What's the Motto?

Up until about a month ago, Connecticut was just a large void in my mental map of the world . . . a vast no-mans land,. I pictured it being flat, empty, and devoid of life . . . kind of like a never-ending Nebraska. After some recent exploring, I'm learning that there is more to this little state than the nothing I assumed it to be.

Sunday afternoon the weather was gorgeous. Sick and tired of sitting on my butt reading I decided to load my bike into the box-on-wheels to check out a local bike trail. I headed a few miles up Whitney Avenue to Hamden and jumped on the Farmington Canal Trail. It is a pretty awesome paved trail that, when completed, will stretch all the way from New Haven Sound to the Massachusetts border. The section I did was about 10 miles long from Hamden up to Cheshire (20 miles round trip I guess) and followed the path of an old canal/railroad bed. The trail was paved, families were biking, rollerblading, and walking all along it. The sunlight was filtering through the arched canopy of old trees growing overhead. While the trail was fairly level it passed through hills, valleys, and skirted Sleeping Giant Mountain. There were weathered houses, stone bridges, and an old lock and dam.

It was a pleasant. It was refreshing. It was, in its own way, kinda-sorta-beautiful.

This trip got me thinking that perhaps Connecticut should adopt a new phrase or motto for itself. The official title, "Constitution State," is confusing and/or a lie. The unofficial "Nutmeg State" is flat out lame. In their place I'd like to humbly propose that the state tries on this new phrase for size:

CONNECTICUT: KINDA-SORTA-BEAUTIFUL

Pretty catchy, eh?