Rock the Vote!

As if our blog wasn't cool enough already, we've added a new interactive feature on the sidebar. In preparation for the next phase of our road trip, MB and I have started planning the design of our new road trip shirts. We will definitely be including our itinerary on the back, but we've decided to change things up a little bit. Instead of putting our initials on the front, we're going to embroider appropriate road trip nicknames.

That's where you come in. You get to vote on what our road trip nicknames should be. Whatever nicknames win will appear on our shirts and be seen by thousands of baseball fans throughout America. We've included handy explanations for each name below, because some of them, while hilarious, aren't obvious. Once you've decided, please place your vote in the poll to the right. Happy voting!

Susie:
Line Drive...because if it's a straight line, I can drive it.
Sleepless...because I can function normally on very little sleep.
Tolstoy...Could my blog entries BE any longer?
Mooch...because it's my job to flirt in order to get free stuff, seat upgrades, whatever.


MB:
Egg Salad...for my ingenuity in creating lunches (because pb & j gets boring)
Napster...because I spent 80% of my passenger-seat time sleeping!
Stats...because my scorekeeping skills are unparalleled in 49 out of 50 states.
Ansel (Adams)...Uh, have you seen my stateline photographs?

Calling All Angels...

We have been blessed by the graciousness and generosity of friends and strangers alike on our journey. Some have given us a place to stay, others tickets, still others, words of advice. We express our most sincere gratitude to everyone who helped us along the way. You made our experience that much more amazing!

In keeping with this spirit of camaraderie among baseball's greatest fans, we extend an invitation to anyone who reads this blog. If you see your home town on our route, or if you consider yourself an expert on your team/ballpark, please leave us a comment. In an effort to do a better job of planning next time around, we are looking for tips on where to sit, where to eat, how to get there, what to do, what to avoid, and where to stay in each baseball city. (Rule #1 still applies, though: Only baseball-related stops.) If you can offer us a guest room/bed/couch/futon/floor to sleep on, we wouldn't turn you down (if we know who you are).

If you can help us out in any way, or if you have a great piece of advice to share, please post a comment under this entry. We will make sure it stays at the top of the blog so you can find it easily. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Road Trip, Parts Two & Three

We gave ourselves our entire 30th year to accomplish our mission, which means we must visit all ballparks by MB's birthday in 2009. We are leaving the biggest chunk for next summer's road trip, which will cover the Midwest, Colorado, and Arizona. In between now and then, we are planning on making two mini-trips: one weekend flight to Florida to hit the Marlins and Rays, and a shorter road trip to knock off the west coast (SoCal, NoCal, and Seattle). We have no idea when these trips will happen, but here are the tentative itineraries:

West Coast: San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels (Anaheim), Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners

Florida: Florida Marlins (Miami), Tampa Bay Rays

Midwest: Arizona Diamondbacks (Phoenix), Colorado Rockies (Denver), Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, the Field of Dreams (Dyersville, Iowa), and the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum.

Of course, our itinerary depends on when the teams are home. After our whirlwind adventure this summer, we plan to give ourselves more time to relax in between stadiums. Since the majority of next summer's ballparks are located relatively close to each other, we hope it will be a much easier trip.

Box Score

Part One Final Summary

Ballparks: 9
Museums: 3
Ballpark tours: 1
Hot dogs: 8

Miles: 8,518
States/Provinces: 29
Rain delays: 1

Big-screen marriage proposals: 3/3
Tickets: $904…damn Yankees

Best Ballpark: Rangers Ballpark at Arlington
Best Ballpark Tour: Rangers Ballpark at Arlington
Best Mascot: Philly Phanatic
Best Hot Dog: Fenway Frank
Best Fans: Fenway Park
Best Souvenir Pencil: Houston Astros

...

Suz & MB's highlights:
-Texas Rangers’ dugout on the ballpark tour
-great FREE seats at Arlington
-Cask & Flagon after Fenway
-Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
-great seats in Philadelphia
-(sneaking down to better seats in KC)
-Louisiana/Mississippi scenery
-home-cooked meals at Guarinos’/Cathy and Jim’s
-Philly cheesesteaks in Philly
-eating in New Orleans
-taking state line photos
-Oprah yelling

-Toronto, eh?
-Arlington, Fenway, Citizens Bank

Part One Itinerary

Due to popular demand, here is the itinerary from Part One.

Sat 26-Jul Albuquerque

Sun 27-Jul Dallas

Mon 28-Jul Arlington
Rangers vs. Mariners @ 7:05

Tues 29-Jul Houston
Astros vs. Reds @ 7:05

Wed 30-Jul New Orleans

Thurs 31-Jul Atlanta
Braves vs. Cardinals @ 7:00

Fri 1-Aug Washington, D.C.
Nationals vs. Reds @ 7:35

Sat 2-Aug New York
Yankees vs. Angels @ 3:55

Sun 3-Aug Boston
Red Sox vs. A's @ 1:35

Mon 4-Aug Cooperstown
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Tues 5-Aug Toronto
Blue Jays vs. A's @ 7:07

Wed 6-Aug New York
Mets vs. Padres @ 7:10

Thurs 7-Aug Philadelphia
Phillies vs. Marlins @ 1:05

(unofficial)
Fri 8-Aug Baltimore
Orioles vs. Rangers @ 7:05

Sat 9-Aug St. Louis

Sun 10-Aug Kansas City
Royals vs. Twins @ 1:05

Mon 11-Aug Denver

Tues 12-Aug Beaver, UT

Wed 13-Aug HOME

Send 'Em to the Showers

Well, the scheduled activities are finally over. The only thing that remains is the drive home from Utah. I feel a bit like the losing team at the end of a hard-fought battle on the baseball diamond. It’s time for the long, slow walk back to the clubhouse.

The drive home from Utah was fairly uneventful. We stopped at a Las Vegas truck stop for lunch, and let me tell you, it hurts my heart to drive past Las Vegas and not actually go there. The low point of today's travels happened when I was behind the wheel. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I hit a bird today. It was the worst feeling ever. I never saw the little guy in the road. When I heard the sound it startled me, because I didn't know what I had hit, so I quickly looked in the rearview mirror. All I saw was a stumpy round body and a puff of feathers shooting into the air. I felt sufficiently guilty, even before Tom screamed "Birdkiller!" at me and turned his back on me in the passenger seat. He didn't speak to me for a whole five minutes. The scene kept playing over and over in my mind as I drove along. Kinda makes the butterfly seem like chump change. I eventually made myself feel better by putting it in perspective--it could have been a human.


We rolled into Mom's house without further incident around 4:30 P.M. on Wednesday, August 13th. I had to drop off Tom, but we talked Mom into making dinner and she obliged. Jack and I finally pulled into my parking space around 7:00 that evening. With all the amazing moments we had on our adventure, it feels good to finally be home. Jack did a fantastic job. I most definitely owe him a service, a car wash, and a great big hug. I think I'll wait for that last one until all the dead bugs have been washed off.

Take Me Home, Country Road

We are quickly approaching the end of our journey. Tom expects we will be home in two days if all goes well. Today we are driving as far as we can in Colorado, with one side trip to Mount Evans Scenic Byway near Denver. Case in point #2: Tom has dragged me to two (so far) nature areas to birdwatch. After driving nearly 30 miles up the mountain at 25 mph and very nearly running over a yellow-bellied marmot (I think I nipped his tail), I was perfectly content to sit in the car while Tom explored the great outdoors. Besides, it’s cold as a coal-miner’s arse outside. And so here I sit, with a singular view of Summit Lake at elevation 12, 800 feet, writing notes and munching Pirate’s Booty. I have no clue where Tom is right now. I haven’t seen him for at least 45 minutes. Hopefully he wasn’t attacked by a pack of angry marmots seeking vengeance for their injured comrade.

When Tom had seen all he wanted to see at Summit Lake, we decided to head on up to the top of Mt. Evans. After all, it is the highest paved road in North America, and Jack wouldn’t want to miss that opportunity. On our way we came across a herd of mountain goats grazing by the side of the road. They couldn’t have been more than eight feet away from the car. And I thought I wouldn’t see anything cool on this mountain! That was just a preview apparently, because when we reached the top of the mountain, the lookout structure was completely overtaken by mountain goats. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen mountain goats going up- and downstairs at a visitors’ center. We drove down the mountain and picnicked at Echo Lake, where Tom and I rehashed the white bread incident of earlier this morning. I think it’s funny, but Tom is still a little bitter about knocking his white bread onto the ground. And since there was no sign of marmot in the road at the scene of the close call, my conscience is clear.

We said goodbye to Denver and pointed the car towards Utah. Entering Utah, Tom and I had fun reminiscing about the last time we were in Utah together, on the way to Denver for World Youth Day in 1993. We stopped for dinner in Green River, which looks much smaller in person than it does on the map. Then we picked our destination for the night: Beaver, Utah. The Utah landscape provided many beautiful scenes, though the highlight of the drive was when Tom, in response to road signs reading “Slower Traffic Use Flashers,” flashed a passing truck driver. Later, Tom sniffed his own crotch to determine the scent of a fart. I think it goes without saying that I miss MB. A lot.

We arrived at Beaver’s two exits and randomly selected the Comfort Inn. Five minutes later we were at the Quality Inn. Ten minutes after that, we pulled into the Rodeway Inn. Shout out to Kathy at the Quality Inn for calling another, cheaper hotel to find us a non-smoking room. You rock! Reverse shout out to the flipping marmot that ran out into the road as I approached at 15 mph and then parked it directly in front of my right front tire. Stupid creature.

Rocky Mountain High

I’m really glad that Tom has things planned for us on the way home. When MB and I planned Part One and we scheduled our last ballpark for Baltimore, we dreaded the long trip home from Maryland to California with no baseball in between. Yesterday we had the Royals game, and today I’m looking forward to the Hard Rock Café in Denver. It might not seem like much to be excited about, but it’s a lot better than nothing, which is what I would have had to look forward to. Tom took the first shift driving from Kansas City to Denver while I slept. Tom woke me up when we stopped at a market to stock up on groceries. Shout out to Dillon’s market and the first fruit I’ve had on this road trip. As usual, I made pb & j sandwiches for lunch.

Susie: That one is yours.
Tom: Uh, you didn’t cut the crust off.
Susie: Are you serious? Do it yourself.
Tom: If you were my wife, I’d divorce you. ‘Here are the papers, b----.’

And we wonder why Tom’s not married yet.

After lunch, we switched driving duty and proceeded to Denver, making it into the city around 4:30 CMT. With the help of our trusty AAA tour book, we found a Best Western in Lakewood, 10 minutes from Downtown Denver. (MB and I have gotta use those books next year. What were we thinking?) Shout out to the Lakewood Best Western for its amenities and great stay for the price. We changed and set out for the downtown area, home of Denver’s Hard Rock Café, which is something of a tradition for Tom. The Hard Rock Café in Denver is located on the 16th Street Mall, a vibrant outdoor promenade of shops and restaurants. The Hard Rock food was typical, but our waitress had a great personality. We snapped some photos like typical tourists, bought our Denver HRC souvenirs, and sauntered down the promenade, which was quite charming. Tom looked for a cheesy souvenir shop to buy some postcards, and we realized our timing was perfect—Thank goodness we weren’t in Denver two weeks later during the Denver Democratic Convention. I decided I could definitely live in Denver if anyone ever asked me to.

On our drive back to the hotel, I got my first close-up look at Invesco Field at Mile High, home of my Denver Broncos. If MB were there, I might not have been able to take pictures, but I think I’ve already made it clear that this leg of the trip bears very little resemblance to the official baseball road trip. The old ground rules no longer apply. Case in point #1: Since MB left, I’ve eaten at two McDonald’s, a Del Taco, and Hard Rock.

Kansas City Fans Are Royally Lame

The St. Louis Airport Motel 6 looked a lot better in daylight than it did last night, so I felt slightly better about my hotel booking abilities. Still, I think I’ll try to avoid such errors in the future. My brother and I started out from St. Louis in the morning en route to Kansas City for an afternoon ballgame. Since my brother saved my butt by flying out to meet me, I told him we could pretty much do anything his little heart desired. As it turns out, he showed up with a list of activities and destinations. I’m not at all surprised. My brother is a planner, unlike myself, and would not be leaving things to chance as MB and I had been doing on this trip. We drove straight to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, which took us about three hours. We parked in the lot and fell in among the hordes of Twins fans walking toward the ticket window. After a brief discussion with the ticket agent, I purchased two upper deck seats in the sun for the 1:05 game.

Kauffman Stadium is currently under construction, which is good for us, since it should be remodeled by the time we hit it next summer on Part Three of our road trip. Tom and I checked out the view from the nice seats and took some pictures before grabbing BBQ and making the climb to our seats. The seats themselves weren’t bad, but it was a bit toasty in the sun, and there were so many empty field-level seats in the shade. I guess the Royals fans don’t bother to show up for Sunday afternoon games. The best thing about the upper deck was that we were surrounded by little kids who got on the Jumbotron. That’s right, I finally made it onto the big screen at my 11th ballgame (2nd unofficial). Well, technically my boobs made it onto the big screen. The camera was on the kids in the row in front of us, so you could see my finger pointing, then my hands waving, then my light blue tank top. The cameraman stopped before he got to my face, maybe because I was wearing a Denver Broncos cap in KC Chiefs country. The lucky ring made it on, though!

By the end of the third inning, those field-level seats were really calling our names, so we moseyed on down to the lower level and took up our position behind the rail to scout out unclaimed seats. Tom had his eye on an empty row (seriously, where were the Royals fans?) and told me to follow him, looking confident. We sat down in the sixth or seventh row of the terrace level behind home plate. We sat tensely for half an inning, but when we realized no one was going to bother us or have us escorted out of the section, we relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the game in the shade. It was a fantastic game, with the lead changing hands several times. I felt bad for the Royals when it appeared that the Twins fans cheered louder than the Royals fans, but the Royals tied it up in the eighth inning, and the score was still tied at the end of the ninth. The Royals finally put an end to the game in the bottom of the twelfth, with a string of singles and a walk-off double.

From the stadium, we made a short birding stop, then drove past Kansas City and into Kansas to find a motel for the night. At this point, I’d like to insert a quote:

Susie: Slow down! That flashing light is for you. It means you’re driving too fast.
Tom: Not the kind of personal flasher I was hoping for.

For perhaps the first time on this entire road trip, we arrived at our motel while it was still daylight outside. We were pleased to see that this Motel 6 was in a much nicer area than the St. Louis one. We thought a swim would be nice, but Tom chickened out when he felt how cold the pool was. Oh well, maybe in Denver.

Bottom of the Ninth

I murdered a butterfly today. In all fairness, I guess it would technically be considered vehicular manslaughter. I didn’t see it coming, and it happened before I could react. Regardless, I will never forget the tiny thud of its lightweight body on my windshield, the color of its bright orange wings as its lifeless body flew up over the roof of my car, or the smudge it left directly in my sightline. Rest in peace, beautiful butterfly.

So begins my second day on my own. Yesterday wasn’t so bad, since I stayed in Baltimore all day and had plenty of activities to keep me busy. Today will not be as fun, considering I have to drive from Baltimore, MD, to St. Louis, MO, without a shotgun passenger or secondary driver. Looking for something fun to do? Mapquest directions from Baltimore to St. Louis International Airport. It’s really fun to look at the mileage per street and see 294.9 mi, followed by 221.1 mi. On the upside, my 13-hour drive would be taking me through seven states, which beats our previous record of six states in one day (see sidebar). I was a little worried about how I was going to do it, but I had adrenaline and Full Throttle working in my favor. I drove into St. Louis right on schedule and did a drive-by of the airport to practice getting from the airport to the hotel and vice versa. The Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is tiny, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in total confusion. Days later, I’m still not sure what the most direct route out of that airport and to our hotel is. Reverse shout out to the people who engineered the traffic exits of the STL airport. By the grace of God and the direction of Cookie, I found our motel, which may very well be the scariest place I have ever stayed in my entire life. I’m not sure whether the fact that our motel had its own police substation is a good sign or a bad sign. Since I had about three hours to kill before Tom’s plane landed, I went in search of a restaurant/coffee house where I could eat dinner and write/type. No such luck. I drove through a Del Taco (I ate at McDonald’s earlier in the day, and since this is the unofficial road trip, the old rules don’t apply) and took my dinner back to my motel room. It was noisy and sketchy, but it must not have been too scary, because I soon fell asleep. Tom called me when his plane landed, and I was relieved to finally pick him up and have a traveling companion again.

Birdwatching in Baltimore

After allowing myself to sleep in and then coming to the realization that I was alone in BALTIMORE on the other side of the country, I had a minor freak-out, then did the only sensible thing and made a list. Things to Do: Book hotel for tonight. Find Honda Dealership. Get car serviced. Make a plan. It was Friday morning, and Tom’s plane would arrive in St. Louis Saturday at midnight, so I had a choice to make: continue with the itinerary and see the Orioles at Camden Yards by myself, or begin the thirteen-hour drive to St. Louis? Stranded in Baltimore not 15 minutes from the ballpark, I did what any true baseball fan would do in my situation—I drove down to the ballpark and bought tickets for the game.

I had every intention of getting to Camden Yards in time for a ballpark tour, having done my research at the hotel. But after quite the parking fiasco, I ended up missing the last tour by mere minutes and opted to check in at my new hotel instead. Besides, I’d rather see it with MB, when we can ooh and aah together. Back to my new hotel—that’s right, the place we had stayed the previous night was booked full, so I had to drive down the road. The Holiday Inn proved not too shabby, and just a half mile from the nearest correctional facility! In all seriousness, I liked the hotel, and I was hardly there anyway. After dropping off my luggage, I headed for the “local” Honda Service Center, then straight to Camden Yards. Shout out to the Honda guy for clear directions! While I still get rather angry with Cookie for her frequently sub-par navigation, I felt a whole lot better with her there when I was on my own.

Having driven approximately 7 laps around the ballpark and its neighboring vicinities earlier in the day, I knew exactly where I was going this time. I found a parking lot and eagerly walked to the stadium entrance, where I sought an Oriole employee for a pre-game dining recommendation. God bless her, “because you’re so young,” she (and Kevin and Josh) suggested Pickles Pub across the street, so there I went. I had a good two hours to grab some eats and take it all in. I chose the fried calamari (you gotta eat seafood in Baltimore, right?) and a hard apple cider. I felt awfully lonesome there by myself, so I texted MB. When I finished my food, I took a stroll down Eutaw Street, an enclosed area bordering the ballpark, where I bought some souvenirs (unofficial road trip ones) in the team store. I was mostly looking for a shirt for my brother, who is a die-hard Orioles fan, but I also bought a shirt for myself, mainly to commemorate me not getting myself killed in Baltimore (but also to have a memory of my solo visit). FYI, my official road trip souvenir is a baseball with the team logo from each stadium. I plan to build a shadow box to display my 30 baseballs and HOF/museum souvenirs.

For just $15, I was pretty impressed with my seat in the upper section of the field level in left field. I had a great view of the entire field and the scoreboard, which provided endless entertainment with player interviews and games at the intervals (Have you seen Kevin Millar’s “Oriole Magic” music video?). The game did not disappoint either, with the O’s walloping the Rangers, 9-1. To my surprise and delight, Camden Yards followed up the Friday night game with an awesome fireworks show. Having witnessed Washington’s less-than-stellar presentation, my expectations were low, but Baltimore’s display blew Washington’s out of the park. They set off the fireworks from the field behind the center field wall, so they were low and extremely close, so close that several of the embers landed on the field and bounced around before burning out. The dynamic show lasted for 15 minutes. Baltimore really outdid themselves. I highly recommend catching a Friday night game if you’re in town. I can’t wait to come back to Camden Yards with MB next summer. I think it will rank at the top of the list!

Off the Record

Unfortunately, MB had a family emergency and made the decision to fly home early. We were able to see the Phillies game together, but MB was scheduled to fly out of Baltimore early Friday morning. She shuttled herself to the airport from the hotel. Thus ends the “official” baseball road trip, Part One. However, this left Susie and Jack (Susie’s car) stranded in Maryland. At this point, Suz considered shipping her car home and taking a flight herself. Enter Susie’s brother to the rescue. Tom arranged to meet Suz in St. Louis and drive the rest of the way home with her. What follows is an account of the “unofficial” road trip home, as half of our dynamic duo is still in Baltimore with 3,000+ miles to go!

And the Winner Is...

After the game, we decided to make a short sojourn into town to eat a famous Geno’s cheesesteak. MB had heard about them on the Food Network, and Kevin and Josh raved about them. Wanting to provide an accurate report in this reputable publication, we needed to see for ourselves. Unaware that there was an actual science to ordering a cheesesteak, MB stumbled through her order to the dismay of the man behind the counter. In the end, we ended up with what we wanted, which was a cheesesteak with onions and cheese whiz (or a “whiz wit” for you Philadelphians). Our cheesesteak #2 blasted cheesesteak #1 out of the water. It was melty and cheesy and perfect. For journalistic integrity and strictly for comparison purposes, we sauntered across the street to Pat’s, King of the Steaks. Not about to repeat our previous blunder and paying careful attention to the ordering instructions posted on the wall, Susie practiced her order before approaching the window. “Provolone wit. Please.” Pat’s steak came on a different roll and was disappointingly dry, not nearly as cheesy as Geno’s. We’re willing to chalk this up partially to the provolone, although after seeing a whiz wit at Pat’s, I’m not so sure it would have beaten Geno’s. Cheesesteak #3 rounds out the list, with Geno’s at the top and the ballpark’s coming in second. Congrats, Geno’s! For those of you visiting Philly soon, Geno’s is located on 9th Street, a few blocks from the stadium. Tell ‘em Suz and MB sent you.

We drove an hour to Baltimore and settled in to our room at the Hilton Garden Inn. We were looking for a seafood restaurant, but had no luck with the places nearby, so we wound up at Ruby Tuesdays, which technically doesn’t break any of our rules. Our crab cakes weren’t quite up to snuff, but we weren’t expecting much, it being Ruby Tuesdays and all.

Home of the Cheesesteak

The next stop on our itinerary was Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. We’re not quite sure what a Philly is, but we hear they make a dynamite cheesesteak. The Phillies’ ballpark is located just three hours from White Plains, so we left Cathy and Jim’s around 8 A.M. and made it there by 11:00. On the way, we read our baseball road trip book, which informed us that it’s a good idea to purchase tickets in advance, since a large number of games sell out. Hmm, it’s too bad we didn’t read that chapter before we were on our way to the stadium. The day was already hot when we arrived at the park and we applied our sunscreen in the parking lot. Then, two hours early for a 1:05 game, we trotted to the ticket window, only to find out that the game was sold out. Our baseball book had also mentioned that this city ranked among the worst for trustworthy scalpers, so we weren’t willing to risk it. Unsure about what to do, we stood by the ticket window, reviewing our options. All of a sudden, people were walking away from the ticket window with tickets in hand. Eavesdropping to ascertain how they did this, we learned that seats had just opened up. For the small price of $50, we could purchase seats on the phield level, where the players’ phamilies sit. Reasoning that they couldn’t possibly be at the ballpark and not go inside to see a game, Susie convinced MB to get in line for tickets.

It turns out that our seats were phabulous. It phigures that the players would give their phamilies good seats. After doing a happy dance when we figured out where our section was, we scouted out the food choices. Usually, we read the book and consider all the options before deciding what we are going to eat at each place. In this case, we knew before we left California that we wanted Philly cheesesteaks. A souvenir seller directed us to the nearest concession stand, claiming they had a good one. (We promised our cashier we would mention all the nice people we met at Citizens Bank Park, and we don’t even have to fib. They were great!) We stood at the rail behind our section to eat our first authentic Philly cheesesteaks (hereafter referred to as cheesesteak #1) and garlic fries.

There were a number of things that made Citizens Bank Park awesome in my opinion. The layout of the stadium is superb, with a large concourse, open walkways, banners of each player, and baseball-themed concession stands. Behind center field, the stretch called Ashburn Alley provides concessions and play areas for the kids. Overall, the ballpark had a great feel to it. And the people really were extremely nice. One fan offered to take our picture when he saw how much trouble we were having with our self-portrait; then after he saw our shirts, he led us to a spot under the Ashburn Alley sign to take a picture of us, because that’s what made it recognizably Philly. Then there were the guys next to and behind us, who told us facts about the park and tried to get us on the big screen. Literally, every time a camera was nearby, the two guys in the row behind us would stand up and dance and encouraged us to do the same. Shout out to Gary and Gary’s friend, who tried their best but to no avail. The game provided excitement too, from its opening nine first pitches to its disappointing conclusion, as the Phillies lost to the Marlins. The play of the game unarguably was a one-handed catch by a fan behind home plate, who had his cell phone in one hand, a beer bottle between his teeth, and caught the high foul pop-fly without dropping either. The Philly Phanatic is by phar the best mascot in MLB, due to his agility inside a 30-pound costume, his sweet dance moves, and his ability to operate a hot dog launcher while driving a motor vehicle.

At Least They're Not the Yankees

Five hours. That’s how much time we spent in the La Quinta Hotel in Buffalo. MB tried to get a discount since we weren’t going to be there for very long, but as Cathy and Jim reminded us, it’s an entirely different kind of hotel that charges hourly rates. Point taken. We left Buffalo early, taking turns sleeping in the car, and arrived at Cathy and Jim’s around 3:30 P.M. Now pros at the New York train/subway, we made our way to Shea Stadium for a 7:10 game against the Padres. On this trip, we switched at Grand Central Station, which is overwhelmingly ginormous. MB deserves props for flawlessly navigating us through the station in record time.

We had purchased our Mets tickets online as well when we heard they were hard tickets to come by. We landed seats in the mezzanine, four rows from the top, but at least there was another whole section above us this time. Just as we had heard, we thought Shea Stadium was a plain ballpark with little or no character. In its defense, Mets fans put on a show, constantly leading cheers, chants, and even a solid wave that moved back and forth (Shea’s upper level is not a full circle). There was a large contingent of Navy men in attendance, though unfortunately for Suz, they all appeared to be cadets. Though she searched and searched, she couldn’t find one that looked over 18. Unlike the other ballparks, we had no fan interaction until the subway ride home. Granted, the subway gives strangers ample opportunity to read your shirt. We reached Grand Central Station, expertly switched to our train, and journeyed back to Cathy and Jim’s with our expensive souvenirs.

That's a Big Ballpark, Eh?

Welcome to the first day when we finally had a chance to sleep in! We departed Syracuse at 11:00 A.M., driving towards the Peace Bridge entrance to Canada in Buffalo. We stopped along the way at a Starbucks for free Wi-Fi, which ended up not being free after all. Back on the road, it wasn’t long before we made it to the Canadian border. Our Canadian border agent was friendly and good-natured (we can’t say the same for our American border agent on the way back), though surprised by our story about traveling all over North America to see baseball games. In any event, he let us through and we entered Ontario. Shortly after, we entered Toronto in the midst of a downpour. Hmm, rain on our road trip. Imagine that. We can’t tell you how much more exciting and adventurous it is trying to find your way around a foreign city when you can barely see the street signs or the lines on the road. Really, if you’re planning a road trip, make sure you do it in the rainy/hurricane season. Otherwise, you’re cheating yourself. Seriously.

So finally we found a parking garage that looked fairly safe and walked toward the stadium. And when I say “toward the stadium,” I mean toward the enormous CN Tower immediately next to the stadium. Thank God for that tower. We bought our tickets at the ticket window, which oddly enough charged a service fee per ticket. Really, at the window? How are a few mouse clicks and the motion of sliding tickets under the window worth $2.00? These Canadians are money-grubbers. Now I know why books cost more in Canada. We wanted to try the hot wings place across the street, in keeping with our habit of having a pre-game snack followed by a full dinner, but the wait was too long for our taste, so we grabbed a sausage sandwich outside the ballpark. MB had a beef frank, while Susie tried the Polish sausage, which was perfectly crispy on the outside.

Our outfield seats turned out to be a few rows up on the third base line, right above the Toronto bullpen. We were close enough to hear the crisp leather smack of the baseball hitting the catcher’s glove in the bullpen. Not too bad, except for the partially obstructed view of the big screen—correction, North America’s largest big screen. That’s not the only superlative we experienced in Toronto. We also witnessed the world’s fastest grounds crew in action, so self-named because the only dirt in Rogers Centre is the small circle around each base and the pitcher’s mound. Still, I don’t begrudge them their title; they come racing out of the outfield gate at a full run and return in the same fashion, all to the “William Tell Overture.” Pretty impressive.

Even though Rogers Centre is massive and the roof was closed for our rainy weather, we felt like we were outside. It had the feel of an outdoor ballpark. We saw a great game between the Blue Jays and A’s. The Blue Jays won with a walk-off hit in the ninth inning. MB and I were ready to celebrate with the Toronto fans, but we have never seen fans exit a stadium faster than those Toronto fans did. Is there something we should know? Earlier in the game, we spied a Hard Rock Café in the hotel that makes up one section of the stadium, so when we walked down to the field level for photos, we asked the nearest usher how to get there. This might have been the highlight of our day, because in the course of our conversation, the usher said both “aboot” and “eh?” I think both our hearts jumped inside our chests, because we exchanged a quick glance.

Unfortunately, the Hard Rock had closed by the time we got there (sorry, Tom, no souvenir t-shirt for you). We ate nearby and started the long drive back to our (as yet undetermined) hotel in Buffalo. We had decided earlier that we would go through the border at night instead of in the morning, since we had a long drive back to New York ahead of us for the Mets game. We were both extremely tired, so to combat our sleepiness we played a rousing game of “Would You Rather?”, followed by a raunchy game of “Who Would You Do?” Note from MB: If you are ever on a road trip with Susie in the future, you do not want to play either of these games with Susie. She thinks of really gross scenarios.

Having changed $60 American into Canadian currency and getting ready to exit Canada, we were left with a Canadian money conundrum. We needed to make a pit stop and fill up the tank, so we pulled into a gas station and picked up some exclusively Canadian snacks at the mini-mart. MB kept asking me what else I wanted and giving me the remaining sum, and I felt like I was on old-school Wheel of Fortune, when you had to spend your winnings on hideous merchandise and furniture. “I’ll take the porcelain Dalmatian for $245, Pat.” We made it into the states with little difficulty and luckily found a nice hotel right in Buffalo. I’m sure we were asleep before our heads hit our pillows.

Has Anyone Seen Shoeless Joe?

We spent the morning at the Laundromat and a cozy little coffee shop in Sturbridge, checking e-mail and taking care of business. We got on the road a little later than planned, but since Cooperstown was the only place charted for today, we had a bit of wiggle-room in our schedule. After a very long drive, we reached Cooperstown at about 2:30 in the afternoon. We grabbed a trolley to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and began our exploration. We felt like kids in a candy store! Any self-proclaimed baseball fan should visit Cooperstown sometime in his or her life. Susie’s favorite exhibits were Women in Baseball, the Negro Leagues, and Baseball in the Movies. MB’s favorites were Ted William's strike zone analysis made out of colored baseballs and the wall of no hitters, also made out of baseballs. The Hall of Fame gallery is absolutely amazing. Suz went a bit crazy snapping pictures of the plaques, “but hey, when am I ever going to be here again?”

A short walk from the Hall of Fame is Abner Doubleday’s field, which we saw just as the sun was setting. Leaving Cooperstown, we got completely lost, mainly because we were driving unknown roads in total darkness. Curses to those people for not putting streetlamps on the roads. Hungry and desperate, we broke Rule #2 for the only time on our road trip and ate at Burger King. We arrived at our hotel in Syracuse very late, but grateful to be that much closer to Toronto. We both decided that we needed more time in Cooperstown to see and read everything to our satisfaction. Perhaps we’ll make it back someday. For now, we just want to sleep!

Dem's Da Rules

We thought you might like to know what the official road trip rules are that we established in the car on those first few days. Certain rules applied from the get-go, whereas others developed out of necessity. It’s a short but significant list:

Rule #1 No non-baseball related stops or side trips are permitted.

Rule #2 We will not eat at any dining establishment that is available in California.
(Exception: Starbucks, etc. for beverages only)

Rule #3 We must stay until the game is over.

Rule #4 Guy fashion rules apply.
(i.e., Your clothes do not need to match. You may wear any shirt with any shorts with any shoes with any cap.)

We are in the process of crafting Rule #5, which revolves around trying to implement all suggestions made by locals or natives of the baseball town. We have been able to do this for the most part, except when limited by time constraints.

Reverse the Curse

Oh, the joys of spending the night at a relative’s house instead of a hotel! We ate delicious BBQ leftovers for dinner last night, when we finally made it home from the Yankees game. We had planned on an early evening since the game ended at 7:00, but as usually happens when we plan on something, it didn’t work out the way we thought it would. We had some trouble at the train station, but eventually we returned to Cathy and Jim’s for the night. We set out for Boston early for a 1:05 game against the Oakland A’s. With another short drive on Connecticut Parkway and Mass Pike, we managed to find a hotel in Sturbridge, Mass., an hour or so outside of Boston, which would give us a head start on the way to Cooperstown the following day. The Olde Publick House proved rustic, woodsy, and very cool! Next we drove to the Riverside Green Line station to catch the train to Fenway. We followed the hordes of Red Sox fans to Fenway and spent some time strolling Yawkey Way, Van Ness, Ipswich, and Lansdowne Streets. I don’t think any ballpark can beat the atmosphere outside of Fenway Park. Taking a tip from Kevin and Josh, we split a sausage sandwich from one of the vendor carts on Yawkey before heading into the ballpark.

We had purchased our standing room only tickets online earlier on the trip to guarantee we’d get in, so we made our way to the level with standing areas and scouted out the best view after wandering the concourse for a few minutes. We finally chose the area with the best breeze off of Yawkey Way, right behind Section 22. We had a limited sightline due to the overhang with no view of the scoreboard, which made scorekeeping a bit difficult for MB, but our angle of the field was not bad. We’d agree that standing was the worst part. After about an hour, your back starts to ache and you’d do just about anything for a seat. Still, Fenway Park ranks at the top of our list. The crowd is phenomenal, the baseball is outstanding, and the ballpark is historic (the oldest in the majors) without looking crummy and run-down. I love the traditions at Fenway Park, like the Green Monster and singing “Sweet Caroline” in the eighth inning. We were really impressed by the fans, who have a reputation for dedication. Everyone in the stadium had on a Sox shirt, and I don’t think we saw the same shirt twice. We each ate a famous Fenway Frank, voted the second best hot dog in the majors by Kevin and Josh. We give them four thumbs up.

For the second time, we experienced rain at a game, although this time it was heavy enough to cause a rain delay. Luckily for us, the delay only lasted about 25 minutes. Shout out to those ground crew guys who have to unroll the tarp and then roll it back up again when the rain stops. When Boston clinched the victory, 5-2, we started towards the Green Monster to get our traditional field-level photos. We actually TOUCHED the Green Monster, which was awesome, but were thwarted from touching Pesky’s Pole (ask a Red Sox fan) by a grouchy usher. Guess we’ll save that for the next trip to Fenway. We opted for a post-game libation at the Cask & Flagon, recommended by several of our friends. While in line to get in, we met Joe and Tim, who hung out with us and taught us all sorts of stuff about the Red Sox and how to sneak into better seats when you have crappy ones. Shout out to Joe and Tim for our first (and only) free beer on the road trip! J and T directed us to our train station, and we got back on the green line and headed to our hotel.

Boston offered a bit of the best and the worst, so here goes: Shout outs to the Toronto natives we met who gave us advice on where to cross the border, and to Megan Kaiser, the music programmer at Fenway, who plays excellent song selections during and after the game. Reverse shout out to the poopyhead usher on a power trip who wouldn’t let us walk 200 feet to touch the foul pole in right field.

The House That Ruth Built

Here’s a fun fact about the New York Yankees that MB would not feel comfortable sharing while actually at Yankee Stadium. Did you know that during Joe Torre’s tenure as the Yankees’ manager, the Angels are the ONLY American League team to have a winning record against the Yankees?

This might be the single ballgame we were most excited about on this trip. The hated New York Yankees were playing our beloved Angels in historic Yankee Stadium at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. With just a short trip from Virginia to New York ahead of us, we started out at 6:30 A.M. Before this trip, I never thought I’d consider a five-hour sojourn “just a short drive.” By the way, this northeast distance thing constantly amazes us. We drove through six states on the way to New York (see sidebar). I much preferred this trip to yesterday’s traffic nightmare, my favorite part of which was MB’s mild case of road rage, characterized by her belching insults at offending drivers. We entered New York in record time, but were slowed down considerably by a sudden rain shower (shocking, I know) on our way to my mom’s cousin’s house. We send a HUGE shout out to Cathy and Jim, not just for hosting us in New York and researching train schedules, but also for all the e-mails back and forth to help us set a more realistic itinerary than the one we started out with! We arrived at their home in the middle of a torrential downpour, and debated whether to sit in the car and wait it out or try to run for cover into the house. After five minutes with no letting up, we abandoned our car full of luggage and chanced a sprint to the garage. Dripping wet, we were greeted with smiles and dry towels.

Curtis in Arlington had warned us that we wanted to get down to Yankee Stadium a good three hours before the game to check out Monument Park, so we had just enough time to change into our designated game uniforms before heading off to the train station. Despite all the grief MB had given me prior to this about wearing any Angels gear, one of her friends convinced her that there would be plenty of Angels fans in attendance and the Yankee fans treated them very respectfully, so she finally caved and we both wore our Angels hats. The rain had delayed our finding the train station, so we arrived at Yankee Stadium well past our intended time and missed out on visiting Monument Park. We did get a glance into it from the stadium ramp, though. We found our seats in the upper level in left field, the seats which we paid six times face value for, and settled in for the game. It wasn’t long before the afternoon sun and our whirlwind adventure caught up with us and we started to doze off. “What are we doing?! We can’t fall asleep during a Yankee game in Yankee Stadium!!” we both thought to ourselves. The only solution was to get out of our seats and take a walk around the ballpark concourse. Revived, we returned to our seats to discover the Angels were down by several runs. We quickly converted to our rally caps amid minor heckling from the surrounding crowd, but to no avail. The Angels lost to the Yankees, 8-2.

On a positive note, almost all the Yankee fans we encountered were friendly, courteous, and encouraging, not at all hostile. The main comment we heard was, “at least you’re not Red Sox fans.” MB, thinking of all the historic moments that had taken place, was awed by the greatness of Yankee Stadium, but Suz was unable to see past the crumbling exterior (and interior) and general shabbiness of the structure. It felt massive, plain, dingy, and impersonal. MB defends that at least it’s clear that Yankee Stadium is solely committed to its purpose, the viewing of baseball, which is undeniable; nothing exists inside to distract a fan from this quest. Recognizing its historic aspect, Suz defers to MB for official ranking purposes, but please note the asterisk.

HELLO, NEW JER-SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYY!

For those of you still waiting for us to get sick of each other, today’s not the day either. But it is the day delirium sets in. Note: Day 8 - Delirium.

You might be asking yourself, how will I know if I’m delirious? Well, there are several telltale signs, like laughing uncontrollably and talking to the GPS navigator as if she’s a real person. (FYI, Her name is Cookie.) But I’d say the dead giveaway was when we started speaking all our conversations in the “Oprah voice.” I’m telling you, when all else fails and you can’t stand another minute of driving or sitting in line at a toll, shout all your questions and answers in the style of Oprah. It works wonders. WE LOVE IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT!
NOTE: Since MB’s Oprah impersonation is far superior to Susie’s, I guess that makes MB Oprah, which makes Suz Gayle. After years of feeling inferior about her ability to do accents, she finally surpasses Suz. THAT’S FAN-TAAAAAAAAAASTIC!

Driving practically the entire length of New Jersey gave us ample opportunity to write a plethora of NJ jokes. We really don’t have anything against New Jersey, it’s just so easy to see where east coast comedians get their material. Here’s a sampling:

Susie: Ew. What’s that smell?
MB: Uh…I think it’s New Jersey.

$8.00 to cross the George Washington Bridge?!?! What’s that, New Jersey’s idea of the tourist industry? You gotta pay to get out?

Mmm, I love the smell of industrial waste in the morning.

Excuse me, ma’am. When is New Jersey over? I have to go to the bathroom.

Are any of you familiar with the New Jersey license plate? It looks like they plopped a giant turd smack dab in the middle.

Two On in the Fourth

We finally made it to D.C. with some clever maneuvering. At this point we had to go it on our own, since the Washington Nationals ballpark did not exist at the time our guidebook was published. The chapter on the Montreal Expos proved to be not particularly helpful here. MB felt badly for the Expos (due to their small fan base and the way things went down when the franchise got moved) and was just hoping that the Nationals had fans of their own. As we approached our destination significantly behind schedule, MB contacted hotels in an attempt to find one close to the stadium. This is how MB’s end of the conversation went:

MB: Yes, I’d like to book a room for tonight…Uh huh. And how far are you from Nationals Park?...It’s where the Washington Nationals play….The Major League Baseball team…Washington Nationals…No, not the National Cathedral….Not National Parks…Hold on, I think I have the address here. Yes, it’s on South Capitol Street…The Washington Nationals. It’s a baseball team….Okay, I’ll have to call you back. Click.

It is amazing how many people who work in Washington, D.C., have either never heard of the Washington Nationals or have no idea where they play. Here they are working in the nation’s capital and they know nothing about the nation’s favorite pastime? Who are these people?!

Fast forward to the fourth inning, or as we like to call it, arrival time at Nationals Park. We found the ballpark with some well-placed signs and a whole lotta luck. Parking was another matter. The structure we pulled into turned out to be for season ticket holders only, but by some miracle the parking attendant took pity on us and allowed us to find a spot. Shout out to the young man who let us in and didn’t charge us the $40 the lot down the street was charging.

Nationals Park did not disappoint. We bought our tickets at the window and entered through the front gate, which leads to the main concourse and a view from left center field. On our traditional once-around lap of the stadium, we met a lot of fans and employees who asked us about our trip and wished us well. We picked up some dining tips and headed for our cheap seats, which were...wait for it…two rows from the top row. By the time we were settled in, the 6th inning was in progress. When you see MB, ask her how she scored that game. Let’s hope this is our shortest game on the road trip…

On the plus side, we were treated to Friday night fireworks after the game. The show proved impressive, though much shorter than the Anaheim display. After the fireworks, we got another bonus with a beautiful up-close view of the Capitol and the Washington Monument all lit up. After intense discussion, we ranked Nationals Park #2, right below Rangers Ballpark. All the people we met in Washington were gracious and friendly (though not particularly baseball-savvy). And MB was relieved to find that Nationals fans cheer loudly and enthusiastically for their team.

Additional shout outs to the Nationals Park designers, who gave all the food and merchandise vendors baseball-themed names, and the store security guy who thought we were on a college road trip. I seriously thought MB might kiss him. A GARGANTUAN reverse shout out to all the people who told us it takes 8 hours to get from Atlanta to Washington, D.C.

Gap in the Space-Time Continuum

Yesterday (August 1) morning we got an early start from Atlanta. We were optimistically hoping that we would have some down time in Washington, as we left ATL earlier than we normally would for a 7:30 P.M. game, which is the latest start time we’ve seen yet. We had been assured by various sources, both living and electronic, that it would only take about 8 hours to reach Washington, D.C. We began our trip in our usual positions: Suz, the designated country driver, started out behind the wheel and MB tried to catch a few extra ZZZs by curling up in the passenger’s seat. [Susie: Hold on-- How is this fair? We both got the same miniscule amount of sleep last night. Why am I always the morning driver? I think I’m drawing the short stick on this.] We proceeded through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina in this fashion, Suz feeling bitter and MB zoning in and out of consciousness.

Having observed countless Cracker Barrel restaurant billboards along our journey, and knowing that we were quickly approaching the Mason-Dixon Line, we decided to stop for lunch at one in North Carolina. Lunch was good, down-home Southern food. My favorite part… the vegetable of the day was brown rice. Seriously? Our waitress noticed the confused looks on our faces when she shared that gem with us and quickly assured us that the brown rice had mushrooms in it, which qualified it as a vegetable. I think she was as incredulous as we were. Determined to have some “authentic” Southern cuisine, we both bypassed the brown rice. I had some delicious meatloaf (which I usually hesitate to order because my mom’s is so good… sorry, Mom, you’ve got some competition now), and Suz enjoyed sampling fried okra and fried catfish for the first time. We spent about an hour at the Cracker Barrel, and again, since we were told that it only takes 8 hours to get from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., and we left 13 hours before the game started, we didn’t think an hour would make too much difference. (Hey kids…that’s foreshadowing!) Eventually, either Suz’s resentment or lack of sleep forced her to ask MB to take over at the wheel. The next few hours we drove, drove, drove. Then we drove some more. It didn’t help that it was Friday and that we found ourselves in rush hour traffic. But at least it wasn’t raining.

This Ain't Your Mama's Road Trip

Five words: iTrip iPod/car radio adapter. Anyone who has ever gone on a road trip without one really hasn’t gone on a road trip. True, there’s something to be said about constantly having to scan through the meager selection of available radio stations while driving through the middle of nowhere, but this is way better than that. Between the two of us, we have a few days worth of unrepeating music. Yes, we know we’re spoiled. We remember the road trips of our youth when all you had was a library book, your Walkman, and the alphabet game to keep you entertained. We realized this was a 21st-century road trip when MB was simultaneously talking to a hotel clerk on her cell phone, getting VZ Navigator directions on Susie’s cell phone, taking photos of the landscape with her digital camera, and synchronizing her iPod to the car radio while drafting blog entries on the laptop, with the video camera perched on the dashboard to record our singing along to Hairspray. When it all comes down to it, though, if you don’t properly charge the suckers, you’re stuck with good old-fashioned pen and paper, like Susie was when she wrote this section.

Note: Despite the 21st century-ness of our trip, we have had some trouble getting regular internet connections. This, combined with our need for at least four hours of sleep each night, has delayed our intended timely entry of posts. Good news, there's hope! It's Day 7 and we've finally figured out that one of the advantages of bringing a laptop on a trip is that it will work anywhere (including the lap of a person in the passenger's seat of a car). For those of you that have been requesting a daily dose of our adventures, they should be more prompt (i.e., closer to real time).

Home of the Brave

Having been disappointed by Houston, we were hoping to clear the slate in Atlanta. Our prospects were looking good, based on reading The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip. We guess this is a good time to mention that the Kevin and Josh we keep referring to as our friends are really the authors of our road trip book. We feel like we know them pretty well by now, and often find ourselves saying, ‘That’s such a Josh thing to do!” or “You’re way more Kevin than I am.” For the record, MB is Josh and Susie is Kevin (in most scenarios). Let’s give a ginormous shout out to Kevin and Josh for guiding our trip and revealing all the must-sees and not-eats. Another shout out to Tom (Susie’s brother) for giving her the book two years ago.

We left New Orleans at 6:00 in the morning and for the first time on this trip arrived at our destination in the anticipated amount of time (8 hours). We headed to the Braves game in what started out as a light rain and soon became a torrential downpour. We were laughing at one point at the irony? idiocy? commitment? of barely being able to drive in the rain while we were going to a game that had a good chance of being postponed.

Luckily, the rain did not ruin our visit to Turner Field in Atlanta. We began as Kevin and Josh suggested, by viewing the portion of the wall from old Fulton County Stadium where Hank Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th homerun, then reenacting Aaron’s feat (i.e., running the bases) in the parking lot. Next, we headed to the ticket office. We chose seats in the left field pavilion, which is considered prime home run territory. Too bad we left our gloves in the car after bringing them all the way to Atlanta with us. Once at the ballpark, we had plenty to see. We bought admission to the small Braves Museum inside the park, which had some amazing Hank Aaron and franchise memorabilia. We went on a search for the giant concrete baseballs designed by each MLB team, but sadly only found 7 out of 30. Our seats turned out to have a rather nice view for the money we spent, located in the fifth row from the very low left field wall, and the first homerun hit by the Braves landed in the section next to us. Two of our favorite Angels, Casey Kotchman and Adam Kennedy, got in the game for St. Louis. MB became a pro at the Tomahawk Chop, the official cheer of the Atlanta Braves. One of the highlights for both of us (and other fans) was the outstanding lightning storm that started around 9 PM. It didn’t rain hard enough to affect the game, although several fans (MB included) sought shelter under the overhang. (FYI... I feel that I need to defend myself here. Just in case you were tempted to call me a wimp, I would have been happy continuing to sit in the rain, but I was keeping score... on a piece of paper... that would not have survived the introduction of any more water... therefore off to the seats under the overhang I went. Just thought we needed to straighten that out!) The neatest part was the horizontal lightning, which we had never seen before. I’d like to give a shout out to my mom, who suggested I pack raingear for all those rain delays they seem to have here on the east coast. That poncho sure came in handy!

Just to give you some quick background, we have each decided on the souvenir that we would like to purchase at every stadium. I (MB) have decided to purchase a pencil with which I will keep score. Most of my pencils have been lovely full-sized affairs with the name of the team on it in team colors. Given my previous experience, I quickly walked up to the closest vendor and purchased a pencil for this game. What do I receive? Basically nothing more than a glorified miniature golf pencil with an eraser, no team name, no team logo. Therefore, I would like to issue a reverse shout out (see below) to Turner Field for my souvenir score-keeping pencil. Seriously? That's the best you can do?

Now to the interactive portion of our blog. We are having trouble coming up with a name to call our less-than-stellar experiences on this trip. The best we have is "reverse shout out," but we don't think it properly conveys our feelings of disappointment. Please make your suggestions by commenting to this post. The best suggestions will be available for voting on Tuesday. Voting closes Thursday and we will use the winner's word in all future posts. Thanks!

Pitching Change

Susie here. I’d like to take a time out from the baseball action to comment on the scenery. Of the ten states we’ve driven through so far (see sidebar), Louisiana is definitely the prettiest in my opinion. Not to say that the red rock formations in New Mexico or the green grass hills in Texas weren’t noteworthy, but I prefer the heavily-forested landscape of Louisiana. It was absolutely beautiful. I even saw a swamp and the Mississippi River for the first time! Mississippi is a close second, with its tree-lined highways. We were driving through MI at sunrise, and the sun shone through the trees in long shafts of light. It felt very Robert Frost. MB may not know this, since she has slept through a great majority of the scenery. Not to worry, I was driving. In fact, after my abysmal performance driving to Minute Maid Park, we determined that MB would be in charge of city driving from now on, and I would be responsible for country driving. Which basically means that Suz gets to drive on straight highways for 8 hours a day, while MB drives the 45 minutes to and from the ballparks. Since we consistently turn the wrong direction and miss our on-ramps/exits, it’s more like an hour and 15 minutes. On a positive note, MB says that her blood pressure has finally returned to normal.

Random Road Observations

I have not seen toilet seat covers since we left California. It makes me wonder… are Californians particularly wasteful and/or fastidious? Or does the rest of the country just not care like we do? It’s curious…

As you soon may see (if I can figure out the slideshow function on the blog) that Suz and I have been trying to take pictures of the "Welcome to..." signs as we cross over a state line. It might just be me, and my affinity for symmetry, but I would think that these signs would all be consistent in their placement and size. As we were passing through somewhere around our 4th or 5th state, I thought I had happened upon a pattern. First, the "state line" sign was posted then the more fancy "Welcome to..." sign was posted. Well the Carolinas blew my theory right out of the water, so unfortunatly for you dear viewer, you are left with our feeble attempts at photographing these signs as we travel down the highway. Thank goodness we still have a TON of states to get to... I may be able to crack the pattern yet!

Quick shoutout to the people who created and maintain the welcome center/rest areas throughout the south. Very nice!

Travel Day

Wednesday started out fantastically, thanks to our stay at the Guarino Inn & Suites (Suz’s brother’s house). The complimentary hotel breakfast was especially yummy. MB and I both ordered waffles from the menu. I feel sorry for my brother, who woke up after the restaurant had closed (7:30-10:00 AM) and was denied breakfast by his own children. But hey, you snooze, you lose. The staff (Suz’s nephews) were particularly accommodating and friendly. We highly recommend staying there when you’re in Houston, and we plan on writing a fabulous review on hotels.com.

Then we were on the road to New Orleans. Some of you who have actually paid attention to these blogs might be citing Ground Rule #1 right now. It turns out that New Orleans is close to halfway between Houston and Atlanta, and we weren’t stopping to see anything, just to sleep, so this was an authorized trip. MB and I were pretty stoked, since neither one of us had ever been there. After driving through sheets of rain in Texas and entering beautiful Louisiana, we finally arrived at our hotel and decided to walk to dinner. Based on a suggestion, we chose Mulate’s, a well-known establishment with genuine Creole cuisine and live Cajun music. I applaud MB for her adventurousness in ordering a seafood au gratin dish, whereas I stuck to what I know, red beans and rice with shanked ham. Then there were the Hurricanes, bread pudding, and key lime pie. New Orleans is awe-some!

Great big shout outs go to the girls at the Dairy Queen who gave us handfuls of mustard and mayonnaise packets so we could make egg salad in the parking lot, and to Blake, Ryan, and Josh for being so adorable!

Chalk One in the Loss Column

Next stop, Houston. But first, we decided to catch a stadium tour of Rangers Ballpark, which came free with the price of admission into the Legends Museum. We reported to the ballpark at 9:00 A.M. sharp and were greeted by a friendly gentleman named Ed, who gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium. If you ever have a chance to take this tour, jump on it. Although we didn’t get to enter the clubhouse (because the team is home right now), we saw just about everything else. The best part of the tour (and of our day) by far was sitting in the Texas Rangers dugout. That’s right, folks. These cheeks touched the same bench that Josh Hamilton sat on just hours before. We sat on the bench. We stood on the steps. We leaned on the railing. We called the bullpen. We fantasized about all manner of things. Ed even took our picture, so we have proof. It was friggin’ awesome.

We set off for Houston and made it to Minute Maid Park with 30 minutes to spare before the game started. It would have been difficult to top our experience in Arlington, and Houston didn’t even come close. For starters, Minute Maid is an indoor stadium with a retractable roof. There’s something not quite right about watching baseball in a covered ballpark. We were able to walk right up to the ticket window and purchase fairly good seats in the right field mezzanine, directly below the scoreboard. And we did meet a friendly usher on the lower level who let us sit in her section for the end of the game. The view from the Crawford boxes in left field was definitely closer, and we could see more of the outfield from our new seats. Shout out to Candace for the upgrade. And although the Astros hit a grand slam and won the game, we didn’t find ourselves rooting for them with the same enthusiasm we had for the Rangers. After the game, we stayed to watch the roof open, which takes about 12 minutes. (It’s really slow.) The stadium did look pretty at night, but it just didn’t have the same feel to it as Rangers Ballpark. We agree with our friends Kevin and Josh, who have been to Houston and commented that the Houston fans seem apathetic about their team. Unfortunately they reminded us of Angels fans circa 1999. The highlight of our trip to Minute Maid Park in Houston had to be the introduction of the players on the Jumbotron….We think the picture speaks for itself.

(picture forthcoming)

Final Score - Houston Astros 6, Cincinnati Reds 2

Next we have a travel day, spending the night in New Orleans, and then we’re off to Atlanta for the Braves game on Thursday night. After reading about Turner Field in our road-trip book, we can’t wait to see all it has to offer!

And we're off! Our Trip Starts in Arlington

The air was filled with as much anticipation as the rookie locker room on opening day of spring training... it was finally here... our first day of baseball! This day was chock full of amazing moments that it can only be revealed chronologically, so here we go...

We arrive at the stadium at about 3:15pm. Our intention is to buy our tickets, go to the Legends Museum (which houses the largest collection of baseball memorabilia outside of Cooperstown), then catch the game.

We wander into the Rangers front office and the security guard not only points us to the museum entrance, but also to the only ticket office open AND suggests some places for food. He did comment that the prices inside the stadium were exorbitantly expensive; we were tempted to tell him we're used to prices at the Angels Stadium and were pretty certain that nothing could phase us. Instead we forge ahead.

We proceed to the ticket counter and encounter our first comments about our t-shirts. Quick detour...For those of you who don't know, Suz made us shirts for our trip. The front has the picture currently featured on the top of our blog. The back lists the stadiums that we will be visiting this summer ala a concert tour t-shirt. In my totally "unbiased" opinion, it's one of the best things ever! FYI... based on the reaction (as you'll soon see) in Texas, we have designated these shirts as our official stadium uniform. God knows what they'll look (or smell like) once we get back home. But if players can adhere to their crazy superstitious traditions, so can we! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

So we get a comment from the guy in front of the guy in front of us about our shirts and we explain our trip to him. The person we're talking to buys his tickets and walks away. At this point I try and approach the ticket window, forgetting there is a person in front of us. He turns towards us and I see that he is an employee of the stadium. He asks us very politely if we would like free tickets in a great section. Well...our mamas didn't raise no fools and we promptly said, "Yes please!" Our new friend approaches the ticket counter and hands us our tickets. He also kindly points out that our tickets will also get us into the Cuervo Club, an air-conditioned restaurant area with views from behind home plate.

We enthusiastically thank Gary, our favorite Texan, and proceed to the museum. At the museum, we are informed that our 1/2 price admission ticket will also get us into a stadium tour tomorrow morning. Can our luck get any better you may ask? Oh just you wait...

Once we're done with the museum we enter the ballpark and head to our seats, which just happen to be located ONLY 26 ROWS behind the Rangers dugout. Once our shock at the kindness of our favorite Texan wears off we decide to go check out this Cuervo Club where we run into Curtis, our favorite Texan EMT. He is also intrigued by our shirts and we get to talking. Curtis turns out to be a WEALTH of information, giving us tips on which sports bar to visit in Houston and talking Suz (hopefully!) out of wearing her Angels gear to Yankee stadium. But wait there's more... once we sit down to eat our dinner Curtis reminds us to come find him before we leave and then returns to our table two more times. The first with free give-aways from previous games, a Michael Young flag and Texas Rangers beach towel, and the second time with two baseballs, retrieved from the Texas dugout and ACTUALLY USED IN A MAJOR LEAGUE GAME!!!!!

Our excellent time in Arlington is capped off by GREAT seat mates. We chat during the game, they show us the in-and-outs of being a Texas Rangers fan (including singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch and cheering for your favorite dot in the Dot Race, see video) AND one of them offered us his season tickets for our St. Louis game next summer.



As a life-long Angels fan I'd never thought I'd say this, well the Rangers are 11.5 games back so I guess it's safe to say it, we loved the Rangers game. What a way to start off our trip!

Final Score - Texas Rangers 5, Seattle Mariners 7

Now... if you couldn't get through this VERY LONG post, here's a recap...

Early-bird parking: $0
Tickets to the game: $0
Ballpark tour: $0
Rangers merchandise: $0
Making connections for Part Two: $0
Starting our trip in Arlington: priceless

Land of the Free

I Y Texas. Our first game turned out to be one of the best nights of my life. From the moment we set foot in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, amazing things happened. With a little luck, perfect timing, and two friggin-awesome homemade shirts, we managed to score loads of free stuff. I’ll leave the play-by-play to MB, but let me say that Texas Rangers fans may very well be the friendliest people on earth. No doubt we got the true Rangers experience Monday night. When the game finally ended, neither one of us wanted to leave the ballpark. We’re not ashamed to admit that these two die-hard Angels fans even rooted for the Rangers to win. Just in case you think we’re betraying our Angel roots, take a moment to watch the video of the Dot Race. I choose to think of the Dot Race as an allegory for the race in the AL West. The red dot represents the Angels, and the blue dot is playing the part of the Texas Rangers. Pay close attention to the red dot.

It’s safe to say that we will remember last night at Rangers Ballpark for as long as we live. A HUGE shout out to Gary for the awesome seats, Curtis for the info and souvenirs, ALL the Rangers fans at Arlington, and the man who said, “I think it’s great what you’re doing.” How did he know about my kidney?

Play Ball!

Following a brief night of sleep at the brand-new Holiday Inn in Arlington, we were ready to see some baseball. Game time was 7:10 P.M., so we had most of the day to kill and spent it searching for highly-coveted yet affordable Yankees and Red Sox tickets. Going into this, we knew certain tickets would be pricey, so we planned to shell out the bucks for those and get cheap seats everywhere else. Little did I know I’d have to sell my left kidney to buy a ticket to the Yankees game. After rationalizing the price to MB (and myself)—this is Yankee Stadium’s last year, they’re playing the Angels, we’ll be part of history, you have another kidney—we successfully purchased tickets. Then it was off to the ballpark for a visit to the Legends Museum and the official start of our 30th-year tribute to baseball.

Observations from the Road

Being a native Californian I love California. I love the weather, the accessibility to both oceans and mountains within a short distance and the occasional beautiful sunset through the haze and smog. However, on this trip I have had the opportunity to experience something that I have never experienced before...sky. Yes, I know that California has sky (duh!) but I have never understood the concept of Big Sky Country before this trip. And yes, before you think my blondness is shining through, I know that we are nowhere near Montana, but Big Sky is the only way that I can describe the scenery driving through New Mexico and Texas. The landscape is so flat it seems like the sky goes on for miles. And the clouds are like nothing I have ever seen, like big white fluffy cotton balls. Absolutely amazing! There was so much sky we could see the rain coming down before we actually drove through it. It really was incredibly beautiful. And here are some pictures to prove it...

Safe at Second

Morning, Day 2: We still like each other.
For those of you who have money on when we’re going to get sick of each other on this road trip, you’re going to have to wait another day to collect. Which reminds me, could someone please tell me what the over/under is, so we can get in on the action? Strike that. Since we actually have a shot of getting into the Hall of Fame on this trip, perhaps we should refrain from betting on ourselves.

We spent another day basically driving for 12 hours and not seeing any baseball. We don’t think we need to tell you this sucks. To be fair, parts of the New Mexico and Texas landscape were stunning. When we could see it. Through the rain. I have never seen clouds so close to the ground before. The highlight though had to be loading up on jelly packets this morning at Weck’s, Mark and Yo’s favorite breakfast place. Who knew smuggling condiments could be so entertaining? Today’s shout outs go to gasoline under $4.oo/gallon and the truck driver in the red-cabbed big-rig, who slowed down in the lane next to us so that MB could snap an unobstructed photo of the Welcome to Texas sign as we crossed the Texas border.

Ground Rules and Rain Delay

After weeks of building anticipation, the big day finally arrived. True to form, we were both up half the night finishing our packing, downloading music to iPods, and making final checklists. So much for getting a good night’s sleep before starting out bright and early. Ever the optimists, we had scheduled departure time for 7:00 A.M., with me (Suz) taking the first shift. For those of you who don’t know me, I am NOT a morning person. Thus, the morning unfolds: 7:00 A.M.- Start packing car. 7:20 - Realize everything will not fit in car. Reorganize luggage in parking lot. 7:30 - Depart. 7:35 - Stop at Starbucks. 7:42 - Get in car with coffee and breakfast sandwich. Pull out of parking space. MB expresses disbelief at my never having eaten while driving before. 7:43 - Drop breakfast sandwich on car floor.

Being the serious baseball fans that we are, and fully committed to the purpose of this road trip, we established some ground rules early on. Rule #1 states there will be NO non-baseball related stops or side trips. In other words, if it ain’t baseball, we ain’t seein’ it. An hour in (at 9:09, to be exact), MB attempts to justify the Coach outlet store as a baseball-related side trip, claiming “baseball has coaches!” (As I type this, MB still doesn’t see any problem with her argument.) At 10:46 A.M., Suz discovers the wonders of cruise control, “the best invention ever!”

We drove in and out of light rain all day through Arizona and New Mexico. After 800 miles, 12 hours, and 2 pit stops, we finally arrived at our destination in Albuquerque. Our first day on the road was fairly uneventful, save for a heavy downpour on I-40. Kudos to Suz for not driving us off the road. If you’ve never listened to Bill Cosby’s comedy routines, go find one right now. We recommend Himself. Finally, shout outs to Yolanda and Mark for letting us crash at their house on Saturday night and for showing us a good time in ABQ, and to the fabulous folks who thought up cruise control.

One More Thing

Since this is supposed to be a true and accurate account of our daily adventures, we thought we’d add a feature to recognize those individuals who have made our trip easier or more pleasant. Before we even hit the road, we need to give a shout out to the lovely ladies at the Tustin AAA, who provided us with TripTiks, maps, and tour guides; MB’s trainer, who gave us an awesome atlas; and Microsoft Online Excel tutorials.

The Louisville Situation

Well, when one teammate is a legendary procrastinator and the other is a time optimist, planning a five-week road trip across America (and part of Canada) and back can be VERY difficult. Initially, we thought we could knock out all 30 teams in one epic road trip, but reason (and SOMEONE’S work responsibilities--the nerve!) imposed time constraints on our journey. Susie still maintains that we could have done it had the teams been more accommodating in the timing of their home appearances. During the planning stages (which, let’s be honest, we’re technically still in) of our trip, we went through endless scenarios and routes, trying to cover huge distances and make back-to-back games. Can we drive from Houston to Atlanta in a day and still catch a game in the evening? If we drive from Tampa Bay to New York, will we have to skip Washington? If we’re heading west from Baltimore and want to get home by Tuesday, is there any way we can stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory? Therefore, we introduce Phase One of our grand adventure, which will cover 10 ballparks and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Phase One takes us through the South and up along the East Coast, hitting the home teams in Texas, Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, Boston, and Toronto (see picture). And we’re going to accomplish all of this in 19 days. You might be thinking, “That’s crazy!” and you’d be right. But that never stopped us before.

Six Years in the Making

It all started six years ago, on a warm summer evening on the patio. We had just finished eating a dinner that we had cooked ourselves and were reflecting on our age and how “adult” we felt at that exact moment. One point led to another, and the conversation turned to what we would do to ring in our 30th birthdays. It had to be something good, something EPIC, something to look forward to, in order to bypass the typical lamenting of that milestone age. And then it came to us—why not visit all the major league baseball stadiums? We both loved baseball, having spent numerous nights passionately cheering on our beloved Anaheim Angels, sometimes with success. (At this point we think it appropriate to apologize to our downstairs neighbors for all the shouting, screaming, cheering, jumping, and thunderstick-ing.) Why not take that enthusiasm and love for the game on the road? There were 30 teams, so thirty places to visit, plus Cooperstown and the fabled Field of Dreams somewhere in Iowa. We had six years to plan it. After all, how hard could it be?