My trip begins next to an 11-foot-tall green frog. On a spool of thread. On a bridge. Seriously. In the Connecticut town of Willimantic that's how they commemorate a peculiar bit of colonial history. One night in 1754, a terrible racket woke the local citizenry, and fearing an Indian attack, the men gathered, muskets in hand. Once day broke, they discovered the source of the din - hundreds of dead and dying bullfrogs that had been croaking their last notes because their pond had dried up.

Despite being one of the most heavily industrialized states in the nation and occasionally being derided as nothing more than a "suburb" between Boston and New York, Connecticut has plenty of attractions and sites of historic import, as well as some beautiful and scenic roads to offer the avid traveler, as I would discover on a meandering two-day trip through the Constitution State.

This Shamrock is about quality, not bragging rights about how many miles were covered in a day. It's also not about horsepower or performance since most of the roads are posted for dawdling between 25 and 45 mph. This tour is about relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery of rural Connecticut.