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Once I had started
with these, I had to go see the third easily accessible Connecticut lighthouse. This one was just a few minutes drive from me all along, and I never knew it. The Avery Point Light stands beside the Thames, across from New London, on the Avery Point Campus of UCONN in Groton. (UCONN has a campus in Groton?! Why yes, it does. Weird. I know, right?) It's made of concrete, it's an active lighthouse, and it's one of my favorites because it doesn't look like a lighthouse, exactly. You can't go wrong with the traditional ones, of course, but different is always good. The construction of this one is almost - I despise this word, but -
whimsical.
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You can also spot two bonus lighthouses from here! The new London Harbor Light - the one on the license plates - is visible from various places along the shore in New London too. Actually it's basically just sitting in someone's driveway, so you can walk up and peer in and get a close-up view. But that always makes me feel nosy. And I kind of like this vantage point; yes, it's far away and my zoom lens doesn't quite make it, but from here you get a better sense of New London as a whole. Sometimes when I'm in the city, I lose sight of how pretty parts of it really are, and why it was such an obvious location to settle in the first place.
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You can also see the adorable New London Ledge Light, which looks like a cross between a red brick house and a fancy cake, from here. Perhaps better than you can from Ocean Beach Park or the other New London spots where it's visible. (Note to self: make more money; buy camera with better zoom.)
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When I went to see this lighthouse, the Avery Point Campus was wonderfully peaceful. Small planes flew low overhead and a few students walked or sat by the water. Other than that, it was just grey stone buildings and walking paths and water views. (When I see colleges like this, I always think for a split second that it would be nice to be an undergraduate in that environment. Then I remember what I was like at that age and realize if I hadn't gone to a huge university in the middle of a huger city, I would have hated every minute of my life. Oh well.)
The exact percentage is not constant, but maybe 70% of the time I want to be, or to live, somewhere else. But for the remaining 30%, there is nowhere more beautiful than the Connecticut shoreline, with its harsh ancient rocks and infinite subtle shades of pale blue that melt together on the horizon.
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