Welcome to the summary of my last roadtrips on the East Coast before heading west back to Boulder.  I was confronted by the military, stuck in traffic in a not-so-major megalopolis, might’ve seen Ted Kennedy, nearly died in bitter cold, and toured a few halls.  For the summer of 2003, I’d say that these were not the best of trips, but they were the only trips I ever knew.

New England, May 2003

West Point

My first major stop of the trip was at West Point, home of the U.S. Military Academy.  The reasons for the stop (besides just to see the academy) were twofold.  First, it was an excuse to detour around New York City and avoid the massive traffic I was sure to encounter.  Second, since security had been ramped up, it was more difficult to get into the academies – unless you had a connection.  And as I was a faculty member at the Naval Academy, I figured I had such connections.  I wanted to take advantage of these connections while I still had them.  As I arrived, the first thing I realized was that West Point is right next to Highland Falls, which I knew from Billy Joel’s famous song, “Summer Highland Falls”.  I hadn’t realized that this was where he was talking about.

Upon arrival at the USMA visitor center, I realized that unlike the Naval Academy, one didn’t really have the option of walking into the main part of campus – it was too far away from the entrance gate.  The only access was via tour buses, which I didn’t have time for, or autos, which weren't allowed unless they had a DoD sticker.  My car did have a DoD sticker, albeit from another academy.  I hoped this would be good enough to get in.  I slowly drove up to the security checkpoint in trepidation, expecting them to turn me around.  But I cruised through without a problem – I was pleasantly surprised, almost euphoric.

First, I drove around the outskirts of the main part of the campus and was quite impressed.  The architecture of dark grey stones reminds one of medieval castles and the setting, on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River, affords spectacular views.  After driving around a bit, it was time to see the main part of the campus.  I parked and walked toward the main academic buildings.  But before I was able to get in, I was stopped by an Army officer who asked where I was going.  I told him I was just looking around the grounds.  Surely, this was okay – it’s no problem at the Naval Academy.  However, I was told that only tour groups could enter.  No worries though – I had my magic pass:  my Naval Academy faculty ID.  While I could completely understand that the riffraff could not enter except in guided tours, surely a distinguished professor at a sister military academy would be granted such a courtesy.  He looked at the ID, shook his head and said that I was still not allowed in unless I was visiting someone specifically.  The glee of being able drive in had turned to sad disappointment.  Therefore, my visit to the USMA and the Highland Falls region was to be one of either sadness or euphoria.

Fishkill

Next I stopped in Fishkill, NY.  Not much there, mainly it was stop for gas.  But it is an interesting name for a city.  Actually I remembered that it was in the news back in 1996.  See, Fishkill sounds like rather a violent name for a town - especially for fish.  This was noticed by PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  They suggested that maybe it should be named something a little less violent toward our animal brethren – maybe Fishsave.  [There was also another, more recent, push by PETA to change the name of Hamburg, NY.  I didn't go to Hamburg though.]

However, the name of Fishkill does not refer to the killing of fish.  The ‘kill’ in 'Fishkill', comes from the Dutch and means ‘creek’ or 'stream'.  So, Fishkill actually means Fish Stream.  Of course, I suppose the name comes from the fact that fish are quite plentiful there and thus are quite often killed.  Thus, a good fisherman could make a killing selling fish he killed in the kill!

Danbury/Waterbury, CN

Soon after I left Fishkill, I entered Connecticut and the Danbury/Waterbury megalopolis.  From my map, the two cities looked rather small.  But, no - unlike a quaint little town such as New York City, these were major cities.  At least that was my logical conclusion after hitting them at rush hour.  I got stuck in one of the worst rush hour traffic jams I’ve ever been in – and I’ve lived in Washington, DC!  Connecticut does not look like a large state.  However, I’ve driven all the way across Nebraska and that did not seem to take as long or be as tiring as my drive across Connecticut during rush hour.  Needless to say, I was a very angry young man by the time I got out of Connecticut.

Woods Hole, MA

Finally, I arrived at my first destination, Woods Hole, well later in the day than I had planned.  Woods Hole is at the foot of Cape Cod and is home to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, or WHOI (pronounced like "whoey", as in "the research they do there is a bunch of whoey!").  WHOI is one of the top oceanographic institutes in the country, but it’s probably best know as the home of Alvin, the little robotic sub that first discovered Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

Hyannis, MA

Next it was onto Hyannis, a bit further down the Cape, for a weeklong conference.  Hyannis is a major summer tourist town and is the main port for ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.  Hyannis, or actually the small sister town Hyannisport, is best known as the summer home of the Kennedy family.  As such, I expected the area to be very posh.  However, it was suprisingly rundown.  The facades of the downstores were rather tired.  It seems as if the town's glamour has faded along with the Kennedy mystique.

Later in the week, my friend Mark and I drove into Hyannisport looking to find the Kennedy Compound.  While we did finally find some very nice houses, we couldn’t spot the compound.  Then we stopped at a beach and looking across the bay Mark exclaimed, “Hey, there’s the compound – that big white structure."  I looked and said, "I think you're wrong Mark.  That’s just Ted Kennedy, shirtless, sunning himself on the beach.  But wait, behind him, that must be the Kennedy Compound!”  And so from afar, we did get a glimpse of the place where JFK used to play touch football.

Later in the week, a group of us drove out along the Cape, which is mainly just a lot of sand.  But at the very tip of the Cape is Provincetown, well known as a very colorful (in the rainbow sense) little village.  We were told it was quite a sight to see.  However, though it’s a very small town, we somehow managed to miss the main part of it.  By the time we realized this, we were already through town and heading back toward Hyannis.

Plymouth

After the conference, I headed north toward Boston.  On the way, I stopped in Plymouth, where the pilgrims landed.  Plymouth was a stark contrast with Hyannis.  It's a very nice town, with a pleasant downtown of stores, bars, and restaurants in quaint authentic 18th century architecture.  Why didn’t we have the conference in Plymouth!? 

Of course, the big thing to see in Plymouth is Plymouth Rock.  What is Plymouth Rock?  Well, it's...uh...well, just a rock.  Nothing more than a big old rock, although the locals have tried to dress it up a bit.  Carved into the top of the rock is “1620” – just in case a tourist doesn’t know the date.  Then, they surrounded the rock with an incongruous Greek Parthenon-like structure.

After seeing the rock, I wandered around town a bit.  However, it got very windy and cold.  I suddenly realized I was quite far from my vehicle, very underdressed for the weather, and very hungry.  Weak from the cold and lack of food I struggled back toward my car.  I was just starting to feel as if I wouldn’t make it when a kind person in a Jeep Cherokee pulled up and offered me a lift.  Upon hearing my grumbling stomach, he offered me some popcorn, which I munched on gratefully.  He asked where I was going and I answered Boston.  He gave some good directions, and assured me that since it’s farther west and more protected it wouldn’t be as cold or windy.  He dropped me off at my car and took off without even waiting to be thanked.  I jumped in my car and, behind schedule due to my ordeal, hurried toward Boston.  I was driving rather fast when again I ran into traffic.  To make better time, I started cutting back and forth between.  I even forced one vehical off the road into a ditch.  I looked in my rearview mirror and realized it was the Cherokee that had been so helpful.  I felt a little bad, but hey, he was impeding my progress.  It was my manifest destiny to head west, and I couldn’t feel to bad about people who were in my way!

Boston

I got lost in Boston looking for my friend Andrew's place - during rush hour of course.  This rush hour was on par with the Danbury/Waterbury traffic, except the drivers in Boston drive without any regard to traffic laws.  I never knew when someone would turn right in front of me or suddenly stop or change lanes.  After gettting the hang of things, I made a few illegal turns, cut off a few people, and arrived at Andrew's.

I had been to Boston before, but was looking forward to seeing some sights I had missed on my previous trip.  One was the “Big Dig”.  This is the massive road building project in downtown Boston that seems to have been going on since the Revolution.  However, it was finally nearing completion and officials bragged it would reduce downtown congestion tremendously.  In fact, earlier in the week there was a big ceremony to open one of the major new tunnels.  Of course, just hours after the tunnel opened, a truck jackknifed and caught fire inside of it, causing one of the worst traffic jams in Boston history.  Fortunately, when Andrew and I drove through it a few days later, it had been cleaned up.

I also wanted to see Bunker Hill, site of one of the major Revolutionary War battles.  Ironically, the Battle of Bunker Hill wasn't actually fought on Bunker Hill, but onBreed’s Hill, several hundred yards away.  I guess there was some confusion on the geography and by the time they got it straightened out, the Bunker Hill name was etched into the national memory.  Anyway, at Bunker Hill, or I mean Breed’s Hill, there’s an obelisk that’s essentially a smaller version of the Washington Monument, which as a bit of a disappointment.  I drove all the way to Boston to see a smaller version of a monument a half hour from my house?

Another thing I wanted to do was eat at the Cheers bar.  Of course, the question is:  which Cheers bar?  There’s the “original Cheers bar”, whose actual name is the Bull & Finch.  This is the bar that was the inspiration for Cheers and is where the exteriors of show's opening credits were filmed.  I visited the Bull & Finch the last time I was in Boston.  One problem with the Bull & Finch is that it draws many tourists eager to see the Cheers bar.  However, upon entering visitors are often disappointed to find that the inside looks nothing like the TV show.

Of course, this fact was not lost on some savvy entrepreneurs who opened up the “authentic Cheers bar” in Quincy Market right downtown.  Since I had been to the “original”, we decided to try the “authentic”.  Upon entering, I realized that the term “authentic” was being used very loosely.  Apparently, it means "only slightly more like the TV show than the original Cheers bar".

New Haven, CN

I was rather loathe to re-enter Connecticut after my previous experience.  However, I had friends in New Haven to visit, so back I went, once again into the breach.  Fortunately, it was a Saturday, so I didn’t have to deal with rush hour.  We did hit rush hour at the local breakfast diner the following morning however.  The manager even asked us to leave our table so that they could seat new customers - even though I was only halfway through my pancakes!

Basketball Hall of Fame – Springfield, MA

After spending the night in New Haven, it was back north to Massachusetts and an opportunity.  During the past couple years, I had visited the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto Canada, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.  One of the goals of this trip was to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  I realized that it was only a short detour to also see the Basketball Hall of Fame (HOF).

Of course, the only problem was that Springfield is a fairly large city and I had no idea where the HOF was.  As drove into the city, just off the highway I saw a tall pinnacle topped by a basketball.  “Hmm", I thought, "maybe that’d be a good place to pull over and asked where the Hall of Fame is?”  Imagine my surprise when I discoved it was the HOF itself - what good fortune!

The design of the hall consists of a display area that encircles a couple basketball courts as it winds upward. "What an ingenious idea", I thought, "being able to play basketball in the Basketball Hall of Fame!"  Of course, after a couple hours of trying to read the displays while the bounce of basketballs and squeaking of shoes echoed throughout the hall, I had gotten a headache and decided that maybe the courts were not such a great idea after all.

Vermont

After Springfield, I planned to head due west into New York to Cooperstown.  However, as I crossed the New York border, I suddenly realized that I was less than 30 miles from Vermont.  I had last been to Vermont in 1975 and I decided that 28 years without Vermont being graced by my presence was far too long to me.  So I turned north, once again into Vermont.  Of course, I didn’t have much to do in Vermont or much time, so my visit was primarily ceremonial.  I drove into Bennington, home to the well-known college, and took a quick tour.  I enjoyed Vermont so much, that I decided to continue my detour.  I said:  I'm going to New Hampshire, I'm going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota, and I'm going to California and Texas and New York!  And I'm going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan.  And then I'm going to Washington, D.C. to TAKE BACK THE WHITE HOUSE, YEEEEAAAHHH! But then Howard Dean told me to shut up and just continue on to New York.

Baseball Hall of Fame – Cooperstown, NY

You’d think that a major tourist attraction, such as the Baseball Hall of Fame, would be located in an easily accessible place -  near a major city, or at least off a major highway.  However, Cooperstown is quite literally in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York.  There are no large towns nearby and it’s several miles off the nearest interstate.  However, it does make for a nice quaint town, albeit dominated by baseball memorabilia stores.

A hot topic recently has been whether Peter Rose should be in Cooperstown.  However, the question is actually moot.  He already is in Cooperstown.  Okay, he’s not enshrined in the HOF, but he’s just a block away in a memorabilia store he owns (or at least lends his name to).

One rather disappointing thing about my visit is that stores are dominated by Yankees memorabilia, with some Red Sox and Mets stuff, but not much else.  I guess it makes some sense because these are the nearest baseball markets and they do have storied histories.  However, it would’ve been nice to see more from other baseball cities.  Things were a bit more equitable in the Hall itself, but the NY teams were still predominant.  In fact, in the World Series exhibit, I’d say roughly 25% was devoted to just to Yankees championships – how fair is that?!

The Hall building is surprisingly nondescript.  It sits, small and unimposing, at one end of the main street, right across from the post office.  The centerpiece of the Hall is of course the plaques of the inductees.  I decided I wanted to have a record of the plaques of some of my favorite players.  So, I starting snapping photos with my camera.  However, the printing on the plaques is rather small and the lighting isn’t great.  This made it difficult to try to get decent photos.  I often took two or three of each plaque, just to try to make sure.  After exiting the hall of the inductees, there was a small gift shop – with postcards of each plaque.  Each postcard a perfect photo.  Gee, it would’ve been nice if they had told me they had these before I wasted a whole roll of film!

Oneonta, NY

With the visit to Cooperstown, I had now visited the halls of fame of all major sports.  Or so I thought.  After I left Cooperstown and reached the interstate, I saw a sign for the National Soccer Hall of Fame in nearby Oneonta.  Soccer of course is the biggest sport in the world, though many Americans don’t realize it.  Unlike the quaint Baseball Hall building, the Soccer Hall is a huge box of a building that sits in the middle of a large grassy field like a megalith. A sculpture of a large soccer ball sticks out partially from one wall.  It looks like a soccer ball was trying to break out of a Wal-Mart.  If only to find out why the Soccer Hall of Fame was located in Oneonta, New York, I decided I had to stop and visit.  It turns out that Oneonta is home to one of the State Universities of New York (SUNY-Oneonta) and has had one of the top college soccer programs.  Of course, being near the Baseball Hall was probably another reason – to get spillover, such as myself.  I was the only one in the Soccer Hall, but it has some nice exhibits on the old North American Soccer League, lots of stuff on the U.S. Women’s World Cup teams, and some cool games where you shot soccer balls at targets.

Antietam, MD

Among the interesting sites on the East Coast are the Civil War Battlefields, of which there are several.  Not only are they interesting historical sites, but they are generally quite scenic with large swaths of undeveloped land – a rare site in the east.  Previously I had been to Manassas and Gettysburgh.  The other nearby battlefield on my way back to Annapolis is Antietam.  This is notable for being the site of the bloodiest day in American history.  On Sept. 17, 1862, over 20,000 Union and Confederate were injured.  The over 3500 deaths are the most Americans killed by acts of violence in a single day.

Harper’s Ferry, WV

Just down the road from Antietam is Harper’s Ferry.  This is where the abolitionist John Brown seized the U.S. Armory in 1859 (for which he was later hanged), an act that is credited with setting the stage for the Civil War.  It’s part of the U.S. Park Service and has been recreated as authentically as possible.  One nice thing is that automobile traffic is limited (you park at a lot outside of town and take a shuttle into town), making it nice area to stroll around.

Upon arrival, I realized that the Appalachian Trail goes through the center of town and back to the parking lot.  So I skipped the shuttle and hike the two miles back to my car on the AT.  The AT runs over 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine.  Several people each year attempt to hike the entire length in one summer.  If you want an entertaining account of the AT, read “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson.  In any event, I can now say that I’ve hiked 0.1% of the Applachian Trail!

New York City, June 2003

During my May roadtrip, I deliberately skipped New York City in a vain attempt to avoid traffic.  However, I did want to make one final visit before heading west.  So, in June, my friend Dave and I headed up to the Big Apple.  Our primary objective was to see The House That Ruth Built, aka Yankee Stadium, with hopefully some time to fit in a few other sights.

We arrived late Saturday morning, with the Yankee game in mid-afternoon.  We first headed for lunch to the Carnegie Deli.  This is one of New York’s most famous restaurants, notable for thousands of celebrity photos on the walls.  It's also famous as the setting for Woody Allen's film, Broadway Danny Rose).  Unfortunately, because it’s famous, it’s always crowded.  Thus, they cram as many people as possible in the place, mainly by squeezing people into long tables.  You are elbow-to-elbow with complete strangers, which can be rather uncomfortable when you inadvertently rest elbow in your neighbor’s corned beef.

The Carnegie Deli is a great place to go if you’re on the Atkins Diet.  Basically, they pile a huge amount of meat on two small slices of rye.  While they call these meals “sandwiches”, it’s pretty much impossible to each them without a fork and knife.  I ordered The Woody Allen (inspired by Broadway Danny Rose) - a combination of pastrami and corned beef.  Next we went by the Hello Deli, which thanks to Dave Letterman may now be as well known as the Carnegie Deli.  It’s just around the corner from the Late Show set and Dave regularly features the owner, Rupert Gee.  So, lots of people visit the deli to say hi to Rupert and get their photo taken with him.  Unfortunately for Rupert, not many people stay to buy anything.  Though Rupert handled things cordially, we felt a little sorry for him.  So after taking a picture of Dave and Rupert, Dave bought a bottle of water.

Next, it was on to Yankee Stadium.  We got lower deck seats in right field, right next to the bleachers.  The Yankee Stadium bleachers are notorious for their rowdiness, which we discovered right away.  We and the rest of our section were mercilessly heckled because we were under cover and our seats had backs.  To the bleacher creatures were the wealthy snobs who didn't know what it was like to be a real fan out in the elements.   Dave and I were quite pleased though because it was a typical hot and humid New York afternoon and the shade provided some protection from the sun.  Halfway through the first inning, we had another reason to appreciate the cover – it started to rain.  Not just a shower, but a torrential downpour.  We smiled smugly while we watch the bleacher creatures get drenched.

People say that when you think Yankee Stadium, you think "history".  As far as I could tell, "history" is a euphemism for "old".  The seats are cramped, the corridors are small and dingy, and the bathrooms are small and dank.  It reminded me a lot of Tiger Stadium.

The rain delay messed up our schedule and we were running behind, even after leaving the game early.  We arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art just 45 minutes before it closed.  Can you see the Met in 45 minutes.  Sure you can – you just have to sprint through most of it!  After seeing the Met, it was getting on toward 9 pm and despite the fact that Woody Allen was still sitting like a rock in my stomach, we were starting to feel a little hungry.

Dave had never seen Times Square, so we decided to head there next.  We thought we’d look for a traditional local New York pizza place.  However, in Times Square, this rather harder to do than we thought.  Times Square is not geared for classic homegrown New York food.  It’s geared toward touristy chain restaurants, like the ESPNZone, McDonalds, etc.  We found a couple NY deli places, but we weren’t ready for another deli experience and besides they were way overpriced.  After wandering up and down Time Squares looking for a place, we finally found our traditional local New York pizza place – it was called Sbarros.  Of course Sbarros is a chain you can find in practically any shopping mall in America (and some in Russia), but it was after 10 pm and we were tired and hungry.  So we imagined it as a local NYC place.

Our plan was to finish up the day with a trip to the top of the Empire State Building.  Neither Dave or I had been to the top.  Plus, we figured there was a chance we’d run into Meg Ryan up at the top.  It was just after 11 pm, so we had plenty of time before the observation deck closed at midnight.  Unfortunately, in reading our guidebook we missed a key piece of information.  While the observation deck closes at midnight, the elevators to the observation deck close at 11 pm.  So, we were too late.  Oh well, it’s Meg Ryan’s loss.

The next morning, we planned to get up and head down to the Rockefeller Center and catch some of the Today show.  However, we were tired and ended up sleeping late.  We figured it really wasn’t a big deal because it was Sunday morning, so the regular crew wouldn’t be there and there’d probably just be some lame guests on.  After getting up, we turned on the Today show, just to see what they had it.  It was swimsuit models.  We missed seeing swimsuit models!

We did later go by the Rockefeller Center, but the swimsuit models had already left.  Next it was onto Tom’s Restaurant.  This is the outside setting of Monk’s restaurant that the Seinfeld gang always hung out in.  It’s also the inspiration for the Suzanne Vega song “Tom’s Diner”.  Of course, like the Cheers bar, the inside is nothing like on TV.  And I didn’t see a big salad on the menu.  I thought about ordering the tuna on toast, but decided on the chicken salad instead.

Finally, we stopped and did a quick tour of the Natural History Museum.  Again, you can pretty much see the whole thing in a hour if you sprint.