ARRL HQ

It was another late morning for us -- about 8:30 a.m. before we left the Inn. Our plan today was to rent a car and head into Connecticut for a visit to the American Radio Relay League's headquarters. We also thought it would be nice to get outof town and see some of the beautiful and plush views the countryside. We made it to Alamo about 8:45 and were set up with a Ford Fusion. We left the garage around 9 a.m. and, with the aide of our trusty GPS, made our way out of Manhattan. Let me say this: There is a LOT of traffic in New York City. It took us a long, LONG, L-O-N-G  time to get off the island. With the confusion of the one-way streets and construction detours, it took us nearly an hour to go the few miles to get to, and over, the Triboro Bridge and on our way.

Once we got rolling, things went fine and we made it to Newington Connecticut just in time for a 1 o:clock tour. We met our tour guide, Rudy, and took a nice leisurely look at the radio league's facilities. Visiting the original building was a treat, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was most interested in seeing the "Diamond Terrace" in front of the entrance. The Diamond Terrace is a patio made of  "memorial bricks" with various inscriptions. I had one placed in Portia's honor in 2006. We thanked our guide and said so-long to the nice people at the ARRL and set out for the drive back to the City.. It was a great visit.

Linda drove back into New York.We got back about 6 p.m. and made our way over to the local Loew's Theater to see the new Total Recall film. Since it started at 7, and we had about an hour to kill, we took advantage of one of the many pizza joints along 2nd Avenue near 33rd Street. Needless to say, the pizza was exceptional -- if you haven't had a chance to stop into one of the these little places in NYC, I highly recommend it to you. You won't be disappointed!!

Tomorrow we're planning to take the subway to Coney Island and take in Nathan's Famous (hot dogs), see the Cyclone and take a ride on the Wonder Wheel.  We'll also visit Brighton Blvd and the famous Coney Island boardwalk.

Stay tuned for a full report in tomorrow's blog entry.

Ciao for now...