1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die Read Online Free PDF Page A

shiny 34-story hotel tower that soars high over the Thames River. Open 24/7, its massive casino is alive with pulsing lights and clattering bells and whistles, and a huge race book where you can wager on horses. Abundant top-of-the-line shops and restaurants are a big draw, as is a 10,000-seat sports and concert arena, and the luxurious Elemis Spa, where guests can opt for a lavender facial or Japanese shiatsu massage. Among several outstanding restaurants, celeb chef Todd English’s Tuscany may be the most popular, with an elegant dining room graced by a soaring waterfall and an innovative menu, including crispy sweetbreads with a spicy maple glaze and delicate lobster-crusted salmon in phyllo dough.
    Foxwoods, owned by the formerly obscure but now fabulously wealthy Mashantucket Pequot tribe, kicked off Connecticut’s casino craze when it opened in 1992 (Mohegan Sun followed four years later). The similarly prestigious, attractive resort is on its way to beingevery bit as spectacular as its competitor, spending over $700 million to add new hotel rooms, restaurants, gaming areas, and other features in a huge expansion slated for completion in 2008. In the meantime, you’ll find an enormous gaming space, a concert hall, and three contemporary hotels, the fanciest being the Grand Pequot Tower. The resort’s Lake of the Isles golf course offers 36 scenic holes of challenging play amid ancient forests and beside lakes and streams.

    With 340,000 square feet of gaming space, Foxwoods is the largest casino in the world.
    Foxwoods also operates the superb Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, set beneath a 185-foot observation tower on a ridge near the casino. High-tech, high-quality interactive exhibits tell the story of some 10,000 years of Native Americans in North America.
    W HERE: 45 miles southeast of Hartford.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-863-6569 or 860-444-2206; www.mysticcountry.com . M OHEGAN S UN: Uncasville. Tel 888-226-7711 or 860-204-7163; www.mohegansun.com .
Cost:
rooms from $149; dinner at Todd English’s Tuscany $50. F OXWOODS: Ledyard. Tel 800-FOX-WOODS or 860-312-3000; www.foxwoods.com .
Cost:
rooms at Grand Pequot Tower from $180. M ASHANTUCKET P EQUOT M USEUM: Ledyard. Tel 800-411-9671 or 860-396-6838; www.pequotmuseum.org . B EST TIMES: late Aug, when Foxwoods hosts the 4-day Schemitzun Powwow; Oct for peak foliage.
    Old Money Meets Urban Revival
C ONNECTICUT’S G OLD C OAST
    Greenwich and Environs, Connecticut
    The coastal section of Fairfield County, with its neatly preened towns inhabited by Fortune 500 CEOs and boldface names (Regis Philbin and Diana Ross have homes here, and the first President Bush was raised here), has long been called the Gold Coast. It’s a land of massive mansions, exclusive yacht and country clubs, and elegant boutiques that overlooks calm Long Island Sound. Some have called Greenwich, on the border of New York State, a leafy extension of Manhattan’s Upper East Side (it is 29 miles but worlds away). Just stroll through downtown, past the Aston Martin dealership and vaunted century-old Betteridge Jewelers shop, and you sense the deep coffers enjoyed by this Old Money enclave.
    West of downtown in the ritzy, largely residential Belle Haven district, you’ll find the lavish Homestead Inn, a princely 1799 mansion that was transformed into a Gothic and Italianate Victorian inn in 1859. The place is filled with museum-quality antiques and art, sumptuous fabrics, and striking colors. Most of the 18 rooms are in the main building (playwright William Inge lived here in 1953 when writing
Picnic
), but there are also some handsome larger suites in neighboring outbuildings. Dining in the Homestead’s rarefied restaurant, Thomas Henkelmann (named for the inn’s chef and owner), is a treat of the highest order. Beneath timber-beam ceilings and gilt chandeliers, diners enjoy French cuisine that seamlessly blends classic with contemporary: Dover sole is raised to new heights when