or a link to the info would be cool too)?
Mostly I'd go to NYC for shopping, spending the day in Manhattan, or seeing a basketball game. Baseball, hockey and football, not so much; but I wouldn't turn down free tickets.
Thanks for the tip on where to park, knowing a place a head of time is pretty cool.
You can drive to LI or you can take the ferry during the season. Depending on where you live, and which part of the island you want to go to, it can take between 1/2 hour to 2 hours and up. The island is a peninsula that extends pretty much the entire length of Connecticut, but it's a narrow strip.
On a very clear day, if you're at Lighthouse Point, you can actually see Long Island across the water. Barely.
Yes, people -do- go in the water on the beaches of Connecticut. However, our water can be colder in the early parts of the summer, and sometimes we get schools of jellyfish come through. There is also occasionally a thin oily film in splotches on top of the water - it's not raw sewage, it's not disgusting, it's actually pretty tolerable. But it can be a little perplexing to people who aren't used to it.
Distance to NYC is..well - if you're in Greenwich, it's around 15 minutes, heh. If you're in New Haven it can take around an hour, depending on traffic and which highway you take. Bridgeport would be around 35-45 minutes. That'd be to the last exit before the George Washington Bridge. I wouldn't know any other exit since that's the only one I ever take to get into the city. You end up uptown on the west side and drive toward downtown til you get to the section you want to be in, then get off and find parking. I always park at West End Ave and 59th St, they have a lot there that's reasonably priced and the family that runs the office (which is a trailer) let you use their bathroom before you head off to explore for the day.
I also wanted to comment on the jellyfish thing. I had no idea that jellyfish traveled so far up the coast! Not that I know much about them (obviously) but I never equated them with cold water for some reason.
As far as the splotchy water, I'll give it a try. I grew up swimming in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Doesn't get much colder than that!
Shelton is a mixed bag, with blue collar, white collar, and everything mixed in between. Some areas are rural, some are more urban. For better schools, consider Trumbull or Fairfield, I consider both to be very surburban. I think Monroe might be too rural for you, as most homes are on one + acre lots.
Thankfully schools are no longer an issue for us. However with that said, I am aware that better schools usually mean a better area. I'll have to take a peek around and see what's out there.
Oh another nice point about Connecticut is that tiny sliver in the eastern corner that isn't obstructed by L.I. - you can take a Whale Watching tour from Mystic. I don't think that's something you can do in Pennsylvania!
Mystic is around 1.5 hours from New Haven, give or take (depending, as always, on traffic). I can get there in under an hour but people fear me on the highway and tend to stay out of my way
Whale watching sounds like fun! BTW, when you say Mystic, is that the same Mystic as in "Mystic Pizza" an old Julia Roberts movie?
I've been to Shelton a few times, and wouldn't consider living there simply because there aren't many stores or restaurants there. If you want a bigger town with more amenities, but not a 'city', take a look at Westport, Fairfield or Norwalk (if you don't care about schools). These towns are all on the coast and they're bigger, have more amenities and are closer to NYC.
Thank you for the heads up, I'll take a look at those. One nice thing I'm finding out is that because the location of the business in Shelton is near a main thoroughfare, it should be easy to get to an area that we find convenient to live.
I think your trying to compare Connecticut to other places you have lived. To be honest, Connecticut is not comparable to a suburb of Pittsburgh or Scottsdale.
You job offer is in Shelton, and you want suburbia. Suburbia in the Pittsburgh and Scottsdale area is different than suburbia in Connecticut.
Shelton is considered a city in the state of Connecticut. A small city, but a city nonetheless. But it is also considered suburbia. In Shelton there is a large downtown, very urban like with urban elements. Crime (petty crime, very small amount at that), grafitti, highway overpasses and underpasses, lots of traffic, street parking. Not 2 miles away, farm land. Yes, still in Shelton. A mile from that? Million dollar neighborhoods and cul-de-sacs with numerous families. Mile from that? Wal-Mart, car dealers, etc. etc.
I personally don't like Shelton all that much. It's definitley on the come up now and has ALOT to offer. But you are in the suburbs if you live in Shelton.
In Connecticut, we don't mind traveling a few miles or extra minutes to shop as long as these chain stores aren't on top of us with there neon signs shining into our windows while we sleep.
Trumbull is SUBURBIA, the definition of it in my mind. I think Monroe is suburbia too though. It is considered a rural town but only because of its past. Monroe has 20,000 citizens, thats not rural. But in CT it is because of its agricultural PAST. For $800,000 in Shelton, Monroe or Trumbull you'll get a beautiful house in a surburban neighborhood. You may not be 3 minutes from Target, but you're close enough.
I think you believe the suburbs in Connecticut have nothing and you have to drive miles to do any sort of shopping. Shopping is plentiful in Fairfield County. Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, Trumbull, Shelton, Danbury, Brookfield. All within 30 minutes of each other without traffic of course and ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you can ask for. It's a matter of preferece as to what exactly you want.
Zoning in Connecticut is different than the rest of the country. We don't build big box stores in neighborhood. There are a few main roads where it is all concentrated. The Post Road, Route 25, Federal Road, Connecticut Avenue, Bridgeport Avenue. Go 5 minutes from any of those places in any direction however, you'd never knew any of that existed.
Thanks for your replay! I do understand that Connecticut is nothing like Scottsdale, AZ. I'm thinking it's closer to Pittsburgh than anything else. At least as far as the way the retail is set up.
Is it very mountainous? The areas around Shelton, Bridgeport and New Haven I mean? Pittsburgh is extremely hilly which makes driving treacherous and finding things nearly impossible since everything is built behind a beam and you can't see where anything is located. Richmond, VA was set up the very same way.
The situation I am in now, is that I live in what is considered a suburban area, (like CT the homes are not situation near retail) however, everything is found on one street. If it's not on Route 19, it doesn't exist.
Unless you are downtown.
Problem with that is, there is only one Target which is 15 miles from my home and because the roads are so windy, and the speed limit is only 25-35, it takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get there! In places like Buffalo, it take about 5 minutes to go 15 miles. Plus, in Pittsburgh, there basically is only one of anything. I take that back there may be "2." One on the north side of town and one in the south. It can easily take well over an hour to get from one side of town to the other. Getting around here is my biggest b*tch. (Gee, can you tell?)
Yes, Mystic Pizza was based on a fictional pizza joint in the very real coastal town of Mystic, CT. At the tip of the southeastern corner of Connecticut, Mystic is an historic town, with origins in boatbuilding and lobstermen. Technically, Mystic isn't a town; it's more like a village sandwiched between Groton and Stonington. It doesn't have its own government, and there's only around 5000 full-time residents and very limited summer residences.
If you think of it in terms of when it was formed, it's more like a really really big marina where boats came to unload lobsters, and where boatmakers made their boats, but everyone lived somewhere else.
Jellyfish: Yes, Jellyfish do come up north in the hottest of the summer (mid-august). Not always - it really depends on the currents. But the Long Island Sound can get pretty warm and some of those little suckers migrate for a few days before the warm currents send them back south again. You won't see the big man-o-wars or the deadly box jellyfish, but you'll see little fist sized globs that can cause a pretty nasty rash on your leg if you're unfortunate enough to swim too close to one.
MetsNY does a good job of explaining how Connecticut suburbs are unlike suburbs from bigger states - or even from similarly sized states. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the union and its suburbs aren't really like ours either.
If Connecticut broke off from the mainland, drifted south, busted its way over to West Virginia, and grew a tentacle so it'd still have beach access, I'd love Connecticut. But the humidity and the Nor'easters I just can't handle. Born and raised here, and I'll never willingly give up the change of seasons. But you can take your 80% humidity and your 12-degree days and your black ice and keep'em far away from me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
