Coming off three hours of sleep and waking up at 4 am, I somehow got a red hot core workout in. From the time I left the apartment to the moment I was sitting at the gate at Newport News airport, maybe 20 minutes had elapsed. It took the crew 30 minutes to de-ice the plane, but I landed in Philly and quickly headed for the Admirals Club. I got some free avocado toast with fruit and OJ. Alcohol was certainly considered, but it seemed a little early. Mom joined me after flying in from Chicago and we flew to Providence, landing 30 minutes early. I had no desire to be in the entire region of New England, especially since Satan had recently given them another sports title. But this was for my grandfather and to pay my respects. It's just that the timing was horrible.
After I collected the luggage, we got our rental car, a Ford Fiesta. Downtown Providence drove have been out of the way, so instead, we drove to downtown Warwick. We ate brunch at the Shanty, I had a good feeling I wanted to go there, the Yelp reviews looked outstanding. We arrived during brunch hours and that was one packed lot. We had to park our car over at the adjacent pharmacy, which was closed on Sunday. There was a 45 minute wait at 12:30, but thankfully I was able to find two seats at the bar. The Shanty is one small room with a packed rectangular bar in the center and maybe 20 small tables surrounding it.
We started splitting the bacon and Brussels salad. Apple cider vinaigrette, large chunks of seared pork belly, goat cheese, cucumber, tomato, the sprouts were split in half and seared... absolutely fantastic. I then got the chicken sandwich with avocado, bacon, and rosemary aioli on ciabatta. Very very good. Oh and the fresh cut fries were marvelous, though they could have used a little salt. Mom didn't like the taste of the lobster roll, she wasn't sure if it was a different seasoning or the quality of the lobster itself.
There were weird moments during that brunch. Mom rolled her eyes when I turned the Rangers game on through my phone. I later saw a guy in a Rangers hat across the bar, so I kept him in the loop during the first period. Also, there were two girls sitting next to me at the corner of the bar, looked like pals in college. Mom said one was definitely interested in me, but I didn't see it. The girl was from northern Virginia, so I immediately thought.. high maintenance. Not proud of that. I guess I've been screwed around with so hard that I find it hard to imagine I'd be liked by a decent woman.
Mom and I then drove for an hour or so down Route 1 to Uncasville, since we were spending the night at the Fairfield Inn, near the Mohegan Sun. It was a good sized room for two people. The bathroom was on the opposite side of the entrance, an unusual setup, but it worked out pretty well. It had two TVs. And it's nice that the hotel does offer prompt service to and from the Sun, though not until 4pm.
To get to the gym, I had to walk through the indoor pool area. So the chlorine smell got into the gym and it got pretty heated. The result of that was when I was running the next morning, after a while, I had the pool room sweats going. Not the best design. They did have a good amount of free weights and cardio equipment.
Anyway, I spent the late afternoon and evening at Mohegan Sun, probably the best casino in America. Mom and I got off the shuttle, checked our coats, and immediately marched to Frank Pepe's for some real coal fired pizza. We got a medium pizza with shrimp and roasted peppers, which we'd had a few years before and it just hooked us. Awesome as always, especially with a little oregano, pepper, and cheese. We almost finished the whole thing. By the last slice, I was eating just the toppings. My friend Joe arrived up top of the nearby escalator at Carlo's bakery. I had to get some crrumb cake, even though it cost me eight bucks. Oh and over a dollar of that was taxes. Ridiculous.
Anyway, we went to the Landsdowne, the Irish pub, where Joe ordered a turkey sandwich. He bought me a Jameson and ginger ale, probably an attempt to calm my stomach after munching on all those carbs. After a drink, we stopped at the Wolf Den, where singer/songwriter
Elise Davis was performing a free concert. Just her on guitar, along with a three piece band on bass, drums, and steel guitar. Can't have enough steel.
Joe made a Krispy Kreme stop and left to drive back home. So I was on my own. By this point, I was basically spent. Think about it. I had up since 4 am, and I wasn't feeling hungry, I had no desire to gamble, I wasn't feeling focused or concentrated enough. After a little window shopping at Yankee Candle, I stopped at Comix roadhouse for some live music and a couple of drinks. It was two guys on guitar, playing country and rock, and that was fine with me.
I drank a John Daly, followed by a Cold Snap beer. But I could feel the isolation set in. The people around me were getting loud and that just wasn't what I was in the mood for. Plus at the table behind me, there was some 50 year old prick flirting at a table of three young women. He could have been some random drunk, he could have been their sugar daddy, I don't freaking know. I couldn't be around it. I needed to relax and just feel melancholy. The energy in the room wasn't fitting me. Part of me wanted a cheeseburger at Bobby Flays, but I just couldn't do it. Physically or mentally. I left the property at 10:30 and stepped out into the snowy night, before boarding the shuttle to take me back to the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment