From The Back Row

Well, everything came to a stop on this day for this trip. I’d been basically going full-out with daily activities and driving mixed around, lost the energy today. I did make it out to South Bend from Chicago for the College Football Hall of Fame. This was the Hall I was most excited to see and while it wasn’t as flashy as Hockey and not as “storied” as Baseball, I’m still really glad I went. Once again, August is the month for visiting things as there was barely anyone there (and Chicago as a whole is pretty empty). The CFB Hall had many cool things but I felt that Miami was under-represented and ND was overdone, but that’s to be expected I guess. As it seems with most halls of fame, if you’re in the area it’s worth a stop. I am for sure getting sick of all the tollbooths, especially in Indiana and Illinois where you stop every couple miles and pay a few bucks – it’s so annoying to keep stopping and paying. If California had tollbooths we’d soon after have “tollbooth violence”, I’m sure of it. Slight schedule change this week as we head south to Branson for a family situation.

Dual-cities in the title… back was still acting up due to further experimentation on what the causes might be, so I slept in a little on the flat. Got into the Hockey Hall of Fame around 12:30pm and spent the next 2 and a half hours there. Gotta say, it’s a way better experience than the baseball hall. Everything was new and updated, kids were having fun with all kinds of activities, it wasn’t as sterile or outdated. It’s a really cool place and I’m glad I made time to visit Toronto and the Hall. Toronto is a great little town that sorta reminds me of NYC at like 1/4 scale without all the tall buildings (if that makes any sense). I’d come back for sure any day.

And the results are in: Dunkin Donuts beats Tim Horton’s hands down.

Left Syracuse really late, around noon. Starting to get some back stiffness, partially from the car and the variety of hotel beds and partially from not working out I surmise. Stopped a few times for gas, etc. – not my usual style of travel since I typically only make 1 stop a day. As such, I got into Niagara Falls late in the day, paid the $10 for parking and was shocked to find out that it was only $1 for the observation deck. I’ve been nickeled and dimed to no end on this trip and expected another gouging – not so. Niagara Falls was cool, but it’s a big waterfall and I guess I was expecting more. A lot like the baseball hall of fame, it’s a great visit, but if I wasn’t passing through the area, I probably wouldn’t have come out.

I’m in Toronto now, having missed the Hockey Hall of Fame and it’s summer hours of 9:30am-6pm. I’ll catch it on Day 9 and likely bump the CFB Hall to Day 10 and move some Chicago stuff around.

Day 7 got off to a decent start with a nice 4 hour drive to Cooperstown, NY. The Berkshires of Mass. and upstate NY are really nice this time of year and the rain and slightly chilly 60-degree weather sort of made everything just cool feeling. Personally, I was a little shocked to find no traffic on the way there or back and very few visitors to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a Friday during summer and there weren’t alot of guests – I suppose I was lucky in some ways. Parking was easy on a nearby street and I made my way in – and out – in about 2 and a half hours. I guess I had always envisioned the Hall of Fame as I would construct it – a giant garage stacked floor to ceiling with every baseball treasure ever accumulated during 150 years of the game.

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Late Tuesday start in NYC and much turning around and getting sideways on the FDR led to an ill-fated trip to Westport, Connecticut. I say ill-fated because I had the bright idea of driving through Providence to Boston which as it turned out, wasn’t so bright. I adjusted the GPS and made it into Newton around 4pm-ish. I actually didn’t spend much time in the city preferring to concentrate on suburban life this time around. My hotel was in West Newton (Marriott, of course) and I became familiar with all the little towns in between like Watertown, Waltham, Walpole and any other W-entitled burgs. Wednesday, Megan and I finally finished The Freedom Trail which we started in 2004 with a trip to the North End for lunch (Al Dente) and a short trip over the bridge to the USS Constitution. It was rainy so there weren’t any tours going on, so I snapped a few pictures and we were on our way.

Later that night we headed down to Mansfield to the Comcast Center (formerly Tweeter Center, formerly Great Woods) to see Jack Johnson. VIP parking and pit seats combined with a sweltering and steamy evening (those are weather terms kids) made for a fun but sweaty time. Thursday was a recovery day for me (and others), did some laundry and attended a dinner party in my honor (these happen from time to time). I signed some autographs and got back to the hotel pretty late.

Ok, so the Expedition and I rolled off the Auto Train early Sunday morning. I can’t say I’ll voluntarily ride a train overnight again, it just wasn’t that great for the sleeping (even with pharmaceutical aid). Started up the Atlantic coast and stopped into Pat’s King of Steaks for a cheez wit. I probably paid about $50 in tolls along the way with the highlights being that you pay a toll to get out of one state and another to get into the next state. Getting into NYC on Sunday I drove around the city for awhile, drove around the park – traffic was light, so it was easy getting the 10-cent tour. Crashed Sunday night early to make up for not sleeping on the train. Monday was a big day. I had found out in the previous week that I got the Letterman tickets I had put in for 3 months earlier, so that compacted my schedule. I got the car and drove to Liberty State Park in New Jersey and boarded the ferry for Ellis Island. Spent about an hour researching the family tree there and continued on to Liberty Island. Place was packed, even on a summer Monday, but I managed to walk around take in the sights.

After getting back to Liberty Park I went back to the hotel for a shower and clothes change for Letterman. Seating was easy and the show was entertaining but not the “momentous event” I was hoping for. There was no Top 10 List for example. It was still a great experience and it was nice to see Dave in person.

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Pulled off the interstate for a quick bite at Pat’s. I asked everyone and no one said “Go to Geno’s”. I now know why.

cheez wit to travel

Just boarded the Amtrak Auto Train; ready to go 900 miles overnight to Lorton, VA.

Ok, so my Spanish final is in 20 minutes and I can safely say I’ve taken my last spanish class ever (grade sewn up already, that’s just how I roll). I’ll sit for the final, free a/c and all. Dorm room is in shambles of half-packed boxes and piles of clean clothes. Not bad though, except it’s not in my car yet and that’ll be a problem for after the exam. Once everything is packed, it’s about 1.5 hrs to West Palm Beach where tonight I’ll sleep in a bed that isn’t sized “twin extra long” and it won’t be two foam cot pads stacked on top of each other.

*Pay attention to the Flickr stream in the right column of this blog’s home page. I now have the ability to upload photos directly from my iPhone from wherever, so it’ll likely be updated steadily throughout the day. Clicking any of those photos or this link will take you to the my Flickr page which has a wealth of fun and interesting things

*Also, I’ll be on a train for about 20 hours starting Sat Aug 2nd at 2pm ET. I don’t imagine Amtrak is “with it” enough to have free wi-fi, so I’ll probably be off the grid the whole time. I know you’ll be able to handle life without a constant update from me, but will I be able to?

Ok, so Vegas is back on meaning I had to do some consolidating. Originally I was going to axe Toronto, but I got talked out of it by more than a few people. So, there are only 2 killer days on the route, the first being Toronto to South Bend in 7.5 hours to make the CFB Hall of Fame before it’s closing time of 5pm. The second is 580 miles from Denver to Cedar City (which may get revised before this is over).

8/2 Amtrak Auto Train (Sanford FL to Lorton VA, 810mi in 19 hrs)
8/3-4 NYC
8/5-7 Boston
8/8 Syracuse (via Cooperstown)
8/9 Toronto (via Niagara Falls & Hockey Hall of Fame)
8/10 Chicago (via South Bend-CFB Hall of Fame)
8/11 Chicago (also Miller Brewery tour in Milwaukee)
8/12 Lincoln
8/13 Denver
8/14 Cedar City
8/15-18 Las Vegas