you are the father...

Earlier this week your very favorite Home Vacation Team went on an excursion to Stamford, Connecticut. This free lifestyle of kicking around and traveling around the area is great, but it still costs money. I need to work. There is a job in Stamford that I applied to and we traveled overnight for the Tuesday interview. We booked a hotel through Hotwire which saved us quite a bit on the eventual stay at a Hilton, though the whole process was a bit unnerving. We didn't know we had a room at a Hilton until I gave them a credit card. Though we got the room at a great price we did not know what amenities were included in that price, such as continental breakfast, parking, wifi, etc.

Sure enough, Hilton had nothing included. Parking was an extra $10.00. Internet in the room was an extra $10.00. If we wanted a king sized bed instead of a double it was another $20.00. There was no continental breakfast included. Sure we got a room for $73.00 with the tax, but it ended up costing up nearly the same as a Super 8, more if you included the price of the breakfast. The room was comfortable enough though and there was a great work out room and a pool, things missing at a Super 8. Also, our room, 431, was situated over the business center and we were able to tap into the wireless connection! So, I guess all in all it was a positive stay, though I will be hard pressed to book through Hotwire again.

Janet loves to research places we are to visit. She is never without a lead or without a map and with this trip to Stamford she tried to satisfy our love of brew pubs. She found SBC Brewery on Summer Street in Stamford, but I guess we are beer snobs. We first split a $5.85 flight of five different beers brewed by SBC and sadly we couldn't taste any difference between them. Mediocre at best, the only thing going for SBC was the price of a pint; just $3.00. We had a plate of acceptable wings at a happy hour price of $5.00 and then moved on. We had a pub meal in one of a number of bars that line Main Street. Tiernan's had a nice selection of beers and we had a decent meal. The burger I had was pricey at $11.95, because there really wasn't anything special about it, but at least the beers were tastier than SBC. They sold pints for $3.00. Tiernan's was clean and pleasant, where SBC seemed dingy, like there was a layer of dust on everything.

Indeed, most of downtown Stamford seemed gritty, empty and edgy to me. There were a number of restaurants and cafes and perhaps we didn't explore it enough, but I was unimpressed. There seemed to be a rough element everywhere we turned. Evidently though there's a lot of work up here and so maybe I'll have to wait to tender a stronger opinion. After our meal we walked a bit, but the heat was too much, so we got into the car and drove around. South of Route 95 the town breaks up into two very diverse areas. The section where the Amtrak is located is particularly gritty and we felt unsafe even in the car, but the area called Shippan point was absolutely lovely with spectacular homes and views. We drove through this area with our mouths agape as we dreamed of a different life.

The next day the interview went well enough. It was for a job that I had held for the past 9 years, which on the surface was a bit annoying. But, it turns out the job function had changed and they wanted to open it up to others. Hopefully I'm qualified to keep my job. I should know soon..... In any event it'll be a helluva commute. All my accumulated knowledge about couch surfing and mooching will come in handy if I get this position.

Before the interview Janet and I checked out of the Hilton and went for a breakfast at Curley's Diner. It's on Main Street. It looks like a wreck. Paint is peeling and the tile is cracked, but it was clean and the food was decent...but of course how could you mess up breakfast. The coffee though was awful....

We had an offer to visit friends who live in Connecticut, but Janet needed to get home, so we took a raincheck. Instead of taking the Tappan Zee Bridge home we drove over the George Washington Bridge. Since seeing a show on the Travel Channel about deep fried foods, Janet had been wanting to visit Rutt's Hutt in Clifton, NJ. I hadn't been there since my adolescent drinking days! I'm not sure if this is a frightening fact or a happy experience, but the place had not changed in 30+ years! There was a pervasive feel of another time in Rutt's Hut, as if old ghosts still linger absently chewing their ethereal hot dogs. Rutt's Hut first opened in 1928. There's a bar and restaurant in the front near the road, but we walked into the somewhat creepy stand up eating area, there are no chairs, and immediately I had a vision of someone passed out under one the counters drunk with his friends hovering over him tossing parts of their Rippers at him. No, no, that wasn't me...I just made that up. But I do remember the florescent lights casting an unearthly pallor on us one dark night after a visit to some gin mill in the area. Well, thankfully large windows in the eating area allowed brilliant afternoon sun to cascade in, dispelling any murky specters after an all-night drinking binge. We bravely ordered a couple of Rippers that were sloshing about in grease behind the counter, one with cheese, $1.98 with tax, .20 cents extra for the cheese. All scepticism dissipated with the first bite. Rutt's Hut calls their deep fried hot dogs Rippers because the skin tears when it's deep friend. Crispy outside, but the inside is soft and juicy. Knowing these things probably were not good for our health, we ordered another one and I drove the rest of the way back to Lambertville using my extended belly to steer the sedan.