GRISWOLD 2009 - DAY 3

GRISWOLD 2009 - "GRISWOLDS GO FOR BROKE - THE RECESSION TOUR" - DAY 3

FRIDAY, JULY 10

We began the day with a drive from North Reading to the town of Bristol, RI. There, we visited the Audubon Environmental Education Center. This center was a combination nature trail and indoor museum. We began with a walk through the exhibits in the museum, where we saw this enormous 33-foot, life size right whale. (Which would have made it a younger one.) We were interested to learn that the clusters on the whale aren't barnacles or something similar. Instead, they are excess calcium inside of the whale that breaks out in clusters. No two whales are identical and they can tell each other apart by the clusters.

I'm pretty sure that Erik and Rebecca aren't Pinocchio, but they're doing their best impression anyway.

In a tide pool tank, we saw this unusual blue lobster, starfish and other creatures.

Then in a tank, we saw this most unusual fish. I can't remember it's name, but the face almost looked human.

We left the museum and headed out on a nature trail. We observed a number of lovely wildflowers, among other things.

I think I startled this bee. Thankfully, no one got stung.

We were quiet enough to walk past this bullfrog without disturing it as we walked through the salt marsh on an elevated walkway.

Once we got to the end of the walkway, we took time out to look out at the water and even skip a few rocks. (Dad is still the best rock skipper!)

Then we took the walkway back towards the museum.

From the Audubon Environmental Education Center, we got some lunch and then took a relatively short drive towards Newport. Just outside of Newport, we visited the Newport Vineyards, where we took a short tour and enjoyed a little wine tasting. (Well at least Steve and Anne enjoyed the wine tasting!)

We left the vineyards and headed towards Pawtucket, which is just outside of Providence, RI. There, we took in a Pawtucket (PawSox) Red Sox game at McCoy Stadium. The PawSox are the AAA minor league team of the Boston Red Sox, so we saw a few familiar faces.

Upon entering the stadium, we encounted Paws and Sox, the mascots of the PawSox.

We got to the game early, so we went out to the area outside of left field to sit around and watch batting practice. A home run practice swing sent a ball right next to Steve, but he just leaned out of the way because he was holding a camera. (What a wimp!)

We were able to look into the PawSox bullpen. Yes, on the right of the picture below, those are tomato plants in the bullpen. I hope someone waters those plants during road trips!

Well the sign did say something about "Flying balls, bats, equipment and players".

It was a beautiful night and and enjoyable game, even though there wasn't much hitting or scoring. In the end, the visiting Buffalo Bisons defeated the Pawtucket Red Sox 1-0.

Minor league baseball is a lot of fun. It was a good game and also a quick game. We were able to make the 60+ minute drive home and still be home before 11:00PM. All in all, it was an excellent day!