Staycation all I ever wanted ...
“I call it ( Stamford) the center of the universe. I like my little life. The radius of my life has become about a mile. I’m happy where I live.” Marion Percy
Elvia Carvajal and her family were supposed to go to Colombia this summer; Marion Percy had planned on going to Prague with her daughter, and Charles Gies was headed to New Orleans with his wife.
All three Connecticut residents will instead be spending their summers here.
Gies, 73, grew up in Wilton, but moved to Virginia in his early 20s. He hadn’t been back to Connecticut until he moved to Hamden three years ago. This summer he plans on re- exploring his home state and visit some places he remembers from childhood.
“There are a couple places I liked as a kid that I’d love to get back to,” he said. “Gillette Castle — I remember taking a tour as a boy, and I remember Mystic Seaport. It’s been about 60 years since I’ve been to either.”
This wasn’t the original plan for summer 2020, though. He and his wife, Cindy, had planned to take an anniversary trip to New Orleans as well as a trip to Washington D. C. to meet up with his daughter.
Percy, 64, has lived in downtown Stamford since 1981, and while she’s disappointed that her trip to Prague to attend a wedding was canceled, she doesn’t mind staying home.
“I call it the center of the universe,” she said about Stamford. “I like my little life. The radius of my life has become about a mile. I’m happy where I live.”
She plans on spending her summer tending to her balcony garden, taking walks downtown and getting a visit from her granddaughter who lives in Maine.
Carvajal, 31, also of Stamford, plans to travel a bit farther than Percy, but will likely stay in Connecticut.
Typically, she said, the family takes a summer trip to somewhere like the Jersey Shore, and this year they were planning to visit her husband’s family in Colombia. But she doesn’t feel comfortable bringing her kids to a busy airport. The children have not been outside the house aside for their family hikes, she said.
She, her husband and her two kids have been traveling around to different state parks for hiking and picnics. She said they have exhausted the Stamford- area parks, so they plan to explore around the state more this summer.
“We definitely want to explore areas of Connecticut that we haven’t seen,” she said. “We’re also finding a lot of local breweries, and we stop by and get a four- pack to try something new and support local businesses.”
Gies will be exploring new places as well. His goal is to visit all eight Connecticut counties this summer.
Percy is a self- proclaimed “old fuddy- duddy,” and said she doesn’t like to visit the local beaches or parks regardless in the summer because they get too crowded. However, she has been taking walks at Cove Island in Stamford and has been happy with the way people have adhered to social distance protocols.
Her hope for this summer is that her art class will be able to resume.
“It’s the simple pleasures,” she said.