Home Sweet Home August 1, 2008

Our last day of our adventure started off by getting going at 9 and out the door by 10. We had a small breakfast at my aunt’s house so we were set till lunch time. We stopped in Centerville for some good ole’ BBQ at Woody’s Smokehouse, where we sat and enjoyed our meal. We made very good time by arriving at the Howeth’s house at 245. We got Jason and Josh’s stuff and Gray took me home then was on to take the car to the shop for an oil change. Technically that was the end of our fabulous trip. Although I had Astros tickets tonight and only Jason went with me and my little brother and my dad. It was actually the most exciting game yet. Tied 3-3 in the 8^th inning and Loretta hits a pinch hit grand slam!! The crowd went nuts. We finished with the weekly Friday Night Fireworks. A perfect ending to a baseball fanatic’s dream trip. Memories were made and experiences will never be forgotten. I know I had a blast on the trip and writing this blog. I am probably thinking about writing one for my college team, the University of Texas at Dallas Comets. But we will see. Goodbye and thank you to all the readers out there!

 

Good night and so long.

-Kyle Guest

Feels Good to Be Back in Texas

Our final day of heavy driving started off bright and early at 630. Although that was just me while all the other guys laid around in the beds. We got out of Jason’s second cousin’s house by 720 to find McDonalds for the last time. Not to mention there wasn’t much of a choice. We made good time by stopping in Texarkana for lunch. We tried looking for a Subway on the GPS but it could not find its location. But we headed down the road a little bit to find a Whataburger. It tasted extremely good after not having a burger like that for a while. We made our way to Denton where Jason had to sign his lease for his apartment for next year. That kind of slowed us down because of the rush hour traffic we hit in Dallas. We made it to my Aunt Kim’s house by 530 or so to receive our first Mexican food meal in forever. We swallowed that up quickly and made our way over to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

 

Jason’s Stadium Review:  

The Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was a very nice ballpark. Probably built very recently, and it shows. I could definitely tell that I was in Texas again. Not too many people showed up to the game, but that’s okay because I felt at home still being a half-Rangers fan. The Jumbotron had a stupid setting at the highest point of the stadium, where a good 4000 people could not see it. The seating was very nice and comfortable and the gigantic Starbucks cup in left-center field made me want a frappucinno. That’s really all I have about this stadium. It’s a nice home away from home, when I can’t see my Astros. I can come and support my Rangers.

 It’s been fun. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe I will do my own on the next trip. Adieu.

 

Kyle’s Souvenir of the Game: I can honestly say that there was no true item of the game. I think we were either out of money or all of us got something different or unique that we all collect. Gray got the helmet sundae, Jason collected his usual shotglass, Josh purchased his usual scorecard and a deck of cards, and I got a collector’s pin. So overall it was a mixture of things.

 

We met up with one of our old youth pastors that moved up here to this area, Ben Davis. He brought his wife Missy and son Jackson along, and boy was he a lot of fun. Our seats were on the front row of the upper deck home run porch so to speak. We couldn’t see the video board or really understand the announcer but I think we just wanted to take a break from all of that and just watch the game. The Rangers ended up losing 8-5 but had to come back in the bottom of the ninth. We came back to my aunt’s house and settled down for the night. We make our final trip back home and 3 of us are going to complete the trip with another hometown Astros game and collect our Lance Berkman bobbleheads. Finally get to sleep in our own beds tomorrow.

On the Road Again July 30, 2008

Our morning started off early which some of the other guys didn’t want to get up but with 12 hours of traveling ahead of us,  we got on the road about 745. We drove a little bit to find breakfast at…….you guessed it, MCDONALDS!!!  We also found a Starbucks to wake us up a little bit, or at least the driver. Josh and I slept in the back to charge up for driving. There wasn’t much activity outside of that besides lunch at Sonic in White House, Tennessee. We arrived at Jason’s second cousin Sidney’s house. He is a very nice man who lives in a small town of Tunica, Mississippi. We got there around 745 and were shown to the bed rooms. We sat down and talked for a while because he is a sport fanatic like the rest of us. He then cooked us up some steaks and salads which we amazing. It was very pleasing to have some good hearty steak meat in a while. After dinner, he said he was going to sleep at a friend’s house and said he leaves his house for his daughters and their children all the time. I think we felt bad for having him leave us his house, but he said make yourself at home. So we had the whole house to ourselves when all we need was just the roof. All in all, he is a very generous man and we are all very tired. Another 8 hours of unfamiliar road. Last big drive!

Cleveland July 29,2008

Another day under the roof felt extremely nice, except we didn’t get to sleep in as much but it was well worth getting up for what we were about to do today. We left Gray’s relatives house by 1030 or so to head to Progressive Field in Cleveland. We arrived at the ballpark just in time to take the 130 tour. This tour was much more worth the one we took in Boston. We got to go inside a party suite which holds 40 people and they also have dugout suites at field level. We also got to go into the actual dugout and batting cages and were extremely close to the club house. After the tour we were on our way to our campsite to set up when Mrs Jodon called and said there was rain in the forecast so we tried to go get our refund from the campsite but they didn’t allow us. We decided that we would find a hotel towards the way we were headed after the game after traveling an hour or so. This would also cut down on our driving time the next day a little bit. We headed towards the stadium about 545 and went to our seats.

 

Jason’s Stadium Review: Progressive Field: Even after 15 years of life, Progressive Field (aka Jacobs Field, aka The Jake) is one of the premiere ballparks in America. The mini-monster (such as the Green Monster in Boston) in left field, the bleacher seats in centerfield (as the ones in Wrigley Field), the Restaurant in the Left Field foul area and the monuments in centerfield. The Jake is a great ballpark. My favorite feature was after Take Me Out To The Ball Game, they played a song where during the chorus, they spell out O-H-I-O. With motions. It makes it a great experience, even when the Indians are losing. The fans are pretty spirited as well, because as I just said the Indians were losing, but the atmosphere was still pretty electrifying.

 

Kyle’s Souvenir of the Game: There was a deal of the game. 2 adjustable Indians caps for only $30. Gray and I took the deal to get some sweet looking hats. They are definitely worth wearing many times in the future.

 

The Tribe fans weren’t very enthusiastic although their team was losing so we didn’t get a very good feel for the crowd. After the game we headed south towards our hotel for the night to miss the rain. Tomorrow is a long road day back to the South. Yes!

Pittsburgh July 28,2008

We all got up around different times, but whatever time it was when we did was considered sleeping in. Gray’s parents and family were here to greet us when we came in last night. Gray’s dad made us breakfast which was excellent (heck of a lot better than McDonalds). We stayed downstairs and played PS3 and Scattagories, so it was kinda just a hang out day to rest until the game. We had an amazing dinner right before we left at 530. We had a little trouble getting out of New Eagle because of a closed bridge and then had more trouble finding a parking lot  around the stadium because of another closed bridge for the game. But we got into the stadium right as the game started.

 

Jason’s Stadium Review: PNC Park: Aside from the mere 15,000 fans at the Pirates v. Rockies game, PNC was a nice ball park with fun quirks. Located on one of the rivers, homers into the river are occasional, but still often. The pirate mascot was very festive, but the fan favorite was the Parrot. He was probably one of the funniest mascots I’ve ever seen. We kept trying to do the “text your message” thing, which was supposed to be shown on the LCD screens on the seating decks, however none of our messages got through, which was a little disappointing. However once we moved down to better seats that we didn’t pay for, the game was much more fun and easier to get invested in.

 

Kyle’s Souvenir of the Game: The yellow and black Pirate sword. This item was kind of a no-brainer because it resembled the Braves red tomahawk, but  the stadium doesn’t use them for anything particular. But it was fun to wave around a Pirate orientated ballpark.

 

We started off in our original seats next to Gray’s dad, brother and his 2 cousins. Cole and his 2 cousins snuck down to the field level and sat in seats with no one else in them. So we made our way down to the seats next to them and stayed there for the rest of the game. The Pirates ended up winning 8-4. On our way out, we forgot that we didn’t get a picture of us with the stadium in the background. So when we tried to run back in, the security stopped us and they asked us why we needed back in. Josh quickly thought on his feet and said he lost his cell phone when it was just in his pocket. So the guy took us back to the seats we said we were sitting at and Josh pulls his phone out of his pocket and said he found it. Then we randomly ask him if we can get a picture of us and he snapped the picture off. I couldn’t help but laugh the whole time. So we made our way back to New Eagle about 1025. We made it back and played around some more before we went to bed. Tomorrow its off to Cleavland.

City of Brotherly Love

Philidelphia  July 27,2008

 

After a great nights sleep in a nice warm bed, we  woke up at 8 and hit the door running. We drove into Philly around 11 and parked pretty much right next to the stadium for a very cheap price compared to Boston’s right  across the street parking. We were thinking about going to see the Liberty Bell but it was 3 miles away from the stadium. Only one of the gates to Citizen Bank Park opened 2 and a half hours before game time so we went through that gate and just kind of looked around. At the time, Tom Glavine was throwing his bullpen for the day. We took a few pictures of him then made our way over to the Speed Pitch booth. With my arm, I could not top over 60 but Josh was looking good hitting 70 on the radar. After that we went to our seats and watched the Phillies Father/ Children game which was pretty neat to watch. All the players and there family played a small game on the field. Some of the kids were Ryan Howards son and Brett Myers little boy and many others. So once the game started, we looked to our right to find our old enemy again. The Thunderstorm. It was very dark and by the 2^nd inning, it absolutely poured. We probably had around and hour and a half to 2 hour rain delay. The grounds crew put the tarp on, and about halfway through the rain 2 guys decided to turn that into a slip and slide and immediately got arrested. Everyone cheered for them but it was funny to watch. The game started back up at about 4 and got real exciting. The Phillies hit 5 home runs that game and Shane Victorino absolutely destroyed Brian McCann at a play at the plate. I’m pretty sure he got knocked out cause he just lay there for a good minute and was taken out of the game. I also called Shane Victorino’s home run that tied it up at 5 which started their come from behind win. The guy that sat next to me was amazed at how I called his shot. 

 Jason’s Stadium Review: Citizen’s Bank Park was a great ballpark. I kept imagining CBP is what Minute Maid would look like if It didn’t have a roof. The Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches are THE BEST. Being there for a 2 hour rain delay let me really soak (haha get it? Soak in a rain delay) the surroundings. I really liked the gimmicks they had in center-ish field including a pitch speed detector, and other carnival-like games. Its too bad the stores didn’t have much of anything except shirts and hats, otherwise I would’ve remembered to get the shotglass from each stadium. I have one from each except minute maid and Philly. Shucks.

Kyle’s Souvenir of the Game: I’m not sure that this item would be called a souvenir but more of a food souvenir. We had some ice cream and frozen yogurt from probably one of the cheapest helmet sundaes. So we all got a Phillys mini helmet as the Souvenir of the Game.

 Unfortunately we had to leave after the 7^th inning stretch due to the rain delay otherwise we would have been extremely late showing up to Gray’s relatives house in New Eagle, PA. We listened to the rest of the game on the radio on our way out and Philly won 12-10. It was a very exciting game. We ate Burger King to go on the road to New Eagle. We arrived at Gray’s relatives house around 11:55 and got ready for bed. Lucky for us there is nothing to do until the Pirates game so we can sleep in! YAY!! 

Cooperstown July 26, 2008

July 26, 2008

 

So last night was probably one of the best nights we have slept in a while. Some of us decided to get up at 8 while some decided we had nowhere to get in a hurry. I was like “What are you talking about? We are going to the place where all the real Hall of Famers stay and play!!!” So we got on the road to Cooperstown by about 915 and stopped an hour later to get some breakfast at McDonalds again. There isn’t much else up here to eat on the road. We arrived in Cooperstown about 1:30 and to our amazement, there were a heck of a lot more people here than we expected. Although probably half of the people were there for the induction on Sunday. It took us a while to find a parking spot with so many tourists like ourselves. We had to walk a ways across a bridge but it was worth it once we got inside and looked around at everything. There was so many different things to look at and then some. We took so many pictures that I don’t even know which ones to put on here. But the museum was definitely worth its $14.75 value we paid. It took us about 4 hours to look through everything. After that we hit the road to a HOTEL!!!! In PA.  We arrive at the hotel at 8 o clock, set our stuff down and went to Applebees’s more than a few miles away. We got back at 1015, took some showers and played some PS3 and actually got to just sit and chill. We will also get to sleep in a little later. All is awesome in Moosic, PA.

 

Note: Already half way finished with our amazing trip. Or the optimistic view would be we still have another week of amazingness!