Mansfield, Connecticut

I don't know why I've been dragging my feet on posting more of my retropsective about our trip to France. In any case, I'm going to drop that for now, because I just got back from a short trip to the east coast.

My youngest daughter Amy has eschewed wonderful offers to be in the Honors Programs at UCI and UC Santa Barbara in order to accept admission to the University of Connecticut in Storrs, which is basically a zip code in the booming metropolis of Mansfield, where these photos were snapped.

I'm surprised the Governator hasn't been on my porch in tears begging for her to stay in her native state of California, but I guess he's had his hands full with the budget mess.

Amy has been saying she wants to go to school in New England for several years, and I repeatedly put my foot down, insisting she go to one of the fine California universities. I pushed pretty hard for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which seemed to have exactly the types of programs she wanted, but Amy said that was just too rural. "Fine," I said, "then you can go to one of the big city UCs." In the end, she did select a UC. It's just that the C stands for Connecticut.

As you can see from these photos of the surrounding area, she ended up selecting a far more rural setting than any of the California state schools. Last week, I went back there with Amy for freshman orientation and registration. I have to admit that I love it there. Then again, I've never been much of a city person.