Connecticut

Travel

Out and About: Connecticut's Dog Gone Smart Bed

Take your pooch to Dog Gone Smart for one of their super-fun classes including agility, water sports, new baby training, therapy workshop, and even acting!

Take your pooch to Dog Gone Smart for one of their super-fun classes including agility, water sports, new baby training, therapy workshop, and even acting! This Norwalk-based company also offers the old standards like daycare, boarding, and puppy playtime in their rec area chock full of climbing equipment.

Best yet, these are the same people behind Wilton's Dog Gone Smart Bed Co. While it may look like a standard bed, its materials are far from the norm (think nanotechnology!). It's stitched up using powerful performance fabrics like NanoSphere, which is extremely resistant to liquids, dirt, and oils and ActiveSilver, a permanent antimicrobial that kills bacteria and eliminates odors. Even though this bed stays soooo clean, if you do decide to toss it in the wash, the fabric remains 100 percent functional even after 60 washing cycles (and dries six times faster than traditional fabrics). Even though it's called the Dog Gone Smart Bed, it can be doggone smart for cats, too! The beds are offered in five colors, two shapes, and three sizes – pricing starts at $119.

Travel

Out and About: Connecticut's Paws on the Green

These pooches are so psyched to be at Paws on the Green that they can't keep their paws off the counter!

These pooches are so psyched to be at Paws on the Green that they can't keep their paws off the counter! This cute shop in Guilford stocks hemp collars, holistic food, and even hosts special events like this Saturday's Greyhound Adoption Day.

If you have extra time in town, pick up some of their great hiking gear and head a couple miles to Westwoods Trails. There are almost 40 miles of trails here – walk the 6.5-mile loop to let pooch splash and sniff stone formations and waterfalls!

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Travel

Out and About: Connecticut's Peabody Museum

There's quite a bit packed into this smallish (for a museum) space!

There's quite a bit packed into this smallish (for a museum) space! First and foremost at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History . . . the dinos. Inside the Great Hall are skeletons of dinosaurs like the Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus, alongside Rudolph Zallinger's famous mural, The Age of Reptiles. This Pulitzer prize–winning creation took nearly five years to complete and is 110 ft. long! Also on display is his equally captivating Age of Mammals mural – I could stand back and gaze at both for hours at a time. The Age of Reptiles and the Age of Mammals celebrate their sixtieth and fortieth anniversaries this year respectively so stop by and take a peek. This is Connecticut's best museum in my opinion and a great place to not get overwhelmed . . . but not be underwhelmed either!

Click here to share your own tips with PetSugar's Out and About travel group – and stay tuned as our week of Connecticut continues!

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Travel

Out and About: Connecticut's H.O.R.S.E.

Standing for the Humane Organization Representing Suffering Equines, H.O.R.S.E.

Standing for the Humane Organization Representing Suffering Equines, H.O.R.S.E. of Connecticut is a nonprofit dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of abused and neglected horses. In addition to direct intervention, H.O.R.S.E. also maintains an ongoing commitment to educate the public about horse care with regular, on-site seminars and guest lectures throughout the area. The public is welcome to visit and volunteer (preferably with one to two days notice), or bring carrots and apples to their annual Christmas Open House on Dec. 8!

Click here to share your own tips with PetSugar's Out and About travel group – and stay tuned as our week of Connecticut continues!

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Movies

Separated at Birth: Revolutionary Road vs. Reservation Road

There has been much buzz surrounding the project that is bringing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet back together for the first time since Titanic, a family drama based on a 1961 novel titled Revolutionary Road.


There has been much buzz surrounding the project that is bringing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet back together for the first time since Titanic, a family drama based on a 1961 novel titled Revolutionary Road. Yet there's another movie that comes out this fall with a similar title which is also set in suburban Connecticut! Titled Reservation Road and also based on a novel, the thriller can easily be confused with Revolutionary Road, so I've devised a handy-dandy chart to help keep them straight:


Title Original Author and Publication Date Setting Premise Road Significance Stars Release Date
Revolutionary Road Richard Yates, December 1961 Mid-1950s suburban Connecticut Young parents April and Frank Wheeler struggle with the confines of suburban life and the repressive social atmosphere. Revolutionary Road is where the Wheelers live. Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon Fall/Winter 2008
Reservation Road John Burnham Schwartz, October 1999 Modern-day suburban Connecticut The story revolves around one grieving father’s hunt for his son’s killer while another father begins to drown in his own guilt. Reservation Road is the site of the boy’s death. Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connolly, Mira Sorvino, Elle Fanning October 19, 2007

I've read both books and they're each worthy of a read before the film versions hit theaters. Between the two, however, I'd more recommend Revolutionary Road for its rich writing, depth and startling peek into the private life of a 20-something couple during a fascinating bygone era (the 1950s). Reservation Road is also a terrific read as a gripping, poignant page-turner. Both are roads you should wander down.

Movies

Connecticut: The Latest Filmmaking Hot Spot

I never knew Connecticut was so hip, but recently there has been a surge in movie news involving the Nutmeg State.

I never knew Connecticut was so hip, but recently there has been a surge in movie news involving the Nutmeg State. What is it about the place that is attracting so many Hollywood types? Its idyllic fall foliage? The quaint colonial towns? The stately architecture of Yale? The many Dunkin' Donuts?

Most exciting — for those living in the greater New Haven area, that is — is today's post on SpielbergFilms about the open casting call for extras to star in the upcoming Indiana Jones 4 movie. The website post says:

The production is holding an open casting call for extras to appear in a sequence where Indy tears through campus on a motorcycle (along Chapel Street in New Haven). The call, organized by Billy Dowd Casting, will be held on Monday, June 11 and Tuesday, June 12 at the Omni Hotel at Yale between 1 p.m.-9 p.m. both days.

So hop to it, citizens of Connecticut! You could be in an Indiana Jones movie!

What else is going on in quaint little CT? Check it out: