- We leave early, enjoying the new CD player in the car.
- Drive about 250 miles to New London, Connecticut.
- By 1:30 we have arrived at the Mystic Aquarium. Highlight of this visit in my memory is the great views of the Beluga whales, bringing back memories of Raffi's "Baby Beluga" song. See two photos below from their web site.
- Wander around Mystic, a pretty little seaside town. Visit the Mystic Pizza parlor (see photo), famous for being the site of Julia Roberts' first major film role. Dinner at one of the small cafes. [We didn't eat at Mystic pizza because Dad kept talking about "mystic Pizza" and I had no idea what he was talking about so by the time we got there I was in a bad mood and acted up and so we had to get out of there.]
- Red Roof Inn!! [Baseball Tonight - We would watch it .. repeatedly .. when the highlights would start repeating I would fall asleep. Oh, and I loved this about out trips. Baseball Tonight was very cool and it was on "late".]
- Project Oceanology - "Is a marine science and environmental education organization .. non-profit .. first-hand, on-the-water experiences." We had a reservation on the afternoon trip, starts at 1:00 pm. "Step aboard Enviro-Lab, for a 2.5 hour oceanographic expedition. With the guidance of our experienced instructors, you will use nets and other scientific instruments to make first-hand discoveries about the marine environment."
- They were true to their word. Great experience. The broke the 20 or so kids on board into three teams who took turns at three scientific "labs" while out tooling around Long Island Sound. The highlight of the trip was when they threw a big net overboard and dredged the botto of the sound for about five minutes. All of the kids helped haul in the "catch" and then the marine biologists quickly went through it. The net was packed with all sorts of stuff ... they quickly threw about 3/4ths of it back into the water and then spent 45 minutes going through the rest of the stuff, "hands-on" as in "feel this" and "let's cut this open and see what is in its stomach", explaining and teaching all the while. Very very cool.
- [I remember that they made a pen from a squid or an octopus. They said that is what old sea captains did. They pulled a long bone from one part of it and then poked a hole in the ink sac and use the bone like a quill.]
- I took these three photos while we were on the boat ... Tom is in blue shirt .. This was possibly the coolest thing we did ever on a Tom and Daddy trip.
- We decide, with quite a bit of prodding from Tom although I am not sure how much prodding I need, to drive about 30 minutes north to visit the Foxwoods Resort Casino. Spend a few hours in this huge complex. I set Tom up at one point, in a "kid's casino", one of those places where you play games and win tickets and he is as happy as a pig in mud. [Dad came to get me and I talked him into another 30 minutes. I could always find the machines that paid lots of tickets. At checkout time we got lots of cool stuff.] At checkout time we got lots of useless plastic objects (as nanci says).
- Aerial view of Foxwoods above. We stayed at our Red Roof Inn again.
- Drive to Dedham, Massachusetts, about a two hour drive. Park at our Comfort Inn but cannot check in yet, too early. Take the train into Boston.
- To the top of the John Hancock Tower to the "Observatory - meet the past in the present". From sixty floors high we get a nice view of Boston plus there are historical displays all around us.
- We spend the large part of the day at the Science Museum of Boston (photo below). No specific memories for me but I do recall that we liked it. And had lunch there. After finding the photo of the electricity show below I do remeber going to it. At some point during this day we met up with my friend Bill Edwards, aka Willo. It might be that we just talked with him on the phone. We had planned a tour of the "Big Dig", where he works, but it was raining and we decided to just stick with the science center.
- {I remember they had a virtual aquarium. It was an interactive display and I designed my own fish and
then sent it into their "aquarium". Later I could go on-line and still see my fish.]
- On the walk from the museum to the subway, Tom spots the Necco Candy Company. We visit. Although disappointed that they do not have a factory tour we enjoyed the small gift shop and a few exhibits in their lobby. Photos are from their web site.
- After train ride back to Dedham we finally check into our Comfort Inn for a two night stay. I believe we watched Baseball Tonight.
- This is a day for visiting with people. And eating.
- Enjoy a nice "free" breakfast at the hotel.
- Drive to the Jones and Bartlett headquarters to visit with my publisher, meet many of the people who help create the textbooks, take a tour of the building [I was disappointed there weren't any printing presses], and then out for a nice lunch.
- Drive to Willo's for dinner, and a few beers. Enjoy a nice visit with the Edwards': Willo, Susan, and I believe Melissa.
- Another "free" breakfast at the hotel.
- Amusement park day. How many straight years is this for an amusement park? Six Flags in Springfield is the lucky destination this year. After breaking through into the mega roller coaster world last year this we all bets are off. Almost - I think there was still one ride we steered away from. But Tom spent more time riding coasters on this day than all the previous park visits put together. We also spent a few hours in the "water" section of the park.
- Red Carpet Inn in West Springfield, Mass.
- Up, free breakfast, and out early for a 2.5 hour drive to Howes Cave, NY. Gotta include a cave, right?
- Meet my friend Tom Eichler (Ikey) and his son Ben (Tom's age) at the cavern's visitor's center in time for the 10 AM tour.
- Caravan back to Ike's in Cooperstown, New York. He and Allyson have a great place there, with a great deal of area and including a nice little lake. We roam around, have dinner, the boys play with legos [I prefer K'Nex]. The boys get settled into beds in Ben's room and we enjoy some late night philosophical discussions. I think Ikey has some photos of our visit with them -- have to remember to get them from him. The photos below are from a trip I took to Cooperstown a few months later for a Zahm reunion.
- Breakfast with the Eichlers and then head home. Five hour drive.