[Pre-game] [Portland to Boston] [Boston] [Boston to Stamford] [New York] [New York] [Baltimore] [Washington] [Washington to Portland] [Post-game] [Photo Gallery]
“You know, this is the last year we can go to Yankee Stadium”, Daniel told me. “They’re tearing it down. And Shea too.”
Three years before we had gone to Philadelphia for his high school graduation present. His gift was a cheese steak from the king of steaks, Pat’s in South Philly. But we also went to a Phillies game as long as we were there. And while we were there we decided we should try to see a game at every ballpark. Not one to pass up an opportunity to spend a weekend every year with my son, I agreed. So far we’d seen the Padres and the Diamondbacks along with the Phillies. But Yankee Stadium, the “cathedral of baseball”, that was one we shouldn’t miss. So yeah, let’s do the Yankees this year. And as long as we were going, let’s see about Shea and the Mets too.
But heck, as long as we’re going back East, let’s check on Fenway and the Red Sox. It’s not that far. Who knows how long they’ll keep playing there? But the question was, could you really see games at all three places without spending two weeks there. I hit the Internet and got a list of all the schedules and lined them up and it turns out you could. So, feeling a bit greedy, I threw in the Orioles and Nationals schedules too.
And there it was. One week out of the entire baseball season where all five teams had at least one home game that didn’t conflict over a six day period. And during a week in September when Daniel wasn’t working or in school. It was a sign.
I checked with Daniel to see if he was willing to give it a shot and he was all for it. It was ambitious but doable. I spent the spring and summer getting tickets and making plans. It became, as Daniel would describe it later, The Most Epic Baseball Trip Ever.
Day 1: Portland to Boston [ Top ]
The trip got off to an inauspicious start. After getting up very early to make our plane, a 2+ hour delay was announced due to thunderstorms in the NY area. We had been talking about trip karma and how we were going to need some to pull this off. So this was not a good sign. But due to the storms, all the planes were delayed and the gate attendant said it was possible our connecting flight in Newark might be delayed as well.
We arrived in Newark and then proceeded to sit for 15 minutes on the tarmac waiting for the gate to clear. We’d been flying 5 hours. They didn’t know we were coming? Meanwhile, no information on what our connection was like.
Once we got off the plane, we discovered the plane to Boston left in 7 min from a gate halfway across the airport. 7 minutes??!! So we start walking very briskly. And quickly realized that wasn’t going to work and started running. Then gasping, walking, running, gasping. I knew I was out of shape, but geez. Daniel got there first and had them hold the door for me, which they did. We ended up sitting another 15 minutes or so before heading out. Which helped us in the long run. And it gave us a chance to catch our breath and get our heart rates back down to normal before we left.
There was a baby in the seat ahead of us. She was fussing and the Mom was trying to bounce her a bit to calm her down. But she lifted her a little too high and knocked her head on the overhead bin. Oops. Strangely enough it seemed to take the baby’s mind off whatever else was bothering it and it settled down fairly quickly after that. Or perhaps she had a concussion.
We took off without further incident. We flew right over Manhattan on the way out. A great view in the afternoon light.
We really didn’t expect the bags to arrive, but they did. Score one for Continental. And the first sign that our trip karma was looking up.
We got to Hertz and checked the Gold Card board. I’m not up there. Uh oh. We head into the office and it’s lined up out the door. Uh oh. But the line moved fairly quickly. Some sort of glitch. It was never explained. But how about a Mustang convertible upgrade for your troubles? Well… sure! Why not?
But Daniel didn’t think so. Too easy to break into (a valid point and one I had thought of too). Too conspicuous to the police. Bad gas mileage. And besides, the weather calls for rain. And most importantly, at 21 he wasn’t allowed to drive it. So okay, back to the counter to swap it for something else. The counter lady, and a few people in line shook their heads in bewilderment. But as it turned out, we got a nice Subaru Outback with more space, more visibility, better gas mileage and a built in EZ Pass. It worked out well.
My GPS, which I’ve named Sheila because I set it up to talk with a female Australian accent (why not?) guided us easily to the Howard Johnson’s right behind Fenway. The parking lot looks completely full. But wait, one space left. The trip karma continues. The lights are on for the game that night. Very cool. The excitement of what we’re doing starts sinking in. When we get out of the car we can hear the crowd cheer. Very very cool.
The room has a view of the ballpark from right out the window. Daniel found the game on TV and we had the surreal experience of watching the game on television and hearing the live crowd cheer when something good happened.
Day 2: Maine/Boston – Rays 4, Boston 2 [ Top ]
We awoke earlier than we’d like to what sounded like fireworks going off. Boom. Boom. Boom. At first we thought maybe there was some kind of event at the ballpark. But at 8am? A quick look out the window revealed that it was just the beer delivery. And plenty of it. Each time they unloaded a keg from the truck and dropped it on the sidewalk – Boom. Apparently the Red Sox fans really like their beer because it went on for almost an hour.
We had the day free since the game started in the evening. Daniel wanted to go north to New Hampshire and Maine to add those two states to the list of states he’s visited. We figured we’d go to Portland since it seemed appropriate. We found a reasonable sounding state park, Two Light State Park, and punched it into the GPS.
It turns out there’s not much to see on the interstate to Portland, ME. It looks an awful lot like everywhere else. And as it turns out, there’s not a whole lot to see at Two Lights State Park either. Neither light for which it is named is actually in the park. One is well south. The other is just north and private property. But the coastline was kind of pretty and we got to touch the Atlantic Ocean. It would certainly be a nice place for a picnic if you didn’t live too far away. Not really worth a two hour drive up from Boston though. It being a weekday, there were only older folks and mothers with young children wandering around. One older couple had a pack of yorkies they brought with them. 6 of them. It was quite a crew.
So we headed towards downtown Portland. We passed a sign for the Portland Head Light and figured we’d go take a look. It turned out to be a very beautiful lighthouse. In fact the most photographed lighthouse in Maine apparently. And it’s quite pretty and really exactly what a lighthouse should look like. Straight from central casting. We wandered around and took many pictures. As is often the case in my travels, a lucky turn provides the best experience rather than the thing you originally went to look at.
It was now lunch time so we headed into town. Sheila directed us to a place called Brian Baru, an ‘English-style pub’. The building was painted a purplish red and had a giant toucan on the side. Not sure what that was all about but it looked interesting. We avoided the allure of the beer thinking we’d have some at the game (that was before we saw the prices at the park) and had quite excellent pulled pork sandwiches. A couple of locals were getting an early start on happy hour behind us.
We headed back south. We had passed Portsmouth, NH on the way up and thought maybe we should stop in. I had a vague recollection that it was “scenic” in the sense of being a quaint New England town. I’m not sure why I thought that. And as it turned out, it’s really not so much. At least not the part that we went to. It might be somewhere else. It had some interesting looking shops and for some reason, a giant ant sculpture in the middle of town. But we didn’t stop. Just drove around a bit.
We got back to the hotel in plenty of time (a concern) and headed over to the park. Fenway is a great old ballpark. There is some new construction around the edges but you can clearly see the ‘old’ part. And I do mean old. I think a lot of the seats are the original ones from 1912 judging from their condition and comfort level.
We found our seats and were quite pleased. They were about 25 rows up on the 3rd base side between home and third. Great! But… one small problem. There’s a pillar blocking Daniel’s view of home plate. The pillar is not very wide. But it’s just enough to completely block his view of the batter. Of all the things to not be able to see. I was really mad that this wasn’t mentioned when I bought the tickets. But to his credit he was great about it. I offered to switch part way through the game but he said no. What a good boy. He said it was a bit weird to see the ball go behind the pillar, then have to wait for the sound of the bat and the movement of the fielders to know what happened.
We were early so we walked around a bit to check things out. We found a wall with a great painting that said Red Sox and had one of the ushers get our picture in front of it. We (and probably everyone else) tried to go up on the wall in left field – the famous Green Monster. But you can’t without a ticket. The security guard said “Sorry, you can’t go out on the monster” in a thick Boston accent. Actually it was more like “Ya cahn’t gah ouht on da mahnsta”. I’ve been enjoying the accents. I had forgotten about that in the world of plain vanilla accents in Oregon.
The stadium is small. The crowd feels very intimate. And they’re clearly a very knowledgeable baseball crowd. They’d all stand when there were two strikes and two outs. Every time. The vendors all had attitudes (in a good way) and could throw a bag of peanuts a good distance with excellent accuracy. They sing Sweet Caroline after the 7th inning stretch for some reason.
At some point during the game, a foul ball was hit down the 3rd base line. The Ray’s 3rd base coach grabbed it. But despite many pleas, he didn’t throw it to the crowd. Big mistake. They booed him. A lot. For many minutes. They start chanting his name – Fol….ey, Fol…ey. This went on for a couple of innings or more. Poor guy. He should know better.
And there were plenty of innings for it to go on. Josh Beckett pitched for the Red Sox and threw a good game. Seven strikeouts and only one run (although when they did hit him, they hit it hard). But the Sox could only get one run too. They went 1 of 15 with runners in scoring position. The game goes on and on. The ancient wooden seats are starting to cause posterial distress. After 12 innings we decided we didn’t care who won just so long as someone did. But still it went on.
Towards midnight the scoreboard flashed a sign saying the last train left shortly. That cleared a good chunk of the crowd out. We congratulated ourselves for choosing a motel across the street and we moved down a row so Daniel could actually see home plate.
Finally, in the top of the 14th, Mike Timlin came in and proceeded to give up a 3 run homer. Oops. The crowd had cheered him when he came into the game. He’s been with the team a long time. But they weren’t so happy after that. The Sox loaded the bases in the bottom of the 14th with no outs, but only could get one run out of it and that was that.
We got back to the hotel sometime after 1am. But we were still on Portland time so it didn’t really matter.
Day 3: Boston to Stamford [ Top ]
We slept in. Which was to become a theme. Daniel’s friend Megan lives in Boston and we had arranged to have lunch with her before heading towards New York. We made a quick run over to the Red Sox super store that we hadn’t gotten in to see the night before. Daniel had told me about it. He had been quite impressed when he had stopped in when he was in Boston to see Megan over spring break. It was massive as advertised. And contained every possible item you can think of (and some you wouldn’t) that you can put a logo on. But we didn’t buy anything. After all, we’re not really Red Sox fans.
We headed into downtown Boston. We were going to Jacob Wirth a famous pub recommended by a colleague at work for their chowder and corn bread. But Megan’s train was late so we took a quick walk through the Boston Commons and had a look at the capital building.
We met Megan at the subway station and discovered a bonus friend, Damiana, who was visiting from the northwest. The four of us headed to the pub.
According to my friend, Jacob Wirth is known for corn bread and chowder. The corn bread turned out to be free, which was nice. 3 of us had chowder which was good but not spectacular. But the corn bread – whoo boy. Delicious!
After lunch we took another walk by the commons and up to the Granary burial ground where John Hancock, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin’s parents and Sam Adams (among others) are buried. Most of the stones were so old the names had worn off. It was kind of cool.
It was getting to be towards 2 and time to go. But thought we’d have a look at Bunker Hill on our way out of town. We had seen the monument from the highway on our way to Maine the day before. Well, we got over there, but there’s no place to park. The whole area is permit parking only and no parking lots. I guess you’re supposed to walk there. It gives it a more revolutionary war era feel maybe. Who knows? All I know is we drove around it but couldn’t get out to look at it..
So we headed south towards Providence. We took a slightly longer route to ensure we’d cross into Rhode Island and check that state off Daniel’s list too. I remembered Providence as being nice from another trip. A trip I can’t place but know I was there for work for some reason. And when we got there I recognized it. But I still don’t remember what I was doing there. I thought there was a pretty harbor but if there is, we couldn’t find it. This was becoming a theme as well. We drove around a bit and decided to move on.
We drove south a bit more and it was time for something to eat. Sheila recommended a pizza place. They had sandwiches too (grinders) so we had that. It was run by a nice older guy who was jawing with a friend of his at the counter. It looked like the friend had been there awhile and was likely to stay awhile longer too. The accents were great and it was fun to listen a bit to the conversation. They were clearly old friends and were having a good time ribbing each other.
And then more driving. We headed into Connecticut and added yet another state to Daniel’s list. But there wasn’t much to see from the interstate.
We had reserved ourselves a spot the day before at the Super 8 motel in Stamford, Connecticut. The plan was to stay outside of New York but nearby where it was a bit cheaper. The desk clerk was not very happy to be there it seemed to me. He struck me as a mob guy who didn’t make the cut and got sent off to launder money at the Super 8. But the room was fine other than having to go down to the desk and deal with Fat Tony again to get a remote control for the TV. The TV would not work without a remote and Daniel can only go so long without a Sports Center fix.
We had dinner on the good side of the tracks in Stamford (not the side the Super 8 was on in case you’re wondering) at a California Pizza Kitchen. It was quite tasty.
Day 4 – New York. Yankees-Rays rained out [ Top ]
The plan for this day was simple. Head into Manhattan to B&H Photo, the Mecca of photo enthusiasts (well, Mecca is probably the wrong term given it’s run by orthodox Jews, so call it the Jerusalem of photo enthusiasts), buy Daniel the macro lens he had his eye on, see a sight or two, get to Yankee Stadium early to ensure we got parking and see the game. (With the new stadium being built, parking was limited.)
While this was a simple and straightforward plan, very little of it actually came to fruition. But it wasn’t our fault.
We headed into New York from Connecticut. In the process of trying to get on the west side freeway, we ended up on the George Washington Bridge and into Ft. Lee, New Jersey. It’s actually where we were going to stay that night but we really didn’t want to be there just yet. Sheila, try as she might, was having a little trouble when there were 3 or 4 roads stacked on top of each other. Anyway, we turned around, paid the $8(!) toll to get back into Manhattan and found our way down to B&H. And lucky us, convenient parking just down the street. Convenient. Not cheap.
We headed into B&H. It is quite an establishment. Everything you could ever dream of in photo, video and computer gear. A huge place, teeming with people. We found our way to the photography area and Daniel worked up the courage to talk to them (it’s a bit intimidating). But much to his dismay, he discovered that while they have his lens ‘in stock’ they didn’t have it in the store. Only at their warehouse. Major bummer.
He ended up having to buy it and have it delivered. Essentially buying it online while standing in the store. He arranged, at additional cost, to have it shipped to our house in 3 days so it would be there when we got home. But as it turned out, it didn’t make it and we ended up shipping it to Seattle. If he had ordered it online before we left it would have been waiting for him when he got back. But we would have missed the experience and it was worth it.
Anyway, we checked on some used stuff but no luck there either and decided we’d had about enough of B&H. We paid for our purchase at a long row of little cubicles where they take your money. Daniel said it reminded him of the little gnomes at Gringott’s Bank in the Harry Potter movie. It seemed apt. And it was certainly disappointing to walk up to the window, hand them a credit card, sign a bill for a large amount of money, and leave, without anything to show for it. But I must say, they really seem to have it together there. The whole place seemed to hum like a well oiled machine. They must do a staggering amount of business.
We left the store and wandered around a little but the weather was threatening, we didn’t have enough time to go off to a museum or anything, and we figured out we weren’t near anything interesting where we were. So Daniel suggested we try Katz’s deli. He’d been there on the Westview High School theater trip and remembered the pastrami fondly. That sounded all right to me.
First, we had to get the car. An hour of parking? Only $23. A bargain. I’m sure the bastard ripped us off but I couldn’t work out the cost structure in time to fight it. We hit LOTS of traffic heading down to the lower east side where Katz’s is located. A bit stressful but we found it. And convenient parking right near by again. Rain was starting to fall. Nothing too serious but we were beginning to get worried about the game.
Katz’s was packed. All the tables were full. And they were lined out the door. We each got pastrami sandwiches on rye and we managed to find a table and settled in to enjoy. It was delicious. And a fun spot. They ship their meats all around the country and I suppose, the world. The sign above the meat counter says “Send a salami to your boy in the Army”. It’s also on the back of their T-shirts. I couldn’t resist and bought myself one.
It was still a bit early for the game so we decided to head back to Ft. Lee and check into the hotel. But finding the FDR proved tricky and we ended up on the bridge to Queens. (Another $5 or so toll.) But we managed to find our way back and it worked out well since it was the same way back from Yankee Stadium later and it was good to have the practice while it was still light out.
We got checked into the Holiday Inn in Ft Lee, which was not too bad and had a bit of a rest. We had the curtains closed and when it was time to go, Daniel had a look outside. Uh oh. It was raining pretty hard. But what choice did we have? We had to go. So another $8 back over the GW bridge and over to Yankee Stadium. We got there plenty early to make sure we could park. And we oriented the car facing out so we could get out quickly. That worked out about as well as the rest of the plan but that part comes later.
We wandered over and had a look at new Yankee Stadium. Which frankly looks a lot like the old one. I’m sure it’s nicer on the inside though. There really wasn’t much else to see outside the stadium and not really a great neighborhood, and it was raining. But we had to wait for the gates to open.
You would think we were going into the Pentagon or something. Our backpacks got checked, as they did at every stadium. But we also got wanded, front and back, and patted down. Open your phone and show me it works. Take your camera out of its case. Are you now or have you ever been a communist, etc. (Well okay, not that last part.) Makes you wonder what the crowd is usually like there.
We managed to convince them we weren’t a threat and got inside. We tried to get to the monument park in center field where they have the plaques for the famous players but by the time we got to that part of the stadium it was already closed because of too many people in line.
So, we found our seats, up in the top tier. We were about 20 rows from the top of the stadium. Just far enough down to not be under the roof overhang. It was still raining pretty hard. So we went up to the top row to stay dry.
And then we sat. And waited. And sat some more. The rain sometimes looked like it might be letting up but it never did. We waited there for almost 3 hours while they thought about it. We avoided the $9.50 beers but ultimately gave in and had the $8 hot dogs. Luckily the big screen was showing “Yankeeography” with stories about the Yankees – Babe Ruth especially. And big moments in Yankee history etc. It was pretty interesting. And Daniel and I talked a bit too which was nice.
Ultimately, the game was rained out. A major disappointment since this was the last chance to see a game there. After all, it was to go to Yankee Stadium that we originally planned the trip. We started making justifications like well, we said we’d go to all the parks, not that we’d see a game. But it’s just going to end up being one that we didn’t get. At least we got inside.
The announcement said they would play the game tomorrow. A night game after the already scheduled afternoon game. They were going to clear the stadium out after the first one. We’ve got tickets to the Mets tomorrow though. So we started thinking about it. We could go to see the Mets, then race over to Yankee stadium and see the night game.
But really, could we? We’d probably get to the game late. Parking would be an issue. And we really have to leave town before the game would be over if we’re going to get to Baltimore the next day, when we also have a game to see. And it’s a day game. It just didn’t make sense. And even though it’s not that far geographically between the stadiums, based on our experience driving over from Queens after our wrong turn, it was not going to be a quick drive either.
I kept trying to figure out a way. I really didn’t want to let it go, but it just didn’t work. As I think about it now, I suppose we could have skipped the Baltimore game in order to see the Yankees game. After all Camden Yard will still be there awhile. If I’d thought about that at the time, I wonder what we would have done? We probably still would have passed. Because at some point we’ll have to come back to New York to see games in the new Yankee Stadium and the new Mets stadium.
So once we decided we weren’t going to go, then it was a question of what to do about the tickets. We went down to the ticket office where a very unhappy Yankees employee was stuck with the job of explaining to a large crowd of angry people how they would have to deal with refunds. Basically, they really wanted you to go the game the next day. If you couldn’t, they’d offer a game next season (after the public could buy tickets for the games). But you had to come to the ticket office to do it. That didn’t work for us (and some others) either. The last choice, and it sounded a bit sketchy, was to send them back in for a refund. That seemed to be our only option.
So we headed for the parking garage where the cars were lined up to leave and stayed that way for a very long time. They just didn’t move. We never did find out what the problem was. But there we sat. Pointed to easily join the line when the time came mind you, but sitting nonetheless.
We of course headed the wrong way when we got out, but ultimately found our way back to the hotel. By this time, we had a pretty good idea how to get on and off the George Washington Bridge.
We had dinner in the restaurant while watching the Red Sox beat Toronto.
Day 5: New York to Baltimore — Braves 3, Mets 2; Mets 5, Braves 0 [ Top ]
We woke up and checked the weather. A bit overcast but mostly sunny. Good news. We knew it was a day game and just assumed that meant a 1pm start. But thanks to the Internet we discovered it didn’t start until 4. We were kind of surprised by that, considering the weather report called for more rain in the evening. We figured they’d want to start earlier. And it was lucky we hadn’t decided to try to stay to see the Yankees game because we never would have made it.
We also discovered an added bonus. A second game. The Mets had also been rained out the night before, like the Yankees. But their rain out policy was different. They would play the regular game and the makeup game. And those with tickets to the regular game could see both. Those with tickets to last night’s game were out of luck. No game at all for them. They had to get tickets to another game in the future. Well, lucky for us, we had tickets to the original game so we could now see two. Except we couldn’t because the second game wouldn’t start until after 7 and we had to get to Baltimore. But, we figured we could at least see some of it. It made up a little bit for missing the Yankees.
(As it turns out, the game was scheduled to be on Fox and they couldn’t change the start time, which didn’t allow time to clear the stadium for the 2nd game.)
So one last time over the George Washington Bridge and on over to Queens. We were plenty early since we had to check out by noon. The area right around Shea looks a bit… how to put this delicately… third world. Not a place to wander around. But nearby was Corona Park, the area where the 1964 world’s fair was held and home of the US Tennis Association where they play the US Open. So we thought we’d go have a look around there.
Surprisingly enough, we found free parking at the Queens Museum of Art and it was right by the giant world sphere that was the centerpiece of the fair. It was very impressive and much larger than I realized. The fountain underneath it was empty but was being put to good use by roller bladers and bike riders.
Corona Park is quite large. Lots of flowers and old trees. There were also a number of soccer fields being put to good use. Leading up to the sphere there were a series of sculptures and fountains, all unfortunately not in operation. But it must have been quite a sight at the time.
We wandered around the park a bit. We came across lots of squirrels and a couple of flocks of geese. We wandered over to what I think were observation towers. You might remember them as the spaceships in the movie Men in Black. They’re looking a bit worse for wear, rusting and decaying. But they appear to be undergoing some sort of renovation.
It was quite warm out and we were working up a good sweat. So we stopped into the Queens Art Museum to have a look in the gift shop and spend a little time in the air conditioning. The gift shop was quite small but we managed to find a little something for Marion.
We walked over to the entrance to the tennis association but the gates were locked. We got a look at the outside of Arthur Ashe stadium which was much larger than I expected.
It was still a few hours before game time but we had run out of things to walk around to so we headed over to the stadium. Shea is a relatively old stadium (1964) and doesn’t have the appeal of a Fenway or Camden Yard. But it has a certain flair even so. It’s kind of dumpy but still has some charm. I’ve learned later that it was quite innovative for it’s time. The first multi-use (baseball and football) stadium, a fancy (at the time) scoreboard, etc.
The gates hadn’t opened yet so we hung out near the player’s entrance. We saw a number of players go in but I couldn’t tell you who they were. There was a small but very avid group of fans who ran from one to the next trying to get autographs. I’m not convinced they knew who they were either. The players all got out of their cars with a cell phone to their ear. We think it was a ploy to avoid the autograph seekers. We never heard them actually talk into the phone. But to their credit, they all signed at least a few.
We got in and headed to our seats. I knew we were lower down this time around so we were hoping they would be good. We were in the Loge level. And it turns out what that means is the level underneath the upper tier. Which was great from a shade and rain protection standpoint, but we were high enough up that the upper level blocked our view. It was a bit cave-like. We could see the field but not above it. It was like watching in Cinemascope – long and narrow. When someone hit a fly ball it would disappear for awhile, then reappear somewhere near a fielder. So when the fielder was running for a fly ball, we could never really tell whether he had a decent chance at it. But they were relatively close to the field, right behind first base, and like I said, in the shade which was very nice.
Johann Santana, the Mets ace, was pitching. If the game hadn’t been rained out the day before, we would have missed him. And, with the change to the rotation, we’d get to see Pedro Martinez in Washington in a few days as well. So the rain wasn’t all bad.
The fans at Shea were definitely different from the ones at Fenway. They really didn’t seem to care too much. Even though the Mets were up 2 runs, and in a tight pennant race, the only thing they really seemed to get up any enthusiasm for was yelling for fielders and grounds people to throw foul balls to them. That they really got excited about. Of course everyone wants a baseball from a game. That happened at every stadium. But these guys were by far the most vocal about it.
Now the Mets were in a fight with the Phillies for the National League East title. Last year they had had a 7 game lead with 17 games left and ended up losing and not even making the playoffs. And it was starting to look like the same again this year. Still, like I said they were up 2-0 after 7. But Atlanta put up 3 runs in the 8th and ended up winning the game. Which secretly made us quite happy being Phillies fans, but we kept it to ourselves for safety sake. But not so a brave (or foolhardy) Phillies fan who revealed a Phillies T-shirt and proceeded to walk around the stadium on his way out after the game. He was roundly booed and in fact it was as excited as the crowd got the whole game. People were shouting at him, throwing things. He seemed to be enjoying it. I imagine one or two $9.50 beers were part of the equation.
The second game started around 7:30. And as much as we wanted to stay for the whole thing, we knew we wouldn’t be able to without throwing a serious kink into the plan. The compromise we came to was to stay for 4.5 innings (if the Mets were ahead) so it would be a complete game by MLB standards. The Mets did much better the second game and had it well in hand by the bottom of the 4th. So we headed out. It was just after nine pm.
We managed to find our way to the proper interstate, despite Sheila’s attempts to send us through lower Manhattan. We ran into lots of traffic and it was stop and go for quite awhile. Not what we wanted (or expected) at 9:30 at night with 3 or 4 hours to drive and a necessary stop in Philadelphia. But we listened to the game on the radio (and if we had been thinking could have continued to score it that way). As it turned out, it was the first major league career win for Jonathon Niese.
We finally got through the traffic and onto the Verrezano Narrows Bridge. I remembered this bridge fondly from trips we used to make to family friends in Brooklyn when we lived in Pennsylvania. It had been over 30 years since I had been across it. It seemed smaller than I remembered which may have been a trick of the lights since it was dark. It is, after all, the largest suspension bridge in the US. Regardless, it was my original inspiration for getting an engineering degree and it was very nostalgic to go across it again.
And with that we left New York City and the traffic, and driving stress, and rainouts and $9.50 beer and $23 hourly parking behind and headed south. I have to admit there were many parts of the New York experience I wasn’t going to miss. When we come back, a nice place in Manhattan and subways to the games I think.
So on down the Jersey turnpike past towns with names I had vague recollections of. Next stop, Pat’s King of Steaks. We could hardly pass by that close without stopping in. It was the basis for the whole father/son baseball thing after all. We called and confirmed they were open (aided once again by Sheila who came equipped with a bluetooth interface and the ability to not only navigate to where you wanted to go, but call them as well). The guy who answered had a great south Philly accent and when I asked how late they were open he said “we’re open twenty four seven” sounding very Stallone-esque.
We got there around 11:15 and the place was packed. So I dropped Daniel off and planned to drive around the block a few times while he ordered. But on the next pass, there was a parking space right in front. More good trip karma. I joined him in line. He confidently ordered a “whiz wit” (regular cheese steak with cheese whiz and onions). It makes a father proud.
I must admit they weren’t as good as the last time we were there. But it was late and I imagine the steak had been cooking awhile, and we had to stuff them down pretty quickly so we couldn’t really savor them. But still a darn good sandwich. Fifteen minutes later we were back on the road to Baltimore.
Around midnight it was time to start looking for a place to stay. Daniel worked some magic with Sheila and found a place right off the highway about 30 minutes ahead. We called (via Sheila again, what a great feature) and they not only had a room, but it was fairly inexpensive to boot. We got there and the room turned out to be very nice (one of the nicest on the trip), with very comfortable beds, free Internet and free breakfast. Kudos to the navigation officer.
All in all, a very good day. Much better than yesterday.
Day 6: Baltimore/Washington — Baltimore 7, Minnesota 3 [ Top ]
We were about 20 miles from Baltimore and had no plan other than getting to the game in time. So once again we were able to sleep in quite late. And given we were up until 2am the night before, that was a good thing.
I took a quick look outside to check for rain but no worries. It was hazy but sunny. The only mistake I made was not going outside to check the temperature before getting dressed and packing up. We got out to the car and realized it was going to be quite hot and humid. I should have put shorts on.
Camden Yard is great. Really pretty. Orioles Park is integrated into an old warehouse district. It gives it a great feel. And kudos to whoever is running the place. The parking is reasonable. Only $8. The food prices are reasonable (Beer for under $6). The ‘bringing food in’ policy is reasonable. In fact, Daniel’s very clever concealment of his water bottle in his coat turned out to not be necessary (although excellently done). The guy who checked the bags said “why do you guys have jackets”. We explained how we had been rained out in New York. He said “Not in Baltimore”. And given it was 90 degrees and sunny it was hard to argue with him.
The warehouse behind the park is very cool looking. It was very wise to incorporate it into the design. We wandered along there a bit. We found the spot on the wall where Ken Griffey hit it during the all star game home run derby.
We went to find our seats. As the usher showed us where to go it just kept getting better. We’re in this section? Field level right in line with the pitcher? Cool. We keep getting closer and closer. Eight rows up from the field behind the Orioles dugout. Amazing. We hardly needed the telephoto for pictures. And the seats are padded! Given the states of our poor rear ends with all the driving, 14 innings at Fenway and 3 hours at Yankee Stadium, that might have been the best thing about the park.
The throwing out of the first pitch was interesting. It was Radio City Music Hall Rockettes in Santa outfits and mini skirts. Not something you see every day. They were promoting some sort of event in Baltimore that I didn’t quite catch. The one who actually threw the ball didn’t bounce it which pleased the crowd.
The vendors were shouting clever slogans. “If you want it fancy, you have to get it from Clancy”. “Hot Dogs. If you want it hot, get it here. If you want it cold, go in there.” (inside) When the national anthem was sung, when they get to part that goes “Oh say does that star bangled…” the crowd yelled ‘O’s’ (for Orioles). Kind of clever.
We had called my father the night before to let him know we had just enjoyed a Pat’s Steak. He had recommended the BBQ meat place at the game. We found it. I had a BBQ Pork and Daniel had the BBQ turkey. Very good, especially for stadium food. And we had our first (and only) beers too since the price was reasonable
We were so close that we decided we needed a camera with a shorter lens to go along with the telephoto. We’d use Daniel’s camera for the wider angle shots and mine for the telephoto. While Daniel was messing with my camera trying to get the resolution set the way he wanted, he accidentally formatted my memory card. For those of you still uninitiated into digital photography (if there are such people left), that’s the equivalent of taking the one 500 shot roll of film that you’ve used for ever picture from the trip so far, and exposing it to sunlight.
Luckily for him I had copied all my pictures off to my laptop the night before, even though it was 1am, so I only lost a few we had taken while walking around. So I didn’t have to kill him, which would have been unfortunate considering we were having such a good time, but certainly warranted. And no jury in the world would have convicted me.
– Mr. Foreman have you reached a verdict?
– We have your honor.
– How say you?
– We would have done the same thing. Not guilty.
– Thank you. The defendant is free to go.
After the game we went back and retook the ones that got lost for the most part so it turned out to be no big deal and taught us both a valuable lesson in data protection.
The game itself was a home run festival. We hadn’t seen many (one or two) up until then. But all kinds of them were going out of the park on this day. Baltimore got out to a big lead. The Twins made a comeback but couldn’t quite get there. It was the first game we were able to stay to the end of that the home team won.
The Orioles crowd was more into it than the Mets crowd was. But the turnout was fairly low so it didn’t generate quite the excitement that the Fenway crowd did.
We were headed down to Washington after the game so we’d be in town first thing and could go see and photograph the monuments and such. So we never did see much of Baltimore. Which is too bad because I remember from an earlier trip that down by the harbor was quite nice.
We had been trying to figure out someone on the east coast we could sell the Yankees tickets to and Daniel had been texting with his friend Patrick who is attending the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I suggested we go there and try to see him since I had heard Annapolis was a nice little town. It turned out Patrick was available after dinner and he even offered to show us around a bit. That sounded great so off we went.
We had about an hour in Annapolis before Patrick could see us so we found a place called Buddy’s Crab and Rib for dinner. We each had a crab sandwich, which was really good. And we wandered a short bit around town before heading to the Academy.
Annapolis is a cool little town. I would have liked to wander around a bit more. But seeing the Naval Academy was worth the trip. We met Patrick (and just gave the tickets to him, how can you charge someone serving in the military) and he gave us the grand tour. He was outfitted in his dress whites because it was Sunday night and I guess that’s what you have to wear on Sunday nights. It was quite a contrast from Daniel’s outfit. In fact Daniel’s “look” turned a few heads during out tour – shoulder length hair, earrings, facial hair, shorts and a t-shirt. Not that I was dressed much better.
The tour was really interesting. The campus is very pretty and there’s lots of history too, just from the building names alone which are all named for famous Navy men. The academy has the world’s largest dormitory (and it’s massive and sprawling). It houses all 4000 some students. The rooms themselves are quite small but I suppose they’re preparing the students for life aboard ship.
The buildings are all stone with lots of ornamentation. And of course naval cannons everywhere. Inside there are big vaulted ceilings. Lots of memorabilia, “the ensign from the USS whatever” etc. like the flag that says “Don’t Give Up The Ship” from Admiral Perry.
We went into Memorial Hall and saw its sobering display of graduates killed in action. Including even some from as recent as 2006. I’m sure it makes the cadets stop and think now and again about the gravity of what they’ve signed up for. It did for me.
We saw the two Heisman trophies won by Navy Midshipmen, the Bob Hope Auditorium, some of the classrooms, the library and lots more. We also learned a bit about some of the traditions and obligations. How, for example, on the first day, all the new cadets are marched into the main entrance of the dormitory and the doors closed behind them, clearly cutting them off from family and friends out in the courtyard. And how they’re not allowed to go through the front door again until they’ve graduated. And also, since it was sunset and at sunset the flags are lowered (striking the colors), we discovered that while that is occurring, everyone stands at attention. All in all, it gave me the sense that the officer corps of the Navy was going to be in good hands.
We thanked Patrick for the tour and headed off to Washington. Well actually Pentagon City just across the river where we stayed at the Radisson. First thing we discovered was there was no Internet. I called the service tech and was told “It’s down”. Well no kidding. When will it be back up? Um, tomorrow?, he said feebly. I didn’t believe him (and I was right). So we couldn’t do our usual planning. In fact, we don’t know for sure where the ballpark is. But no worries. People have been finding places long before the Internet and GPS systems.
Day 7: Washington — Nationals 7, Mets 2 [ Top ]
We slept late. Again. We pretty much never really got on east coast time. We had breakfast and decided to take the Metro over to the Mall for a look around. The first problem was finding the Metro. The desk clerk said “a block up the road”. Well, we went a block up the road and saw nothing. But we persevered and ultimately, about 6 blocks and a right turn later, we found it.
We came out in the middle of the mall, right by the Smithsonian “castle” building. The first question, which way to head? Towards the Capital or towards the Lincoln Memorial? Daniel wanted to go to the Capital so off we went.
As we got close to it, we saw a building with a whole series of wind powered machines and displays of brightly colored globes, so went over to have a look. It turned out to be the National Botanic Garden. I didn’t even know we had a National Botanic Garden but it’s great. It’s not too big but there’s plenty to see and quite a variety. We spent an hour or so taking pictures.
In fact, when we walked in, carrying our cameras in front of us, the man at the front desk said “Are you going to take pictures?” Well, anytime anyone has ever asked me that question at a museum or sporting event or anything else, it’s because you’re not allowed to take pictures. I could tell Daniel had the same thought. We looked at each other and started hemming and hawing, and I could tell Daniel was thinking the same thing I was. How can I convince this guy I’m not going to take pictures when I’m standing here holding a camera? Well, he spared us the embarrassment because the next thing he said was “Here, let me show you the best spots”. Which he proceeded to do and he was quite right.
The Garden was a very pleasant surprise and yet another example of being open minded as you wander around and explore.
We left the Garden, took a pass by the Capital, then headed down the other side of the Mall to the Washington Monument. We stopped for a few pictures then headed on towards the Lincoln Memorial
But what’s this? Oh yeah, the new(ish) WWII monument. Neither of us had ever seen it before. It’s nicely done. There are two sides, an Atlantic and a Pacific. On each side it lists the major battles and the names of all the states and territories that took part on a series of walls with a wreath at the top. In the center was a fountain. At various points there were interesting quotations. Much more traditional than say the Vietnam Memorial but it was a more traditional war.
Speaking of the Vietnam Memorial, that’s where we went next. And it never ceases to impress. Such a simple idea but powerful.
From there we went up to the Lincoln Memorial. It’s much more ‘tomb-like’ than the others but it’s so iconic. There was a flock of geese in the reflecting pool in front which made for an interesting photo with the Washington Monument in the background. Daniel enjoyed standing on the spot of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
And from there we continued around to the Korean War Memorial. I like this one a lot. It’s different. There’s a wreath there from the Republic of Korea that says “With Gratitued Unending”. A very classy thing to do. Having been to Korea and having some experience with the people there, I’m not surprised. And I love that gratitude is spelled wrong.
By now we were getting pretty tired of walking but we still had to get back to the Metro station. No stations down at this end of the mall so there was nothing for it but to walk back to the middle. We ended up walking the complete loop, which we were quite proud of.
We got back to the hotel to pick up the car. We were allowed to leave the car in the hotel garage until 5 which was perfect (more good karma), especially since we didn’t know what we would have done with it otherwise. And despite having no idea how long it would take to get to the mall, walk around the mall and get back, we got back right around 4:00. Perfect.
We found the address of Nationals Park in a tourist book and plugged it into Sheila. We found it fairly easily but all the parking lots in the area are ‘permit only’. We never did find out how you get a permit. The only signs we saw said there was free parking at RFK stadium where there’s a shuttle bus, which we didn’t really want to do. We found a place on the street right across from the park but it was only good until 5 as was all the other street parking. But for the moment we were okay so we went and grabbed a sandwich.
When we came back I figured we should ask one of the garage attendants where to park. He said, “Well, there’s the place up the street that’s valet parking for $40. But I bet you’d like something cheaper.” Well, yeah I would. “Well”, he says, “I can get you in hear for $20”. Oh really. Well all right then. “Where’s you car?“, he asked. Across the street. “Well, don’t just pull in here. Don’t want ‘them’ to see you”. Sure okay. That would be bad I guess.
So we drove around a bit and came back. I pulled in and ‘them’ was in a golf cart off to the side. Our new friend started walking up the garage ramp a bit to get past them (I caught on), leaned in the window with the ‘official list’ and told me he was pretending to check me in while I slipped him the $20 below the window where ‘them’ couldn’t see, and we were in. It was right next to the park. You walked right into the center field bleachers. We were a little bit concerned that we’d come back and find the car (and our luggage) towed away, or the car booted or ticketed or something, but no. It worked out great.
The stadium is very nice. This is the first year it’s been open. It’s not Camden Yard nice but good. We were early and the seating wasn’t open yet. So we stopped into a Playstation booth and played some Guitar Hero. Daniel is pretty good. I had never done it before but gave it a shot. I did okay but not ready to quit my day job, as they say.
We had good seats along the first base line. There was a huge high def scoreboard that looked beautiful. And in fact, during the game, the view on the scoreboard was a little better than the view from our seats. The players were bigger!
The crowd was fairly small. After all, the Nationals have one of the worst records in the league. Second only to the Mariners (who were awfully hard to root for this year). We figured the Mets would dominate. But no. The Nats (an unfortunate nickname if you ask me) got an early run or two and held the Mets to 1 hit. Then they broke it open for a 7-1 lead. They ultimately won 7-2. More good news for the Phillies. (And as I write this a couple of weeks later, the Mets have completed a dive from first place in the East to not making the playoffs at all, for the 2nd year in a row. It’s tough to be a Mets fan these days.)
During the game, one of the players struck out on a high fastball. I said “Got him with the high heat”. Daniel checked the scoreboard radar gun and saw it was only a mid-eighties fastball. “Not really heat”, he said. “Okay”, I said. “Got him with the high warmth then.” (Well, it was funny at the time.)
After the game we headed back to see if the car was there. No worries. And no traffic getting out of the garage. After all, everyone else was parked at RFK. We got right onto the highway and headed out to our hotel near Dulles.
We got out there around 11pm. There were 10 or 12 people in line at the desk! What the hell? We figured out relatively quickly they were checking in from a canceled plane since they all had airline vouchers. Not happy campers either. Luckily, we were able to circumvent the line a bit and didn’t have to wait too long. We were pretty tired.
We watched the 2nd half of the Eagles-Dallas game. The Eagles blew it in a shootout 41-37. We’re headed home tomorrow but once again we can sleep in since the plane leaves in the afternoon.
Day 8: Portland [ Top ]
We took it slow. It had been a long week and we didn’t have to rush. We watched a little Sports Center (of course), got everything packed back into our original bags and headed for the airport.
The flight to Newark was uneventful on a relatively small commuter plane. But when we got there, it was announced that we would be arriving at a gate where we had to be towed in. Okay, no problem. They hooked something up to the plane and pulled us to the gate and turned off the seat belt sign. Then a few minutes later, the plane was pushed back. Then pulled in. Pushed back out. In. Out. The pilot came on and said “Sorry, I don’t know what they’re doing up there but please take your seats”. It fills you with confidence. Meanwhile, we had arrived in plenty of time to make our flight but now the minutes were ticking away and we had to get to a different terminal.
At one point, a passenger on the plane, who was apparently a Continental employee made a phone call to someone inside. The conversation went something like “We just landed at gate 20 and I don’t know what the hell is going on here but you should get a supervisor down there right now”. Whether that did the trick or they figured out whatever it was they were doing (or just got tired of playing with the tow truck), they finally got us where they wanted us and let us off the plane.
We just made it to the inter-terminal bus before it left and managed to get to our Portland gate without having to repeat our sprint through the terminal like on the way in.
We made it to Portland where Marion was there to meet us, tired but victorious.
Post-game [ Top ]
Since the trip was a Tuesday to Tuesday, I had to go to work the next day. I would have much preferred to take the rest of the week off. And it took about that long to recover. (The best vacations are the ones where you feel like you need a vacation when you get back!).
Daniel was headed back to Seattle as well so we only got a brief moment in the morning to say goodbye. He came out to the car. I gave him a hug and as he headed back into the house he said “Let’s do this again sometime”. My feelings exactly.