One of our largest trips both in miles travelled and rinks visited, the East Coast in March can be a fickle beast.
Thursday, March 9th, 2017
Mary, Adam and I grabbed a 2:55 flight to Boston out of Toronto. Its a pretty short flight but we were in the air as the sun was going down…always a pretty thing to see!
We landed and headed to the Club Quarters Hotel, our home for the next three nights.
Friday, March 10th, 2017
Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States and is full of historic sites. We booked a guided walking tour of downtown Boston and set off to explore and maybe even learn something!
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Another cold day in Boston as we got ready to see the Boston Bruins host the Philadelphia Flyers. A good “proximity rivalry” game and we were pumped to see the TD Gardens, more commonly known as the Garden. It holds just under 20,000 people and can get pretty loud with a lot of boisterous Bruins fans in attendance!
The game was really fun with Boston winning 2 -1. The highlight was meeting Colin Miller after the game. Nephew David had told him we were in town and he came to meet us in the lobby. Colin presented Adam with a David Krejci game stick. It was quite a surprise and we carried it with us to meet up with Mary at a local fan favourite pizza restaurant. It created quite a stir with the Bruins fans. Also, we then took it with us on the rest of our trip so it got to go to a few cities before heading home to Burlington. Adam then decided he would use it as his game stick for his league. Turns out a stick specifically built (curve and all) for a 6 ft tall professional hockey player may not be the best for a 15-year-old…
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Mary headed home to Burlington as Adam and I drove to New York City. It is just over 4 hours of driving but a bit more when you stop along the way. The big news was an incoming winter storm that was sure to be hitting the city. When New Yorkers get worried about a storm you can bet it’s going to be a doozy! We checked into our Best Western Premier at Herald Square, grabbed some dinner and wandered around a bit.
Monday, March 13, 2017
It was a game day but as we were staying downtown we had plenty of time to get in some sight-seeing.
After a fun day taking in the New York sites we headed back to the hotel and got ready for the hockey game. Madison Square Gardens is the oldest rink in the NHL but has undergone some renovations over the years. It is a great spot to watch a game and the fans are very much into the game, cheering and booing throughout. The Rangers were hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning in front of a sold-out crowd of just over 18, 000. Tampa won 3 – 2.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
We woke up to the remains of a monster storm that had dumped tons of snow and ice on New York. All three airports were closed and no planes were able to land so that meant the Winnipeg Jets couldn’t get into town for their game against the New Jersey Devils so the game scheduled for Tuesday night was cancelled. Out of over 1300 NHL games for the whole season, only 2 were cancelled all year!! Strangely enough, Broadway shows were still running so Adam and I grabbed tickets to Book of Morman and had a great time. Really fun show and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
We woke up and headed to Philidelphia to catch the Flyers hosting their arch-rivals (and our favourite team) the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a short drive, just over 2 hours and we were at our Holiday Inn situated pretty close to the arena. What’s interesting about Philadelphia is they have built all of their major sports venues in one location so the Wells Fargo Center (hockey/basketball), the Lincoln Financial Field (football) and Citizens Bank Park (baseball) are all in the same area. There is also a retail/entertainment complex that is open for all games. Lots of bars/restaurants etc so you can have a meal and walk to the game. We ate at the Broad Street Bullies pub which had a ton of old Flyers memorabilia. Lots of fun as the Flyers were my childhood favourite team.
The game was pretty interesting as there was a definite “anti-Penguins/Crosby” vibe throughout the arena. Adam had a Crosby shirt on and as we were walking through the concourse a lady with a shirt that said “Crosby Sucks” on it yelled “F… Crosby” as we walked by. First time for that!! Even during the game every time Crosby touched the puck the crowd would boo and chant “Crosby Sucks”. The game ended well for the home team as the Flyers beat the Pens 4 – 0 so most of the fans were in a good mood and we got out of the arena alive.
Thursday, March 16th, 2017
We woke up early and headed SE on the Atlantic City Expressway straight into Atlantic City. Of course, we had Bruce’s song “Atlantic City” blasting as we entered the town…probably not the first people to do that! As I was giving Adam some background on it, I realized it’s a little tough to explain Atlantic City. I tried “Vegas wannabe” but it doesn’t really work as it’s not even close. The one thing Atlantic City does have going for it is the ocean. Always a plus when you can hit the beach after losing a bunch at the tables!
After leaving Atlantic City it is a pretty straight shot north up the coast to one of my highlights, Asbury Park, New Jersey home of the world-famous Stone Pony. The Stone Pony is one of the world’s best-known music venues and has been around since 1974. A huge amount of music legends have played there including, Bon Jovi, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Cheap Trick, Blondie, Meatloaf, Todd Rundgren, Joan Jett, Van Morrison, Live, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Ramones, Peter Frampton, The Black Crowes, Weezer, Maroon 5, The Jonas Brothers, Snoop Dog and of course, the most famous of all, Bruce Springsteen. That is until March 16th, 2017 when a then-unknown superstar in the making known only as Big Tasty took the stage. The rest is history!
From Asbury Park, we drove straight to Brooklyn and our Best Western Plus Hotel pretty close to the Barclays Center, home of the New York Islanders. Now I’m not one to bash anybody but this was easily the worst and scariest hotel we have stayed at in all of our trips. It was about 30 feet from graffiti-filled subway tracks and the small parking area was caged in by a chain-link fence. Not too encouraging when we pulled up!
We dumped our stuff and caught a cab to the Barclay’s Center for the game between the NY Islanders and the Winnipeg Jets. The Barclays Center was also not very impressive. Definitely not designed for hockey and some of the seating sections, including ours, were tough to get to. The game was a good one as we were cheering for Winnipeg and they won 4 – 2. After the game, we grabbed a cab back to our hotel and had a good sleep after a long but very fun day!
Friday, March 17, 2017
We woke up and headed to downtown New York. Normally not a tough drive but it was St Patricks Day and there is a huge parade that pretty much stops traffic in the downtown core. We were staying at the W Hotel right in Times Square which is about as downtown as you can get! Once we made it through the police line to our hotel we dumped our stuff off and went out to catch the parade. It has been happening since 1762, before the signing of the Declaration of Independence and usually has around 200,000 people marching down the street with approx. 3 million spectators. This year that included us! It was a great parade and we stopped into an Irish Pub for a beer afterwards to make it all complete.
Saturday, March 18th, 2017
A good night’s sleep in a great room at the W Hotel and we were off to LaGuardia to catch our return flight. A crazy 10 days with an amazing amount of things seen and done. 6 states, 4 hockey games and the Stone Pony…outstanding!
