A busy week is almost over!

July 5, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

Well, I've fallen behind again! Things have been pretty busy this week, so I haven't had a chance to update the blog as much as I'd like. So, this'll be a catch-up entry.

Last Sunday, Geri and I went with Pat and Al to visit with Melisa and Paul (Melisa's significant other) and Jesse. Paul's family has a cottage on a lake right at the Massachusetts -- Connecticut border. It's been in the family for years, and Paul really enjoys going there to fish and hang out by the lake. We played a few games of cribbage, and spent some time trolling around the lake on their pontoon boat. Al and Paul spent the majority of the afternoon fishing. Paul came up empty, but Al hooked a small mouth bass and a perch. Both fish went back in to live for another day, but Al was happy that he had an entry in the annual "Paul Say Fishing Tournament".

Here are a couple of pictures. Sorry for the quality, but the cell phone was all I had on me…





Hard at work coaxing the fish nearer

The winner, with Jesse working the net!

Later in the day, Melisa whipped up a nice dinner for us and we had a good meal in spite of the box wine. The fresh air must've done us good, because by dark we were all pretty tired so we drove home and made it an early night.

On Monday, we started on Al's annual home improvement project. Each year if we visit in the summer, Pat makes sure that we have a project to work on to keep us out of trouble. Last year, it was a new gate for the deck. This year, it was replacing the tile in the bathroom. They had already purchased the stick on vinyl tile, and there was some discussion about laying it over the existing vinyl. Unfortunately, the old floor was in pretty bad shape. Al removed the old tile and we put down a new sub-floor on Monday, then spent Tuesday on the new tile, and finished it off with new baseboard molding. Almost everything was cut to fit, and there was no opportunity to use the square wall as a guide. This is what you'd expect from a house built in the 1960s. We trimmed the cabinet and entry door to account for the thicker floor, and laid a nice bead of silicone sealant around the tub and commode.

The molding a little tricky, since the old baseboard was actually ceramic tile, glued to the wall. We cleaned it up pretty well and glued the new, pre-finished molding in place. We put cross braces in place overnight and everything seems to be holding, but I will admit to being a little worried about the longevity of the glue job.

On Monday, Geri and Pat went to the new Stew Leonard's store in Newington. They picked up some nice steaks, and we grilled them in the evening. Melisa, Paul, and Jesse came over, so we had a chance to see them twice in one week. We had a nice Spanish wine with dinner, Tres Picos Garnacha, that we used to get from Canal’s in New Jersey.

Tuesday evening’s dinner was a little bit stressful, since Al and I were working well into the evening to finish up the bathroom. Pat and Geri stepped in though, and dished up a wonderful pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was pretty late by the time we ate, so I actually don't recall what wine we had. It was good though!

Wednesday was Independence Day, but we really didn't have anything major planned. Melisa came over for help with her college math homework. She thought her class started on July 9, but it actually started on the first, so she was already two days behind. We spent most of the afternoon going over ordered pairs, functions, domains, ranges, and word problems. The course requires her to use some newfangled Texas Instruments calculator, which didn't have instructions for entering formulas, but we figured it out somehow. Pat put out burgers and dogs for dinner, and we ate buffet style. We finished up the evening with a couple of games of cutthroat cribbage (I won two out of three for change), and called an early night.

In my last post, I forgot to mention that I had put all of the old blinds from the coach on eBay last Saturday morning. I set it up as a five-day auction, so it would be completed before we leave here (Saturday) and I can toss anything that doesn't sell. I've been monitoring progress in answering questions all week (I learned in the spring that selling stuff on eBay is like a full-time job because people ask all sorts of questions throughout the auction period), and the auctions ended today. I thought that the only thing that would sell would be the motorized vizors from the windshield, but much to my surprise, almost everything sold within five days. The only things left over are the small Venetian blinds from the bathroom and kitchen sink area. If Al doesn't want them, into the dumpster they go. I sent out all my invoices and will probably spend most of tomorrow morning doing packaging. Hopefully, we'll be able to get everything shipped before we leave here. That assumes that people pay, of course. One person has paid already, and I'll be sending his sun shades to Mississauga in Canada. I wonder if he lives near Brian Mills.

The other thing I didn't mention is that I started using Dragon NaturallySpeaking software to compose the bulk of the blog entries. This is the "you talk it types" software, and it really speeds things up. The only issue I have is a personal one, since I still feel uncomfortable talking to the computer when other people around. I suppose I'll get over that some point.

I spent most of today hanging around the house, waiting for the cable guy. Al has been having problems with his cable Internet service for about a month now. The cable modem itself was replaced, but service has been very intermittent. He called the other day to make a service appointment while I was here, and the technician was scheduled for this morning. As usual, the cable company always assumes that it's your hardware, not theirs, that's causing a problem. It turns out that the technician is very adept at tracing cable issues, but not so much at Windows XP. I showed him what's been happening (fortunately, we were able to re-create the problem), he changed the modem, but connectivity is still a problem. He says that the cable ratings show OK on the meter, but even when directly connected to the modem, we are unable to get an Internet connection. He laughed, saying he was going to send a second-level tech later this afternoon, but I haven't heard anything yet.

Since I was tied up here, Geri went to the store to pick up dinner. Tonight we have rack of lamb, with mushroom risotto and peas. Tomorrow we have veal chops. This will make things easier fall the way around, since Pat and Al had to go back to work today. I'll have to get started frenching the racks pretty soon, so I'll wrap this up for today.

"Party On, Dude"

July 1, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

We had another fun weekend, closing out the “graduation party season”. In a relatively small community, everyone knows many of the families of other graduates and since the girls have been involved in basketball for so many years, the parents have gotten close. So, there were several reciprocal party visits required. Not a big problem, as we always love a party!

On Saturday, we went to two graduation parties and a birthday bash as well. The first was at Mike and Laura Adams’ in Mansfield. Their daughter played basketball with Alicia and Britt. Since we had somewhere else to be later in the afternoon, we got there early and hung out for a while. Geri was trying to pace herself, so she opted to stay home for this one. Mike and I had been discussing various beers at Alicia’s party the week before, so I brought him an Anchor Steam “Old Foghorn”, a barley wine ale that I first had over 10 years ago at Burp Castle, a beer hall on the lower east side in Manhattan. He reciprocated with a Samuel Smith Ale, which was very good as well.

Mid-afternoon, we headed to the second party, at Mike and Lynn Bower’s. This was actually a combined graduation (their daughter, Allyson) and birthday (Mike’s 50th). Mike and Lynn live about ½ mile from Pat and Al, and they all got to know each other via, what else, the girl’s basketball.

For this party, Mike and Lynn had specifically asked Al and me to make margaritas, using our “famous” recipe. In reality, we both have different recipes, but we blended them together for the occasion. We used my basic “light” booze blend (1 part each of Triple Sec, Cointreau, and Grand Marnier; 3 parts Tequila; 9 parts mix) because we didn’t want anyone saying “1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila, floor” (my “high test” margaritas use 3 parts mix, 3 parts fresh lime juice, and a pinch of confectioner’s sugar to take the edge off). Al’s twist is that he likes to use cut up limes, lemons, and oranges in his mix as an alternative to my pinch of sugar, so he set up a cutting board and I set up a mixing table and we were on our way.

The party went very well and the margaritas were quite popular, so much so that quite a bit of beer and wine were left over (not a huge problem around here). As Al had predicted, all of the stress Lynn felt leading up to the event faded as people started to arrive and mingle. In fact, she was having such a good time that we had to pry her away from playing the “Guitar Hero” video game to get the food platters out!

As the evening was winding down, we created a new variation on the margarita recipe in Mike’s honor: the “Texas Hold ‘Em Margarita”. I’d just finished making the last pitcher, as the mix was all gone, but we had small amounts of the tequila and orange liqueurs left. So, we went “all in” on the last batch, which was a fine way to close out that phase of the party.

As the die-hards gathered on the deck after dark, Mike’s friend and golf buddy, Elliot, brought out a bottle of 1968 Boal Maderia, which made a couple of rounds. Since most of the remaining crowd is into Tawny Port, this was an interesting comparison. So much so that Mike broke out a bottle of their prized Burmeister 20 Year Old Tawny. Mike’s next-door neighbor shot home to bring a Patron Café Tequila for everyone to try, as well. This was a quite interesting sipper, with lots of coffee flavor, but not sweet like Kahlua. Unfortunately for him, I think he expected to bring some home after we tasted, but the order of the day was “keep ‘em comin’”, so all he got was the empty bottle. Welcome to the neighborhood!

As things were wrapping up, Geri and Pat headed home and Al and I helped with the clean-up. Al had provided extra trash cans and extra-large bags, and we loaded up the back of his pick-up since he can drop off trash in the dumpster where he works. We had a late-night roast beef sandwich (perfect hangover preventative) and left the place pretty well cleaned up, which was good since the Bowers’ had an 8:00 flight to Myrtle Beach for vacation the next day, and Lynn was back at the “Guitar Hero” competition.

Another good week

June 30, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

Let’s close out the week, which has been productive and generally peaceful.

Wednesday was a quiet day, as I did a few more things around the coach and Geri went off to spend time with Melisa. They had lunch at a restaurant in Tolland that we’d been to before and ended up doing some shopping with Jesse after he got home from school (it was the last day of school). Grandma always enjoys taking Jesse to the bookstore, so they had a good time.

While everyone was gone, I took the opportunity to dump the holding tanks in the coach. We’d been here since the 15th, so we were almost at the 2-week mark. The new See-Level tank monitors I had installed are working well, and we can see tank status at a glance right from the display in the hall. We were at 75% black and 50% gray, so it was a good time to clean them out. Usually, the percentages are the other way around since you generally fill up the gray tank faster with sink, shower and washer use, but we’ve been doing much of that stuff in the house so we really extended our timeframe. This is a good thing.

Since we have a macerator pump built in, dumping here is a fairly easy exercise. I carry a 75’ heavy duty garden hose dedicated for that purpose, which attaches right to the end of the hose from the macerator. A year-and-a-half ago, I purchased an adapter which screws into a 4” sewer pipe. Fortunately, Pat and Al’s house has a full basement, so I was able to run the hose through the basement door, fit the adapter into the clean out pipe, seal the washer pipe to prevent gas escape, and let ‘er rip. The whole process took about 30 minutes, 10 minutes to get set up, 10 to pump, and 10 to clean up and put everything away. As they say, it’s a crappy job but someone has to do it.

For dinner, Geri, Pat, Melisa, and Britt all went to Casey’s, the restaurant where Melisa’s worked for years. Alicia’s just started waiting tables there and she was working that night, so they had a good time. It was “all you can eat pasta” night, and leftovers were brought home for us to snack on. We had a quick thunderstorm in the late afternoon, but it didn’t get in the way of their plans.

On the “guy side”, Al’s uncle Charlie came over, and we ordered a pizza (which went well with a Dancing Bull Zin) and played 4 games of cutthroat cribbage. We each won a game, and Al pulled it out in the rubber match, although Charlie tried to claim a winning position with some argument about winning once and coming in second twice. We explained to him that it was cribbage, not NASCAR, but I think he was pretty well convinced of his position.

Thursday was a very productive day.

Al and I got an early start by dropping off his truck for detailing and then tackling the coach maintenance cycle. This involves changing the fuel filters (2), oil filters, EGR filter, and the oil, and lubricating the chassis. It’s a time-consuming process, and Al spent the better part of the day on the creeper under the coach. We took a break at lunch time to drop off a grinder for Alicia at the park down the street (she’s a lifeguard there during the summer) and picking up Al’s truck. We finished off the maintenance in the afternoon, with the 500-hour generator service (oil + filter, fuel filter, air cleaner).

While we were doing the generator, a mobile RV repair guy I’d called to look at the front air conditioner showed up. We’ve been having trouble with the front (there are 3 A/C units on the roof) for a while and, with the temperature rising, we needed to get it looked at. When it was really hot (over about 93°F) earlier in the week, the front A/C unit shifted to “heat pump” mode. This is a very bad thing. The tech looked things over and found that there was a missing thermocouple, which is a temperature sensor that connects to the control board. He put a new one on, even though he had no idea why one would have been missing, and it seems to be working at this point.

We also drained and refilled the hub oil on the tag axle, well, one side anyway. I’d had the driver’s side done in February when Massey’s in Phoenix replaced a bad axle seal, so the other side was a little overdue (I should have had them do it then but didn’t think of it). We’d have done the other side to keep them in sync, but there are two different axle covers on the two sides, and we couldn’t figure out how to remove the cap on the driver’s side. We knew we didn’t want to break something, so we held off for now. I have no idea how that happened; one more thing to research and try to track down, and then fix, of course. It’s always something! We finished up with a lot of clean up, and Al quickly changed the oil filter on his truck (he switched to the long life synthetic oil, but still does 3,000 mile filter changes). We wrapped up just as the day’s thunderstorm came through. It provided a temporary cool-down but, after the storm was over, the water on the ground just turned to steam and the temperature and humidity went back up.

While Al and I were working on the coach, Geri took Merlin and Maya Lynn to a local grooming shop for “tubbies” and a trim. They look pretty good, as their hair is growing back in after being cut way too short before we left AZ. They came home replete with patriotic neck scarves, so they’re all ready for Independence Day.

For dinner, we were in the mood for Mexican (well, Geri was and convinced the rest of us, not that it was hard), so we went to a new incarnation of an old favorite, Tacorral in Manchester. The original, long closed, was where Geri first introduced me to Mexican food almost 30 years ago (there was no Mexican food where I grew up). I’ll admit that I was skeptical at first but, like most things she convinced me to try, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Since it’s a B-Y-O place, we brought a jug of pre-made margaritas that we picked up on the way. Linda and Wendell turned us on to these when they visited AZ in April, and they’re reasonably good and super convenient. And Tacorral’s always a bargain: dinner for 4, including their $2.50/person charge for supplying glassware for your B-Y-O: $46. Hard to beat…

On the way home, we stopped at the Bowers’ to see how they were doing in planning their party for Saturday (it’s a combined shindig for Mike’s birthday and their daughter Allyson’s graduation). It’s been stressful for them, but they are almost ready. We had a nice bottle of Merlot (pretty good coming from me, since I’m not generally a Merlot guy), but didn’t stay too long as everyone was getting tired, led by Al who quickly fell asleep on the couch.

Friday was also productive, starting with a good bacon-egg-home fries breakfast with Pat and Al. I took down the volleyball net that had been used for Alicia’s graduation part last weekend, and Al and I dropped off all the used motor oil from Thursday’s activities at the local auto parts store. Then we dismantled the borrowed tent from Alicia’s party and re-assembled it on the Bower’s deck for their party. The tent is becoming community property. After that, we replaced the steering arm on Al’s lawn tractor and he changed the blades, so he just had to mow for a couple of hours. Al really enjoys moving the lawn (they have over an acre), so he was a happy man. I used the time to tackle one of my projects that’s been neglected: getting rid of the old blinds and visors from the coach. I downloaded eBay’s TurboLister program and got most of the entries put together to put things up for sale.

Last night, we went to dinner with Pat and Al and the Bowers at a place Mike used to go to years ago: Unk's in Niantic. Before we left, we tried a version of Al's new drink with Tanqueray "Ten" gin instead of the Hendrick's, but it wasn't as smooth. Mike also brought over a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir, McKinlay's, that was quite nice, done in a Burgundian style with light extract and bright flavors. Although it was a relatively long drive to the shore (remember, this is Connecticut, which is just slightly bigger than the Phoenix metropolitan area), we got to dinner within 3 minutes of our reservation. No worrys, though, as business was inexplicably slow and we had a nice table outside on the deck. I spotted a Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa on the wine list and, as expected, they didn't have it. Their excuse was more creative than most places, though: "we're changing our list and we don't have that one in yet" as opposed to "we just sold the last bottle". In any event, a Brancott Sauvignon Blanc was a reasonably good substitute and we followed up with an Alice White Shiraz (passable but just barely). It was seafood all the way around, but the menu had enough Portugese (lots of pasta and spice) influences that moving to a red wasn't an issue. I just wish the selection had been better. Several containers of leftovers made the trip home, as the food was good and portions were large.

When we got home, everyone was in the mood for some Port, so I dug out the bottle of 1977 Fonseca I'd brought along on our trip. Although the cork was a little weak, the wine was drinking nicely. I'm glad we drank it now, since the color was fading and the wine itself was turning toward what you'd expect from a 30 year old tawny as opposed to a vintage Port, so it was just past its prime and wouldn't have gotten any better with more cellaring. This was a bottle that Al and I picked up at Zachy's in Scarsdale, NY, years ago when we used to go there every year to pick up special wines for Christmas dinner. It's been following us around for a long time, and it made a nice finish to a good evening.

I’ll finish the eBay stuff this morning with weights and measures, and make sure I have pictures of everything. Al has some baseball memorabilia that we’ll post as well. I need to get this done today, as I’d really prefer to close out the auctions before we leave here so I can get shipping done. I should have done it as soon as we got here, in hindsight.

After that, it’s off to the Bower’s party, although I think we have another graduation party to stop at before then. It’s going to be a long day… :-)

Back to normal...

July 26, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

Things have settled down quite a bit after the graduation. Everyone’s a little more relaxed and tolerant, and life is getting back to “normal” (whatever that is these days).

Sunday was Pat’s birthday, so we had a low-key celebration (nobody was up for another big bash). Al and I gathered all the trash and bottles (CT has a bottle deposit program) and cleaned up a bit while Pat straightened the house. For having 50-60 people at a party the day before, things were in remarkably good shape. A lot of cleaning up happened the night before when the perishables were put away, and paper plates and plastic flatware are real lifesavers for situations like this.

In the afternoon, we made a quick trip down to the CT shore, to Westbrook. Al’s a member of the Elks, and they have a facility right on the beach that we’ve been going to for years (we’re officially “freeloaders”, but our money is green so they tolerate us). We had cocktails on the deck and ate a quick dinner there before heading back home.

Monday was a quiet day as everyone who lives here had to go to work. I felt like I was working as well, since I spent most of the day on financial matters. Bills were downloaded and paid, and I started tackling a response to the State of New Jersey, which wants more money on our 2004 taxes. It never fails that something in storage back in AZ is needed while we’re on the road. I filed with TurboTax and they’re supposed to stand behind their product, but the jury’s out in my opinion. I’m pretty sure they were incorrect, but they hide behind “input errors” (i.e., you enter the W-2 info and they claim it’s your entire fault no matter what). I won’t be able to confirm this until I get back and reload the 2004 software, if I even can do that at this point. So, it’s back to Word documents and Excel spreadsheets for me!

We made a new recipe for Pat and Al on Monday night. It’s a slow-poached Halibut, with cannelloni beans and diced grape tomatoes over wilted escarole. Geri was only able to get haddock at the local grocery, but it came out quite nicely anyway. We had several bottles of white wine, but the "Naia", a Spanish verdejo, really stood up to the flavors in the dish. Mike and Lynn Bower stopped by after dinner, and we finished up the evening with a couple of drinks. Al’s created a new cocktail with Hedrick’s gin (it’s pretty unique, with cucumber and rose petal flavors), Triple Sec and a drop of lime juice – shaken, not stirred. One of these at the end of the night will really help you sleep. More than one, well, you’re on your own…

Before calling it a night, Al and I returned the borrowed picnic tables to the park and chased out the remaining people hanging out there. Because he’s so close to the park, Al’s been anointed by the town to be the one who closes the park after dark each weekday night. Some nights it’s all clear, and other times the crowd needs a little persuasion to ht the road.

Tuesday was a continuation of Monday’s projects, focusing on finishing up the response to NJ. I had a chance to do a few things around the coach, adjusting a couple of the new blinds so they fit better around the windows. I have a list of things I want to tackle while we’re here, and I haven’t made enough of a dent in it. I forgot to mention that I took the Range Rover for service last Thursday. The first three scheduled maintenance sessions (essentially annual for us since it’s a 15,000 mile service) are included, and this was the second one. Everything went well, with me getting there around 7:20 AM and the service work being completed in about 90 minutes. Then I got the bad news: the front brakes had worn to leave only 1 mm on the pads. This is probably because we have 27,000 miles driven and another 31,000 towed. We have a supplemental braking system in the Range Rover that applies the brakes whenever the coach brakes are used, so I guess 50,000 miles +/- is the service interval on the brakes.

In any event, I have to get started on the other projects while I wait to hear back from NJ on the taxes. It’s time for engine and generator maintenance (oil, filters, fuel filters, lube, axle hub oil, etc.), and I have some Plexiglas that I want to install in some of the overhead cabinets to keep stuff from moving around while we travel. I should have enough time while we’re here.

I ordered a new camera bag today. I need to convert to a backpack from the shoulder bags I have now. My shoulders are shot from years of lugging around computers and luggage. I ordered it from B&H in New York, and it should be here by the end of the week. Maybe next week (projects notwithstanding), I’ll have a chance to get out and take some photos in the local area.

Graduation, Round 2

June 24, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

Friday and Saturday, June 22-23, were fun days with family and friends.

Friday evening was Alicia’s graduation at the East Windsor High School. The graduating class of ~100 students was hoping for fair weather, but the rains came midday. Showers on and off all afternoon meant that the ceremony had to be moved inside to the auditorium as opposed to the football field. This meant that each family was limited to 5 attendees in the audience. Since we were 7 total (Mike and Susan returned from Hampton Beach for the occasion), this was a little tricky. As it turned out, Mike was able to sweet talk his way into the back of the hall just as things got under way, so we were all able to be there.

Logistics were a bit of an issue, with the halls filled with more people than capacity, problems getting graduates to their entry point, delays in getting the auditorium doors open for the audience to be seated, several rednecks without tickets trying to crash the door, and generally tight quarters all the way around. I wanted to get some close-up shots of Alicia walking in and getting her diploma, but there just wasn’t room. Here are a few shots from the day:

http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/AliciaSGraduation

Saturday brought fabulous weather and the after-graduation party. Pat had been planning this all week, and everything went off without a hitch. Al and I helped a little, getting the wine and beer (what else?) and picking up the catered food and ice on Saturday morning. Geri worked on the food, helping turn out a couple of trays of macaroni (tuna and chicken), loads of kebobs and marinated chicken from the grill, and her special sauerkraut (yum). Al borrowed a couple of extra picnic tables from the town park near their house, and a 10’ x 15’ tent from a friend. We had quite a good time putting the tent up (no instructions and limited help from the owner – “the cover goes on top”), but managed to get it right.

By Saturday afternoon, everything was ready and guests started to arrive. As you’d expect, the “kids” stayed to themselves for the most part and the “adults” tended to find their spots and stuck with them. The party continued on well into the evening, with fires in both the backyard pit and the chiminea on the deck as it cooled off quite a bit after dark. Quite a few people wanted to tour the coach, and we dubbed it the “VIP Lounge” after a while. A lot of folks would like to try the traveling life, and we’re more than happy to be supportive.

We had just the right amount of beer and wine (I have no idea who drank 1½ magnums of White Zin, which I recommended against buying, but there you go), and made a dent in the food with enough leftovers to fit in the ‘fridge. The Bowers broke out a bottle of special 20 Year Old Tawny Port, which was excellent. I’ll have to get the name!

Some pictures from the party:

http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/AlbumAliciaGradParty

CT updates - a quiet week

June 24, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

Other than our trip to NYC on Monday, things have been generally quiet here in CT up until the graduation on Friday. We had a nice visit with Mike and Susan before the NYC trip; they left for a few days at Hampton Beach, on the New Hampshire shore Wednesday-Thursday. Mike’s daughter, Jackie, and her two daughters, Kaitlyn and Aleesa, visited from their home in Maine for the weekend. It was good to see everyone, especially since Mike and Jackie are the only two of “the clan” who have moved away from CT. Pictures are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/FamilyVisitInCTAndNYC/

We got a call mid-week that Mom was back in the hospital, but doing well. She had a period of weakness and disorientation and got an ambulance ride, but tests aren’t showing much so far. She got another transfusion and is doing better, but they’re keeping her until next week and will run more tests.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were generally dedicated to graduation-related activities. The graduation was Friday evening and the “after party” was Saturday. I’ll create a separate post(s) on those activities. The preparation involved moving a lot of stuff around, deploying extra picnic tables and a tent, and arranging for an awful lot of food. While a couple of trays of sausage and peppers and stuffed shells were “outsourced”, most of the stuff for the party was put together at home. This meant numerous trips to the store for planned, unplanned, and forgotten items. Al’s pickup truck got quite a good workout!

Day trip to "The City"

June 20, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

On Monday, we took a day trip to New York City with Mike and Susan. Susan has lived in Illinois all her life and this was her first trip to NY. Unfortunately, we only had a day to see a few sights and check off a few "been there, saw that" places. Since it was a little difficult to get a handle on what things were of interest in advance, I planned a short walking tour in midtown (Grand Central, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Times Square, Herald Square, Empire State Building), leaving time for spontaneous changes. Good thing!

We left home around 7:00 to get to New Haven to take the first off-peak (i.e., cheaper and less crowded) express train to New York. The train left at 8:50 but we were worried about traffic in Hartford and New Haven on I-91. Since we had four people in the car, the major southbound jam for 10 miles going into Hartford didn't impact us at all -- we took the little-used HOV lane! We arrived at Union Station in New Haven with plenty of time for buying tickets and a Dunkin Donuts stop.

The train ride from New Haven to Grand Central Terminal is 73 miles, and we arrived right about on time around 10:30. We walked through the main concourse and had a chance to review the day's plan. This was good because it turns out that Susan is actually afraid of elevators. So bad, that when she worked in a building with six floors, she had to take the stairs every day. So much for going to the top of the Empire State Building. I immediately switched plans to bypass that site.

So, after Grand Central terminal, we walked to Rockefeller Center. By that point, Geri was getting tired so we found a spot for her to sit while Mike and Susan and I walked some more. We went north on Fifth Avenue past St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Plaza Hotel to Central Park. We walked through the extreme southern end of the park and came out by the carriage rides. The aroma was a little strong, so we went south to Carnegie Hall, West to Broadway, then south to Times Square. This route takes us past the Ed Sullivan Theater where the David Letterman show is taped.

In Times Square we saw the Naked Cowboy, a guy who hangs out in his underwear all day playing guitar and posing for pictures with tourists. What a gig.

From Times Square, we walked back to Rockefeller Center, picked up Geri, and went down to the concourse to have some lunch. We found a pizza place and had several slices. It wasn't Nick and Joe's (right down the street from us when we lived in Brooklyn) but it was good enough.

We then ventured into the subway. You can get the train right from Rockefeller Center, so we proceeded all away to the extreme southern tip of Manhattan, Whitehall station. From there it was a very short walk to the Staten Island Ferry. We only had to wait 15 minutes for the Ferry to depart. The day was quite sunny and nice, although a little warm, so the sea breeze felt good. The Ferry goes right past Governor’s Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. It doesn't stop, of course, but the view is pretty good anyway.

Once you arrive in Staten Island, the only thing there is to do is turn around and go back to Manhattan. The last time we took the ferry, with Pat, and Al, Alicia, and Britt, it cost 25 or 50 cents for the return trip. Much to my surprise, this time the return trip was free. Even better!

By the time we got off the ferry, everyone was getting a little bit tired. Especially tired of walking. Rather than walk through Battery Park and up towards Ground Zero, we got back on the subway and headed up to Prince Street in SoHo. We poked around in Dean and Deluca's for a short time (avoiding the temptation to buy a black summer truffle), then tried to find the SoHo Kitchen & Bar, a place we went to several times when we lived in New York. Unfortunately, my memory isn't what it used to be, so I didn't remember which street it was on. And, since it was out on my original plan, I didn't bother to check for the address before we left home. Oh well, maybe next time.

By this point it was getting to the late afternoon and there was not much more walking to be tolerated. We got back on the subway, changed at 14th St, and went right back to Grand Central Terminal. When we changed subways, we got on the Lexington Avenue line, one of the narrower lines in the city. The cars are about 2 feet narrower than most of the subways. Since it was now about 4:30 p.m., things were starting to get a little crowded with commuters. Going to Grand Central Terminal. We made it, though, even though Mike said he felt violated.

At Grand Central, we had dinner at the Oyster Bar restaurant. They had almost 20 different kinds of oysters on the raw bar. We made our selections and had a nice dinner along with a few glasses of beer. Since they had Chimay Ale on tap, I had to have some. After dinner, we had to wait awhile before the first off-peak return train left. We found the bar from Michael Jordan's steakhouse on the balcony level overlooking the main concourse. We sat for a while and had a couple of glasses of wine, then got on the train back to New Haven.

It was a short drive back to Broad Brook, but we were pretty tired so Mike and Susan left for Melissa's house, we had a snack, and we hit the hay. Other than lots of walking and maybe too many stairs, it was a pretty good to day.