It took a little while to get back on the horse after the Chicago trip. I made a baseball trip to Richmond the year before and now went bigger. Most of those pictures are in the Battlefield section as it was pretty much just a Civil War trip. Much of the route of this trip was a retrace of when me and my dad went up in 1999, this time with a digital camera and in the early fall. OK, technically it was very late summer but it sure didn’t feel like it outside in New England though at least the weather was nice. Everyone says you need to see a game at Fenway. OK I have and I’m good now. I also took in a Mets game at Citi Field.
Boston 2013
Flushing Meadow
Drove up to New York City for the start of the trip on a Sunday morning. The Mets played the Marlins and the Marlins were the last team I needed to see in the bigs that year so this worked out well. I got there plenty early and wound up walking around Flushing Meadows for awhile to kill time. Not a lot of traffic heading into New York City which was nice.
Afterwards headed north to Newburgh for the night. They used to have an Atlantic League team and they do have a New York/Penn League team but at this point of the year there was no more minor league baseball being played except for the AAA World Series. Unfortunately for me that was being held in Allentown which meant that I had to miss it for this.
FDR’s house in Hyde Park
Not much to do on a Monday so I paid a visit to FDR’s family home. Hyde Park was where the blue bloods of New York built summer homes to get out of the city. Nice place certainly and I got to learn a lot more about him. Eleanor’s place was also nearby but I wasn’t sure if it was open so I didn’t go.
Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park
Not Cornelius’ place. The home of his grandson William and he lived here in the late 19th and early 20th century. It has 54 rooms and was one of the Gilded Age homes to be built in the country. Cornelius’ New York Central Railroad went right by the house and the Hudson River is also close by. Building this was a mistake and William’s grand daughter (I think that’s who it was) tried to sell it cheap just to get rid of it and couldn’t. She just wound up donating it to the government. I couldn’t imagine living in a place like this.
Everything was built in the French style and the rooms were huge. I don’t know how anyone could live in a home like this.
Saratoga
Made the trip up the Taconic Parkway and around Albany to Saratoga. This was arguably the most important battle in American history. You could say that America was born that day in New York. See the Battlefields section here for pictures. Fortunately Revolutionary War battlefields are for the most part small and easy to tour.
Not the nicest day here but at least it didn’t rain. I also neglected to realize that Burgoyne surrendered a few miles to the north and I did not head up there. I plan on rectifying that the next time I am up this way.
Bennington
After leaving Saratoga I wanted to also take in Bennington. In a major screw up on my part I didn’t realize the actual battlefield in New York was closed the day I went by (it was a Monday and they were on Fall hours and I planned the trip when Summer hours were posted) so the only thing available was the monument in Vermont and it was getting too late in the evening for that. Nice day at this point at least. Check out the Battlefields section for pictures.
After that made a scenic drive across Vermont to Brattleboro. I crossed the Connecticut River into New Hampshire just to say I went into the Granite State. I turned around quickly and made my way towards Providence via the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Providence and Fall River
Up early and I took a brief walk around downtown Providence before heading to Fall River to visit Battleship Cove. There are four ships there, the battleship USS Massachusetts, a destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, a submarine USS Lionfish and a Soviet/East German missile Corvette Hiddensee.
I did think about heading into the state capitol building to see Brown’s Gun, a Civil War cannon from Brown’s Battery at Gettysburg that had a cannonball hit it in its muzzle. You had to preregister for a tour and I didn’t know exactly when I would be there. Maybe next time.
Lexington and Concord
Left Fall River and headed up to Boston. Started out at Lexington and Concord. Saw Lexington Common where the “Shot heard round the world” was fired. Last time I was here it was cold and dreary outside so this was much nicer. Then it was on to Concord. Walked across the bridge and then hit the trail tracing the road that the British army took. Somewhere along the trail I got a stone in my shoe and it developed into a huge blister. I mean huge, like silver dollar sized. It made walking very painful but knowing that I was not coming back anytime soon I sucked it up. But it hurt. Check out pictures in the Battlefield section.
Boston
Spent a day and a half in Boston. Arrived in the mid-afternoon the first day and went up in the Prudential Center. I had a nice clear day and that made for a great view. The next day I joined the early morning commute at 6 AM and started at the Bunker Hill Monument, toured the USS Constitution and its related museum and then walked the Freedom Trail painfully ending at Boston Common and sitting on a bench for about an hour near the Frog Pond. The blister made it very painful to walk and it was actually kind of warm out during the day. Made my way to Fenway, I walked from the Prudential Center the first day taking in the Backbay Fens and rode the T the second time.
Both days I rode the T in from Riverside and I thought that worked well. I was looking for an affordable motel and had to go to Framingham to find one so Riverside was the closest station anyway. I was there to take in the Red Sox game at Fenway. The Orioles won them both in extras. I was actually back in my motel room for the second game while it was still going on. No regrets, I was tired.
Springfield and Home
Was going to take in the Basketball HOF but I didn’t feel like walking anymore. Next time. Did hit the Springfield Armory though. Then it was the long drive back home. Stopped back in Newburgh, New York for lunch and was back home around 5. Would have been quicker but there was a nice accident near Danbury, Connecticut that took some time to get through. I didn’t want to go around New York so I took 84 to Scranton and went down 81. Traffic in Harrisburg was not bad and I timed it perfectly. My gas light came on as I crossed the South Bridge and I had about 10 miles left in the tank when I pulled up to my house. I made it back one one tank after filling up in Framingham. Sweet.