{"id":6333,"date":"2017-05-01T00:54:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T04:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=6333"},"modified":"2020-06-23T10:48:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T14:48:39","slug":"2018-family-stuff-the-colorado-contingent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=6333","title":{"rendered":"2018 – Family stuff: The Colorado Contingent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ignore the above publish date (see main page for explanation). Publish date was June 28, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have an almost-30-year-old nephew in Colorado named Brian (courtesy of my sister Geri +1) with whom I enjoyed great email communication as he was growing up, but I hadn’t seen him in person since last century, when he and Geri came east in 1998 and we attended a Mets game (Mike Piazza’s first game as a Met!).<\/span><\/p>\n

Brian got married last fall in Colorado to a dear friend named Amber in a package deal that included a huge bonus named Charlotte (courtesy of Amber +1). BTW – Charlotte is NOT huge, but IS a 9-year-old sweetheart. Brian’s a doubly-lucky man.<\/span><\/p>\n

He let me know recently that the 3 of them were coming east to visit NYC and, perhaps, an uncle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to a computer problem on my end, I didn’t find out about their arrival until the night before he wanted to get together, so things were quickly rearranged and a meeting took place at their NJ hotel last Saturday, June 23.<\/span><\/p>\n

We had nothing planned, but I came up with two possibilities that I ran by the boss and Charlotte picked The Great Falls National Park in nearby Paterson, NJ. It was the right choice for a variety of reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. History! Everyone’s recent friend, Alexander Hamilton, viewed the falls in 1778, foresaw the hydroelectric possibilities and was the impetus for Paterson becoming America’s first industrialized city.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. It’s a pretty small national park – 42 acres – and the falls section is a much smaller part of that. You can easily do the falls area on foot in an hour or less. We did.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. And that included visiting something else of historical importance that’s basically across the street from the park: Hinchliffe Stadium. Built in 1932 and currently in disrepair, it was originally home to teams in the Negro Leagues. Some future Major League Baseball players played there. Here’s an informative video:
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