◆ PARALLAX

This one is a little off my usual patch, so bear with me. I am out in Yuma and have been for years, about as far from New England as a person can get and still be in the same country. But my daughter and her husband are moving to the eastern side of Connecticut this fall, up toward the Rhode Island line, the part folks seem to call the quiet corner. I am flying out to help with the truck and the heavy end of the boxes.

While I am there I would rather not spend the whole week just carrying furniture. I have read this forum long enough to know there is usually somebody tucked into every corner of the map, so I figured I would ask before I go. Anybody local to that part of Connecticut, or over on the Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts side? Nothing dramatic. Mostly I would like to know what is worth a couple hours if I get a free afternoon -- old sites, a decent dark sky, that sort of thing. The desert spoils you on the stars and I hear the East is a different sort of sky, more haze and more town light.

I will admit the geography confuses me. Everything sits close together and none of the roads run straight, which is the opposite of home. So if you know the area and would not mind a few questions from an old man who is going to be jet-lagged and not much use, I would be grateful.

Dates are loose, sometime in October depending on when the lease starts. I am not online much, but I will check back on this now and again.