Massachusetts Adventures

The last stop on our Friends & Family Tour across the US was in Amherst, Massachusetts with Sheri's long-time friends, Bill and Laurel. I've known Bill and Laurel since we were all in our mid-teens when we went to the same church. We were in each other's weddings, and their son, Gene, is my godson. Obviously, we go back a long way.

Visiting Bill and Laurel has been a constant in my life in the many places they have lived: Tucson, Boston, Washington D.C., and even Florence, Italy. They are now in Amherst, Massachusetts where Laurel is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a co-editor of the American Sociological Review. In spite of the many important hats she wears at work, she was able to take time to go on some adventures with us. Here's what we got up to!

We arrived just in time for the last day of the maple syrup season, which we celebrated at the Sugar Shack with pancakes drenched in the season's best:

Food was definitely a Massachusetts priority, as Laurel and I always cook up a storm when we are together. This was just one of many delicious meals we cooked up:

We also went wine tasting and brought home a few bottles to go with our fabulous culinary creations:

We got unique drinks at a hidden speakeasy:

I forget what we got, but they were all good!

We enjoyed a delightful dinner with Mark and Elizabeth, Sheri's nearby friends, savoring both the food and the company:

Left to right: Elizabeth, Mark, Bill, Brad, Laurel, & Sheri

We shot some space dorks at a local arcade, which had one of the best old arcade game selections I've seen:

We did Brad's favorite thing and went to a museum to look at stuff on shelves, the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield:

Squinting into the sun in front of Dr. Naismith, the inventor of basketball.

So much great stuff on shelves!:

Even Brad was happy we went when he got a chance to make a slam dunk:

Amazing air time!

Sheri even got a chance to join the Inside the NBA TNT broadcast. Check out the video:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/cd8b9f_3994cfa393b2418c8a480c67ffd61feb/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Sheri and Laurel caught a show at a local club booked as "EXTC" with one original XTC band member, the drummer. Was it really any different than a tribute band? Probably not, but we had fun and the musicians were all excellent.

Hey, he was XTC's drummer from 1972 - 1982. It's almost the same thing as the original!

It snowed! In April!!!!

Almost as much snow as in Minnesota!

Most importantly, we spent lots of time with very good friends, and of course, one very good dog:

Fenway loves me!!

Fortunately, we didn't have to say goodbye to Bill and Laurel at the end of our visit because they came with us on our next adventure, New York City! (coming soon....)