A Special Picnic at Gillette Castle State Park

My daughter, Holly, and I went on a picnic recently to one of my favorite spots at this time of year, the pond at Gillette Castle State Park. And, I invited some very special people to join us ~ Kara Sutherland and Scot Haney from Better Connecticut, WFSB.

Of course, they brought a cameraman along, who taped an informal interview about my book, Cruising Connecticut with a Picnic Basket, and artfully zoomed in on the colorful picnic table. Then we dug in. The menu consisted of Chicken Caprese, Wild Rice and Ham Salad, Fresh Fruit Kabobs, Loaded Oatmeal Cookies, and Holly's Fresh Squeezed Lemonade.

All the recipes are from my book of course, although none happened to be in the suggested menu for Gillette Castle. I just sort of grabbed recipes from various day trips, which is what I usually do and have suggested my readers do as well.

What a great visit we had with Kara and Scot, and they loved the picnic. You can see the video that was shown on Better Connecticut on August 1st by going to my website, http://www.cruisingconnecticut.com/ and clicking on About the Author. You will find the link at the top of the page.

Now, most of you already know that this is an amazing State Park, but you may not know about the list of fantastic Upcoming Events:

September 20th ~ Gillette Family Day with various activities, including the Essex Steam Train.
October 4th ~ Wine Tasting, Hors d'Oeurves, music, silent auction and more.
November 11th ~ Lecture on the construction of the Castle and grounds.
December 21st ~ Magic Lantern Theater with their world renown act.

Check the following website for more information: http://www.friendsofgillettecastle.org/.