Planning a New England trip

So I'm in the process of planning a trip to the Hartford, Connecticut area and was hoping to get some thoughts/assistance from local experts (since I've never been there before).

The trip won't be anything too lengthy, only a few days in the area. The current plan calls for a full day devoted to SFNE and a full day devoted to Lake Compounce with another day for site-seeing in the area. Quassy and Wooden Warrior aren't too far down the road, that seems like a small enough park to be a pit stop (time-permitting). What I'm wondering is if there's any others parks worth taking time out to see that aren't too far out of the way? Any recommendations as far as food, culture stops, etc?

Thanks.

If you like diners: Shady Glen Diner is about 35 minutes away in Manchester, CT. This is a classic diner, with all counter seating, waitresses in skirts and white aprons, cooks in white shirts, bow ties and caps. Truly looks like a slice of 1950s Americana.

The dish to have is the hamburger with topped with crispy fried cheese. Delicious.

Quassy and Lake Compounce can be done in a single day if you aren't doing waterparks. It's only about a half hour drive between them, and at Quassy you can pay per ride (although check their website and Facebook before you go because they seem to run a lot of specials). If Compounce is open late enough, be sure to grab a night ride on Boulder Dash!

I've had friends recommend Ted's Restaurant, although I haven't been there. Despite not being in Albany, they feature steamed hamburgers.

When is your trip planned for? You can easily do Lake compounce and quassy on the same day and the parks are only about 20mins apart. Playland in Rye NY is only about 50 mins from quassy. We have 2 of the biggest casino's in the world right here in CT, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun which always has all kinds of entertainment.

I can second ted's restaurant very different having steamed cheeseburgers. If you are looking for sight seeing maybe NYC something for everyone in NYC. Or if you have the time to go east maybe Providence, RI cool town lots of mansions to tour and nightlife as well.

Currently we're looking to go in early June. Good to hear that Quassy and Lake Compounce are close enough to do both in the same day. From the looks of it I would really only want to stop by Quassy to ride Wooden Warrior, so it wouldn't be too much time spent there.

Thank you for the info/recommendations so far!

[URL][IMG]As of now RMC is ahead of schedule on wicked cyclone and the park has a tentative date for media day and the opening of the ride should be memorial weekend barring any setbacks. SFNE is open on a daily schedule after memorial weekend but LC doesn't start their daily ops until school ends in CT which is the 3rd week of june so plan your trip accordingly. You can get a lot of info from my website on attractions around new england and follow construction for all the local parks. I will be at quassy park tomorrow for media day for their new ride "Frantic".
http://sfneonline.org/

Here's a pic i took today
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