Apparently, according to some locals, about 40 houses in East Haven had been destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, but the town is extremely quaint and picturesque now.
Afterwards, we hit the road north to Springfield, MA where we first stopped at the Basketball Hall of Fame. I was there about 20+ years ago and they have since moved into a new building. While the architecture is nice from the road (looks like a ball), when you get to the parking lot, the sign "Basketball Hall of Fame" gets as much prominence as the adjoining restaurants. Honestly, it was tacky.
Nadia said it best, "Is the Hall of Fame in the mall?"
The HOF itself was fine with some nice memorabilia but the NFO and I both thought that the Football Hall of Fame was better because they did a much nicer job of connecting the history of the sport to American history overall.
There was some of that in Springfield, but not as well done.
The whole building circles around a large basketball floor on the main level and it's open. The consequence is that, while you are reading the exhibits and watching videos, you hear non-stop bouncing of balls and people shouting about their shots. Plus, the obvious corporate tie-ins (a room dedicated to Nike) just made it feel a bit cheap. Look at the sponsorship list for the enshrinement ceremony and you get the picture. I wasn't so impressed by it. It was good, just not great.
What was great was the Dr. Seuss Museum we visited afterward. It was magical. Imagine walking through a Dr. Seuss book and you know what it was like. Really first rate. I loved it.
In the same complex (and you get admission to all with your ticket price), there is the museum of fine arts where we had the chance to see some Monet, Picasso, and some other great works as well.
Tomorrow, off to Vermont....
Subscribe to RSS Feed