Burlington, Vermont was a city I couldn't spend enough time in. Downtown was absolutely stunning, the lake was gorgeous, and the atmosphere was breathtaking. This city opened up a lot of firsts: My first glimpse of real snow (and I'm not talking about the flurries of Madison, Wis.), the obligatory "snow angel" (which I agreed to be pushed into), and the taste of why people up in the northeast detest Floridians when we think 50 degrees is cold. When your face burns, your lips crack, and the wind petrifies your ears, we have some issues folks.
A 3 degree high and an adventure that may be a little risque (walking across Lake Champlain) and you've got yourself one for the memory books:
Rochester, New York... we could have done without. We had a full week + 1 day in this titletown of sludge and a decent BBQ place about 10 minutes down the road. I'd have to say the most exciting thing in this city was that I got laundry done. Would you believe I didn't take any pictures? It was depressing. Maybe for the fact I spent 9 whole days on the Aerobed in my 'corner' dubbed by many (where I felt it was necessary to go to bed every night at 10pm). I think the only anecdote to depression was getting out of Rochester. We'll always remember the exit music when the crowd opened the door -- as I quote Milhouse's grandma...
"CLOSE THE DOOR - YOU'RE LETTING THE HEAT OUT!"
Elmira, New York had a nice pizza place? Supposedly Mark Twain's gravesite which graced some of the cast's facebook albums. It was a nice change of pace and a good show overall.
New Brunswick, New Jersey, oh heavens. Your only redeeming quality is that you were SO CLOSE to New York City. We arrived to this trashheap of a town passing Rutgers on the way (oh great) only to find ourselves in the HoJo. I did some research, and evidently it's been renovated, I don't know -- 15 times? With every passing renovation I'm sure they've changing their name along the way. I'll have you know it used to be a Days Inn, Motel 6, or Red Roof Inn (don't worry - they painted it).
Enough about that (because that's all there really is to know). NEW YORK CITY! I didn't have enough time even though I left at 6am to get there. It was just AMAZING.
Check out the slideshow of the adventures through Manhattan and beyond!
After I conquered my fears about having to navigate through the subway, I just used common sense, acted like a tourist (by being 'that guy' who sat next to the maps on the train), and got to where I needed to go. Times Square, Top of the Rock, WTC, The Financial District, The Theater District, and a little slice of Central Park. Unfortunately my time (6 hours to be exact) was cut severely short because I had to head back to NJ for sound check. If I have any extra money laying around (ah, who am I kidding) it's going to pay the mortgage.
Then after that... maybe NYC again!
Saturday in New Brunswick was great -- the matinee, I got to see the family! Mom, Aunt Sandy, Uncle Mark, Evan, Rhonda, Todd, Aimee, Ian, Eric, and David. We all went out to Tumulty's and talked about anything and everything. I hadn't seen Mom's side (Sandy/Mark/Evan) since '92 , and the Tremaines since '06 and '07. It was nice to share stories of old and new -- particularly about dad. It was good to hear them -- you'll never get sick of those offerings. They become even more sacred after his passing, so it was nice to relive them for a brief couple of hours.
Binghamton, New York was like a 6 hour trip. Not enough to remember except there was a decent pizza place around the block. It seemed that there were signs of a warming trend... like... around 35... 38 degrees? I suppose it was all in my head, because it wasn't there the next morning.
Erie, PA was the theater that everyone had a story about. Warner Theater, quite possibly 490 years old (a tad overboard, but I just used that to get attention) was the most lavish theater by far. Look at the old ticket booth for instance!
Ah that doesn't do its justice. Look at this -- holy lobby, Batman!
So elegant. I wish I could say the same about the space in the pit. We were stacked like Blue Devils '94 in there (I understand some of you may not comprehend the drum corps reference, but for those of you who do, that one's for you -- after all, I have to try to expand my clientele past the 3 people that read this)
Utica, New York was a twofer two-day. The first day we arrived,,, sunny and Utica-esque. The next day, everything broke loose...
WARNING: ..there's your warning
May not be the most attractive of sights, but when you're being pelted with snow showers, nobody looks good. Especially yours truly. HOWEVER, this gave Dave and I a great opportunity to build the long awaited snowman we were going to build in Rochester. But alas, we were depressed. Onto the parking lot!
Would you expect anything less? Only difference is THIS Matt Grothe can withstand frigid temperatures. We're still waiting on the 'real one' to man up against UConn and WVU. Senior year, next year baby!York, PA was another wonderful venue, and an even more elegant hotel. Of course, these one-nighters take a toll on you as you don't stay long enough to appreciate the historic value, but still acknowledge. York was great because Melody came down and sat in the first couple of rows -- and then the mass confusion ensued and she didn't get to see me after the show. $65 and an hour of traffic later - I'm sorry I failed you... again :(
Great thing about the York show was all the NETworks office showed up. Got to do the meet and greet game, have fun, hang out, and in between all of that, do more laundry (for free!). I got to wear my new shirt and jeans from AE, since I stopped being Jewish and actually bought something for once on this tour...
Any takers? My favorite drink is water...So that brings us to Waterbury, CT. I think I can speak for most of the company that the aspect we're most looking forward to is sleeping in tomorrow. I feel like I've had an aggregate total of 8 hours of sleep over the past week. Time to make it 17 (give it take an hour). See you soon!
i suppose im one of the three that read this! thanks for the mention..it was nice to see you. and i loved the show! :)
ReplyDeleteps this feels like lj.. good times. ha