Day 77 - 6/30

Instead of going directly into New York City today we opted to enjoy the sunshine. We sat on a bench overlooking the beach at Hecksher State Park reading some of our latest novel for most of the morning. Late morning we headed to Long Beach and sat on the boardwalk basking in the sunshine and enjoying some funny people watching.

We stayed here until it was time to head into the Bronx for the evening’s festivities: a Yankees game!

We made our way through Queens and into the Bronx during rush hour traffic and found our way into a parking garage outside of Yankee Stadium - all before the pouring down rain. But after parking, the sky opened up and it rained and rained. Brett opted to not wait in the parking garage’s protection until the rain ceased and we made a mad dash for the stadium which was a few blocks away. Other than being soaked upon arrival - we made it just fine. (Brett’s raincoat only protected the top part of his shorts and he looked quite funny until they dried.)

Yankee Stadium was actually quite impressive. I enjoyed the photos of the past teams and players plastered around the concourse. The stadium had an intimate feel and we had a fun time exploring it.

We had a yummy dinner during our hour-long rain delay and were shocked at how dry the field was after the amount of rain that had fallen. You can see in the video how much rain came off of the tarp when it was rolled off of the infield - yet when they started playing 20 minutes later, the entire puddle was gone. During the game, no slips or slides - no puddles or mud - it was crazy how dry the field was as so many of the fans were still soaking wet.

Brett was pumped as the game revved up to start - you can see the joy on his face during the Star Spangled Banner in this video. We were lucky enough to watch Mariano Rivera throw out the ceremonial first pitch in honor of his 500th Save during an away game versus the Mets two nights before. The crowd was very excited for Mo - and just as excited when at the end of the night he achieved his 501st Save.

It was a fantastic night - a later night than anticipated thanks to the rain - but a fantastic night. Instead of camping in Connecticut as we had planned, Brett drove straight through to Rhode Island. We arrived in the wee early morning hours and then promptly sleep until noon.