SeeAll30.com – My Quest To See Them All!

We had tickets to tour Independence Hall at 9:30am and according to the reservation email, we needed to be there to pick up our tickets at least 40 minutes early.  To be able to make it to Philadelphia by 8:50am, we needed to be on the road by about 7am, so we got up and was downstairs to check out just a few minutes after 6:00am.  As I walked out into the lobby, with suitcase in tow, I heard this voice say “You checking out already!?”  It was the same clerk behind the desk from last night!  I said, “Yep!” and tossed my key on the desk and kept walking (we did the express check out on the tv, so I just had to drop my key)…

Four years ago when I was in this area with my wife we stumbled on a place called “Clifton Bagels”.  They had, without a doubt, the best bagels we had ever had.  With that in mind, I was going back to give them a try again.  I got an onion bagel with chive cream cheese and an everything bagel with vegetable cream cheese and they were awesome!  I didn’t realize, or remember, that Bob doesn’t like Bagels, so he ended up having a blueberry muffin that he said was “about the same as what you would get from a gas station.”  Dunno how that is possible, but ok.

The drive to Philadelphia was nice and quiet, easy going.  No rain, that was the most important thing at this point.  We got to Philly early so we had time to drive around and see a few things before having to get our tickets.  Our first stop was the Betsy Ross House.  It wasn’t open yet, but it was still cool to get to see it.  We drove around a bit (even opened the sun roof to get some air flowing, it was that nice), the streets in Philly can be confusing and annoying with all the one-way’s.  Finally, I knew where we were and the next stop was just up on my left, at the corner, so I parked there and pointed out the car to the left at Ben Franklin’s grave.  We got out and walked up to it for a closer look and of course tossed a penny on his grave.  Before we left there I pointed out to Bob the street corner right across from us, which is where I was standing 4 years ago (wearing blue jean shorts and a bright red t-shirt) as a group of kids drove by and yelled out, “Heeeeyyyyy Kooooollll-Aaaaaiiiiidddd!” On the other corner, opposite of us, is the U.S. Mint.  As we got back in the car to go a group doing a walking tour came up and we sat there listening to their guide telling them things about Ben Franklin, some I didn’t even know.  What was sad though is that most of the kids in the group looked as if they couldn’t care less.  So much history, so much to learn, and they didn’t care.  I would have been going nuts to get a chance to do something like this at their age, holy cow!

We got our tour tickets and headed to the Liberty Bell Plaza to see it first, as we had time.  The Liberty Bell is just so cool.  It represents a time, an event, something so special for this country.  I must say that I was quite shocked at the amount, or lack there of, security to get in there.  4 years ago when my wife and I came through here we had to go through metal detectors, and a series of other security things. Today… NOTHING!  Since we didn’t have a bag with us, they just waved us on through.  I couldn’t believe that.  The same exact thing happened when we went through security to get in line for the Independence Hall tour, I still can’t believe it!!

As we got in line for the tour, I was able to get a seat on a bench next to a gal from New Jersey (forgive me for not recalling your name, sorry).  We got to talking, as it started raining, about how I need to get home to Western Washington so I can dry out!!  She then told me that her sister was there with her, from Portland, which of course is about 90 minutes south of us.  She said how her sister told her many times that it just don’t rain like this back home… so true!!  Bob had a similar experience as the people right behind him were from Seattle and made the same comment!

If you have never done the tour at Independence Hall, you gotta!  To be in the same room where the documents that shaped our country were debated, written and then approved,  is, well, breath taking!  The movie “National Treasure” does a scene from here that pretty much sums it up… watch it if you haven’t.  The thing I learned this time through, that I am not sure I knew, was that it wasn’t called “Independence Hall” by our Founding Fathers.  It was just simply known as “The Pennsylvania State House”.  I guess that totally makes sense.  The tour starts in a room, with everyone seated, and a National Parks guide giving everyone the background of events that lead to the delegates from the states meeting at the state house.  It then proceeds into the “Court Room” where court was held during normal times at the state house.  After a 10+ minute presentation there, talking about court and the King, we move to the next room.  This is where our Founding Fathers and the Continental Congress met.  Several things in the room are not original, but they are from the same period.  The coolest thing in the room is the actual chair that George Washington sat in when he over saw the proceedings.  On that chair is a sun engraved in the wood.  Ben Franklin had made comments about not knowing if it was a rising sun or a setting sun.  He is quoted as saying, when they were done signing the Constitution, “But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun”. How true he was, as our country rose to greatness from that moment.  Man I love to study that time in our country… things were so much more exciting!

As we left Independence Hall, it was pouring down hard!  I mean, rain like we hadn’t seen yet on this trip and we had seen more than we really cared to!!  The fast walk back to the car wasn’t fast enough as I once again got soaked!!  That wasn’t the worst of it, as we got to the car, worried we might have a ticket cause our meter time ran out (we didn’t), Bob notices that the sun roof was still open and the inside was drenched!!  Luckily we had leather seats, so most of it just wiped up, but there must have been an inch or more standing in one of the cup holders, it was unreal!!  Bob wanted to hit Geno’s for another cheese steak before we headed out, so back to South Philly we went.  I know I shouldn’t have, yet I did, I decided to give Pat’s another try as well.   Bob kept telling me it would be a waste of $7.50 and, well, he was right.  I gotta say that it was much better than the one we tried a few days ago, but it still didn’t even come close to comparing to the ones from Geno’s.  This time around I went to Pat’s and Bob went to Geno’s.  I actually got parking right next to Pat’s, that should have been a sign.  After I ordered I was looking around and noticed on the ground a plaque that mentioned that during the filming of “Rocky”, Sly Stallone ate at Pat’s, as seen in the movie, on that exact spot, that was kinda cool, but the cheese steak still sucked!

The drive down to and basically through Baltimore was wet, very wet (I am soooo tired of rain!).  Bob was driving as we pulled into NE D.C. and just before we stopped to change drivers, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  As we got out of the car it was so freakin’ muggy and HOT!  It was awesome!  By the time we got to the Archives it was close to 85 degrees and sunny!  This is how weather should be when you’re on vacation.

As we pulled up at the Archives, there was a huge line! So I told Bob he needs to get in it cause we both agreed, you can’t go to Washington D.C. and NOT see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights.  I decided to circle around looking for parking and if I could, I would join him.  After about 45 minutes looking for a spot, with no luck, I gave up and started looking around town.  I saw the IRS Building (being a tax geek, that was cool), the Smithsonian Castle, several museums (from the outside of course) and as I sat at a red light I looked to my left and saw not only the Capital Building, but where they hold the Presidential Inaugarations.  That was pretty cool, cause when I looked to the right I was looking up the National Mall.  It’s just so amazing how much is in the area, so much to see and do.

I had finally found a parking spot, which was nowhere near the Archives, in the shade and while talking to my wife I started noticing the thermometer kept rising and it was now 90 degrees!  Bob called to let me know he was ready, so I picked him up, and we headed over to the Lincoln Memorial.  Again, parking was a problem.  This time we got lucky and Bob spotted a sign that mentioned ‘handicapped parking’.  Since I have a handicapped placard, we jumped on that and got to park really close up.

The Lincoln Memorial is awesome.  Not only is it on the back of the Penny, it’s also larger than life.  The weather brought out the people and the place was packed.  This was my 3rd time to the Lincoln Memorial and as usual, I took the elevator up instead of the stairs and met Bob up there.  As I exited the elevator room, to my right sat Lincoln, on my left is the Gettysburg Address engraved in the wall.  Having been to the spot in Gettysburg where he gave that address just a few days early, well, I got goosebumps!  I joined up with Bob, walked around taking pictures and enjoying the view.  At one point as we looked out to the Reflecting Pool, we even looked for Forrest… no luck.  What we could see though is the World War 2 Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capital Building.  Talk about an amazing view.  From that vantage point you can also see the exact spot where Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I Have A Dream” speech.  There were a lot of people in front of me as I stood there looking out, but nothing like on August 28, 1963.  I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for him or any of the people that were there to witness history… chilling.

Our next stop was the Vietnam War Memorial so Bob could find the name of his wive’s grandma’s nephew who died in action in 1971 (I think it was).  After looking up the  location in one of the books, Bob took off to get pictures as I waited up top for him.  He really wanted to do a “rubbing” but had nothing to use for it.  He got his pictures and on our way to the Korean War Memorial we passed the information booth where he was able to get a pencil and a piece of paper to do the rubbing, so he ran back and got that.  When he met back up with me he told me that as he was doing it there was people surrounding him taking pictures of him.  I thought that was a bit strange, but as he said, he was the only one doing a rubbing.  As we got to the Korean War Memorial a big group of people were walking around and we over heard one of them ask which war this was for and another one said, “The same one that Forrest Gump fought in” and another corrected him by saying “No! No! No!  This was the war from ‘Saving Private Ryan!”  Ok, how sad that both referenced movies to let them know about history and even more so, they were both WRONG!!

We got back to our car and not a moment too soon because the temperature just kept rising!  With the AC blasting on max we made our drive passed the White House on our way to Nationals Park, the temp had passed 98 degrees!!  Freakin hot, but the biggest thing is that after the rain the area got in the morning, it was incredibly muggy!  Thank goodness for the AC… and how ironic after complaining about the rain, huh?  This was still so much better.

Nationals Park

We got to Nationals Park around 5:45pm, we were plenty early for a change.  As we looked for parking I noticed a sign that said that parking was “$40″!  Are you kidding me?!?!  At that point I remembered that you can park at RFK Stadium across town and ride the Nats Express (bus) to the game at Nationals Park… for FREE!  So we set the GPS to RFK and headed that way ASAP!

My last game in D.C. was at RFK (May 1, 2005 – Mets vs Nats – an ESPN Sunday night game).  As we got to the stadium, we started looking around for the lot where you park for the Nats Express.  We did 2 complete loops around RFK and still saw nothing.  Finally, I decided to ask a D.C. Metro Police Officer for help.  She looked at me really confused and said, “What?”  I slowly repeated myself and she said she had no clue but she would call 1 person who should and she did.  Long story short, after arguing with this person (her superior) for a few minutes about what way to go to the get the lot we needed, she finally told us to cut across the grass right there by her (we were in a 4×4, so that was cool), take a right on 19th, a right on C Street and a left on Oklahoma.  Easy enough, right?  Right on 19th, right on C, left on Oklahoma… BOOMER SOONER!  So we took the right on 19th (check!), then a few blocks later we took the right on C Street (check) and we started looking for Oklahoma.  We didn’t find it and the next thing you know we are on the back side of RFK Stadium again.  So we looped around and went up the section of C Street that is a one-way, headed in the opposite direction of before, so we were looking for a right on Oklahoma… didn’t see it!  By now it’s just after 6:30pm, with first pitch in about 30 minutes and I am getting frustrated.  With one more try and not seeing a left or right on to Oklahoma, we decide to just head back over to Nationals Park and pay the fee there!  Oh, if it were just that easy!  Washington D.C. has so many one-way streets that the next thing you know I got to show Bob the U.S. Supreme Court building, which is about 2.4 miles from RFK Stadium and roughly 1.5 miles from Nationals Park… so we went the opposite direction of where we needed to go.  Btw, I have since checked with a map, and that D.C. Metro cop was WRONG!  First off you can’t access that part of C Street she told us we needed to from where we were (strike one!), even if we could it would have been a left on 21st (strike two!!) before you can take a right on Oklahoma, not a left (Strike three!!!)  Moral of the story, never take directions from a D.C. Metro Police Officer….

As we got back to Nationals Park we noticed a lot that was right on the corner of the stadium for $25.  Still spendy, and the most we have paid for parking at a game on this trip, but it was $15 cheaper than the other lots and that means $15 more for beer, so we jumped on it and walked up to the gate.   We entered via the center field gate, which looks really cool with its big iron bar gates.  As you enter you are right behind the “Red Porch”, in a plaza where they have a few stautes of former players of the team from Washington (back when they were the Senators), not the same franchise, but local history still… like Walter Johnson, “The Big Train” from Humbolt, Kansas.  I dunno how we did it, but we got there in time to see 1st pitch!   As I stood there in left center watching the first few pitches of the game and looking around, I got goosebumps!  Big Rocky Mountain sized goosebumps.  No, it’s not cause I like the Nat’s, cause I am imbevelant to them, but it was because I had recompleted a dream of mine.  In that moment I had acheieved something that lots of baseball fans want to do and only a handful actually get to do… I had seen all 30 (current) Major League Baseball Ball Parks!!  Not only was Nationals Park my 30th current park, it was # 41 overall for me. Not too shabby huh.

1st pitch at Nationals Park

After the usual pictures, including one where I made a “30″ with my hands, we went looking for food.  Our seats were somewhere up in the upper deck down the first baseline, but when I spotted stainless counter tops down the 3rd base line, I knew we wouldn’t make it to our seats. A short walk from where we were is the Ben’s Chili Bowl and I just had to have another chili half-smoke again!  Bob didn’t feel like one, so he was gonna go get something else, so we agreed to meet at the counter tops right behind section 110 and I got in line to get my dinner and opted for 2 of them, cause they are just that good!  After I made my way behind section 110 a guy wearing Nationals gear, as if he worked at the park, came up to me saying “Hey!”  I thought I had done something wrong!  When he got to me he says, “You don’t remember me do you?”  I went through the Rolodex in my head and no, no I didn’t.  He introduced himself as Tremaine and said that he was the one that cleared our table at the Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street back on Tuesday!  Ok, now I remember him!  He was working at this location today and when he saw me he told the people he was working with that he recognized me (my wife will tell you it’s because I am fat) and wanted to come out and say hello and thank me for visiting Ben’s in both locations, so he did.  We stood there talking for a bit about the trip and how these were my first 2 times at Ben’s before he had to get back to work.  That was pretty cool I thought, how he went out of his way to say Hello like that.  Really cool.

I had finished my first dog and I started looking around for some seats to hawk.  As I watched the game, still waiting for Bob to get back, I did my usual and took several pictures.  After a few minutes an usher walked up and I just knew he was gonna comment on the zoom lens I was using.  Nope!  Instead he asked if I would like to have a seat in the handicapped row in section 112!  I told him I would love it, but that I had someone else with me and he said that was no problem and even helped carry things over to those seats.  Rock on!  We scored some pretty decent seats down the 3rd base line for the game and that’s where we sat for the next 5 innings or so watching the game, enjoying the Presidents race (Jefferson won, cause Washington fell just before the finish line), and taking in the sights and sounds of Nationals Park while talking to our usher friend and another guy about not only this park, but others.  It was a beautiful night for a game.  The game itself wasn’t too shabby as the Nat’s pulled out a 5-3 victory thanks to a Willie Harris 2-run, game winning, jimmie jack in the bottom of the 12th inning!  To be honest, we missed all that excitement as we left a few innings earlier to go into town and see a few more sights before we had to fly home in the morning.  When we left, the Nats were up 3-1 and it was an official game at that point, as it was into the 7th inning.  No regrets.

We drove around seeing the monuments lit up, but our main goal was to get pictures by the White House.  This was the last night of our trip and we still hadn’t done that, so we headed for the White House to complete the mission.  As we drove by the back side, we could see people standing out in the field, by the fence, which is still a ways from where we were driving, but we figured if we could get parking, we would do the walk, so we circled the block.  As we were going around I spotted a better view and told Bob THAT’S where we needed to get pictures from, so I dropped him off and set out to find a place to park.  By now it was pushing 10pm and I still couldn’t find a place to park the car.  After making a couple loops, I got lucky and was able to park right next to where I dropped Bob off and so i set out on foot to join him.  I went through Lafayette Park and found myself on Pennsylvania Avenue looking at the White House, which was beautifully lit up.  This was wicked cool!  Right across the street from the fence to the North Lawn, was a protest, a peaceful protest, that says it’s been there, non-stop, since 1981!  Bob told me when the person who was there got there and took over for the gal that had been there, it was like shifts changing at work.  These people are dedicated, that’s for sure.

After getting some pictures, some video and talking to a Police Officer about when they closed Pennsylvannia Ave down, we headed back towards the car where we grabbed a bench and just sat there watching people come and go, looking at the White House, enjoying the lightning bugs and reflecting on our trip.  It was a lot of fun and it couldn’t have been a better night to do that, cause right around 11:45pm, it was still in the low 80’s, but felt so nice.

Our hotel was actually just 3 blocks behind where we sat on that bench, on Connecticut Ave.  I booked us there on purpose knowing that we would be that close to the White House so we could walk up and check it out after the game if we wanted to.  However, we did that first, which was good cause we needed to check in, get everything packed and ready, cause we had to be on the road by 4am in the morning.  So we got checked in, a little after midnight and got to our room.  It was an awesome hotel and our room was pretty cool looking, until you really started checking it out…there was hair all over there place, on the floor, the end tables and chairs even.  It wasn’t enough to make me freak out, especially knowing that we would only be there about 3 1/2 hours before we had to go.  Our room did have a mini bar, so we checked it out.  The list of items said there was a bottle of champagne for $35, so I pulled it out to look at it and the bottle was so tiny, I bet there wasn’t but about 12 oz in it, if that… for $35! Holy Cow!  So I set it on top of the mini fridge and we kept looking.  We didn’t find anything that was really worth it, but then we noticed a plastic bag so I grabbed it to see what was in it and it was a 1/2 eaten Subway sandwich!!  Seriously?!?  Needless to say I put it right back in there and Bob shut the door.  I then noticed the bottle of champagne and went to put it back in there so we wouldn’t be charged and well,  the door was locked!!  We tried several things to get that door open, but couldn’t.  So I ended up packing that bottle cause while we didn’t want to drink it then, if we’re gonna be charged for it, I was gonna take it home!

The short few hours later as we went to leave I had called for someone to help with our luggage and after a 20 minute wait, we gave up and just carted it down ourselves.  As we got to the lobby there was nobody around and I stood at the desk waiting for help for a while and still nobody.  Bob took our valet ticket and walked outside hoping to get help, yet the only person out there was the night security guard.  He did help us by getting others to come to the desk.  So I was told that if we got our invoice, we were checked out. I stood there for a moment and when I wasn’t asked how my stay was, for the first time on this trip, I said “Not that you asked how our room was, but there was hair all over the place and when we looked in the mini bar, there was a 1/2 ate Subway sandwich in there.”  I kid you  not, the guy says to me, “Oh, someone else must have left that there then.”   DUH!!  I told him I thought that was really gross and I left to go wait for our car… which was another problem.  See, the place was by no means busy, people just weren’t doing their jobs and the night security guy went and got the night hotel manager to go get our car.  So there we stood our front of the Mayflower Renaissance waiting for our car, talking traveling with the security dude.  It took almost 20 minutes to get us the car.  Was an unbelievable experience to say the least.  I can also say that as of right now, I have yet to be charged for that bottle of champagne or the valet parking… it better stay that way.

We did make it to BWI in time to get the car back, catch the shuttle and get to our flight with a little bit of time to spare, not much though.  The flight home was a long 6 hours, but I slept a good 5 hours of it, which was a total shocker to me!

What an amazing trip we had… just wish we had more time!!

June 20th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip, Nationals Park |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

When we realized that we were way too old to hang with those young kids after the game last night, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.  Before crashing out, Bob started reading a magazine that was in the room about different historical things in Boston to see.  We got to talking and then decided to get up an hour early so we could go see some of them.  We were out the door, in the car and headed to our first stop by 6am.

"Where everybody knows your name..."

I was hoping to make the “Bull & Finch” one of our stops last night, but it didn’t happen, so it was our first stop this morning.  While we couldn’t go inside, I was able to show Bob the inspiration for “Cheers” and also where the outside shots were filmed.  From there we hit the Bunker Hill Monument, the spot where most historians say the Boston Tea Party took place, Old North Church, the Paul Revere House, the Old State Building, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market and the spot where the Boston Massacre took place.  Driving through the neighborhood in the North End of Boston was quite interesting, those old roads certainly weren’t made for an SVU like the one we had, they are so narrow.  Was still great getting to see those old buildings and at one point Bob looked over at the right time as we passed a cemetery and got to see Samuel Adam’s grave!  Good catch there Bob! We also went back by Fenway Park so I could get some pictures during the day of not only the park, but the World Championship banners that hang outside…. wicked awesome!

After our quick tour we hit the road south outta Boston in, you guessed it, the rain!  It rained pretty good there for a while.  Once we got outta the immediate Boston area, we made a quick stop for a bite to eat (at a Stuckey’s no less, loved these places when I was a kid, always brings back memories) and I had Bob drive for a while.  A pretty boring drive really, but we did go through a new state for Bob, Rhode Island (which gave him 8 total new states so far on the trip).  As we went through Connecticut I got to thinking about lunch and thought maybe we could call an order in and stop at Mystic Pizza.  My wife and I stopped there my last time through, May 5, 2005, and it was the best pizza I had ever had!  I looked up the #, called and got no answer.  I guess they werent open yet, then again it wasn’t quite 10am yet either.  My next thought turned to Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, CT.  Louis’ is where hamburgers originated.  Would have been awesome for the historical aspect, but I have also been told by someone thats been there (thanks Barbara!) that they are awesome!  So I looked up the #, called, and not open yet.  They don’t open on Fridays until 12pm (and stay open until 2am!).  2 strikes, oh well, just another reason to come back.

What a beautiful sight to see!

Not that far into New York I took over driving and set the GPS for Shea Stadium.  I know that Shea is no longer there, it’s a parking lot now, but the GPS doesn’t have Citi Field and since it was right next door, it worked perfectly.   Our drive into town took us via the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, which gave us a pretty cool view of Manhattan from there.  At that point it was a matter of following the signs to Citi Field, and it directed us right to where we wanted to be… the parking lot by the Mets/Willits Point train station.  $18 to park, again seems steep to me but it is a game day.  We got parked, grabbed new Metro cards and jumped on the # 7 headed into town.

The train ride started out as an express, gotta love that diamond, but switched to a local and made all the usual stops, thus taking about 25 minutes to get to the Times Square station.  From here we knew exactly where we were and where we needed to go, having done this just yesterday.  This time, however, as we walked up the stairs from down below there were 2 big difference between today and yesterday…. 1) It was sunny and warm!!  Gotta love that!  No more freakin rain!!  Must have have been pushing 80 degrees and it felt awesome!  2)  Thanks to the weather (or maybe because it was a Friday) there was a ton more people out walking the streets!  It was so freakin crowded!  No biggie, we made our way over to the bus stop and after waiting what seemed like FOREVER for a Gray Line, downtown, bus to come (was probably only 30 minutes), we finally boarded and had to sit down below because there was so many people that the top was full already.  No biggie, it was just a few stops until we wanted to get off anyway.

Bob @ the Empire State Building with lower Manhattan behind him.

We had tickets to go up in the Empire State Building, which was just a couple stops up the road, which is good because the seats downstairs on these double decker buses, well, SUCK!  I say that because they now have advertising covering the windows and it makes it really hard to see out, let alone take pictures (cause they certainly wont be anything worth keeping).  I have no idea why Gray Line chose to do that (other than the obvious $$$), but it really stinks for people using their service!  Either way, we got ready to get off the bus as we were passing Macy’s and as our stop came, we deboarded and headed over to get in line to go up to the 86th floor.  As we were walking to the main door, on 5th, a guy stops us telling us we can upgrade our tickets and bypass the wait (which was looking like 1 1/2 – 2 hours at this point, to just get to the elevator!).  He said if we buy these upgrades, for $18/each, we also get the New York City Skyride (blah) as well as we get in a special entry and we can be up and back down in about 90 minutes.  As temping as it was, $18 was too much to me, considering we wouldnt do the Skyride, so I told Bob I wasn’t interested, yet if he was it was cool, I would do it also.  He thought it over for a few moments and told the guy, “No thanks, we’ll pass.”  So the guy says, “Ok, come with me I will take you to the door you need to get in line at” and we proceeded to walk down the street, around the corner, passed the entrance that I thought we were headed for and right about the time I started to wonder what the heck was going on (were we about to get mugged?) we go in a door, the guy hands Bob something and tells us to go up this escalator, through security and we would be right there.  He then leaves and I ask Bob to see what he gave him and it was a card saying that we agreed to pay the $18/each additional and that we had to do so at the ticket booth!!!  WTF?!?!  We went up the escalator (a small one, thankfully), through security and at that point I told Bob, let’s use the restroom first.  So we did and as we left there I spotted a group of people leaving the first big waiting area headed for the first, of three, elevators.   So I motioned to Bob and we jumped in line with them at that point, no questions asked.  That took us to the main waiting area, passed where they take your picture (to try and sell you later) and up the 2nd elevator and you guessed it, to another waiting area!!  This was the last one, on the way up any how, as once we got to that elevator, we made it to the 86th floor.  Bob said his ears popped 4 times going up!!  You do go up really fast, as the read out in the elevator that shows you what floor you’re passing started jumping by 10’s!!

If you look you can see Central Park...

This was my 3rd time up in the Empire State Building and while the lines get old fast, the view never does.  As we walked out to the outside deck our first view was of lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center buildings were and of course, out in the harbor, Lady Liberty herself.  This was without a doubt the busiest that it had ever been on the observation deck any of my 3 times there.  It was thick with people and it took a little time to get around and get a spot to get a good view of everything, but we took the time cause it is always worth it.  It’s really amazing how the city looks so peaceful from this vantage point.  It don’t matter if you’re looking towards lower Manhattan, at the Chrysler Building, the United Nations Building, or looking out towards, and passed, 30 Rock to Central Park, there is something special about being up that high and looking at the wonderful place that is New York City.

The lines heading down were nothing compared to the lines going up (which always seems weird to me, cause the same # of people need to go down the elevators as did up, don’t they?).  Either way, we were down (again Bob says he ears popped 4 times on the way down, same as going up), and back out on to the street within 90 minutes of getting there.  Looks like we scammed the scammer!!  Take that douche!!  Either way, we had to wait a couple buses to get on and when we did, we got seats up top for an amazing view of the city as we were being driven around.  I had been telling Bob that this is the ONLY way to go when seeing NYC and I stand behind that (wasn’t as happy with the service of Gray Line, but there is another option also now).  After our 2 1/2+ hour bus ride, which included several stops (SOHO, TriBeca, South Street Seaport, WTC, Wall Street and sooooo many more cool places) back to Times Square, Bob fully agreed with me!  What really makes a great tour is your guide.  The more they get into the tour, the better the tour will be.  Our guy was AWESOME!  He wasn’t afraid of sharing his opinions on things and pointed out so much around town, was simply amazing!  If you ever get to NYC, check out the double decker buses, you wont be disappointed… and be sure to tip your guide and driver… Bob did… $20!

Citi Field

Bob @ Citi Field...

Once we got back to Times Square, we had to get back on the #7 and head to Citi Field.  It was already almost 6:30pm, first pitch was at 7:05pm.  We had to make a restroom stop at the worlds funkiest McD’s in Times Square.  I dunno how to really do it justice, but with the video screens and all, it was pretty wild!  They were playing a Miley Cyrus video when we were there, was quite strange.  Once we got outta there, we got on the train and rode it straight to the Mets/Willits stop (with very few stops… gotta love that diamond!).  I talked to my wife earlier today to see if she could look up on Mets.com to see if they allowed video cameras and back packs, she did and they didnt say about the back packs, but no video cameras.  I decided to drop the bag and video camera off at the car, which was parked right there at the station.  As we were walking to the car I asked an NYPD officer if back packs were allowed, and he said “Yes, for sure.” So I decided to not take the time and headed straight for the gate…

The outside of Citi Field is beautiful!!  The brickwork is something else.  The main entry way is reminiscent of Ebbets Field from so long ago.  It’s really cool.  As we were walking up I remembered my video camera, so I took it out of my bag and stuffed it in my pocket.  Little did I know that they were doing pat downs… ugh!  As we got closer, I opened my back pack, the security dude looks in and starts my pat down.  He barely touched me and then said, “Ok, go on…”  I was shocked!!  I could have had anything in my pocket like that and the guy didn’t even notice it or didn’t care to notice it!  Either way, we entered the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, took a few pictures and proceeded to the main concourse to begin our walk around the park.

The view of Citi Field from left field...

When we could finally see the field, we were just past home on our way towards 3rd base.  I have watched several games from Citi Field this year and when I got there and could see the field, it was really weird to realize that I was there!!   We took several pictures, as the game had already started, and kept walking around.  We were down by the foul pole when I remembered that I had been told by several people, including Kenny the Mets fan at Camden Yards, that we needed to eat at “Shake Shack”.  We started looking for it and I figured the best thing to do would be ask an usher, so I did and he pointed us in the direction of center field and told us that “Blue Smoke” was also there that had some great ribs and amazing BBQ!  As we got out there and could see it, we also saw the line that must have been 100 people deep!  No thanks, we’re too hungry to wait that long, so we went looking around for something else.  We were out in left field when we found a place that has chicken strips and buffalo chicken nuggets.  Bob got the strips, I got the nuggets and holy cow, they were awesome!!  They were all white meat, huge nuggets that were lightly breaded, deep fried and soaked in buffalo wing sauce (more than likely Franks Red Hot sauce) and the sauce just soaked right into the breading.  For $8 there was about 10 pieces.  Was really good and I had planned on getting a Nathan’s Hot Dog afterwards, but the chicken filled me up, so I had to pass on the Nathan’s, which was a bummer.

The Home Run Apple from Shea Stadium is on display at Citi Field.

We continued to walk around, taking time to watch the game from different vantage points.  Out in center field, just past where Shake Shake is, they have a few cool features: 1) “Big Apple Brews” – it’s a beer stand that has like 30+ different beers to chose from…. that rocks!  It’s soooo much better than the usual boring choices of Bud, Bud Light, Miller and Miller Light.  2) Picnic tables – they have these picnic tables that have a great view from center field.  What a cool way to watch the game, something different.  3) 1/2 moon shaped tables – somewhere around section 143 they have these tables that point towards the action.  I love having a place to sit my beer, dog and score book (see comments about Citizens Bank Park a couple days ago) 4) A bridge – they incorporate a bridge into the design of the park which ties together several possibilities (depending on how you look at things), such as bridging the old to the new (stadiums) and of course the many bridges in the NYC area.  I really dug that design feature.  I also loved how they brought over the old Home Run Apple and put it on display.  While I didn’t take the time to go down the stairs to see it up close, I did get a good look at it from a spot above it.  That was cool.   Just a short ways from the bridge and where you can see the apple is this vantage point that is perfect for pictures.  From there you can get a great picture with the Citi Field scoreboard behind you, not sure if that was on purpose or just happened that way, but it’s really cool… other parks should have such a spot for us ballpark geeks!  I got my usual picture taken there and then did one with my hands reading “40″ to show that Citi Field is my 40th overall ballpark that I have seen.

Citi Field was my big 40! Current park # 29, overal #40!

As we left the game we took a few moments to sit around the flower gardens outside the main entry and just enjoy the look of Citi Field at night.  It was something special.  After all of the rain we had been getting, we finally got a great night to just relax, temps in the mid to upper 70’s, a slight breeze and we took advantage of it.  It didn’t hurt that Citi Field is beautiful lit up at night like that either.  It hit us earlier as we walked around, but sitting there after we left, it really sunk in and that is that Citi Field is by far the better of the 2 new ballparks in New York… there is no question!  It has nothing to do with my hatred of the Yankees,  cause I can’t stand the Mets either.  Just all around, Citi Field is the better park.  The views from the walk around, the design, everything.  Heck, when I say everything, I mean right down to the fans and the ushers… they were much nicer at Citi Field.

The walk to our car from Citi Field was nothing, we were so close, it was great.  We grabbed the car, beat most of the traffic and made our way into Manhattan.  There was still a few things we wanted to do before we headed out of town, like get Bob’s wife a t-shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, so we headed there first… and got lucky to get a parking spot so close (like 4 spots from actually be in Times Square – I should have bought a Powerball ticket after that!).  Bob ran and got the shirt while I parked the car.  He hadn’t been out of the car for more than 2 minutes when he called me and told me how there was people in the street sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of Times Square!  I remember Yvonne telling me that they blocked off a couple sections of road and made it pedestrian only so I called her to tell her what Bob said then headed up into the square to meet up with him.  It was wicked cool standing there, with the video boards lit up, it was soooo bright!  Sure enough there were people sitting on green lawn chairs, lots of them.  Looked really weird to me, but it was so cool because everything was so open.  Instead of being confined to the sidewalk, there was so much more room.  I dunno why they did that, but it works.

The lights of Times Square... pictures don't do it justice!

We ended up in the ESPN Zone for a beer (they have tvs above the urinals, as well as in the stalls… too cool!) before we headed back to the car and went to see a few more things.  Our first stop was for some dogs at Papaya King.  I couldn’t find parking, so Bob jumped out and ran in and I picked him up on the next block.  Btw, they were good dogs, had a good snap when you bit them, but overall, Nathan’s is still better.  I then took Bob to see Grant’s Tomb.  We had hoped to see it during the day so we could go in it, but at least he got to see it from the outside.  Next stop was “Tom’s Restaurant”, which of course played the part of “Monk’s” on Seinfeld.  We headed back towards Times Square, past Trump International, Columbus Circle, and the Ed Sullivan Theater (where Letterman tapes “Late Night”).

It was now pushing midnight as we headed to our hotel in Lyndhurst, NJ via the Lincoln Tunnel.  As we got there I asked the guy working the desk, “Is there any way we can have a room with 2 double beds, instead of a king?”  I had asked this at every hotel on our trip and every one told me most certainly.  However, not tonight.  I was told, and I quote, “It would take a rate increase to do that.  You booked your room on Priceline so you can only change your reservation online and it’s too late to do that.”  I was so tired that it actually took a couple moments to sink in that while he said it would take a rate increase, I still couldn’t do it if I wanted to.  I was really surprised that they wouldn’t do that as everywhere else had, including the other Courtyard by Marriott we stayed at in Philly… with no problems at all.  This guy simply wouldn’t budge.  He did however tell us that he would have a rollaway bed sent to our room for us to use, didn’t say if we would be charged for it.  He asked how many room keys I needed, I said “Just 1″ and so he handed me 2.  As we went to head to our room we noticed a little store there, so I grabbed me a bottle of water and  a Gatorade, as I was being rang up for them I overheard that guy saying, “What do you mean there are no more rollaways?”  The guy on the other end of the radio was kinda pissy when he said, again, there were none!  So we started walking away and the clerk says to me, “Um, Sir, I am going to have to ask you to let me exchange your keys.”  I asked what that mean and he said “You will n eed to use these instead” and hands me new room keys.  I knew what the deal was, but wanted to hear it from him and when he finally told us that he had to give us a room with 2 double beds, it pained him, badly, to admit that… I loved every moment of it!!!  Take that douche!!

Random Thoughts:

As we stood at Citi Field, just after we ate, the guy next to Bob (outta the blue) asks Bob, “Is this your first time here?”  Bob told him it was and that was all the guy asked him.  It may have been cause he heard us talking about different parks that we had been to on this trip and all, but never heard another word from that guy.

Our tour guide on the double decker bus gave everyone several cool tips, along with tell us, repeatedly, “Get out of Times Square!  You can’t experience the real New York until you get out of Times Square, it’s such a waste of time to be there!”  He also mention that people shouldn’t go up in the Empire State Building, it takes too long and costs almost 2x what it does to go up to the “Top Of The Rock” in Rockerfeller Center.  He told us that if we want to go see the Statue of Liberty, don’t pay to take the ferry out to the island, you can’t even get in there any more and you have a great view of it from the Staten Island Ferry, and its FREE to ride it to and from Staten Island.  He also suggested several great places to eat, most within a short walk of the bus stops… he was awesome!

June 19th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip, Citi Field |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

We wanted to be in Times Square by about 9am, which meant having to leave the hotel by 6:30am and that’s what we did.  However, as we stepped outside we can see that it rained all night and was still coming down pretty hard. Oh well, what’s a little rain, right?   Our plan was to park as close to Yankee Stadium as we could, so as we got close to the city, we crossed the George Washington Bridge, which dropped us right into the Bronx.  Traffic was really heavy coming into the city, and since we were a bit behind schedule, that just made sense that time of the  morning.

Yankee Stadium as seen from the platform for the # 4 train

When we could finally see the new Yankee Stadium and the old one, we started looking for parking.  There is a parking garage that is right next to the new park and was perfect for what we needed.  It was $18 for a 23 hour period, a bit steep, but it was game day in the Bronx, so we paid it and headed for the train station at 161 & River Ave.  This was Bob’s first venture into the New York City subway and for the past few weeks he has been telling me how freaked out he was about it.  See, Bob has been picturing the subway circa 1984 and everything you see in the movies from back then… aka graffiti everywhere, people getting mugged in broad daylight and just plain out dirty.  I have told him, as of 4 years ago when I was last there, it was nothing like that.  We took the # 4 train down to Grand Central Station, grabbed the # 7 over to Times Square.  When we came up outta the station, it was pouring rain like we hadn’t seen yet on our trip!

I had heard that NYC could stand to get 2+ inches of rain today and I think they were getting it in that very moment we stood there, cause there was a running river of water heading down each side of the street and within a couple minutes, I was soaked to the bone!  What we wanted to do today was to get our tickets and do the uptown loop of the Gray Line Double Decker Bus Tours.  There was a Gray Line employees selling tickets just as we got out of the station, check!  He told us the buses picked up right across the street from where we were standing, so we crossed and stood in the rain, cause the overhang of the building was already filled with other people, waiting for the uptown loop.  We waited, and waited and waited.  The only bus that did come was the downtown and at that, the bottom was jammed cause nobody was sitting up top and getting soaked on a day like this.  As we stood there waiting I did hear someone ask a Gray Line employee when the uptown bus came and I swore I hear him say it didn’t stop here!  I asked him and sure enough he said “That loop picks up at 8th and 46th”  We were at 7th & 42nd.

The Times Square Subway Station

We took off walking and at the corner, Bob bought a big $10 umbrella.  Worked great for him, I was already soaked and once you’re that wet, you just cant get any wetter, so we kept walking.  If you have ever walked in NYC, you know that the cross-town blocks go on forever.  Now add a horrid down pour of rain.  It was miserable.  By the time we got a couple blocks from where we needed to be, Bob was saying how hungry he was (I could eat too, for sure) and I was noticing the time.  We just didn’t have the time to do both.  So I suggested we grab a bite to eat at the McDonald’s that was right there, rest a bit, and then head back to the train station to get back to the Bronx, so that’s what we did.

Instead of walking back to the same place we started, I thought we could just head down to the subway at a different station and do the walk via the tunnel to where we needed to be.  The sign there said we could, so we headed underground to get outta the rain.  I hate stairs, and I really hate wet, slippery stairs, but I made it.  The turnstile was a bit different as people could exit the station and go in at the same one.  This wasnt your typical turnstile, aka “Nutcrusher”.  This was different and I really don’t know how to describe it except to say that from the floor up there are these bars that go between other bars.  Well, as I got to one a guy was exiting the station, as he left, I swiped my Metro card ($7.50 for all day – a great deal) and I proceeded to enter.  I got part way and the bars just stopped, with me in it still!  I told Bob to swipe his, he did and away I went.  The real problem came when he went to swipe his again and it said its already been used.  He tried mine, same problem.  See, the passes are unlimited use for the day but you cant use them that quick.  Make sense, that avoids 1 person buying a pass and passing it back to several others to use.  So here was our problem.  I was in the station, Bob wasnt.  So he used to call box and the gal at the other end basically told him he needed to go up the stairs and get to a main station and someone there could help him.  Well, as tempting as it was, I wasn’t going to let him walk that alone, so I exited the turnstile and walked back up the stairs into the driving rain and walked with Bob over to the station at the corner of 42nd and 7th, in Times Square.  The gal working there listened to our story and let us through, no problems at all.

Yankee Stadium

Bob at Yankee Stadium

The ride back to the Bronx was the exact opposite of the ride in, so we took the # 7 to Grand Central, jumped on the # 4 to the Bronx.  I have read stories and seen interviews with people, like Billy Crystal, who talked about taking the 4 train to Yankee Stadium and how cool it was.  They weren’t lying!  Granted it was still pouring down rain, but as you come up out of ground and can see (old) Yankee Stadium, well, as much as I **HATE** the Yankees… I had tears in my eyes!  There was that historical building, one that was being discarded for the a  new one.  As the train moved by it, then you could see the big, bright, shiny, new Yankee Stadium.  It was quite cool.  We exited the train hoping they would at least have the gates open, cause with this much rain, I didn’t see them getting a game in today.  Sure enough, we saw the gates were open and people were filing in, so we headed for the nearest gate, # 6, and got in line.

This is where things started going down hill for me at Yankee Stadium.  I was so excited to get to see the new park, but there are things, or should I say people, that really ruin that for someone.  Ok, let me back up and say that I had my Red Sox hat on, so maybe that influenced everything, but if so… are you serious?!?  So we get to the gate, an employee there says he needs to look in my back pack.  I opened it up, like always, he looks in, says outloud “Camera, video camera, score book,  Red Sox jersey… ok”.  As I start to walk, he stops me!  “WAIT! No, you can’t go in.  No back packs allowed.”  I tried to get him to understand its just a camera bag, but he said “No back packs, unless its on a kid or you have a diaper in it.  You can bring in bags, purses, regular camera bags, but no back packs.”  I stood there, getting pissed on by the rain in the Bronx, and looked at him and said, “Let me get this straight, I can bring a hefty garbage bag in, women can bring in purses and if I had a son and put this on his back, we could bring it in?”  He told me that was correct.  Ok… STRIKE ONE! Luckily we parked close by to this gate, so Bob and I walked back to the car, changed out the back pack for my smaller camera bag.  I couldn’t fit my jersey in it, so Bob agreed to carry it for now, under his umbrella, so it wouldn’t get wet and we headed back to the nearest gate, which we passed on our way to the car, gate # 8.  We get in line, the gal working there says that she wants to look in my bag, I say sure and open it for her.  She looks in, I told her its just my cameras and she asks “What is that?”  I said, “My digital camera.”  She asked what the other item was, “I said a zoom lens”.  She then asked about the 3rd item in the bag, so I pulled it out and said “My video camera.” She said “No video cameras allowed in Yankee Stadium, period!”  Wow… STRIKE TWO!! Now, let me say that I have since read on their web site and sure enough, it reads “movie cameras and any other video or audio recording equipment are not permitted in Yankee Stadium”.  (it also mentions no “extended length zoom lenses”, but I guess that was overlooked… not once, but twice!)  Ok, my bad. But the other 29 parks allow them, per MLB rules you cant video game action, but you can other things.  My bad!  What gets me about this though is that the guy at gate # 6 didn’t say a word about my video camera and he knew it was there.  Had he told me then, I would have just left it at the car when we were there. So Bob graciously says he will take it back to the car for me, but before he goes, I wanted to make sure that everything else we had was ok, so I start asking, “I have a Red Sox Jersey, is that ok?”  I am told “Yes”, with a grin on her face.  I ask about my regular camera, my Red Sox hat, my wallet, keys and finally I say “I am a fat guy, are fat guys allowed in Yankee Stadium??”  The gal looks at me strange, breaks out into laughter and looks away.  I asked for clarification, cause after twice trying to get in and having to go back to the car, I wanted to make sure we could enter with what he had.  She finally says, “Yes, even fat guys are allowed in.”  Wow, totally the wrong way for her to answer it, but ok.  So Bob heads back to the car and I waited for him at the gate watching others go in.  As I stood there I got to talk to several people, one guy told me “You need one of these” as he points to his Yankee umbrella.  I told him, “I’m from Washington State, this is nothing.”  That sparks a conversation and come to find out his brother-in-law lives about 20 minutes from me.  Small world.  Bob still wasn’t back yet when a guy walks up with a back pack.  I thought to myself, “ohhh poor guy.”  The gal has him open it, looks in, and puts a wrist band around the handle and lets him through…. I guess I was louder than I thought when I smirked cause the guy asked me, in a deep New York accent, “WHAT!?!”  I told him how I was told no back packs and he said, and I quote directly, “Just put a diaper in it and they can’t say anything!”… STRIKE THREE!!!

I had been talking to this older gentleman who was also working the gate, a really nice guy, when Bob got back.  We finally got the “OK” to enter the park, I guess 3rd time is a charm, and away we went.  The first thing you notice when you enter gate # 8 is concrete… and lots and lots of it!  As we walked around, there was no immediate signs of there actually being a baseball field anywhere near where we were at that point.  We came to a “T” and I looked both directions and could see nothing but people… and concrete!   We took a right and started walking down the seriously depressing walk way.  Finally, like a sign from God that things will get better, we see some green grass!  People always talk about how they walked into (insert ball park name here) and how they saw the field and how amazing it was… I will never forget the depressing concrete of Yankee Stadium.

A Red Sox fan at Yankee Stadium

We stopped for a few pictures, the tarp was still on the infield, but we snapped pictures any way.  I decided it was time, so I put my Red Sox jersey on and posed for a few pix around the park as we walked the loop.  I had thought it was maybe just me, but no, even Bob commented on how sterile and blah the look of the new park was.  I tried to tell him that the dark blue they used is a Yankee color and everywhere you look they made sure you knew you were at Yankee Stadium, cause everything was named “Yankee Stadium” this and “Yankee Stadium” that.  Had they not done that, I might have thought I was on a tropical beach in Fiji or something.  I had been told that everything was more expensive at the new park than anywhere else and they werent kidding.  Heck even the penny smashers, which are usually $0.51  elsewhere, were $1.01 here!! (we did get a few pennies smashed, thus doing our part to help pay A-Fraud’s salary). We did like how they incorporated the history of the Yankees into the decorations as you walked around the main concourse.  That’s one thing I said I really like about Comerica Park in Detroit, yet Comerica does it so much better.

I stopped to get me a drink, in a souvenir cup (as I always do) and the guy at the counter said “How can I help you Mr. Red Sox?”  I thought it was funny and he told me how it took balls to wear my Sox gear here and he appreciated it.  I didn’t catch as much flack as I thought I would, honestly, but then again maybe it was just the general low keyed mood cause of the rain, I dunno.  It was a little after 12pm when we decided to try and find our way to the Yannkee Museum to see if we could say hello to Brian Roberts (the nephew of our tour guide from yesterday in Gettysburg).  We finally found out how to get there, most of the ushers we talked to had no clue either, and found a huge line waiting for us, so we opted out of that and found ourselves by the bleacher section in left center taking  more pictures and just checking everything out.  From here you can see the retired numbers, the championship plaques (which have already had a few stolen by those great Yankee fans) and of course, Monument Park.  Now, honestly, I don’t know if it is just me or not, but the new and improved Monument Park looks sooooo much smaller than the previous one.  The line for it formed right behind us and there was no way that I was gonna get in that either.  As we stood there taking it all in I realized that it was 12:50pm, game time was supposed to be 1:05pm  and the tarp was still on the infield and the rain hadnt let up at all.  It was time to crap or get off the pot, so that’s what I did and decided it was time to leave and head north to Fenway!  I am still really bummed we didnt get to see a game at Yankee Stadium, but we certainly got to see the park and well… NO THANKS!  Unless things change when I go again, it will not even be in my top 10 or top 15.

Nicole, Josh, Sean & Ken before the game at the Hilton

The drive to Boston went pretty smooth, it just rained almost the entire time.  I set the GPS for Fenway and it took us a completely different route than I would have.  Not sure what way it was, but it was 2 lane most of the way and I remember something about the Merritt Parkway.  Either way when we got to Hartford, CT I called my nephew Sean to see where he was with his girlfriend and his buddy Josh.  He told me they were just about to leave town as we were pulling through, so the race was on.  From there to Boston is quite the boring drive really, thank goodness I had Bob driving most of it.  We did make a stop in some little town that not even Nicole (Sean’s GF) had heard of.  We needed gas, a restroom and something to snack on.  The place we stopped at had a Dunkin Donuts, so we gave it a try… big mistake!  Their commercials say “America Runs On Dunkin’”  Im sorry America, you’ve been swindled, cause Dunkin sucks!

I love the drive into Boston on the Mass Pike (aka I-90) as you get to see Fenway just up the road and eventually pass right by it, as we did.  Our hotel, the Sheraton on Dalton, is about 8/10 of a mile from Fenway.  Sean and his group got booked at the Hilton on Dalton, which as we pulled into our hotel, we could see if right across the street from ours, literally.  We checked in and headed over to the Hilton to join up with everyone before heading to Fenway.

Fenway Park

Yawkey Way @ Fenway Park

Fenway Park is truly amazing.  I love every aspect of it.  Yet, I will admit, that even though I am a die hard Red Sox fan, have been for almost 22 years now (August 19, 1986), Fenway ranks a big # 2 in my book of my favorite ball parks… right behind Wrigley Field.  There is no shame in that, cause Wrigley is awesome.  This was my 4th time to Fenway, 3 games and I took the tour of the park with my wife back on May 7, 2005.  Every time I go to Fenway it’s something special.  My first game there, July 20, 2003, my nephew Sean and I had “Green Monster Seats”.  It was the first year of the seats on the Monstah and we had front row seats. We could reach out and touch the front of the Monstah, and Sean got a BP HR ball from Nomar!  It was awesome!!  Red Sox beat the Blue Jays behind a great pitching performance by Pedro.   My 2nd game was with my wife, May 8, 2005 and while it rained like it would never rain again, we had amazing roof box seats down the first base line, counter top seats with bar stools, too cool.  The Red Sox lost to the Mariners on a wind blown grand slam by Richie Sexton, in the 2nd game of a double header cause the previous nights game was rained out.  This time to Fenway, was just as magical as the others…

Our hotel was literally 8/10th of a mile, but with the rain, I decided to take a cab and the cab ride was darn near 12 minutes and at that they dropped us off a couple blocks from the park, so after we walked up, made it through the gate, up the elevator and found where our “Standing Room Only” (SRO) section was, we had missed most of the first inning.   We were actually quite surprised that they started the game on time with the rain, but that’s how it goes.  The SRO section we were in is called the Pavilion SRO, which is down the 3rd base line.  While you are up pretty high, the view is fantastic!  You even have your own restroom and concession stands for this section only, that’s pretty cool.

Recreating my Fenway video board debut from May 8, 2005

We found us a spot to stand and I looked at Bob and said, “I’ll be right back”.  It was time to get a Fenway Frank!  WOOHOO!  The best dog in the majors!  I grabbed a couple, dressed them up, and headed back to give Bob his first taste of a Boston tradition.  He loved it, and who wouldn’t? (other than my wife and Lindsey Meeks!) The game itself moved along pretty fast, which wasn’t cool at all.  Youkilis homered in the 1st to give the Sox a 1-0 lead, but the Marlins came back in the top of the 2nd and scored 2 on solo jacks by Uggla and Paulino.  That’s where the scoring ended cause in the middle of the 6th the heavens opened up and the tarp was brought out to cover the infield.  It was a bummer end to a great trip to Boston.  But that wasnt the only excitment at the park that day…

It must have been the middle of the 2nd when Bob and I met a guy named Rick.  Rick and his girlfriend, Kate,  were sitting in seats 2 rows down from where we were standing.  When he walked by me he saw my camera and asked if I worked for the Red Sox, I told him “No” with a bit of a chuckle and he told me that in the middle of the 5th he was going to propose to his woman.  He’s from Cananda and this was his first ever baseball game and he was kinda lost following it.  Over the next couple innings Rick came back, said Hi, and got a beer.  He was really nervous.  In the 4th inning he showed us the ring he bought for Kate and holy cow that thing was huge!  It was just over a 3 carat diamond ring and man that baby shined!  When the 5th inning came we were getting ready for the middle of the inning cause he had said there would be something on the video board about it and he goes off and drops to one knee and pops the question!!  Dude was early, so we though, must have been the fact he got the innings exchange rate wrong or something.  No, we found out that he had to do it then cause in the middle of the 5th they put up a message saying “Congratulations Rick & Kate”.  Btw, she said YES!!  It was quite the moment, that’s for sure.  Thanks Rick for letting us in on it so we could share in your magical moment.  May the 2 of you have many, many happy years together… and Kate, take Rick to more games, you need to school that boy on the fine art of baseball! 

Random Thoughts

I ended up having 4 Fenway Franks… DE-FRICKIN-LICIOUS!

During the rain delay I met a couple from Florida, she is a Marlin’s fan, he is a Red Sox fan.  I had a great time talking to Amy & Charlie.  At the same time, Bob met a guy that is originally from Kirkland, WA, which is just over an hour form where we live, small world, huh?

We hung out during the rain delay for a while,  Sean & Nicole made their way over from  their SRO section to meet up with us, and after taking a few pictures, we decided to call it a night and headed out.  As we walked out I soaked up every aspect of this amazing ball park.

After a walk up Yawkey Way, we went straight into Boston Beer Works.  The place was jammed!   Bob and I stayed for 1 beer each (I had the “Back Bay IPA” and Bob had the “Patriot Lager”.  Nicole had a blueberry beer that actually had blueberries floating in it!  Sean had a watermelon beer that had a chunk of watermelon on the rim of the glass!).  Sean wanted to eat so while him and Nicole got a table to eat, Bob and I called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

Btw, the Yankee game got started, 5 1/2 hours late!  The best part is that the Yankees lost to the Nationals 3-0!!

June 18th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Our original plan had us getting to Gettysburg at 6am, the same time they open the gates at the battlefield.  After some discussion last night, we opted for an extra hour of sleep and getting there at 7am. So we were up, ready and on the road by just after 5am.  Our hotel was out by BWI, so south of Baltimore, which meant we didn’t have to deal with the traffic in town on our drive as we bypassed all of that.  The drive itself wasn’t all that bad, until we got stuck behind a garbage truck in some small town right on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border… on a 1 way street no less.  They don’t have the automated trucks back here like we do at home, so we got to watch the guys jump off the truck, grab the garbage and toss it into the back… for a while. UGH!

The Lincoln Address Memorial

We drove into Gettysburg via Taneytown Road, which of course was how many of the troops that fought in the Battle of Gettysburg got to town.  That was pretty cool and as we neared the edge of town, the excitement was building.  That was quickly shot when I had no idea where we were.  It’s been just over 4 years since I was last in Gettysburg and I really felt that I had a good handle on where we were and where we were heading.  I had told Bob that the visitors center was directly across the street from the entrance to the cemetery.  Well, we passed the cemetery and I saw no visitors center.  How could I be so wrong?  Was my memory failing me already?  I have been told my mind is a sponge and I soak it all in so well…. however, this time, nuttin!  We drove around a bit as I tried to get my bearings.  Ok!  I got it now, we saw a sign for the “new” visitors center, so we drove over by it.  Holy crap!  This thing is huge! It wasn’t opened yet, so we headed back to the cemetery to go in there.

The parking lot the we parked in was indeed where I knew the vistors center used to be, so I wasn’t losing my mind, just didn’t know they built a complete new one across town.  The Gettysburg National Cemetery is where a few thousand soldiers that had been left behind or buried on the battlefield were now buried.  It is also where, on November 19, 1863, after a 2-hour speech by Edward Everett, President Abraham Lincoln gave his 2 minute speech that became known as the “Gettysburg Address”.  He gave this address while dedicating the Soldier’s National Cemetery.  On the site where he gave the address is the Soldier’s Memorial now.  It’s quite eerie to be standing in the same area as others were when they listened to Lincoln so many years ago.  As a general rule of thumb, I hate cemeteries.  I have a real fear of death and to me a cemetery is like the mecca of death.  However, on a few occasions, I have felt nothing but peaceful in a cemetery and here in Gettysburg is one of those times.  We checked out several of the memorials on the walk back to the Soldier’s Memorial, including several cannons, and markers that showed where troops were gathered during the battle.  Right next to this cemetery is another, Evergreen Cemetery, which was there during the battle.  This area I am talking about was known, during the battle, as “Cemetery Ridge”.  I have read so many books, watched so many shows and just in general studied so much about this battle, that even though this was my 3rd trip to Gettysburg, it still gives me the chills knowing I was walking right where all that was going on.

As we made it to the Soldier’s Memorial, we took the time to pay our respects to the thousands of soldiers that are buried next to it, many of those simply listed as “Unknown”.  Those that did have names, I didn’t recognize any of them, but the ones that I read, I read aloud as a way to let the world know that they are there.  Silly, I know, but I said their names aloud out of respect for them, so that even if it was just Bob & I, someone heard their names and knew what they did.  We took several pictures, then started making our way back to the car so we could drive on into the battlefield.  As we walked we could feel a few sprinkles and really hoped the rain would hold off, at least until we got out of town.

Ken in The Devil's Den

As we drove up the Emmitsburg road and into the middle of the Gettysburg National Military Park, the rain started falling harder. We took a left at the Peach Orchard (was good to see they have replanted peach trees there) and headed over to the Devil’s Den. The Devil’s Den, for those who don’t know, is filled with not just rocks, but huge boulders.  As we parked nearby, the rain let up, which was great since we wanted to walk around some.  It’s really hard to believe that there was a big battle here.  Hard to think that anything could have happened here.  I personally had a hard time walking around, with good shoes on, yet most soldiers barely had anything on their feet, if anything at all.  To think they brought horses and cannons through here was unreal.   I crawled up on 1 big boulder and sat there, just looking around.  To my right was the “Slaughter Pen”.  Straight out in front of me was “Big Round Top” and just to the left of it, “Little Round Top”.  From where I was sitting, the land that lay out in front of me, saw thousands of young men give their lives.  I tried to imagine what was going on those fateful days in July 1863, yet I really couldn’t.  I could picture the movies I have seen, but to be sitting there and seeing the lay of the land, it was unbelievable to think that this is where so many had fought and died for what they believed in.

We had already bought our tickets to do a bus tour through the park and really wanted to be on the 9:30am bus, so we left the Devil’s Den and drove through the park looking at different memorials along the way.  I was able to point things out to Bob, like the Copse of Trees (the “High Water Mark” of the Confederacy), the field where “Pickett’s Charge” took place as well as the enormous Pennsylvania Memorial.  We booked this tour online and while the email confirmation says to meet at the parks visitors center, when we got there, we saw no buses.  I reread that email and while it does say that, it gives a totally different street address.  So we proceeded to that address, on Baltimore Pike, which was maybe 1 mile up the road, and we checked in, early even.  That of course gave us time to look through the gift shop there and spend some of our hard earned money.  I bought a Gettysburg shot glass, so did Bob, along with a book about the area.  As we were looking around my phone rang, it was Larry Smith.  Larry is someone who Bob and I went to school with, but neither of us had seen him in almost 18 years.  We had reconnected via Facebook and since he lived in PA, he was going to drive down today and meet us for lunch.  We reconfirmed times and I told him I would call him when we got back after the bus tour.

The bus we did our tour on... again, it was awesome!

Promptly at 9:15am we started boarding the bus.  They give 2 different kinds of tours, 1 is a live guided tour, the other is done via an audio tape.  We opted for the guided tour, which turned out to be a smart move.  The bus we were on had several rows of 2 seats on each side of the aisle.  Bob and I chose a seat in the same row, just on opposite sides of the aisle.  The tour cost $27/each and what it did was try to recreate for us the battle itself, by taking us to different parts of the battlefield and showing us where the troops moved.  Our tour guide, Dave Roberts (no, not the same Dave Roberts that stole those bases for the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS vs the Yankees), brought to life what happened on these grounds more than 145 years ago.  You can really tell that our guide enjoys his job.  Just the way he got into it.  If he actually doesn’t, then someone needs to give him an Oscar.  The tour was set up to follow the timeline of the battle from July 1-3, 1863.  I could go on and on about it, cause it was just that great.  It is something both Bob and I are so glad we took the time to do and fully suggest it to anyone that is going to Gettysburg.

When we completed the tour I asked our guide for his suggestion on a place to have lunch.  He suggested a few and said that the Dobbin House was one that had real ambiance, and good cold beer.  Sounds great to me, so we called Larry and said we would meet him there.  The Dobbin House was built in 1776 when Reverend Alexander Dobbin built a house to begin a new life in America for himself and his family. Today his home, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a colonial restaurant where candlelit elegance, superior food in abundance, and gracious service bring back the sights, sounds and tastes of two centuries ago. When you enter the Dobbin House tavern, you go down stairs.  Once down there all of the tables are candle lit.  Its very cool!  Bob and I got there before Larry, so we got a table, ordered a couple beers and looked over the menu in the few minutes before he got there.   Larry looks the same, just got older like the rest of us.  I had a great time getting to catch up with Larry over lunch, we all had sandwiches (which were really good, especially the potato salad that came with them).  I really wish we had more time to hang out with Larry, but our schedule said we needed to get back into the battlefield to see a couple more things before heading to Philly.  Thanks again for coming down to meet us Larry, we both had a great time and hope you enjoyed it also.  Give me a buzz when you get to town!

Bob, Larry & Ken after lunch at the Dobbin House

As we left the Dobbin House the rain was coming down really hard.  I told Bob, “Let’s not let this slow us down.  Heck, this is my 3rd time to Gettysburg and 2 outta 3 times its poured on me!” (those were different times of the year as well, rain in July 2003, none in May 2005 and then this trip).  No trip to Gettysburg is complete without going to Little Round Top, so that’s where we were headed.  As we pulled up the road leading to the parking for Little Round Top, we noticed all the tour buses.  This wouldn’t stop us. We did however decide to go see the monument for the 20th Maine first, which is just to the left and a short walk from Little Round Top.  If you have seen the movie “Gettysburg”, this is where Joshua Chamberlain and his men were “the end of the line”.  Where they did everything they could to fight off the rebels.  They eventually ran out of ammo and fixed bayonets and charged down the hill and ran the Confederate Army out of the area.  It’s an amazing scene in the movie and is even more moving to be walking the exact ground… even in a complete down pour!  With time running short, we jumped back in the car and headed up the road a bit to find parking for Little Round Top.

Bob and I have been talking about doing a trip to Gettysburg since we were in the 7th grade, about 23 years now, and how special it would be for us to be there.  A few years ago Bob got a bottle of Crown Royal XR (about $180/bottle).  He thought it would be cool to crack it open and toast with it at Gettysburg, so I suggested we do it on Little Round Top.  So just before we started the walk up, in a driving rain,  he cracked open the bottle, poured 2 shots and away we went.  When we got to the top, even in the rain, the view was incredible.  We could see the Wheat Field, Devil’s Den, Big Round Top, the Slaughter Pen, the Copse of Trees and so much more including way too many monuments to count.  We stood there soaking it all in, litterally as I was soaked to the bone, said a toast as we poured a little out “for those who gave the last full measure” and then down the hatch!  Man that was incredibly smooth!  I guess for $180/bottle it better be!  Once we were done with that we walked around looking at the different markers they have up there… even ran into our tour guide who was on another tour…before heading back to the car and hitting the road.  We had 1 more stop to make and that was the Copse of Trees.  With it raining the hardest its been, I let Bob run up and see the monuments and I did some video from the cars “sun” roof… then it was on to Philly!

Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia - the best!

The drive from Gettysburg to Philadelphia is about 2 1/2 hours.  Once we hit the interstate around Harrisburg, things went smooth from there until just outside of town when traffic came all but to a stop!  Without question it was the worst traffic we had seen so far.  The last 15 miles seemed to take forever, but when we got to town, it was worth it.  It was just after 5pm and I wanted to take Bob by Independence Hall (we were scheduled to take the tour on Saturday, but hoped we would get to town early enough to do it today, didn’t happen, so Saturday it is).  We drove by, I pointed out a couple things, then it was on to Geno’s and Pat’s to get a cheesesteak.  Parking is tough to find in that part of town and since they are right across the street from one another, I dropped Bob off at Pat’s and I circled until I found a spot and ran over to Geno’s.  I had read how you need to know how to order, if you don’t they will give you a hard time (their web site even goes as far as saying you better speak English or they wont serve you!).  So I ordered “Yeah, uh, wit-whiz”.  $7.50.  As I waited for my order, I checked out the pictures of the famous people that have ate there, and there are way too many to mention right now.  When my sandwich was ready, I grabbed it, dodged as many rain drops as possible, and got back to the car where Bob had a funky look on his face.  I looked down and he had taken maybe 2 bites of the one from Pat’s.  I asked him what was up and he said, “What’s so special about this?  The cheesesteaks at Jack-In-The-Box are way better!”  I thought he was kidding until I took a bite… nope, he wasn’t!  The bread was chewy, the meat was blah, the onions were crunchy, and overall it was a waste of $7.50!  So I unwrapped the one from Geno’s and took a bite.  It was as if angels were dancing in my mouth!  The bread was great, the onions grilled to perfection, the meat had really good flavor and above all it was juicy, too much really cause I wore 1/2 of the juice on my shirt! After Bob took a bite, we both fully agreed that the best cheesesteak was from…. GENO’s!!  Neither one of us could understand how anyone could think that Pat’s was the best, but people do!  This is a big debate in the City of Brotherly Love, but it shouldn’t be, cause Pat’s was  a waste of time.  Geno’s wins, hands down!

Citizens Bank Park

Jamie Moyer delivers the 1st pitch at Citizens Bank Park

We quickly made our way to Citizens Bank Park, I really wanted to make it before 1st pitch.  We got parking, thanks to my handicapped parking plaque, right across from the center field gate.  After changing my shirt, taking a couple pictures, we headed in.  As always with me, I hate gates where you have to go through turnstiles.  In 2004, on my honeymoon,  I started referring to them as “Nutcrushers” cause that’s exactly what happened to me at one.  I usually look around and see if there is a gate I can enter without going through one of those, at this point, there wasn’t one that I could see…. so I gave the guy at the gate my ticket and he even asked if I wanted to go around and he would take me where I could.  I told him, “Nah, this is all part of the experience, right?” and I went through the turnstile.  It was tight, but I was alright.  As I came out the other end, he said, “Man, I love your positive attitude!”  I went back to shake his hand and the next thing you know, he gave me a hug.  We both had smiles on our faces as I told him to take care and headed in for the game… better yet, the nearest restroom, which I knew from 4 years ago, was straight ahead!

The was my 2nd time to a game at Citizens Bank Park (my last being May 1, 2005 vs the Marlins) and since my last game I have been looking forward to getting back here cause I LOVE this park!!  I thought maybe I had romanticized this park, that maybe it wasn’t as awesome as I remembered… NOPE!  What makes Citizens Bank Park so great?  What doesn’t?  I mean from the moment you enter via the center field gate, you have a bunch to see and do.  You’re right there in Ashburn Alley (named after Richie Ashburn, who was a Phillie from 1948-1959), there’s the All-Star Walk, the Phillies Wall of Fame and a several great places to get a bite to eat.  The view of the field is also great from out here.  As you make your way around the park, heading towards home down the 1st baseline, you start seeing stainless counter tops on the main concourse, right behind the sections of seats (they extend from foul pole to foul pole, with the exception of certain places).  I LOVE THIS!!  Back in 2005 this was the first time I have seen this done, and since then other parks, including my home park of Safeco Field, have installed these.  Yet, not nearly as many as they have at Citizens Bank Park.  Tonight we made our way to behind home, and grabbed a section of counter top (they also have a bar down below to put your foot on to steady yourself, that’s awesome).  I love the fact that I can buy a cheap seat, grab a beer, a dog and have a place to set it all down along with my scorebook and camera.  That just rocks!

Ken after a very wet game in Philadelphia

We did make it in time for 1st pitch, thankfully.  I hate missing 1st pitch, I don’t do it often and have NEVER missed it when I go to games on my own as I am usually at the park when the gates open.  Tonight, Jamie Moyer (former Mariner) was pitching for the World Champion Phillies.  I remember being in Chicago back in August 2006 when I heard on ESPN that he was traded from Seattle to Philadelphia, I was shocked!  2 nights later I saw the Phillies play the Cubs at Wrigley Field and during pregame stretches, there was Jamie in a foreign uniform… looked really weird.  But tonight I got to see him pitch again and well, the 46 year old (the majors oldest active player) didn’t do too hot.  I dunno if he just had a bad game or if maybe it was the rain (that was falling on and off, hard at times).  The Blue Jays jumped on Moyer for 4 runs before he got 4 outs.  He ended up going 6 innings, giving up 10 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 2 walks, 2 HR’s and had 6 K’s.  In the 7th inning, facing what would be his last batter of the night, Moyer gave up a home run to Hill.  The Phillies changed pitchers, bringing in Durbin to pitch to former Phillie Scott Rolen.  The crowd, as they did before each of his at bats, booed him big time (it was so bad, I started looking for ARod).  Rolen responded by taking the first pitch he saw and jacked it big time!  I mean it was a monster shot!!  The Blue Jays beat the Phillies in a rain soaked game, on ESPN no less, 7-1.

After the game we made our way to our hotel out by the airport, a Courtyard by Marriott.  It was a bit hard to find, but thanks to the GPS, we made it.  The gal that checked us in, Adonna (as she told me, “Like Madonna, without the M”) was really cool.  Thanks again for your help, though it would have been nice if you could have made the rain go away the next day!!

Tomorrow will be a long day.  Its NYC in the morning then on to Boston for the night cap.  2 parks on the same day.  I can’t wait!

Random Thoughts:

I have heard people talk about the “Crab Fries” at Chickie & Pete’s at Citizens Bank Park.  When Bob went looking for something to eat, he brought back some Crab Fries and I gotta say, we weren’t impressed at all.  Basically, it’s fries smothered in what tasted like Old Bay seasoning.  Don’t see what the big deal is really.

During one of the breaks of our bus tour in Gettysburg I got to talking to our tour guide, we got to talking about our trip, other joined in the conversation about the ball parks and then he tells me he has something to tell me that I would be able to appreciate.  It’s a story about his nephew, Brian Roberts, who when he graduated college wanted to get a job at the baseball hall of fame, but was unable to.  He was selling calendars at a mall when he got a call about a job and he is now the curator at the Yankees Museum at the new Yankee Stadium.  What a story!?  I told him I would be there at Yankee Stadium tomorrow and would drop by the museum and say “HI” if I could.

On our flight to Baltimore on Monday I sent a song request to Alan Hunter on the 80’s station on XM.  Told him how Air Tran has XM at every seat and WI-FI even, which is how I was able to email him my request.  He emailed me back later that day and said that he would give me a shout-out and play my song in the 6pm (EST) hour on Wednesday.  On our way to Geno’s we heard it.  He said that he got an email from a guy, Ken Lee, who was at 39,000 feet up listening to him on an air plane.  He commented on how cool that is, thanked me for my email, and played my song for me: “Small Town” by JCM.

June 17th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip, Citizens Bank Park |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

We got up around 7am and was out the door by 8am.  As we made our way down to the lobby to check out I realized that we were actually ahead of schedule.   The first thing we had to do was the tour of Ford’s Theatre at 10am, and it wouldn’t take us but about 20 minutes to get there via the Metro.  So we stopped at the bakery counter for a muffin and OJ and enjoyed our breakfast sitting on a park bench outside in one of the flower gardens.  It was nice and peaceful and the muffins weren’t too shabby either.

Bob at Ford's Theatre - June 16, 2009

I had taken some time to look over a map of the Metro before we left home, so I knew exactly where we needed to go and the best part is that the Metro station was on the street corner directly in front of our hotel, couldn’t be any easier.  We jumped on the Red Line which took us to the Gallery Place station.  From there it’s a short walk to Ford’s Theatre.

This is one of the places I had been wanting to see in D.C. since the first time I had come to town and while I did get to drive by it then, in July 2003, I was unable to take the tour.  The same goes for my next visit, May 2005.  Not this time.  This time we were doing it and with tickets in hand we got to the Theatre and got in line around 9:30am.  The line was already about 50 people deep when we got there.  As we stood waiting for the doors to open we met a family from Iowa that were in town for the week.  We got to talking trips, comparing our stops, and realized that we would be hitting some of the same places over the next week, like Gettysburg and Philadelphia.  Was a lot of fun talking traveling with them and sharing opinions.  I told them when in Philly they had to get a cheesesteak at Geno’s.  I let them know if they didn’t like it, they could cuss me out later

The doors opened promptly at 10am and after we all filed into the theatre a park ranger appeared on stage and started the ‘tour’.  Basically he just spoke about the history of the building and the first thing he let us know is that the ONLY part of the building that was original is the facade out front!  Are you kidding me?!?!?  This kinda took the wind right out of our sails.  To know that the stage, the seats, the entire inside of the building was not original really sucked!  I did not know that the place was gutted not that long after President Lincoln was shot and turned into offices.  This means that while it’s the same building, it is NOT the same place where Lincoln was shot.  The luxury box where Lincoln was shot might not even be in the exact location.  The only things they could say for sure is that the lithograph of President Washington that’s on display is the same one that was there that night as well as the couch and chair that was in his box.  The chair that Lincoln was shot in wasn’t there as it is in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI (I was lucky enough to have some friends take me by there to see it and other historical things, and a great Baseball Hall of Fame traveling display when I was back there in August 2006).

When we left Ford’s Theatre we decided to try an add a stop at the National Archives before we headed out to Arlington to tour the cemetery.  The Archives is just 1 stop down the green or yellow line from where we were.  The Metro stop is on the backside of the archives so we walked around front and found a huge line!  There was no way that we were gonna stay and stand in that line.  Just means that we have to add it back to the schedule for Saturday and when we realized we were gonna have to do that, we hurried to get to the train and head out to Arlington.

Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier(s) @ Arlington Cemetery

It’s about a 15-20 minute ride from the Archives to Arlington and when you get there and come up from under ground, you still have a bit of a walk to get to the visitors center.  As we got there Bob took some time to look around at the different things on display, while I got us tickets for the Tourmobile ride up to JFK’s grave, Tomb of the Unknowns and Arlington House.  This is something thats a must and I learned the hard way cause when Sean and I were in town back in 2003, we walked all the way up, in 100+ degree heat,  and by the time I got to JFK’s grave, I thought they were gonna have to bury this fat boy next to Kennedy!!   It’s only $7.50 for the ride around the loop and is so worth it.  While you ride they tell you facts about the cemetery as well as point out graves for you to see, like Abner Doubleday’s (though, they said he “invented” baseball, and well, if you study the origins of the game, you will know thats not at all possible).  The view from JFK’s grave looking back at the city of DC is awesome.  You can clearly see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and so much more.  Not too far from JFK’s grave is where his brother, Bobby Kennedy, is buried with a plain white cross.   Bob overheard someone say while looking at Bobby’s grave, “Look, he has the same last name as that guy over there.  I wonder if they were related?”  How incredibly sad is that?!

We got to the Tomb of the Unknowns just in time to see the ‘changing of the guard’.  If you have never seen this, you must if you get the chance.  This was my 2nd time and it was just as cool as the first.  Honestly, it’s nothing like I thought it would be.  I was expecting this huge thing, I mean to say, a big production… I was wrong.  What it is though is 3 soldiers that move in perfect harmony.  The precision is something else.  It’s very cool.  When it was over we went looking for the grave of the most-decorated soldier ever, Audie Murphy.   It took us a bit, but we finally found it.  It wasn’t that far from the memorials for the Challenger and Columbia crews.

With time running out on us for the day, we skipped Arlington House and headed for the Metro to get back to our hotel to get our car and get outta town.  It took us about 30 minutes and 2 train rides to get back to the Metro stop where we started that morning.  I decided to take the elevator up to the surface, Bob was gonna take the escalator.  I have a real fear of those things, ever since the one that didn’t seem like it was gonna end at the Ballpark In Arlington back in 2000.  On the elevator you ride up at least 5 stories and as I walked out the door onto the street, that made me think, was the escalator ride that long as well?  I stood there on the street corner looking for Bob and I couldn’t see him anywhere.  So after about 3 minutes, I called his cell phone and got a message saying that the subscriber I have called is out of range. Huh?  So I waited another minute or so and called again… this time he answered.  I asked where he was and he said “Still on the escalator!”  He was just about to the top of the longest escalator he has ever seen.  He said there was no way that I would have ridden it and from the sounds of it, I probably would have puked just looking at it!!

Ken @ Ben's Chili Bowl

We grabbed our car from valet and hit the road.  Our first stop was for lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street in NW DC.  Ben’s is famous and has been there for just over 50 years now.  Many Presidents have ate there, including President Obama on Inauguration Day.  Ben’s is also a favorite restaurant of Bill Cosby and his favorite item is the “chili half-smoke”.  So that’s what we tried.  What they are is a big ole hot dog, 1/4 pound half pork and beef, on a steamed bun, with mustard, onions and Ben’s spicy homemade chili sauce and served with some potato chips.  I thought it was really good.  Bob thought it was ok, but thought the chili would be more like we Northwesterners think of chili, the stickin to your ribs, big chunks of meat with beans kinda chili.  I do have to say though, if you’re in town, check out Ben’s, it’s worth it!  Just before we left I wasn’t sure if we had to clear our table ourselves or not, so I started looking for a place to put our stuff and a worker there, Tremaine, came up and took our stuff and asked if we would like a refill of our Cokes for the road.  I said sure and when he returned, we hit the road.

On  the way to Baltimore we had to exchange our car at the airport.  See, when we planned this trip, we were originally gonna fly overnight Monday into Tuesday morning.  Everything was booked based on that and then we found out we could do a Monday morning flight and I was unable to get the car from Avis for Monday, so we booked with Alamo and we had to change cars.  It didn’t take too long to do and we were on our way to Camden Yards.

Oriole Park @ Camden Yards

The Warehouse - Oriole Park @ Camden Yards

Parking at Camden was very nice and only $10!.  We got to park really close, right by Eutaw Street on the 1st base side of the park.  I had been  telling Bob about Camden Yards, the warehouse and all, but it didn’t really sink in until we were walking up and he saw it all with his own eyes.  He fell in love!  We weren’t even to our seats yet, section 98, out in the CF bleachers, before Bob was talking about how he thought this park was awesome!  This was the first time he has experienced a park like Camden, as he had only been to 4 different MLB parks before this (Kingdome, Safeco, new Comiskey and Miller Park).  He loved the coziness.  Loved how it was all about the game, was so quaint.  He thought the warehouse was really cool.   Was a lot of fun watching him check out the park and take it all in.  Then again, who doesn’t love Camden Yards?  For all the reasons Bob mentioned, and sooooo much more!  Camden Yards is a ballpark lovers ballpark.   The red brick, the green steel, the use of surrounding areas, the views (the Bromo Selzter tower), it’s just all so awesome!  This was my 3rd game at Camden Yards and it was as if it was my first again, cause I was drinking it all in.

As we made our way to our seats, which were in center field, right behind us was Boog’s BBQ, as we walked by, we saw Boog there taking pix with people.  I was hoping to get back there and get a pic with him myself, but he was gone before we knew it, just after the start of the game.  Oh well, next time.  The game itself was good.  The Mets jumped to a 4-0 lead in the 4th, the O’s grabbed 2 back in the 6th only to give them right back in the 7th.  The Orioles tried to make a game of it by loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th and pushing 2 runs across, but Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez found his form and shut the Birds down for his 17th Save of the year.

Random Thoughts:

I met a guy with the worlds coolest name, Kenny, who was at Camden Yards for his first time.  He is a Mets fan from Long Island.  He and a couple friends drove down for the game and said  they will be driving back right after the game.  Was great talking to him about Camden Yards, baseball in general and I even got to pick his brain about the new Citi Field.  He told me I needed to eat at the “Shake Shack”.

I also got to meet long time Oriole fans, Cass & Shirley.  They were at the game with their awesome orange bird feather hats on.  They told me how they dont get to come as often as they used to, and how they used to sit down closer to the field but after each of them had surgeries, they just can’t do the stairs any more.  When I asked if I could take their picture they let me know I am not the first and wont be the last.  They said that tourists from as far away as Poland and Russia have been there at games and asked to take their pictures…. kinda puts my Lacey, WA in perspective, huh?

I also got to meet Paul, a Mets fan from New York who was at the game.  I met Paul originally on ballparkchasers.com and it was great to get to met him in person at the game.  We stood out in center field watching the game, enjoying some of Boog’s BBQ.

June 16th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip, Oriole Park @ Camden Yards |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

We left the house headed for Sea-Tac airport just before 7:30am.  The drive up went smoothly and before we knew it, we were waiting at the gate to board our flight.  As we waited we listened to the coverage on the tv of CNN.   There was a shooting at a bus stop in Prince George’s County, just outside of Washington D.C..  We would be driving through there in just a few hours, so that was kinda scary.

Our flight to Baltimore was a long one, just over 5 hours!  It was the longest flight I have ever done.  Best part about it though was that it was non-stop, once we got to Baltimore, we were done, no more flights until the end of the week. We flew Air Tran Airways and while the planes themselves were nothing special, meaning it’s the same room as on any Boeing 737, what made this flight awesome was the fact that Air Tran offers WI-FI (for $12.95/flight) and every seat has its own built in XM radio that offers just over 100 channels to listen to, they even give you headphones to listen if you don’t have your own… and you get to keep them.

We got into BWI in Baltimore about 6:30pm, got our luggage, then jumped on the shuttle to the car rental place to get our car and head into DC.  Things went quite smoothly honestly, we made it into DC around 8pm. Our only plans were to do a drive around town and see some of the sights before grabbing a bite to eat at Gordon Biersch.  That’s exactly what we did.  We drove by the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Arlington Cemetery, Ford’s Theater and when we drove by the White House it caught Bob off guard and made him yell, “Holy F***!!  It’s the White House!”  Was quite funny.

Our hotel for the night was the Wardman Park Marriott, which isn’t too far from Dupont Circle.   As soon as we walked into the hotel, we both felt out of place.  This was a very nice hotel, and here I was in a pair of ratty shorts!  Oh well, I paid the money for the place ($60/night on Priceline vs $299-$339/night if you book direct on their site).  Before heading to our room we checked out one of the 3 bars in the hotel and honestly, the selection wasn’t impressive.  I had a Sam Adams, nothing wrong with that, Bob had a Miller Light cause they didn’t have Bud Light… strange.

Our room is awesome, which is a good thing, cause we need some sleep to get ready for tomorrow, cause the next few days will be busy, busy, busy!!

June 15th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

So we are flying Air Trans from Seattle to Baltimore and we have WI-FI on this flight!  How wicked awesome is that?!?  We have less than 90 minutes to go before we get to BWI, been a long flight (it’s 5 hours total flight time).

Can’t wait to get into BWI, get our luggage, our rental car and head into WA DC!!

WOOHOO!!

June 15th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

As I post this entry, I have 24 hours exactly to go before our trip. I can’t wait, yet I admit that I am nervous about flying, as I always am…especially this time since it’s non-stop to Baltimore and back, 5 hours going and almost 6 coming home next Sunday (which by this exact time in 1 week we will be on the road headed home from Sea-Tac).

With that said, lets look ahead to the pitching match-ups again, as some have certainly changed. I was excited mid-week to see that “Doc” Halladay would be taking the hill for the Blue Jays in Philly on Wednesday, then I saw on ‘Quick Pitch’ that in his start on Friday he left in the 4th inning with a groin pull, and is listed day-to-day. According to ESPN.com he will get the start on Saturday vs the Nationals in DC, and we’ll be there, current park # 30 for me also that night

June 16th – Mets vs Orioles : Pelfrey vs Gutherie
June 17th – Blue Jays vs Phillies: TBD vs Moyer
June 18th – Nationals vs Yankees: Stammen vs Chamberlain
June 18th – Marlins vs Red Sox: Nolasco vs Lester
June 19th – Rays vs Mets: Sonnastine vs Nieve
June 20th – Blue Jays vs Nationals: Halladay vs Detwiler

That takes away the Friday night match-up of Garza vs Hernandez, so that kinda sucks, was looking forward to that.  Looking forward to seeing Moyer, Chamberlain, Sonnastine and hopefully Halladay though.  We shall see.

Looking forward to the weather, it’s gonna be hit or miss.  Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games look good as well as Thursday’s in Boston, but it’s looking like a chance of showers for the Thursday game in New York, as well as Fridays at Citi and possibly Saturday in D.C…. that would suck!

Gonna go take the wife for breakfast, then it’s time to get the last minute laundry done and get the suitcase packed….

June 14th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

So the countdown is getting down to the nitty gritty here. Last night I decided to watch a favorite (baseball related) movie of mine again, “Fever Pitch”. I see a lot of myself in Ben Wrightman. Of course, I don’t live in a Red Sox museum, but if I was single I probably would As I watch him, some of the things he says and does really reminds me of me at times, good or bad, like:

Lindsey: You don’t see us tangled up in the sheets with the Eiffel Tower in the background. You see the Mariners are coming in, and Pedro’s pitching Friday.
Ben: No, on Saturday. Schilling’s Friday.

I could totally see me saying that, probably have at some point… just ask my wife

Reporter: Where do the Sox rank in terms of importance in your life?
Ben: I say the Red Sox… sex… and breathing.

Sadly, I know my wife would agree with this

Lindsey: Let’s try to jerk one out of the park.
Ben: That’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.

Agreed!

Ben: It’s what the players wear, its authentic… I gotta be honest, it’s getting me hot!

Yeah, been there, said that… as my wife was putting on her Red Sox jacket at the Yawkey Way store.

Troy: Why do we inflict this on ourselves?
Ben: Why? I’ll tell you why, ’cause the Red Sox never let you down.
Troy: Huh?
Ben: That’s right. I mean – why? Because they haven’t won a World Series in a century or so? So what? They’re here. Every April, they’re here. At 1:05 or at 7:05, there is a game. And if it gets rained out, guess what? They make it up to you. Does anyone else in your life do that? The Red Sox don’t get divorced. This is a real family. This is the family that’s here for you.

This is so true for all of us baseball fans. That’s just it, they never really ever let us down, they are always there for us (unless you’re an Expos fan).

My 3 favorite quotes are:

Ben: Clearly it’s not just a game, if it was then I wouldn’t care about it this much. 23 years, do you still care about anything you cared about 23 years ago? How About 10? How about 5? Name me a single thing you have cared about for 23 years.

Ben: Ok, I’ve been avoiding this. There’s something you don’t know about me. The thing is, I am a Red Sox fan. I’m like a Big, Big Red Sox fan.
Lindsey: I know, I’ve been to your apartment and seen the Red Sox dish towels, glasses and Yankee toilet paper, it’s like you live in a gift shop.
Ben: It’s worse. See when I was a kid I moved here from New Jersey, I didn’t have any friends, so my Uncle Carl started taking me to Fenway Park. I just… got lost in the game. The ballpark, the people, the colors, sounds, smells… and then he got cancer and died and left me his tickets. That’s passion… it’s a very, very big part of my life and it’s been a problem with me and women.

It’s so true and no 2 trips to the ball park are the same, something is always different!!

Ben: Yeah, like, uh “Why you getting so worked up for, you’re not even doing it, you’re watching it.” It’s like “Hey, sometimes I like to be 11 years old”, I like being a part of something that’s bigger than me, than I, it’s good for your soul to invest in something you can’t control.

I don’t know about it being good for my soul, cause it’s tore me up more than a few times, but I truly feel that until you put your heart out on your sleeve for something bigger than yourself, something out of your control, for the love of a sports team, you will never know heartache and you will never know the feeling of joy that comes with watching your team win!!

On August 19th of this year, it will mark 23 years for me that I have been a Red Sox fan. August 19, 1986 was the day that 2 big things happened in my life. It was the day that my hometown Mariners traded my favorite player to the Boston Red Sox and I followed him. It was also the day that my heart was broken and my father let me know that “Baseball is a business, first and foremost.”

Here is one of my favorite clips from “Fever Pitch”, as I watched this last night and realized that I will be there at Fenway in a week, I started to cry… I was so excited!! WOOHOO!!

June 11th, 2009 | Category: 2009 Road Trip |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (1)