ESPN and Mark Twain?

6:18 am - Saturday - October 6th - Guilford, CT - 54º F, 75% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 67º F.  Up early as we roll our wheels in 2 hours.....headed to NYC!

Since we were in Connecticut, and not that far from Bristol, the world headquarters of ESPN, we decided to do a drive by and get a couple of pictures on our way to Hartford for the day.  Bristol is kind of really out in the middle of no where, and it has always surprised me that was where their headquarters was......

.....they do not give tours at ESPN.  It, as we were told in the 'Welcome Center', is a 'closed campus'.  There are actually two separate facilities......the one in the picture above is the 'North Campus' where all their digital productions are done......

.....all the satellite dishes you see on TV.  I have been a fan of the 'Mike and Mike' show (which no longer is) for years, and am now a fan of the spin off show, Golic and Wingo (Mike Green and Mike Golic split up after 18 years together to do their own separate shows.....the Golic and Wingo show is the more successful of the two spin offs).....

Employee entrance

......after snapping a few requisite pictures to memorialize our visit, we were on our way up to Hartford for the rest of the day.  The home of Samuel Langhorn Clemens, more affectionately known by his 'pen name', Mark Twain, is in Hartford, and TLE wanted to see the museum, and house.  We arrived there around 12:30 pm, and purchased tickets for the 1:30 pm tour of the three story home.....

 One of my favorites.....and it is quite true!

......many of his most famous sayings are inscribed on the marble walls throughout the Museum.....

 A few more of my favorites..."Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence in society."

 "Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live."

So appropriate....even today in the year 2018

 'Lego' Mark Twain

....there is a small theater which plays a 25 minute movie about the life of Mark Twain, and it was probably the highlight, for me, of the entire experience.  Quite informative.  The actual tour of the house takes about 1 hour, and is quite interesting, but, as you might imagine, it seemed quite stuffy inside. The house is pretty well sealed and has air circulating continuously to keep the house at a constant temperature, and humidity level. By the time we were done with the tour I was also 'done' with being inside....

 His home was over 17,000 square feet, and three stories.....

 .....and quite ornate inside and out....we have no pictures of the interior as they are prohibited

 
....here are a few internet photos of a few of the interior areas.....

 Dining room

 Library

Conservatory

.....I am very happy we spent time learning more about Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), and have now set about to read some of his books.  His most successful book (during his lifetime) was also his first......'Innocents Abroad'....I have purchased this book on Amazon and will read it on my Kindle very soon.  By the way, this book still sells for $8 even though it was well over 100 years old (first published in 1869).

By the time we finished with the tour it was just after 2:30 pm.....time for a late lunch!  TLE had located a micro brewery just a few miles from the museum called 'Hooker Brewing Company', so we headed there.  Most micro breweries in this area do not serve food, but Hooker has a limited menu.....

I wanted one of everything on the menu!

.....TLE ordered their version of a milk stout (yummy, by the way), and I their Oktoberfest.....both brews were excellent......

.....for our entrees I ordered their 'Brisket Sliders', and TLE their 'Grilled Cheese Flight' (3 different grilled cheese sandwiches on one plate....they were not very large in TLE's defense).  All the items on their menu are more like appetizers, which was perfect for us.....

.....we love arriving at places like this mid afternoon on a work day.....there were very few people there, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

By the time we had quenched our beer and food habit it was after 3:30 and time to home.  It took almost exactly an hour to cover the 35 miles due to Hartford's 'rush hour' traffic, but what do we care?  What else do we have to do on a lazy Friday afternoon?

We watched a couple of the 4 MLB playoff games on Friday's playoff schedule.  My L.A. Dodgers did not play until 9:37 pm, so we did not watch (in bed by 10 pm as we are leaving early in the morning for NYC), but they did win their game 3-0.  By the way.....I incorrectly stated that all of these series were best 4 out of 7.....they are actually best 3 out of 5.....my bad!

We were home around 4:30 pm, and began discussing our plans for the next three days in NYC.....stay tuned!  It will be a whirlwind three days!

Thanks for stopping by!

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