Friday, August 1st
Decided to take it easy this morning with a late start, but soon enough off we went for a bit of local sightseeing. We traveled around New Britain and visited a well-manicured park on top of hill. In the center of the park there was a large monument dedicated to veterans of WWI, and surrounded by gardens and a fountain. Great views of the surrounding area as well. Sam wasn't impressed, so away we went to our next stop.
Interestingly I wanted to visit Bristol, home of ESPN, but instead opted to head to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Connecticut, along the city of New Haven. On the way to the coast we took a nice tour of Yale University, chalking up another Ivy League school on our trip. It was gorgeous - with historic buildings and homes everywhere you looked. We walked through most of the campus, and then realized we were running late.
We headed to a beach in New Haven proper, but it was packed on the roads in, so we diverted a bit west to West Haven and Bradley Point Park. This was a fantastic experience with rock outcroppings that we climbed about on, and sand bars that continuously grew due to the low tide occurring. So much so that Sam eventually walked a sand causeway to a nearby rock island and blew his horn in triumph. Of note was Sam finding a Samsung S4 phone stuck in the sand.
Since we were enjoying ourselves so much, we simply took our time and finally left to New Britain for the next game. Arrived in the 6th inning, and Sam promptly leaves to the edge of the grandstand to catch a foul ball, and I notice him striking up a conversation with a family - no surprise there. About a half hour later, with the game winding down, serendipity strikes again. Out of nowhere this guy sits next to me and tells me, "So ESPN didn't get back to you regarding the tour, huh?" Now at this time I'm just a bit wigged out, but he explains that he is a senior editor, for none other that ESPN the Magazine - and even goes so far as to invite us to visit his office the next day!
Saturday, August 2nd
Now ESPN does not offer public tours - but only to friends and family - so this was a HUGE chance meeting! The man introduces himself as JB, and talks to us about meeting him the next morning. We were in a bit of shock, but of course agreed. Sure enough the next day we meet for breakfast across the street from ESPN, and then he takes us in to the sprawling compound. We see a whole bunch of satellites and buildings, including his for the magazine. We tour his office, and a couple of others, and before we left he said he'd help Sam get in touch with some local journalists. By now I'm about speechless at all of this, and Sam can't contain his glee either.
We wind around the grounds for a bit, visited the cafeteria in the hopes of running into a personality (didn't), and then the radio headquarters. He couldn't give us the full tour since we need two weeks clearance for that, but we were giddy at just a hint of an opportunity to get into the mighty sports empire. At the end JB talked to Sam about careers in sports journalism, and then back on the road. This episode easily turned out to the highlight of our trip - and quite possibly ANY trip we've ever taken.
Drunk with glee over our weird luck, we headed to our next stop in Manchester, New Hampshire for a game involving their Fisher Cats. On approach to the city I was impressed with the old warehouses lining the river on both sides, now converted to other uses, such as a university and major businesses. The game itself was nice, but we headed out before the fireworks started - which turned out to be amazing as we heard leaving the park. We found a Ben and Jerry's downtown and splurged on some great ice cream, and then settled down in our hotel nearby.
Sunday, August 3rd
Being a "lazy Sunday" we took our time leaving the hotel and made our way up to Concord, NH state capitol. Not impressed. First, they charged us for parking on a Sunday, and then when we did, we found out the statehouse, and about everything else, was closed. Nice. We immediately hit the road and into Vermont and their charming capitol of Montpelier. This happens to be the smallest capitol in the US, and it looks it. The statehouse is even modest, and like NH, closed. Even so we did have a good meal at a local cafe, and then back on the road.
Driving through Vermont and even NH was a real joy as we wove through their lush green mountains. They became more majestic as we creeped our way north to our next stop in Stowe. This is another quaint town which is quite popular during ski season. When we arrived at our hotel, we discovered it was more of a resort type facility, complete with its own 2-acre lake behind it. Intrigued we decided to paddle it - first in a rowboat that almost sank, then a nearby canoe which did the trick. We made a loop around the lake and then headed to Burlington for our next game.
Leaving the Stowe area was nice - winding through a narrow and history country road. When we entered Burlington we immediately discovered that parking was quite scarce, but we did end up finding a space and entered the stadium for a Vermont Lake Monsters game. Pretty good game, but I began thinking about seeing Burlington in the daytime, so we left early and checked out the lakefront and downtown. Smitten by the immense beauty of Lake Champlain we both decided to skip our next game in Jamestown, NY and spend some quality time in the area. Before we turned in we enjoyed a great pizza dinner at a pub along the Church St. pedestrian mall - a real treasure.
Monday, August 4th
Since our next hotel stop was back in Erie, PA - we got up early to tackle a full day. It started right down the road at the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory for a tour. It is quite the popular destination and even on a Monday we were part of a sizable crowd looking to walk through how they make their famous ice cream. We bought a few knick-knacks and then headed to Camel's Hump State Park to try and score a view of the mountains. Winding up a narrow, gravel road we finally made it to a parking lot which was about filled. We discovered the trail to the summit - and the 3.4 mile length it would take to reach it. No thanks. We headed back, took in a beautiful rock-strewn creek for some photo-ops, and headed into Burlington.
We arrived back on the lakefront, and took a walk up and down their promenade. We tried to walk to a beach in the distance, but gave up. We walked up to Church St. again, had some lunch in an adjacent mall, and grabbed a t-shirt for Sam. After a few more walks up and down, and upon insistence from Sam, we headed to that beach. When we arrived we found out it cost $8 to get in, but Sam really wanted to swim, so in we went. He changed and took an hour dip in the lake, while I watched him in the shade, enjoying the cool breezes.
From there we exited Burlington and headed south to Erie. Problem is, there is no direct highway between these areas, so we had to connect up with several two-lane state roads - which added a lot of time to our travel. Even so this route took us through the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, which provided us a spectacular view throughout the long journey. At one point, interestingly enough called Crown Point, we just had to get out and admire the tremendous view. After several more pictures of the drive (which don't do it anything close to justice), we rolled into Erie at the wee hour of 2am.
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