2010 flashback

my co-worker is headed to a lacrosse tournament at the meadowlands this weekend.. it had me thinking about this road trip to NJ...
and i read the last post...
gosh for the 2009 2010 season i barely watched football..
i may have pouted in january 2009 but was oblivious to the sport by october...
let's hope this year is better - new stadium and all
and new qb at this end

Pouting continued...

Well at least the beginning of the season started out fun.
Deb and I had such high expectations that pre-season game.
And we both come away empty handed.

Pics from Deb's camera....

She was much better at asking people to take pictures than I am...

Sunday

Drive home..
Not much to be said on that....

Saturday - wedding

A friend of the family got married on Saturday.
So we lounged around in the morning, got ready and headed to Monmouth Beach for the wedding festivities.
I wish I had pictures but both my mom and I have been suffering from digital camera issues.
I know pictures were taken - I just don't know when I will get to see them.
It was a fun day. I got to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen yet on this trip and all the kids. Gosh - it makes me feel a little old. But only a little.

Friday - Strolling the beaches...

We spent Friday beachcombing...

We started in Sea Girt.

Just one last glance in case someone buys it and tears it down. http://www.schwier.com/Sea_Girt_listings.shtml It still looks so beautiful with all the flowers etc. One of these days I will find my shots with the Christmas decorations.

From there we went to Spring Lake. We walked a little along the boradwalk and then went into town for lunch. We walked around there as well.

We circled back around to Manasquan. Walked the inlet and the beach. (This is where the camera started to act up - sorry no pics)

We snuck home for a little bit - afternoon nap and all.

Then back out for dinner. We ate at the Wharfside. Steamers, lobster, baked potatoe, cole slaw, hush puppies, shrimp, scallops.... VERY FULL!!

From there we found parking down a side street and went to the boardwalk.

Deb even played some games and won a prize!

Having made some room from dinner we stopped at Hoffmans on the ride home for ice cream - strawberry bon bon, coconut joy, pralenes & cream, chocolate peanut butter. If we weren't full before we sure were now!

Let's Go Giants!!!!

So here we are... the second half of our NY/New England match up for the day.

Sure it is a preseason game but who cares... And unlike the fans here where I live - these fans were definitely into this game...

There was a group behind us that took to chanting "18 and 1" as often as they could...

Somewhere a wave (yes - a wave) started and it went around the entire stadium at leadt 8 times - I kind of lost count.

And somehow David Carr managed to pull of a pretty good game (Yes - that irked me some - why the heck couldn't he have figured that out last year...? For those not in the know - when Jake Delhomme was injured last year, David Carr was the back up QB for the Cats...)

It was all so much fun!!!!

I am so glad I have such good friends to give me the tickets and provide the transportation and join me on such a fun day!!!!

Skyscaper vs. Stadium

I have a friend that has occassionally mentioned that it would be cool to build a skyscraper. And every time I see one in construction I think of that comment. But I don't know.... I am thinking building a stadium looks pretty darned cool too... This will be ready for next season...

Off to the next Stadium

We slowly made our way out of the city, over the GWB towards the Meadowlands.

I don't know if I have ever approached the Meadowlands from the north before. It was neat.

Brendan Byrne arena has been renamed many times over... I would never have thought IZOD would be that recognizable of a branding - especially on an arena... but there she is.

Xanadu is also opened at this time. Supposedly it is an indoor ski resort. Go figure... My friend's husband's company did work on the construction of Xanadu so it was cool to at least drive by it.

End of an Era....

Of course I took tonnes of pictures of the stadium. It is the last season for this stadium. We walked by the new stadium. It looks impressive. They handed out DVDs with a virtual tour of the new stadium. I have yet to look at it.

Boys of Summer

As Drue can attest - my affinity for the Yankees has more to do with Jeter and A-Rod than anything else. And from our spectacular seats I did try to get some pics.

However it was Giambi that saved the day!

You know you just have to wonder....

Yankee Stadium

There was a 45 minute delay on the GWB and we weren't even close to that exit - so we opted for the Lincoln Tunnel instead. Let me tell you - I am so accusomed to taking the train into the city that when we emerged from the tunnel I so did not have my bearings as to where we were. Thankfully the Jeep had GPS and Steven was driving. We found our way OK to the stadium.

Steve let us out near the Stadium and went to find parking. Lee helped us figure out where our seats were and the day was off to a great start!

Thursday - work side trip

I did have a call on Thursday morning for work. I am so gald that everyone kept to the agenda and the time frame so we were able to hit the road a little after 10am.
We were to meet Steve and Lee at exit 109 but somehow as the cards fell - we met at Cheesequake. And we were off...

Wednesday

I was to have a call for work this morning. It was postponed somewhere during my 11 hours on the road on Tuesday. Instead of the call I just did work from home. It was my intention since I took the previous day to do the drive. I think that worked out well.
Then the little guy and I took a drive to the airport. It's not a bad ride. About 45 minutes.
Of course we stopped for gas on the way - AAAAHHHH - NJ - we don't have to get out of the car.... Someone else pumps the gas for us. Even better they gave B some treats! Lucky dog! He got treats at the drive through at the bank the night before...
Navigiating the toll plazas up the Parkway and Turnpike are always fun. After a while you get good at tossing coins out the window. But when you are away for a while... We did fine.
We picked up Deb and headed home. With event however - I missed the exit for the Turnpike and ended up in Elizabeth. Always fun... That side of NJ that makes people wonder why it is called the Garden State. So it took us a little longer to get home than 45 minutes.
Once we were all settled we hit Squan Tavern for dinner.... MMMMMMmmmmmm - pizza....
http://www.squantavern.com/
And then settled in for our big day Thursday...

Tuesday

So the little guy and I got up pretty early on Tuesday morning and hit the road at 5:30am.
We made pretty good time.
We stopped for some breakfast while still in NC. I know I brought cereal and a bowl and was planning on just getting some milk. But I got a Bojangles biscuit instead.
http://www.bojangles.com/promotions_tvradio.html (the "show me the chicken" commercial should not be missed)
We made it to Fredericksbyrg before needing to stop for gas. There is definitely something to be said for highway miles vs. city miles. This is where I had originally planned on staying the night. But given the early departure time vs. the after work departure time... we kept going.
We stopped in Maryland and then drove on through to NJ.
As much as I like to say it takes about 10 hours it is truly around 11 hours. Plus whnever I get home I drive around the long way to my parent's house. It just seems more like going home than the back roads off the highway.