Classy in Connecticut

The last time we were in Connecticut was this past May when I was visiting my two friends who live in suburban Greenwich. They were showing me their awesome magnet tiles at their beautiful house while our parents had lunch and drank sangria. As you can see in the photo, I decided to show them how strong a 2 year old toddler could be by pulling them in their own wagon.

This past weekend my parents and I went back to CT, but this time to visit Yale University (never too early to start according to my Asian father) and Mohegan Sun Casino/Resort (probably the exact opposite of the Ivy League).

We were driving up with my aunt and grandmother in my father's car. While it was a 4 door sedan, it was definitely tight with 4.5 people, especially since I was in my bulky car seat. But we managed to split up the drive by taking frequent breaks.

Frank Pepe Pizzaria Napoletana
After leaving the city just before Friday 11AM, our first break was for lunch. Having heard so much about CT's famous white pizza, we decided to stop by Frank Pepe in Fairfield.

We had actually wanted to try out the original location in New Haven, but my father's impatient stomach couldn't endure another 45 minutes without feeding. So we went to this closer outpost and had some amazing coal-oven pizza. Fortunately, there was no line at this location, and we were seated right away. The place was still filling up at 12:15PM on a Friday as there were multiple booths open.

Because we wanted a good sampling, my family ordered both the White Clam pizza as well as the Original. My grandmother was torn, but ultimately chose the original. My father's favorite was the garlicky White Clam pizza, even though he loves his red sauce.

After sprinkling some grated Parmesan cheese on top to soak up the grease, and oh boy...my father dove right in and went to town. I mean, seriously, watch your fingers! Overall, I'm sure the "orginal location" is always going to be considered better, but the Fairfield shop was just fine for us. I mean, that super crispy pizza bread, reasonable prices and immediate kid-friendly seating. What's not to love?

Yale University
Despite not having applied to Yale when he was in high school, my father still had a lot of respect for the Ivy League university. One of the Elite 3 Ivy's (Harvard and Princeton being the others), it had a historic reputation, a beautiful campus, a mediocre campus bookstore and some pretty decent ice cream.

Mohegan Sun Casino
The casino is one of the largest in the United States. Of course, my family doesn't really gamble at all, so we were there just to look around and enjoy the splendor of American indulgence.

Having ate a monster pizza lunch, we weren't interested in overpriced casino food, though they did have plenty of dining options. And instead of checking out the table games and slots, we just walked around the "shopping mall" area and spent time in their Kids Quest video arcade area where degenerate parents can drop off their precious children (for $10/hour per kid) as they gamble away their college funds.