Tolland State Forest, MA and Rocky Neck State Park, CT

I thought it was kind of fitting to use this photo from Tolland State Forest in western Mass to wrap up our trip and this blog. The last two nights of our journey were quiet and peaceful. They were also spent around the campfire with the realization that we would be heading back to Brooklyn very soon.

But, not to get too sappy, we had a wonderful trip and enjoyed posting about it all along the way. I thought a quick countdown would be appropriate and then I'll sign off.

30 consecutive days, 29 nights out on the road
10 states and 2 Canadian provinces
9 teams, 6 stadiums, 5 Rays games (3 wins, 2 losses)
7 camp sites, 4 hotels, 1 bed and breakfast, 1 farm, 1 cottage, 1 couch
5 festivals and farmers markets
3 breweries
1 day at the races, 1 night in the batting cages
1 wedding ceremony, 1 brief television appearance

A terrific road trip.

Saratoga, New York

For my first horse race, Saratoga was certainly a beautiful track to visit. BL and I teamed up to place our bets, so we were simultaneously rooting against the other person's horse for the win but for that horse since we would split the day's winnings.

In the end, we came out on top with $12.60. Dean and Leslie were the big winners with $15. BL decided we should spend our winnings on a pizza when we get home, and I concurred. A great day at the races for all.

Moreau Lake and Albany, New York

As difficult as it was to get back out into the wilderness after a very comfortable stay in Brattleboro, it was nice to arrive early in the afternoon to camp and check out the beach at Moreau Lake.



The next morning we made a short drive to Albany. To continue our streak of happily and accidentally finding ourselves in the middle of summer festivals (we have walked into about four so far on the trip), that day there just happened to be a farmers market on the Empire Plaza. I won $1 from a lottery scratch off, but that would be nothing compared to our winnings on the horses in Saratoga...

Brattleboro, Vermont

Thanks to a recommendation from Dan Lilienthal, we reserved a night at a sweet little bed and breakfast in Brattleboro called Meadowlark Inn. It has been such a pleasure being here. I'm sitting in the dining room looking out the bay windows at the views before we go.

We enjoyed meeting the owners, and their pets, as well as just relaxing on the porch and walking around the property. It was really tempting to stay here another night, but we are moving on towards Saratoga this afternoon. We'll camp at Moreau Lake State Park, a little north of there, and then catch up with the most avid readers of this blog, Dean and Leslie Layman!

Belfast and Portland, Maine

After a week of travel through America's Hat (that's Canada), and one night in New Hampshire, we headed to Maine for Nick and Jessie's wedding. We arrived in Belfast in the afternoon and checked into the cottage where we were staying. After a little exploring, we ate our first lobster roll (lobster pizza would come later).

The Seascape cottage (#12)

Then all of a sudden it was Saturday, the big day. Try as I might to take center stage, the day belonged to Nick and Jessie. They had a beautiful wedding outdoors at Moose Point State Park.

The glowing bride and groom
Moose Point
Another good-lookin couple

Onto Portland we went, with Erin "Buddy" Boyle in tow. We only really spent the afternoon wandering its streets, since we were so tired from the previous day's festivities.

Downtown Portland
So if you're reading this, thank you, Nick and Jessie, for ruining Portland.

Lake Francis State Park, New Hampshire

We found another nice park with a quiet lake in New Hampshire, after successfully crossing the border. First we stopped at a small grocery store that sold "generally everything" to pick up dinner supplies and some good Vermont beer. This campground was a bit different from the Canadian parks. We had a neighbor who played some fun acoustic guitar on into the night. Also, every campsite other than ours seemed to have a dog. In the morning we packed everything neatly in the car and are headed towards Maine.

Parc National du Mont Orford, Quebec

Since we were unable to find a place to stay in Quebec City, we went out into the wilderness again. We found another Canadian national park a couple hours outside of Montreal and got a campsite. We got there with enough time to walk around the lake for a couple hours and then made dinner. We had a pretty nice fire going and cooked some brie dogs. We are going to camp again tomorrow somewhere in New Hampshire before getting to Maine on Friday.

Montreal, Quebec

Leaving Montreal today. A small hiccup means that we won't be heading to Quebec City, but instead we'll camp another night before crossing the border into Maine.

Montreal definitely felt the most European of all the cities we have visited. I am sad I won't get to see Quebec City, but don't mind going back out into the wilderness after another night in urban environs.

Parc National d'Oka, Quebec

After leaving Toronto, we ventured into Quebec. BL gave me a crash course in French. "Je voudrais une crepe."

To our surprise, the campsite we booked in Oka required a ferry ride. The site itself was much more densely wooded than the last place we camped, but equally nice. We walked down to the beach, where we met some rascally foxes. But, sadly, no bears.

Toronto, Part Deux

Well, another tough game. The Rays almost became the victims of another no-no. Evan Longoria broke up the no-hitter in the top of the ninth, but the Rays still lost 1-0. What a heartbreaker.

After the game, we walked around the Distillery District. It had some cool galleries and was a great place to relax.

Rays at Blue Jays, Rogers Centre

What a tough day to be a Rays fan.

First, we got stuck in about an hour of traffic trying to make our way into Toronto. We listened to the first two innings of the game in the car, anxious to be rooting for the Rays in the Rogers Centre.



Then, things got worse. "Big Game James" Shields was having a really off day. He gave up six homers in the first four innings. Thayer gave up hits. Qualls gave up hits. The Jays scored in every inning. We left mid-8th; the score was 17 to 7 in favor of the Blue Jays.

It made us feel better to know later that the Rays bounced back with some runs in the ninth to make it 17 to 11. But the damage had been done. The Rays have now lost four in a row.

So, we consoled ourselves with a really amazing dinner at Susur Lee's restaurant. Then a nice long walk down Queen Street.

And we decided to try to go to the game again today. We are Rays fans.

Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Ontario

If the rest of the camping on our trip is as easy as this park was, we'll be in great shape. We even saw peacocks!

White Sox at Tigers, Comerica Park

We said goodbye to Ann Arbor and got back on to I-94 for the 45 minute drive to Detroit (pronounced dEE-troit). We were advised to avoid cheap parking and park close to the stadium if we want to have a car after the game. So we parked next to the stadium and wandered around downtown and eventually made our way to the infamous GM complex. We didn't realize you can go in the building and up to the top floor for an observation deck, so we got on to Detroit's public train, "The People Mover," and rode that back towards the stadium.

The stadium, Comerica Park, was a pretty interesting stadium. The stadium is surrounded by giant tiger statues and the lights give the stadium an industrial feeling. Our seats were very close to the left field foul pole.


We got to see a good game again. Just like at Wrigley, the game went into extra innings but the visiting team prevailed in the 11th inning. Ryan Rayburn hit a bottom-of-the-ninth-with-two-outs three run homer to tie it up. We have yet to see a home team win a game (which is good thing when seeing the Rays on the road).

After the game we decided to head for Canada. We were also advised to stay out of Detroit after dark, so we spent the night in the Canadian town of Windsor, right across the Detroit River.


Windsor was a nice town with a huge Caesar's casino. We walked through the casino but it was too overwhelming to hang out in. So we looked up a place to eat and found a delicious Lebanese restaurant called Mazaar.

Tomorrow we head to Burlington, ON where we will camp for a night and then to Toronto for our final Rays game of the trip.

Ann Arbor, MI

What to do in Ann Arbor? The Big House was closed for renovations, so unfortunately, we could only see it from the outside. We did, however, get to frolic in the famous “Wave Field” outdoor sculpture.

Chicago, Part Deux

The farm was relaxing, but it was time to get back to the city. We got to Chicago and were given a choice of several street festivals happening that evening. We chose to stick with the closest one to Ben’s neighborhood, in Southport.

At the festival, we learned that BL can throw a baseball 64 MPH; AJ can throw 32 MPH. We watched some live music from Too White Crew, a cover band for 90s rap and R&B. We also surfed a monster wave.

Afterwards, we wandered a little more and ended up at Sluggers, where we hit around in the batting cages. If it weren’t for the nets all around, some of those balls would have been juiced.

Sunday was a lazy day of riding a Wendella Boat down the Chicago River. We learned a lot about architecture and the city: the lighthouse on Lake Michigan is automated now because a previous lighthouse keeper hosted too many nude parties there.