Nomad Life - Day 170

I actually slept until 0800 this morning!  The bed was comfortable and the (non-hotel) room was quiet - this gave me the rest I needed to "reset" after my work week.  There was also time for texts with all three of my daughters.  While still in my comfy guest bed, I spent time reading, doing puzzles. completing Duolingo exercises and updating my "Nomad Life Fans" on social media.  At about 1000, I got ready and went downstairs to see Kelly and Steve (they were watching TV).  We talked for a bit before Steve left to do errands.  After that, I ate a late breakfast (cereal), caught up on emails and worked some more on Thanksgiving Planning.  Lunch was a delicious panini from Hot Table (a local sandwich shop) and then I had time to complete a treadmill workout (walked 3 miles in just under one hour) in my friends' basement.  At 1400, Kelly and Steve drove me into downtown Hartford so we could attend the UCONN versus BC hockey game.  We arrived (and parked) at the historic Traveler's Insurance Building by 1430 and then had to walk across the middle of Downtown to get to PeoplesBank Arena.  Along the way, we passed the Old State House, the "Gold" Building and lots of little pubs and shopping areas.  We arrived at the UCONN "home ice" venue at 1445 and, once inside, we had to walk to almost the completely opposite side of the arena to find our seats.  The area where we were sitting had a nice view of the ice and I really enjoyed watching the Team Intros at 1500.  Even better, the UCONN Band was located nearby and they made a lot of interesting arm signals ("U" "C" "O", etc.) and they made great sounds through the game.  Behind us, there were three men who spent nearly the whole game talking about their wives, drinking, life-philosophies, etc. - the sounded like a real (sarcastic nod here) "brain trust." For on-ice action, we were treated to a very exciting display of hockey skills and there was great defense, scoring attempts, goalie saves and penalty scenarios.  Overall, the game was very good and stayed close (tied 1 to 1) all the way until overtime.  Sadly (especially for Steve and Kelly), BC ended up scoring only a short time into the Sudden Death and UCONN lost.  Along with many other dejected UCONN fans, we departed the Arena (1730).  Due to these loyal fans watching until the very end of the action, it took a while to get out of the building.  Thinking we were headed to the car, I followed Steve and Kelly in a reverse direction from when we'd arrived in Hartford.  We changed direction near the Traveler's Building, though, and ended up heading towards Bear's Smoke House.  Once inside, I immediately noticed that the venue looked very familiar - I soon realized it was the same chain as I'd visited in Asheville with family in 2023.  The line for service was pretty big and we didn't get our food until about 30 minutes later.  However, my dinner (I got the House Poutine, cornbread and was worth any waiting.  Fortunately, I was able to convince Steve & Kelly to let me treat them to dinner (they've been so generous and had been resisting my efforts to "treat" them for several days).  With my dinner, I also ordered a local beer (NEBCO) from the tap room on site.  We were in the restaurant from about 1745 to 1900 and really enjoyed the meal and conversation.  Afterwards, we walked back to Steve & Kelly's car at the Traveler's Building and left the Downtown area.  To get back to Glastonbury, we drove east, across the Connecticut River and used I-384 and some State highways.  We arrived at Kelly & Steve's home by 1945.  Everyone scattered to their own pursuits and I ended up doing some more work on Thanksgiving documents until around 2100.  Beyond that time, I joined my friends in watching local news and Winter Olympic Coverage and later went to the guest room for some reading before heading to bed (2300).  What an interesting (and fun) day!