Our annual trek east was somewhat up in the air due to some of Ellen's school obligations, so I was unable to give people the exact dates until about a week or so before we were ready to head out, resulting in my referring to this, tongue-in-cheek, as the "Last Minute Tour of New England". I think it may have worked out to our advantage as I was able to do some rapid scheduling without over-thinking things, and it turned out to be a very pleasant, restful week.
We arrived in Connecticut on Saturday evening, and within the hour I was at Village Pizza. (Had to get my "half roast beef grinder with mayo, cold, with everything".) That out of the way, we settled in at mom's house.
Sunday saw us heading down to the Wethersfield Cove to see the Cove Warehouse. Growing up a few houses away (I could actually see the warehouse from my bedroom window), I am intimately familiar with it. But my kids are not, and Kate really wanted to see it. It was broken into over the winter, and through community donations has been rebuilt and reopened as an interactive display of commerce of early Wethersfield specifically, and the nascent nation in general. The hours are limited to weekend days from 1:00-4:00, so we took advantage of our first day there to visit.
When I was a kid the warehouse was open frequently. I remember playing inside, and being stung by a boat-load (hive-load?) of bees once. Then I guess funding dried up and it was closed for the rest of my time at home. It was fun to get back inside again after all these years.
After the nostalgia trip, we went over to my cousin Liz's house for a pool-party/family get-together. She usually has us come over when we're in town, and unfortunately she was one of the people that I had not contacted. Nonetheless, she heard we were coming and invited us all over for pizza. Always a good time.
This time was special-er (is that a word?) because I got to visit with my cousin Michael, who I haven't seen in a few years as he's been unable to attend these get-togethers. He was wearing an awesome t-shirt featuring the old Hartford Whalers "Pucky the Whale" logo. I was telling him about my jersey (from the later team years), and we were laughing that we were referring to the "new" logo for a team that ceased to exist in 1979!
We also got to visit with Liz's husband, Tom, who has been out of town on work-related trips the previous times we've done this. Turns out that Tom went to college in Vermont, so we talked about the places that we go during the second week of our vacation, and the Vermont micro-brew industry. He requested that we bring back a case of The Alchemist Brewery's Heady Topper (which I think is the best beer - ever) for him. I'm hoping we can manage that.
On Monday, we had dinner at Auntie Marilyn's house. This year the menu included something new - ham loaf. It was tasty, and Marilyn made enough for us to bring back to Mom's house so we had ham loaf sandwiches later in the week. It's always fun to visit at Auntie's as it's a chance for my siblings and me to get together and bust on each other. (Love you guys!)
We arrived in Connecticut on Saturday evening, and within the hour I was at Village Pizza. (Had to get my "half roast beef grinder with mayo, cold, with everything".) That out of the way, we settled in at mom's house.
Sunday saw us heading down to the Wethersfield Cove to see the Cove Warehouse. Growing up a few houses away (I could actually see the warehouse from my bedroom window), I am intimately familiar with it. But my kids are not, and Kate really wanted to see it. It was broken into over the winter, and through community donations has been rebuilt and reopened as an interactive display of commerce of early Wethersfield specifically, and the nascent nation in general. The hours are limited to weekend days from 1:00-4:00, so we took advantage of our first day there to visit.
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| Cove Warehouse selfie |
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| Wethersfield Cove panorama shot from window of Cove Warehouse |
When I was a kid the warehouse was open frequently. I remember playing inside, and being stung by a boat-load (hive-load?) of bees once. Then I guess funding dried up and it was closed for the rest of my time at home. It was fun to get back inside again after all these years.
After the nostalgia trip, we went over to my cousin Liz's house for a pool-party/family get-together. She usually has us come over when we're in town, and unfortunately she was one of the people that I had not contacted. Nonetheless, she heard we were coming and invited us all over for pizza. Always a good time.
This time was special-er (is that a word?) because I got to visit with my cousin Michael, who I haven't seen in a few years as he's been unable to attend these get-togethers. He was wearing an awesome t-shirt featuring the old Hartford Whalers "Pucky the Whale" logo. I was telling him about my jersey (from the later team years), and we were laughing that we were referring to the "new" logo for a team that ceased to exist in 1979!
We also got to visit with Liz's husband, Tom, who has been out of town on work-related trips the previous times we've done this. Turns out that Tom went to college in Vermont, so we talked about the places that we go during the second week of our vacation, and the Vermont micro-brew industry. He requested that we bring back a case of The Alchemist Brewery's Heady Topper (which I think is the best beer - ever) for him. I'm hoping we can manage that.
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| Sitting around Liz and Tom's pool selfie |
On Monday, we had dinner at Auntie Marilyn's house. This year the menu included something new - ham loaf. It was tasty, and Marilyn made enough for us to bring back to Mom's house so we had ham loaf sandwiches later in the week. It's always fun to visit at Auntie's as it's a chance for my siblings and me to get together and bust on each other. (Love you guys!)
