We got to through Kennedy Airport and to the Dollar Rent-a-Car place pretty easily. She only had one car, a mid-size Dodge sedan, so we got the free "upgrade". I had gotten a very good combined deal on Orbitz for our airfare and the car for 8 days, for $767. The car was pretty dirty and I complained when we were checking it out. The guy gave us the option to run it through the car wash, but we just blew that off.
We drove out to my Sister's house on Long Island with no problems, using my iPhone 5, and a little suction windshield holder, with Google Maps for navigation. My Sister had my Brother, his Wife, Daughter and her Husband over. Her Son and his Girlfriend. Her Stepson, Wife, Grandson and other Stepson. We had a nice deli lunch and relaxed for a little while.
We then went over to a local Holiday Inn and checked in. We napped and everyone else relaxed.
We went into the big conference room for my Sisters' party, celebrating her 10th wedding Anniversary. Nice appetizers and over 100 people. Many from my Brother-in-law's family, I didn't know. They had an oldies band that was quite good and the dinner was nice too. I took a ton of pictures for my Sister with our new point and shoot camera. The most fun I had was with my former next door neighbor, who is still beautiful and one of the most vivacious, dynamic people ever. It was just great to talk and laugh with her and her husband.
We got a good nights sleep and had a nice brunch before checking out. We moved into my Sister's house and the family spent the day together. We all visited one of my two 94 year old Uncles, who's in the Nursing Home my Sister works at. He looked pretty good, but wasn't all there mentally. He told us they had a party for his 70th birthday last week. We went out for a great seafood dinner that night.
Everyone left the next day and it was just us and my Sister and Brother-in-law. We had a nice time visiting and I took them out to a great Italian Restaurant for their anniversary, with an old friend of ours.
On Tuesday we drove to my old neighborhood in Flushing and parked the car. We took the Q27 bus to Main Street and then rode the No. 7 Flushing IRT train to the USTA Tennis Center for day 2 of the 2013 US Open. It was packed. We didn't really watch much of any specific matches. We did split a surprisingly great lobster roll for lunch. We saw Sam Querry, John Isner and a few other not terribly notable players.
Then we watched the last few games of Caroline Wozniacki's match in the big stadium. The place might have been a third full when she finished. Soon though people starting coming in. Why? Well the great man player of all time, Roger Federer, came on to play a very lowly ranked opponent. His match the night before had been cancelled due to rain. I was very happy to see one of the two professional tennis players that I've admired a lot (the other was Bjorn Borg and I was fortunate to see him at the US Open, way back in the 80s, the last time I had been there).
We didn't stay terribly long though. Took the subway and bus back to our car. It was about 5:00 but surprisingly traffic though somewhat heavy, moved nicely all the way back to my Sister's house.
The next day we left quite early and drove straight up to Cape Cod to catch a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. We got there quite a bit earlier than our ferry reservation, but they put us on the next ferry anyway. The ferry ride was about 40 minutes and very pretty. Neither of us had been to Martha's Vineyard before.
We found this B&B that we had a one night reservation for. An old, cluttered little house with no one around. No internet, no TV, but it was quaint and somewhat charming. We went out and drove around the Island a little, didn't see much though. Went back and met our 90 year old hostess, who was having a jolly time drinking with her friends. I hadn't heard from my old Junior High School friend, who was the main reason for our visit, but knew he was playing golf and would get in touch later and firm up our dinner plans. We ended up going to a cute little town and walking around. I finally called him and he was apologetic. He didn't see my earlier email message and couldn't find my number. It wasn't a problem to me, and it turned out they were a few blocks away. We walked over and met them at this restaurant. I hadn't seen my old friend in over 30 years, nor had I ever met his Wife.
He looked great and she was warm and beautiful. We had a great dinner and caught up on so much, very comfortably. They insisted on paying for dinner and we walked them back to their car leisurely.
When we got back to our B&B, everyone else was either asleep or behind closed doors (it was about 10:00). I was dismayed to find that our bathroom was out of toilet paper and I was unable to find any (and I looked). I did have a small pack of tissues in my bag, which we were able to use.
We slept very well in the large, old and slightly musty smelling bed. When we got up our Hostess and her lovely old friend made us a very nice breakfast of eggs and English Muffins. The coffee was horrible thought, way too weak. We packed and said good bye.
We went over to my friends. He had a beautiful house that he built himself on 5 acres. He rents it out during the Summer and he and his Wife sleep in a tiny cottage. He had pigs and chickens that they raise. He had a lot of junk on the property, but took us through the house which was amazing. The only thing we weren't crazy about was the flushless composting toilets (which didn't smell).
We went over and met his Wife at the headquarters of their catering company (they do some very high-end catering and have been written up in the NY Times). Then we said goodbye and caught an earlier ferry to the mainland.
We drove to Boston, planning on finding a hotel and doing some sightseeing. The weather changed and in Boston it was pretty cool and raining. We had lunch at a place "The Clam Box". Fried oysters and clam strips. The clam strips were amazingly great! By now it was mid afternoon and we decided to head out of Boston as sightseeing wouldn't be fun in the rain.
Next stop Hartford, CT. By then we had driven out of the rain and it was nice. We stopped at an assisted living facility and visited my other 94 year old Uncle (they're twins, my Father's older Brothers and the last of his Family). He thought I was my Father at first. We didn't stay long, but gave him a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
Finally we drove to Norfolk, CT and spent two hours with my other Junior High School friend, who I hadn't seen in at least 25 years. Met his Son and Girlfriend and really enjoyed talking and nibbling on some cheese and crackers.
After that, a comfortable drive back to my Sisters. The nicest part of the trip so far was that we didn't hit any bad traffic so far, the whole trip (nor did we later either).
We relaxed for the next day or so. Did some shopping at Huntington Mall and in the old town of Huntington. Enjoyed visiting with my wonderful Sister and her Husband. Our flight back home was uneventful (which is how we like it), got in a little early. Sister-in-law picked us up, we got home and have more great memories to enjoy.
