Tuesday September 21st

Boothbay Harbor, Maine to Boston, Massachusetts

After another scrumptious breakfast we bid ado and were on our way. I wanted to stop in Freeport, Maine home of L.L. Bean. The town was amazingly crowded for a Tuesday in September. The store bustled with shoppers but the prices were higher than I expected. I was wondering where the sale items and inventory over-runs were located when Fred came to the rescue with a map (Fred loves his maps) which showed the location of the outlet store. I didn't make out so well but Fred found a pair of great hiking shoes at a deep discount.

After enduring a major traffic jam as we tried to navigate our way through Boston, we arrived at the Susse Chalet hotel. I remember calling tons of hotels before finally booking this one at a reasonable price. The Susse is located just south of the city with free shuttle service from the hotel to the subway.

We went for a run which we had been putting off for the past two days. After that, we felt like we deserved Happy Hour at the Polo Pub which was just two blocks away. The hor d'orves consisted of Lasagna and potato skins which filled us up. There was not much to do within walking distance so we went to the Bradlee's which is like a K-mart. Somehow we had left Fred's pillow in Bar Harbor. We never will figure out how we grabbed one and not the other and are not sure who is to blame. But no matter, he got another one.

We were back in our room by 8 to watch the season premiere of Just Shoot Me. And that is life on the road for today-not much excitement.

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Wednesday September 22nd

Boston, Massachusetts

It is a rainy dreary day. We debated on driving or taking the subway but with the Ryder Cup in town (which was killing us to be so close and not be able to get tickets but $400 for one ticket for one day was outrageous) and the assurances of our hotel that we would have no trouble getting a cab back at midnight (the hotel shuttle stops at 8) from the subway station, we chose the subway. The green line took us downtown . We both like Boston and were familiar with the city since we had been here several times in the past. Not to mention that Fred had his always-ready, never go anywhere without it, ever-trusty map in his pocket.

We did the tourist thing and wandered around Faneueil Hall and Quincy Market. However, in a steady downpour, it was not fun. Nevertheless one of my favorite places, the flower market, was colorful even in the rain.

We decided to walk to Fenway down Newberry Street which was as upscale as we remembered. Restaurants with starched white clad aproned waiters were located beside fashionable furniture stores and trendy designer shops. Not places we frequent but fun to window shop.

We turned down one block to Boylston and stopped in at the Back Bay Brewing Company. This impromptu stop turned out to be the beginning of a chain of events that would effect the next several days. Tommy Leonard, the guy sitting next to us had a room upstairs named after him. The Back Bay Brewing Company is host to the post-race activities of the Boston Marathon. Tommy took us up to see his room which was decorated with autographed pictures of famous runners: Frank Shorter, Steve PreFontaine and Joan Benoit to name a few. There was a picture of Tommy himself crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 1956. Turns out that the Tommy Leonard room was going to be the site of a party hosted by the Spanish Media that night. Sports writers from all over the U.S. were to be guests of the Spain writers and of course Tommy would be there as well. When Tommy found out that we were heading to Cape Cod the next day he insisted we stop in where he works. After promising to look him up, we continued our walk to Fenway.

Our next stop was Daisy Buchanon's which Tommy had recommended. This is where visiting teams go to hang out after the Red Sox games. We continued on toward Fenway, me under the umbrella, Fred being macho with just his hat. We had time for 2 other stops. The Baseball Tavern located one block from the stadium was a welcome relief from the rain. The place was crowded with people stopping in to have a beverage before heading over to the stadium. Around the corner, within view of the famous Citgo sign, was the Cask & Flagon, also crowded but with lots of atmosphere.

Second to Wrigley, Fenway Park was the stadium I was most excited to see. The smells that greeted us as we walked down Yawkey Way will forever remind me of Fenway. A carnival atmosphere prevailed as dozens of colorful cart vendors grilled sausages, onions and peppers. "Hot sausage, sweet sausage, get your sausage here" could be heard as we walked down the center of the brick paved street among the crowds of people already gathered. Huge souvenir shops lined the sidewalk to handle the demand for Red Sox gear.

The game was a bust from the Red Sox point of view but we met lots of nice people near our seats. We were in a great spot just past the dugout over third base. Fred had his Phillies hat on and believe it or not the only other Phillies fan in the place was sitting behind us. We were fascinated and enthused by the stories of Jim and his buddy/ customer, Vince. They were both involved in the golf business which enabled them to attend the Ryder Cup. We were just a little jealous.

The Sox lost badly to Toronto giving up 21 hits and 5 errors. The Sox fans are almost as brutal as Philadelphia fans. They booed their pitcher who gave up two runs in the first inning and three runs in the second inning, before being taken out by the manager. Nevertheless it was exciting to see the Green Monster and sit in a stadium that Ted Williams played in.

Our subway ride back was effortless until we arrived at our stop and could not find the taxi that the hotel assured us would be readily available. By now, it was raining again and we were tired and cold. Fred was mumbling "I knew we should have driven, I knew this was going to happen" as he followed along behind me. Fortunately at the gas station across the street a taxi pulled in to fill up and agreed to take us to our hotel.

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Thursday September 23rd

Boston to Cape Cod, Massachusetts

The Mariner Hotel in Falmouth, Massachusetts is clean and cheap. I remember when I was booking Cape Cod, cheap was on the top of the list since we had done B&B's in Bar Harbour and Boothbay Harbor. Fred was psyched to watch the Ryder Cup and we were dismayed to find out that our TV had no remote and one of those dials that you put on U and then turn the other dial to get UHF channels. We had not seen one of those in 20 years. Needless to say, the USA channel which was carrying the Ryder Cup coverage was not one of the options. That was Fred's big sacrifice, mine was that there were no outlets in the bathroom. How am I supposed to dry my hair?

We spent an hour walking around town and down along the water. It was a pleasant afternoon. Falmouth is a cute town.

Around 6:30 we walked the 10 blocks to the Quarterdeck Restaurant where we were hoping to see Tommy. There he was sitting at the bar when we walked in and he seemed genuinely delighted to see us. We already knew that Tommy was special but we were soon to find out that he is somewhat of a legend around Falmouth. He immediately introduced us to his pal Eddie who was sitting next to him and Chris, the bartender. Everyone who came into the bar knew Tommy.

Tommy is one of those people who is a joy to know. He made us feel like it was a privilege to know us but we were the ones who were fortunate to have met him. He told us all about the Ryder Cup media party he had been at the night before in Boston. He introduced us to several people who came into the bar (one couple stopped in to say hi to him before they went for a run) and got a kick out of telling everyone that he had met us at the Back Bay the night before.

Tommy told us to think about coming up next August to run in the Falmouth road Race. The 7 mile race attracts over 9,500 runners and was started by Tommy in 1973. This past year it rained and the entertainment, the band Entrain, could not play at the post game festivities. Entrain is a local band that has quite a following in Philadelphia and plays to sold out houses whenever they book there. Check out their website at Entrain.com.

After Tommy left we talked to Chris the bartender who told us that every Friday night for the past two years a five mile race through Falmouth and Woods Hole has been held. Anywhere from 20 to 150 runners participate.

We grabbed some food at Steve's Pizzeria and hustled back to our room just in time for the season premiere of Friends.

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Friday September 24th

Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

During our windy ride on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard, we saw a baby decked out in a Penn State outfit. His father had gone to Penn State (just a "few" years later than Fred) and his wife had lived in Lancaster Co. until she was 10. They currently live in Virginia and he lamented about not being able to get the PSU games on TV in his area.

Our first order of business on the Vineyard was to find breakfast. Many of the shops and restaurants were closed for the season. Our ideal was to find a place with a TV to watch the Ryder Cup while we ate. Fat chance.

There were two breakfast places within three doors of each other. One was crowded with people waiting in line out into the street. Three doors down, the place was empty. We walked in the empty place and waited by the door obeying the two signs that said, Please WAIT to be Seated. It was a small place with less than 10 tables and only two that were seated with customers. A women was behind the counter pouring milk and talking to her friend within five feet of where we were standing. We stood and waited for a few minutes with no acknowledgement Fred said to me, I'm counting down from 10. I knew exactly what he meant. He counted, she ignored us and the following exchange took place:

Fred to woman: "Do you see us standing here?"
Woman: "Yes"
Fred: "Well now you don't!"

And we walked out the door down the street to the restaurant with the line. After waiting less than five minutes we got a seat, a cheerful waitress and a delicious breakfast.

We rented bicycles to tour the Vineyard. Riding into a strong head wind as we headed to Edgartown, it was tough going at times. That was the only town we had a chance to see. There are 6 towns on the Vineyard and next time we will spend the time to take the bus tour. However we wanted to get the first ferry back to Falmouth by early afternoon to check on Freds' mothers progress. She was in the hospital with a fever that would not go away. The doctors were planning to try a new antibiotic. We had talked about it and decided if she was not showing any improvement, we would head home tonight.

Fred talked to his sister Kathy who said that things were looking better. Since after tomorrow we would be heading toward home and at most only three hours away, we decided to stay.

I called my parents while Fred headed down to the Quarterdeck to watch the Ryder Cup. Our dinosaur of a TV could not get the USA channel. "Wrongway" Jeff was the bartender and we kidded him about his nickname (which Chris had filled us in on the night before). Seems that during one of the first Friday night road races, Jeff was in the lead and turned the wrong way. What are you going to do in a small town? Make one little mistake and people never forget.

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Saturday September 25th

Cape Cod to Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Most of today was spent in frustration driving around looking for a place to have our Connecticut and Rhode Island beers. This was one of those rare times when a beer in every state was almost more trouble than it was worth. We also wanted to watch the PSU game and Ryder Cup. Fred found some bars on the Internet that were located in Providence, Rhode Island but the directions were as clear as Fred's sensitive blue eyes after a night of too many beers. We drove around Providence, struck out, and continued on down the highway.

Our main goal was to see the Penn State game which started at noon. We would have left Cape Cod early in order to be at Darla's in New Jersey (our destination for the night) before the game except that we had to find a place to have our Rhode Island beer. We knew finding somewhere before 11 in the morning would be impossible.

Our stop at the Norwood Country Inn was a lucky break. The small bar area had two TV's and a friendly server. We gorged on meat loaf (Fred), Flounder (me), mashed potatoes and veggies all for only $5.95 each. We had the Ryder Cup on one TV and the PSU game on the other. Cheers for our Rhode Island beer.

We left at half-time since we still had a long way to go and a stop in Connecticut to make. To make a long story short, after driving around and around in New Haven, we found a place called the Sports Haven. It was an off-track betting parlor with TV's at every table. I thought the place was rather depressing as I looked at all those people sitting around betting on horse races on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. However, it suited the purpose for our Connecticut beer and a chance to watch more of the Ryder Cup. We left before it was over since we still had over 2 hours to drive to arrive at Darla's house in Scotch Plains, NJ. On the way we called Darla to ask her to tape the remaining hour of the Ryder Cup. I could not believe that our stupid phone actually worked.

We arrived at Darla's around 7 and informed her that she had to go with us for our New Jersey beer. She graciously took us out for dinner. It was obvious it was a long day - we left with beer still in the our glasses.