Wednesday, November 22, 2017

An East Cost Tri-Visit

At the end of October, I ventured out to the east coast to visit 3 of my friends from high school: Chris, Nate, and Mike.  Nate had just moved from Phoenix to Connecticut in August and was looking for visitors, and since I'm always down for traveling efficiency, I figured it'd also be a good opportunity to see Chris and Mike while I'm out there.

New Jersey / New York (Oct 27-31):
I got into Newark late on Friday night and stayed with Chris the first weekend of the 10-day trip.  I apparently picked a good time to visit Chris since he just announced when I arrived that him and Priya are expecting in April of next year.  Congrats to them!  You know that I mostly enjoy hanging out when I travel for friend-seeing, but this was also a perfect weekend for sports!  The World Series between the Astros and Dodgers was excellent, and I made sure to catch and stay up for each game (including the amazing back-and-forth game 5 that didn't end until 1:30am on the east coast).

Sunday was a fun day where Chris and I traveled to Brooklyn and Nate met up with us for both the NFL games all day and the Nuggets @ Nets game later that evening.  I was a little disappointed with the set up at Barclays Center.  It was raining and they only had two entrances where tons of fans had to wait in line for almost 30 minutes.  We didn't get into our seats until the end of the 1st quarter...
Regardless, I love attending sporting events when I travel to different cities, so I was glad to attend the Nets game.  It also helped make the game more exciting when I picked up Spencer Dinwiddie in fantasy basketball for just that weekend and he matched his career high that night with 22 points. :D

On Tuesday, Chris and I ventured out to Hoboken for Halloween, figuring it'd be a better scene than the parade in New York City.  Plus, some idiot decided to mow down bicyclists along the streets in New York just a mile away from where Chris lives, so we figured it'd be a good idea to avoid a crowded area that night.  Hoboken was alright, but the scene is just too young for me now...

Trumbull (Nov 1-3):
On Wednesday, I used the train from Grand Central Station to go to Trumbull, CT where Nate now lives.  Trumbull was pretty much what I expected.  Beautiful green atmosphere with lots of trees and grass, typical of an east coast suburban city, but lacking of nightlife and things for tourists to do.  I don't think Nate will argue with me on my assessment here. :)

I did get to see Elizabeth and Nate's two kids Ainsley and Beckett in their cozy new home (see picture below).  Took a while for Ainsley to warm up to me, but we had some fun playing peek-a-boo the whole time I was there, and then I watched Beckett fall and hurt himself over and over again.  Nate notified me of Deshaun Watson being out for the season, then proceeded to beat me in a basketball game of HORSE, making for one of the worst afternoons of the year. :P  I also really enjoyed taking their dog Casey out for a run, which showed me how fun it could be to own a dog of my own.  Don't worry Duncan, not until I meet someone who could help me out with a dog around the house, which will probably be never, so you're safe. :)
We did make it out for some touristy stuff by visiting the PEZ factory.  There's a visitor center that highlights a scavenger hunt where you have to match up-close photos with the character PEZ dispensers within the cases.  Unfortunately, you can't go into the factory itself, but you can see enough from the visitor center.  At the end, you can redeem a few free bucks towards the gift store.  I can't believe I used to eat PEZ as a kid, it's just pure sugar and I could only eat one roll, lol.

D.C. (Nov 3-6):

The stay in Trumbull was for a couple days and on Friday I took the train back to Jersey City where Chris drove us down to Alexandria for the remainder of the trip.  The drive through Baltimore was a rough one.  Apparently there was an armed robbery in Baltimore, which ended in a fatal collision along one of the interstates, forcing everyone to either sit through a 30-minute slow down or take longer routes that went around the crash.  We finally made it to DC and headed to Theismann's for some food and drinks, where I also watched LeBron go off for 57 points against the Wizards. :D

Most of the weekend, I just hung out with Mike and friends.  Little to no sightseeing, drinking and watching football, an impromptu poker game, eating great food and getting sick from it, watching gorgeous professional women walking around Crystal City.  But by the end of the weekend I was pretty much exhausted and ready to go home.  It had been a long trip.  It may be a while before I make it out to the east coast to visit these 3 again, so I'm glad I did it now.

Oh and I will miss that neighborhood cat roaming around Mike's house...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Have a safe and fun holiday!