Day 1
I sat around in Ossining most of Thursday, cruising around town a little during lunchtime, then waited for Andy to get home from work. When he did, we went down to Times Square and took in everything there, including the ESPNZone. We also went by Shea Stadium and to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Andy's main squeeze, Marie.
Leave Ossining and head down to Brooklyn to see CK. That night we went anywhere and everywhere in the city...Brooklyn, Manhattan, Greenich Village...you name it. I also had my first ride on the NYC subway. We met up with fellow UD grads Sherri, Jethro, Renga and Art(?) over the course of the night. CK got a little sleepy, as the right photo shows.
Day 4
We get up and rolling, get some food in us, and CK and I head out to Jersey on a beautiful August afternoon. We arrive at Romeo's estate and we are only there a few minutes when the DC posse rolls in (Casey, Erin, John Grimes and Liz).
Well, with this group you knew one thing was inevitable...beer pong. Casey went up to the local store to pick up some stuff, and sure enough he came back with ping pong balls. Rumor has it that the store owner had to go back to a secret room in the back of his store and gave Casey 3 balls free of charge. All writing on the package was in Chinese or Japanese or something. We didn't ask any questions.
That about wraps it up. I wasn't in great shape on Sunday (those who saw me can attest to that), but I eventually snapped out of my coma and made it home safe and sound nine hours later. I guess final clean-up count was 156 cans of beer drank. Romeo says he's going to make this a yearly thing...it'd be safe to say I think we'll all be back.
After an eight-hour haul I make it to Ossining, NY, to visit my next door neighbor Andy Beegan at his new home. He used to be an eight-second walk away, but now an eight-hour drive.
Day 2
Day 3
At some point that evening we stumbled across an interesting t-shirt at a local stand.
The Lucas house is amazing. Beautiful house, but what was even better was the backyard. This thing went on forever. First was a garden with ponds and fountains and a screened in patio, then a vegetable garden, then, and no joke here, animals. Chickens, roosters, geese and a hound that was fenced in a pen. Behind that was the full-length soccer field with goals on either end. The picture of Casey and Liz shows the soccer field, jean shorts (with utility tool in belt and mesh Boy Scout hat tucked in his pants) and behind them, the animal pens. Then was the party shed type thing. Pillars that were highway guard rails supporting a sheet metal roof, which housed a stocked bar and numerous picnic tables. Behind that was what became the highlight of the estate, however. A little pond with an island which had a bridge going to the island. The pond came complete with a boat. More on that later.
Mr. Steve Buerger arrives soon thereafter from Boston and we begin to chow down. Mrs. Lucas fed us as if we were royalty. We in no way deserved the feast we had. Romeo went to the house once and drove back in his truck. We figured it was because he was tired of walking, little did we know the bed of his truck was full of food. One of the funniest parts of the day was when Rome dipped into the bed of his truck after already pulling out an enormous amount of food and came out with a huge fruit basket. Also, we soon dubbed our little gathering the "East of Chicago Party," since none of you Chicago schmucks ever want to leave your precious Wrigleyville.
That started our demise. Oh yeah, it evolved so that whoever lost had to row a lap in the pond. Another rule was made that if one "lost their cookies" in the boat, they had to do another lap around the pond. This lead to chants of "ONE MORE LAP!" each time someone was about 3/4 of the way through their lap.
That went on until about 2am or so, then we all crashed in Casa Lucas.
Mad props to those I crashed with, Andy, CK and Romeo. Can't give enough love to Mrs. Lucas' cooking either!