What We Did on Summer Vacation

Friends, Family, and Surfers,

July was highlighted by our trip back East to see family and friends and revel in the Sicilian wedding of our cousin Michelle Musante to John Coppola.

Vern and I flew to Boston on a semi red-eye, arriving at a Wyndham Hotel in the blue-collar 'burb of Chelsea around 2 a.m. Hotel was awesome, some of the most comfortable beds in the world. Great rate thru Expedia of $79 per nite, mostly due to the location....but, this place was 10 minutes from the airport, albeit via a circuitous route thru narrow streets and barrios, and offered a shuttle to the Boston subway airport station, the "T", every half hour. We were a 5-minute subway ride to downtown from the "T" drop. When we returned via the T from downtown, we'd call the shuttle for pickup. Great service! No rental car needed!

While in Boston, we slept away most of our first day there, given our late night arrival, then had dinner next door at a local bistro, Floramo's. Meals were akin to eating at a local bar in W-B, good home (Italian) cooking, not gourmet but tasty and large in quantity. We stayed in the rest of the night to rest up for the next few days.

Next day around noon, we shuttled to the T for our first venture into town, during which we spent the day at the Boston Aquarium. It was pretty crowded for a Thursday, lotsa school or daycare groups and lotsa tourists. We particularly enjoyed the penguin demonstrations. A very relaxing part of the Aquarium footprint is a huge pavilion (wharf) at the rear of the facility, where there are lots of comfortable wooden benches from which to watch the boat traffic and jets coming and going from Logan. It was a warm, breezy day, 80ish, and an occasional drip or two would fall from a stray dark cloud. We spent an hour or so watching the excursion boats and water taxi traffic in the harbor. Around 5 pm, we heard from my niece, Natalie, who was subwaying over from her office at Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Science. When she arrived, we crossed the Blvd to Legal Seafood, where we had some wine and ate a humongous, delicious meal. Both Vern and I had the surf and turf, lobster and filet. Outstanding. Afterward, we walked with Nat from downtown to Boston's North End, which is the Italian neighborhood.

Food still settling, we stopped by a bistro for a gelato, which is rich, creamy Italian ice cream. Also went to the very crowded Michael's Bakery to score pastries and marizipan in every conceivable shape and size. When it started getting dusky, we headed downtown to the T for our respective trips home. Vern couldn't find a restroom to relieve himself, so he had a squirmy ride back to the airport on the T. No relief at the hotel shuttle stop, either, so it was a verrrrry longgggg ride back to the hotel for him.

Next day, Friday, we took the shuttle to the airport T, where we met Nat and proceeded to Avis to rent a car for our drive to see Auntie Ann and my cousin Mandy in Marblehead, MA. Marblehead is a lovely community on a spit of land into the Atlantic about 30 minutes drive north of Boston. We arrived to find AA outside awaiting our arrival. It was wonderful to see her looking so perky and healthy. She had a quadruple bypass last year. Also had all her teeth pulled and dentures made, which was an ordeal for her following surgery.

She sprung for lunch at a local chowder bistro. We had scallops that were out of this world! Since I hadn't seen her for 5 years, we had a lot to catch up on. Vern hadn't seen her since my aunt Mimi died in '95. After lunch, we headed over to a small restaurant with which my cousin Mandy was affiliated. Had some coffee there, chatted and planned to meet at Marblehead lighthouse which straddles the harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. We spent a couple hours visiting at the park at the lighthouse, sitting on huge boulders and benches, yapping away. Afterward, we returned with Ann to her apartment at a senior apartment complex. She nursed a huge blister that i'd developed on my pinky from all the walking we'd done over the 2 days. We planned on driving back to Boston shortly thereafter. We discussed what we wanted to do for dinner, when Ann piped up with "There's a really good Chinese place down a few streets, do ya wanna go there?"

Sure, why not! We headed out to the place, which offerd a combo Sushi and Chinese cuisine. Nat and I had some sushi and ordered a dish from the Chinese menu. Vern passed on teh sushi and had a great chicken and walnut dinner. Mandy had gone home to catch up on laundry. At some point during our wait for dinner, she called her Mom, who told her where we were. As soon as her clothes were in the dryer, she popped in to join us for the rest of the meal.

We said our loving goodbyes as darkness fell and returned to Boston where we turned in the rental car and grabbed the shuttle back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we hailed a cab to travel over to downtown to the rail station. It's a grand old facility with lots of character and an array of restaurants catering to many tastes! Had a light breakfast, then boarded the Amtrak for New Haven, CT.

What a great ride on the train! We passed thru cities and mostly rural areas of MA, RI, and CT, all of CT with the ocean to our left and various bays and inlets to the right. It was a 2.5 hr ride, but passed quickly. Vern visited the dining car and got us snacks/drinks about half way there. We arrived in New Haven on time and rented a car from Avis at the rail station. It too was gorgeous vintage America, with thick oak benches and ornate ceiling.

We drove to our Hilton Garden Inn in Shelton, CT, where we settled in, then proceeded to dress for the evening reception. My cousin Diana knew we were not planning on attending the afternoon wedding, and it was a good thing, cuz we learned it was SRO.

The reception was held at a country club. We arrived as probably the last guests, due to unfamiliarity with the turf. Michelle and John were graciously waiting in an empty foyer, as most guests had moved on to the appetizer buffet (awesome!) in the rear of the building. When we arrived, we were warmly received, and we headed to the rear as well to seek out Diana and my Uncle Joey and Aunt Betty. Hadn't seen these folks in 20 years, remember, since my Mom's funeral. I found a bridesmaid and asked who among the many was the mother of the bride. They pointed out Diana, who is now a blonde. I went over and tapped her on the head and said hello. She looked at me like I was a wedding crasher. When i told her who i was, she yelped and then we went to find my aunt and uncle. It was a delightful reunion! I also got to visit with Diana's ex-husband and father of the bride, Ed Musante (Muzzy). Looks the same, acts the same, nice guy in general.

The reception and dinner was quite entertaining. Bride and groom did some native American war dance with their peeps that cracked us all up. They did a married couples dance and eliminated folks based on how many years married. The couple who was last to go was my aunt and uncle.....65 years married! They also did a group picture of all those present who were Sicilian in ancestry. My aunt Betty and I were the sole guests remaining at our table and there were a few other non-Sicilians in the room, but mostly all were in the photo!

We danced a lot, ate a terrific dinner and enjoyed being part of the festivities. Next day, Diana hosted a cookout at her place, which was less than a mile from our hotel. The highlight of our day there was playing cards with them....we refreshed my mind on how to play Setback (called Cinch in PA) and taught Vern the rudimentary rules of the game. After uncle and auntie left for home before dark (he is almost 90and still drives), we sat on D's deck and chatted some more.

Next morning, V and I headed back to the train station, returned the car, and caught the Amtrak south to Newark, NJ. Another 2 hour trip that completed our coastal tour of CT, then took us in the back door to NYCity. We arrived at Newark Train Station around 1, rented a car and drove to Paramus, NJ, where my uncle Dick resides. I could not figure out how to get off of those friggin' traffic circles at the exit that leads to his neighborhood, so we drove about 45 minutes back and forth until we finally figured it out.

We visited with Dick at his home, and he took us out to Ocean's, a Greek seafood restaurant in nearby Saddle Brook, NJ. Outstanding meal, and we were joined by his friends Kathy and her sister Diane. Kathy has been helping Dick out for over a year now with his shopping, billpaying, cleaning and personal needs. He claims to love her. I don't know if it's a romance or not, as she is 20 years his junior.

We were with Dick less than 24 hours, when we checked out of the Holiday Inn Express and drove back to Newark for our flight home. I didn't mention that we had excellent weather every day we were in the northeast, except the last day......it poured buckets in NJ and our American Airlines flight to Chicago was delayed. The delay meant we'd miss our connection to Tucson. Fortunately, while we said our goodbyes to Dick, he mentioned that we should probably check our flight status becuz of the weather. GREAT IDEA! we learned that i'd misread our boarding passes and that we were to leave an hour earlier than i'd planned. if we hadn't checked, we'd have missed our flight (technically), but since it was delayed, the point was moot. Nevertheless, we said quick goodbyes to Dick and hurried to Newark to turn in the car and try to get on another flight.

While we were enroute, American phoned Vern and advised him that we had a missed connection pending. They offered us seats on a direct USAir flight to Phx, then Tucson. We took them. Unfortunately, the seats were middle ones at the rear of the plane. Vern was in the very last row and couldn't recline, but he managed to sleep anyway. We got a hoagie at the airport and used it for our dinner en route. 5.5 hr later we were in rainfree PHX and a quick hop on a regional jet thereafter brought us safely to Tucson. End of whirlwind trip!

August and September still to come on this slooooow mooooving blog.
peace.
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