Day 37

Today was full of emotions. It was our last day of the trip, we expected it to be an emotional roller coaster. The first was probably anger…on our last day, we had to be in the car driving by 4am. So following our short nap, we said bye to Joe and were on our way. He was thrilled to be up that early to send us off.

The final car ride was similar to all the others. Sometimes people were sleeping, sometimes people were teasing, and a lot of the time, we were laughing. We reminisced over “old” memories from the trip and joked about what future adventures we would have. We talked about some of our favorite memories, counted up the number of hours of baseball we watched, and went through Tim’s book for one epic box score.  The details from that box score can be found below. We made our last of many Dunkin Doughnuts stops, filled up the tank one last time, and it was finally, officially, the home stretch. We were less than 100 miles from Milwaukee, and that’s when the relief probably hit in. The trip was practically over. No more uncomfortable rides in the back seat, no more arguing over who gets which bed wherever we are staying. No more waiting for what seemed like forever to get into the bathroom at the hotels. No more 3am awakenings. No more brushing our teeth in gas station bathrooms. Only 1 more game to go.

At this point, the disbelief probably started to begin as well. Only 1 more game to go. Tomorrow, we would all wake up in different places, some of us in different states. We would go on with our lives, and this would be a pleasant, but distant, memory.

The next emotion was probably frustration. We had a huge tailgate planned, and while we love everyone that would be there, we got a lot of questions we couldn’t answer. What time are we leaving? Where is everyone else? When will you be here? What’s the plan? It’s hard to plan something you can’t really be at. Thank goodness for Amanda for taking point on this, because everyone got to Miller Park safe and sound.

On our way through Milwaukee, we took a bit of a detour. We drove through the Marquette neighborhood, saw all of our old houses and apartments, drove past Megan’s Whale Wall, now known as the Dolphin Wall, and made our way to Miller Park. We were home.

We got out of the car, had our first group hug of the day, and the party was underway! Miller Park knows how to tailgate. Some other teams try to have fun before the game, but no one can beat Brewers fans. We all had family and friends in for the celebration, and we all went our separate ways to mingle and catch up. We were all asked what our favorite parks and memories were, and we were all glad we had prepped for these kinds of questions. The parents did a great job on the food and beverage selection, and we had a great time! This is where the happy set in.

Nestor and Jenn joined us for the tailgate and they brought Jack Harbaugh along. For those of you who might not know, Jack was a great football coach, and is the father of two NFL coaches, John who coaches for the Ravens, and Jim who coached for the 49’ers and now is the head coach for Michigan. It was fun to see our 30 in 30 buddies again, and we helped spread the word about signing up for the bone marrow registry.

We effectively passed out all of the tickets and everyone made it into the game. The four of us had planned on sitting next to each other, like we always do, but with so many other friends and family there, we got pretty separated.

The game was pretty good I think… Tim still kept score, but generally, we weren’t paying too much attention. There were too many distractions! We all had a great time though. It would have been nice to see a Brewers win at home, but what can you do? Each of us got to see our team win somewhere, and we all had fun. We sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame for the 30th time and then the game was over. We went to the team store for our final souvenirs and the trip was officially officially done.

Sadness set in pretty hard here. We all have some great plans for the rest of the summer or, for some of us, our lives. We said our “I love you’s,” “I’ll miss you’s,” and our “I can’t wait to see you’s.” And slowly, but eventually, made our way to our respective cars. We have reunions planned in the near and distant future. We will be taking a group IKEA trip in August and having a fondue party with all of our least favorite foods around World Series time. We know we will all be friends for life and see each other as often as we can, but the last 37 days, were some of our favorite.

Now we have some feelings of gratitude. This trip has been, and will be done by plenty of other people, in probably a shorter amount of time. We get that. We aren’t super unique, nor are we trend setters. However, we got to go on one of the best trips ever. It wasn’t the games that made it special, nor was it the parks. It was all of the memories that we made and all of the people that we got to see: aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, siblings, friends, Marquette Alum, and strangers. We can all tell hundreds of stories about this trip, and that’s what’s important.

A lot of people take some great trips after they graduate. We got to see the country, well actually, the continent, and make some incredible memories. Megan starts work on Tuesday and classes again in the fall, Tim and Andrew are spending some time at home before work begins later in July and Rebecca is still waiting to hear back on some of her plans. We all have new adventures to worry about, but this trip is one that we will keep for a lifetime.

We thank all of you for reading this blog and being able to be a part of this trip with us. We thank each other for providing the encouragement we each needed to make it through each of the days, even when it got hard. And, we thank Marquette for bringing us all together. How many people can say they went on the trip of a life time with three of their best friends? I’m thankful that I can say I have.

Road Trip Box Score: everything from time in the car to pitches thrown.

Day 36

We were officially out of free days. The reason we had so many stacked on the end of the trip was so we could go make up a game if it got rained out. According to the weather report, we were supposed to have thunderstorms throughout the day and during prime game time for the Cardinals game. We have had such good luck, we were hopeful that we would be able to finish up the trip. 

  Joe let us sleep in a bit and treated us to cinnamon French toast while we figured out a game plan. Our friend Brian, from Marquette, met up with us and we drove over to the arch. We got a bit of a later start than we anticipated, but we were still able to get a good tour time. Instead of bumming around the Arch grounds for a few hours, we spent some time at the City Museum. It was so much fun. We went crawling through tunnels, climbed a million flights of stairs, and went down a couple of huge slides (one of them was 10 stories high). Joe said that we probably saw 7% of the whole thing while we were there, so naturally we have decided to come back and visit. 

  Our trip up to the top of the arch was fun. Everyone in our group had been up to the top except for Tim before this. He handled the height like a trooper. The view was pretty good, because the clouds were clearing up. We had yet to have any rain, and were keeping our fingers crossed. 

 We went to Pappy’s for a late lunch, which is known for their ribs. For the six of us, we ordered The Adam Bomb, a slab of ribs, a brisket sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich, a quarter of a chicken, a frito pie, an additional slab of ribs, a BBQ salad, six sides, and bread. And we ate the whole thing. Joe picked a good place. 
  When we were in Baltimore, we heard about a couple, Nestor and Jen, that would be doing a 30 games in 30 days trip for bone marrow. We weren’t really sure what that meant, but we thought it was cool. A few days ago, they reached out to us and told us we would be at the Cardinals game at the same time as them if we wanted to meet up! It turns out they are doing their 30 day tour, and in as many parks as possible, are setting up a booth where people can register for the bone marrow registry. It’s a great way for them to find new people. Jen was saved by a bone marrow transplant a year ago today, and they are determined to help anyone else that needs it. The four of us registered and swapped some stories. We will get to see them tomorrow too, because they will be in Milwaukee. 

We weren’t just at any Cardinals game tonight, we were at a Cubs-Cardinals game. Tim proudly walked around in his Cubs gear all day, and received a lot of attention from the St. Louis locals. 

  We got a few drops of rain, and that was it. The thunderstorms weren’t going to hit St. Louis, and we were golden. Overall it was a pretty good game. The Cardinals tied it up 2-2 in the 8th and won 3-2 in the 10th. 

  We got back to Joe’s place for our last night of the trip. We won’t be going to bed, we will be taking a nap. It’s hard to believe that in less than 24 hours the 4 of us won’t be together anymore. It’s even harder to believe that this trip is almost over. 

Day 35

Today began our second of two back-to-back free days. We had a delicious egg casserole, courtesy of Tim’s mom and decided to go out to the batting cages before driving to St. Louis. 

  We brought a couple of bats with us, no batting gloves and used the far too large batting helmets they had for us. Rebecca and Megan went into some softball cages, and Tim and Andrew stuck with baseballs. We all had some pretty good hits. The girls hurt their hands a bit, they were just a bit sore. The boys, who were hitting without gloves, ended up making and ripping open some blisters. Overall we had a fun time. It was nice to mix it up a bit.  

 Since today was the 25th of June, we were officially 6 months away from Christmas!! Before the trip we decided that we would only listen to Christmas music on this day, so we did. It was nice to mix it up a bit, and we all got to hear our favorites. Today was also the day that Seinfeld became available on Hulu Plus. Megan and Tim sat in the back watching a few episodes. Megan found Seinfeld much more enjoyable than Monty Python…

We stopped for lunch at a Chick-fil-a in Missouri. We made it just in time, because the staff was setting up for a Daddy Daughter Date Night event. They were pulling out all the stops complete with flowers, tablecloths, and balloons. We wish we could have stayed, but we had other things on the schedule.

We pulled into St. Louis around dinner time and picked up our friend Joe. We went to Bailey’s Range. It was another filling meal of burgers, shakes, and fries. The food was great and the company was better. When we left the restaurant it was just beginning to rain. After a few minutes in the car, after successfully maneuvering around the car that parked in the dead center of the parking lot, it began to pour. Not just raining, pouring sheets of rain. It was hard to see but we made it back to Joe’s. Unloading the car in the pouring rain was interesting. Nothing fell in the monstrous puddles we were working with, but nothing got into the apartment dry. 

After a quick costume change, we settled in to watch the Princess Bride. Tim, Rebecca, and Joe love the movie. Andrew had never seen it, and Megan wasn’t thrilled with the movie choice. There was plenty of quoting and laughing, and Andrew thought it was great. Megan was still not impressed. She did get a nice back massage from Joe, so everyone had a pretty good night. 

Day 34

Today was our first of two back-to-back free days, but it wasn’t really free from baseball at all. We didn’t have a MLB game on the schedule, but we did have a college World Series game!

  We left Minnesota with a bit of a plan. We could have seen Field of Dreams, but that would have added on another 3 hours to our trip. The other option was to just drive straight to Omaha. We decided that 3 hours was a few too many. We stopped in Des Moines for lunch and went to a place called Zombie Burger, at our friend Alexa’s (an Iowa native) suggestion. It was decked out in all things zombie. They specialized in crazy shakes and burgers, some complete with buns made out of mac n cheese. We enjoyed our burgers, fries, and cereal shakes, and ate way too much before getting back in the car for the rest of the ride. 

We spent some time at Tim’s house before going to our third meal of the day at Village Inn to meet up with some of his high school friends, Pat and Hoover. On Wednesdays, you get free pie with any purchase, so we got some pie. It was fun to see some of his old friends. We also got some great insight on where to find a Hawaii license plate. We have been playing the license plate game over the trip and the only one we were missing was Hawaii. It turns out, Creighton University has a very high Hawaiian population, and a lot of them bring cars here. 

  With dinner and our new found license plate information, we went to the World Series game. Through Tim’s dad’s connection with Union Pacific, we got parking, great seats, and dinning passes (for meal number 4). When we walked into the dining hall, we were all too stuffed to partake, but they had a full cooler of soda and water, so we frequented that. 

It was the final game of the College World Series, Vanderbilt against Virginia. Virginia was the underdog, and we were conveniently sitting in their section, so we cheered for them. Virginia came out with the win (4-2), the first World Series title for their school, and they did so with a relatively young team. It was a fun game, but the college games move a lot slower than the professional ones. 

  After the game we drove over to Creighton to meet up with our friend Erik. Erik is currently a law student at Marquette, but completed his undergraduate degree at Creighton. It was nice to catch up with him and get a late night tour of the campus before driving back to Tim’s place for the night. While on the tour we saw some nice buildings, some cool statues, but most importantly, a Hawaii license plate in one of the student parking lots. 

Day 33

After a French toast breakfast and a lesson on how to use an eyelash curler, we left Mount Prospect. Since we had to drive through Wisconsin to get to Minnesota, we stopped in Cascade, WI to see Megan’s grandma and cousin, Jena and her son Oliver. It was a nice little pit stop and great to see some more of Megan’s family. 

  We took a quick drive through Plymouth, WI (Megan’s hometown) before continuing onto Minnesota. The plan was to meet up with Tim’s Uncle Mike and Aunt Betsy, grab dinner, and go to the game. It was Mike and Betsy’s wedding anniversary, so we were lucky to be able to spend the evening with them. They took us to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse downtown. When we got in, Mike told us that he saw a guy walk in that looked just like Tim’s dad. It turns out, Tim’s parents drove up from Omaha to surprise us and join us for the game. We learned to master the art of our red and green “feed me” cards and ate way more than we should have. 
  The group of us walked to Target Field and Tim’s Uncle Mike surprised us with 4 seats right behind the Twins dugout. Rebecca took off her White Sox jersey and we had a great time. The stadium’s look is very different than most parks in terms of exterior. The stone used is beautiful, and aspects of that stone work can be found in the park as well, including the dugout. 
  We had been in touch with the Twins before the start of the trip, and were able to get on the jumbotron and they supplied us with some Twins gear, including both baseball caps and winter caps. 
We hoped with our proximity to the players, we would be able to get a ball or two. Unfortunately, there were too many cute kids in the surrounding area, so we were overlooked when they were being thrown to the crowd. Since we were in the first section, complete with padded seats, we had access to the field level lounge. We now know where all of the fancy seat holders go during a rain delay. Thankfully the weather was perfect for baseball, so we didn’t need to hide out there at all. 
  The Twins were playing the White Sox, it was our second time seeing this game, and our second time with nice, up close and personal seats. This was also the second time we saw the Sox beat the Twins. The final score came out to be 6-2. 
  After the game we drove out to Mike and Betsy’s house to stay for the night. We stayed up a bit catching up with Tim’s parents and turned in, looking forward to back-to-back free days. 

Day 32

Since the Indians won their game, we had the opportunity to each get a free iced coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts. We found one close by the hotel, in a nearby hotel. It was on one of the lower levels, which meant we had to go down an escalator. Today was a very silly day, so the four of us proceeded to run down the UP escalator to get to our coffee. We successfully conquered it, but the karma bit us in the butt at the Dunkin. Our drink orders got a bit messed up, but what can you do? 

  We got to Chicago pretty quickly and stopped by Rebecca’s house. We did a little shopping around the area and then met up with our friend, Amy, from school at Portillos for lunch. We enjoyed hot dogs, Italian beef, cake shakes, and cheese fries. It was fun catching up with Amy and trying a typical Chicago meal experience. 

We drove down to Wrigleyville and walked to Murphy’s where we met up with Rachel and Liam, two of Rebecca’s friends from high school, and Rebecca’s Uncle Kevin. After enjoying a few Green Lines it was time for the game. 

  Wrigley has been under construction for a while to add in a jumbotron and new bleacher seats. It doesn’t look bad, it just doesn’t really fit. Wrigley was one of the oldest parks still being used and the screens just make it look weird. It’s nice to see a replay, but the Cubs are almost overusing their new toy. We saw replays a lot more regularly than at other parks. 

  For the last few days, there have been large storm warnings for Chicago for the duration of the game. Per usual, we came up with our rain out contingency plan. It got a little dicey for a while, the sky was a Wizard of Oz like green. We were ready for the sky to open up, but it only rained for a little at the park. We got very lucky again. 

  The Cubs were playing the Dodgers tonight, so it was a pretty important game for Tim. He had been given birthday money to update our seats for this game, so we were on the 100 level, right off of 1st base. Rebecca’s mom and sister, Kathleen, as well as Rachel and Liam joined us for the game. 

The game kept us entertained. Every run scored during the game was a home run, which was really neat. The teams played through the rain, so we didn’t have a rain delay, and the Cubs won 4-2. 

  After the game we had a quick visit with Rebecca’s Aunt Tina, and drove back to Mt. Prospect for the night. We didn’t eat much at the park, so we made a late night deep dish run at Mugavero’s. We were able to enjoy both Chicago hot dogs and pizza today, which make for a good day any day. 

Day 31

Happy Fathers’ Day! Our gift to Andrew’s father was getting up around 4:30 in the morning and making noise while packing up the car. Andrew’s parents saw us off, and we got on the road to Cleveland for an afternoon game. 

  The Indians were one of the teams that we got to know pretty well in the planning process. Ryan, part of the Indians Communication Team, helped us become a part of #TribeLive. It is a program where fans are given free tickets, and a great view of the game! In exchange for the tickets, all we had to do was Tweet about our game day experience! It was a lot of fun, and we got to meet some great Indians fans, Tom and Diane, who were also a part of #TribeLive. 

  Since it was Fathers Day, Megan’s parents decided to make a special trip out to Cleveland to join us for the game. It was great to have a dad around to spend the day with, and now all of us have gotten to go to a game with our Dads on the trip! They had seats in the upper deck, so we went back and forth between our #TribeLive seats and theirs. We were also able to give Tim a bit of a surprise at this game. For the past two days, we have been talking with his Mom and Aunt Carolyn to arrange her seats to the Indians game to be right next to Megan’s parents. He had no idea she was coming, so it was a great surprise. 

  The game went very, very quickly. The Indians beat the Tigers 1-0 with a walk off in the bottom of the 9th. 

  We had another close call getting a perfect game. Tampa was perfect through 5 and 1/3 innings, but then our dream of seeing a perfect game went out the window. There were a couple people jinxing it. You know who you are, and we blame you.

  After the game, we watched kids play catch with their dads on the field before leaving. The Indians have a really good system going. The field is always open for these kinds of activities after Sunday games. We walked to our hotel to check in and then walked to church. The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist was just a short walk away. It was a good service with an interesting homily. The inside of the cathedral was beautiful. We have been really lucky to see a few amazing churches on this trip. 

After mass we want to Hard Rock Cafe – Cleveland with Megan’s parents. This is one of their go-to vacation dinner spots. When they go to a new one, they get a souvenir glass. We all know this, so over the course of the trip, whenever we see a Hard Rock, we ask Megan if they have been to that one yet. They had been to the Cleveland one already, but that didn’t stop us from having a great time and a good dinner. 

We had plenty of time after dinner to hang out, and our hotel had a pool. We spent some time down there, and realized why most people only do this trip in 30 days. It’s because day 31 is when the silliness begins. We all had fun in the pool and hot tub, but we (Megan and Tim especially) embraced their inner child and splashed around more than the couple of 12 year olds they were trying to show up. It was a hoot and a half! We wore ourselves out, but we can turn in a little earlier than usual, and get an average nights sleep before Chicago tomorrow.

Day 30

We have gotten to sleep in before, but it’s usually been in a hotel. We had all morning to bum around Andrew’s house and enjoy a lazy Saturday complete with homemade pancakes before driving into New York. It was an especially eventful ride because we got to drive over the bridge to the Holland tunnel 3 times to get there. We realized that we had left the tickets behind a little too late. Despite that little setback, we still made pretty good time into the city. 

  We went to Zum Schneider, an authentic German beer garden. The 7 of us decided to go for a monster platter to share along with out beer and pretzels. It came with at least 6 types of sausages, pork chops, thick bacon, potatoes, sauerkraut, and plenty of mustard. None of us left hungry after that meal. 

We figured out our plan for the train, and found out everyone else in NYC had the same one. The cars were packed pretty full, and the trains were moving very slowly. That equation made for some irritable riders, but we dealt with their snarky-ness and made it to Yankee Stadium all the same. 

  This was our only time on the trip seeing the Yankees, so we were all expecting big things. In the original schedule, we were supposed to be in New York yesterday and Philly today. We switched the game order so that we could go to the Yankees’ Old Timers’ Day. If we had gone yesterday, we would have seen A Rod’s 3,000th hit. Today had to be a good day. 

We got into the park around 4, the earliest we had ever gotten to 7:15 baseball game and enjoyed the festivities. We witnessed Willie Randolph be inducted into Memorial Park, and got to see a great game of Old Timers’ baseball! 

  The Yankees were off to a good start after the 1st inning, and the hits kept coming. They were playing the Detroit Tigers, and this is not how we remembered the Tigers playing at all. Usually they move the game along pretty quickly and put some hits up on the board. The Yankees blew them out of the water with a final score of 14-3. 

  Andrew’s family came with us to this game, and it was a lot of fun to have such a fun group of Yankees fans at a game like this. We learned about a few other interesting fans at the game. Our trip is pretty unique, but we aren’t the first to try to see all 30 parks in about a month, and we won’t be the last. We saw in the Daily Herald (a Chicago based newspaper) that there were two guys doing the trip in 30 days too! It turns out that they were at the Miami game and the Phillies game at the same time as us, and they were at the Yankees game on the same night too. We tried to meet up with them for a picture and to trade some stories, but we ran out of time. Don’t worry though, we will all be at the Cubs game at the same time too, there is still hope for a photo opportunity! 

We had a pretty smooth ride back on the subway to the car and had a nice walk through the night life of the city before getting back to Andrew’s house. Going to bed will be more like a nap, we have about 4 hours before we need to be in the car again.

Day 29

We spent the morning with Tim’s grandparents eating kugen and playing password. They sent us on our way with plenty of cookies and safe travel wishes.  

 The drive to Philidelphia went pretty smoothly and when we got in, it was time for Philly Cheese Steaks. We had been given a few recommendations, and decided to go with Pats. The first parking spot we found was the closest one to the restaurant, so the meal was off to a good start before it began. We all ordered wit and sat down for a messy, great, classic Philly meal. The girls were pretty full, and then Andrew got up to go across the street to Genos, the other philly place we were told to try. Tim and Andrew both got another, and determined that the cheesesteaks from Pats were better. While the boys were enjoying their second meal, the girls explored around the corner and found Cafe Crema, a cute bakery that specialized in cannoli. We each wanted one mini one, but wouldn’t you know it, they only sell the mini by the half dozen. So we got six. Two for each of us and one for each of the boys. They were perfect! The boys were probably a little too full to fully enjoy theirs, but through the girls persistent encouragement, they were all eaten. 

  After our late lunch we parked at the stadium and began to explore Citizens Bank Park. We were lucky enough to have tickets to go during a theme night, and got to participate in 60’s night. We heard some of the best in-game music of the trip and the Phillies made it really fun. We got to see a few tribute bands for Jimmy Hendrix (who played the national anthem), the Beatles, and the Monkees. 

The Phillies took on the Cardinals, and we weren’t surprised by the outcome. The Phillies aren’t having a great season, and the Cardinals are one of the best teams in baseball right now. Megan took over as official score keeper for this game, and Tim was there to help her when things got confusing. The Cardinals won 12-4. 

  The game had its exciting moments, as most ball games do, but tonight we saw something pretty unique. I encourage you to google for a video. A squirrel managed to get into the park, and was climbing the net behind home plate before running along the top wire and falling into the Cardinals dugout. You read it right, into, not on. He landed on a couple of players and then went to hiding under the camera mans stand. We learned most of the details after the fact, but we saw the fall, and the reaction from the crowd on that end of the park was hysterical! 

After the game was done we loaded up the car and drove the long and tiring drive to New Jersey. Just kidding, it was one of our shortest drives of the trip. We got to enjoy some Yuengling beer and homemade pasta sauce before tucking in for night 1 of 2 in New Jersey.

Day 28

Today was another wonderful free day! After enjoying a surprisingly good continental breakfast at the hotel (our first of the trip), we drove from Toronto to Niagara falls for a fun and very wet visit. We started our day off on the Canadian side, Megan and Tim (the only ones to have seen the falls before) said the Canadian side would have the best view. We grabbed lunch at Queen Victoria’s Place, Edgewater and had a great view of the falls from our table. 

  After lunch we walked down the block to Tim Hortons. While you can find them in America, they come from Canada, so we had to get something. Tim Hortons is a doughnut and coffee shop, so Megan and Rebecca both got iced capps and everyone got to try a Timmy Ho’s doughnut.  

Then it was time to go home, we took the Rainbow Bridge back to America. The cross over was very easy, and the international portion of our 37 day adventure came to an end. We have gone into two countries, and we didn’t get a single stamp in our passports.  

  The American side of the falls was breathtaking. Rebecca and Andrew think that is definitely the prettier side. We got tickets to Maid of the Mist, and went on a fun ride along the falls in our big blue ponchos. They were pretty effective, but we still got pretty soaked. 

  After the ride, we went on a walk along the falls, on water soaked steps. Rebecca casually wondered how many people fell each day on the steps. Within 5 minutes of her statement, she ended up ripping a hole in Megan’s poncho to save herself from a nasty tumble. Thankfully Megan didn’t mind too much. The four of us then took our soaked selves up to the observation deck and dried off a bit while enjoying being on top of the world. We ended our Falls stop by walking over to Goat Island to see the Rapids. Overall it was a pretty fantastic afternoon at one of the largest falls in the world. 
  Our next stop was Varysburg, NY (just outside of Buffalo) home of Buffalo wings and Tim’s grandparents. Their house is set in the country with a huge backyard. If anything can make four 22-year-olds act like children, it’s a huge backyard with a creek running through it. Rebecca and Tim both jumped over it a few times. Tim stuck his landings… Rebecca cleared the creek, but her landings were a bit more of thud as her fall wasn’t particularly graceful. Don’t worry, she is okay. We spent time splashing in the creek and turning cartwheels in the yard before going in for dinner. 
  We had authentic Buffalo wings, complete with blue cheese, carrots, celery and local Genesse beer from Rochester. The wings were great and the company was even better. 
  After dinner we took a short walk, just through the backyard, to take a look at some of the exotic animals across the road. We made friends with an ostrich, an emu, and a turtle. After walking a bit farther to the petting zoo, we saw kangaroos, rabbits as big as dogs, peacocks, and goats. It was a great way to spend the evening. 
  We got back to the house and played dominoes until bedtime. Our fourth and final grandparent stop of the trip was a great way to spend our free day.