Pickleball The States

 September 29 - October 7 2021 This is our 5th multi state pickleball tour and is an overall summary of both pickleball and other activities. For more detailed info on pickleball in specific states, click the links included in the summary. Wednesday September 29 2021 Our first day was a 4.5 hour drive to Cuyahoga Valley National Park just south of Cleveland OH where we spent the afternoon riding the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath and then a hike to Ledges to watch the sunset. We previously had been rained out on our attempt to ride the Towpath when we went on our Eastern States Pickleball Tour. Looking forward to returning to bike more of the Towpath. Thursday September 30 2021 We arrived in the Rochester NY area in plenty of time to bike the Genesee Riverway Trail before heading to the courts in Greece NY for some pickleball play. We enjoy taking our bikes along with us and finding trails to ride during our non-pickleball time. This trail begins on the pier at Lake Ontario and c...

 October 4,  2021 Maine was giving me a little indigestion, and it wasn't from the Lobster Roll at Red's Eats in Wiscasset ME. It was from trying to find a location to play pickleball that worked in our schedule. We were able to get on the road Sunday morning leaving Manchester NH and entering Maine. Unfortunately, the weather was drizzly, and nobody was playing at Pegasus Landing in Brunswick ME. My contact, John, conveyed that when the weather was smiling, a good group of players would be there in the mornings. Unfortunately, it wasn't smiling there on Sunday. Our preference was to play on Sunday, and that would have left Monday wide open for exploring Acadia National Park.  At this point a Wildberry Scone, from nearby  Mae's Cafe & Bakery  in Bath was the prescription for consolation.  The remainder of the afternoon was spent at Pemaquid Lighthouse Park before heading to Waldoboro ME where we stayed in a cabin for the night at  Moody's Motel ...

 October 2, 2021 When we left home for our four state tour, we had planned to play in Claremont NH on Sunday morning.  I had communicated with an individual there and it sounded like a good fit. Before leaving home I had reserved lodging in Bennington VT, Waldoboro ME, and Ellsworth ME. I was going to wing it on the remainder of our lodging stays. Not a good idea during "leaf peeping" season. While in Bennington I went to reserve a room in Claremont. There were none to be had, at least at a price I was willing to pay. The closest was Manchester NH an hour and thirty minutes away. I quickly reserved a room at a reasonable rate and altered our plans for playing. I was reasonably sure there would be play Sunday morning at  Rock Rimmon Park. We arrived in Manchester late afternoon and decided to see if we could get some play in that evening and free up our morning for travel.  One court had four players and a second court had a couple guys hitting back and forth to each ...

  October 2, 2021 Bennington VT has two locations for pickleball. The outdoor location is at Paradise Inn and the indoor location is at Mill Pickleball . We prefer to play outdoors when we can, so Paradise Inn was a great choice, and we understood that play occurred at that location just about every day. We even spent the night there before we played the next morning.  There are four courts in excellent condition, once you swept the courts, overlaid on a tennis court (which I doubt sees much play). Rotation into play is informal and attempts to get a good mix of play. Our first game was with Michelle and Philip, both who came from neighboring NY to play. They got us warmed up and ready for the games that followed. They were a pleasure to play against. By the time our game was over there were enough players for another court with one person waiting to rotate in. I liked that balls were provided and seating was available courtside. While this particular day was overcast, on a s...

 September 30, 2021 Greece NY was the first stop on our New England four state tour. Yes, we know that NY is not in New England, but it's close. Greece is on the outskirts of Rochester NY. We arrived in the area early afternoon. The original plan was to play the next morning, but we heard that there might also be play around 5:00 that evening.  We chose to fill the afternoon with a bike ride on a portion of the Genesee Riverway Trail that runs from Lake Ontario through Rochester NY. We started our ride on the pier and rode to the lower falls. The trail took us along the harbor, past a light house, onto a lengthy scenic boardwalk, transitioning to an asphalt trail (some of which had a bad case of root varicose veins), past the Kodak plant and finally arriving at the lower falls of the Genesee River. It was a cool and overcast day, but despite that we thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  After checking into our hotel, we donned our pickleball outfits and headed to the courts hopi...

September 9-14 2021 Pickleball was the driving factor for our trip to Alaska with other activities being secondary. We had identified the courts at Ben Boeke as our target for playing. Players were scheduled to be there Friday, Saturday and Monday. Car rental was outrageous, so I figured we could simply plan on doing activities in Anchorage and we would get around using public transportation. That proved to be a mistake. I found lodging within a 10 minute walk from the courts and it was significantly less than other hotels. When our taxi driver was informed of our destination, he asked “Why would you stay there?” My response was close proximity to our courts and Chester Creek Trail where we could hike. He warned us that the homeless would be camping along the trail. The dark clouds began to roll in on my plans and literally in the skies. We ventured out on Chester Creek Trail heading away from downtown to hopefully avoid the homeless encampments. We walked two miles before heading back...

 May 3-8 2021 This was our fourth multi state pickleball tour. It's essential to plan ahead, make local contacts and then be flexible. I am extremely thankful for those individuals who are local contacts, many of which are pickleball ambassadors. They are the reason these trips are successful. Originally, this was going to be an eleven state tour, but the time it would take did not mesh well with other already planned events we had in May. So, we chose to do NY, VT, NH and ME at another time. Perhaps in the fall. While we did take time for other activities which included visits with family and friends, we regret that we didn't take more time for local sightseeing.  Monday May 3rd Unless absolutely necessary, I like to limit our driving to 4-5 hours at a time, no more than 6 hours a day, and no night driving. This made a stop at Cuyahoga Valley National Park a great option. We brought our bikes with us, but the morning rain put a damper on any riding. We settled for a little w...