1. Lamothe’S Sugar House
City: Burlington, CT
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (860) 675-5043
Address: 89 Stone Rd.
Description: The Lamothe farm is not old by Connecticut standards, starting in 1971. However, they quickly expanded to have 4,400 tapped maple trees, 15 miles of tubing, and a state-of-the-art sugar house, which you can tour seasonally from mid-Feb through Mar, weekends from 1 to 5 p.m. Their country gift store, open year-round, is the premier place in Connecticut to get maple syrup and other maple products (and other Connecticut-made items, even farm-raised pigs, can be ordered). My favorites are the maple sugar–coated nuts, but others swear by the maple saltwater taffy. There are other products here, like Lamothe’s farm preserves, but you should probably go straight for the maple syrup. “Grade A Dark Amber or nothing” is what hard-core maple lovers say. If you take your coffee with sugar, try it with a little of Lamothe’s maple syrup instead. You’ll never go back.
2. Tunxis Trail
City: Burlington, CT
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (860) 485-0226
Description: The Tunxis Trail (or trails) comes in three sections. The southernmost portion is behind Lake Compounce Amusement Park in Bristol and provides some challenging slopes up to a plateau, where you can find one of the roads George Washington rode on through Connecticut, virtually untouched. The middle section in Burlington has a network of trails throughout pine forests, swamps, and limestone ridges. Start at the Barnes Nature Center at 175 Shrub Rd. in Bristol, and plan a full day of exploration here. This section connects to the northern one by old logging trails that swing close to (though high above) the Farmington River near Satan’s Kingdom. The northern section in Hartland is the most remote in the state, a former hunting ground of the Tunxis Indians, and feels like a forest far north in Canada. There are in fact moose here, so be alert during their rutting season in late fall. I was charged by a large male while simply taking photos, and it was not a pleasant experience.