Dodgers 8, Cubs 5 - Lights Out

Wednesday we had tickets to the Cubbies game at Wrigley, where they took on the Dodgers. We were looking forward to Wrigley, and Chicago in general but it was awfully tough to leave Cincinnati because we had such a good time. We were staying with our good friend, Aric, who is in a PhD program at the University of Chicago. Matt was meeting us for the Cubs game and Alex was meeting us the next day to visit and see Chicago.

We got into Chicago around 1; picked up Matt from Midway airport; met up with Aric who showed us back to his apartment, a single room studio. After grabbing some well known Chicago chicken we passed right out while Aric went back to work before the game.

We headed down to Wrigleyville and the area around the stadium was buzzing for the game. Scalpers were very abundant, not being discrete at all, walking around with stacks of tickets. We got there around 6:30 for a 7:10 game so we just went right in.

Obviously Wrigley is an old park, similar to Fenway, but after being at all these newer parks, it seemed lacking in some areas. Just walking into the stadium, it felt like the whole place was pretty enclosed. Low ceilings and not very wide corridors but what can you do with a park built in 1914. Once we got to our seats, we had a giant pole in front of us, blocking from the front of the mound to the front of the plate, which isnt the worst but still annoying.

As for the actual game, we all agreed we saw probably the two worst defensive left fielders in all of baseball, Manny and Soriano. Jamula was getting so frustrated with their lack of effort on plays that he wanted to go down to the dugout and start yelling at the coaches that he could play better out there than they were, which he could. There were a bunch of other errors too, which gave the game a weird, not professional feel.

To top it all off we were at the game where the lights just randomly went out in the middle of play. When it initially happened I thought there were going to be fireworks or something like that. The power was not out anywhere else and not even all the lights were out. I still dont really know what happened. We used the time to go explore the stadium. Ushers were letting people walk freely and everyone was out of their seats.

The fans in Chicago are notorious as well. We had heard so much about how roudy they would be and they did not disappoint. It probably helped that the Cubbies are near the bottom of the NL central and the Dodgers went up early in the game. People liked heckling both teams just as much but the fan favorite of the day was defiantly Manny. He is so easy to hate.

All in all my experience at Wrigley was cool. We got to see a classic match up at a classic stadium. We even got to see a ball get stuck in the ivy!

Cincinnati Done Right.... NEED IT

Right after the game we headed over the water, which at the time we didn't know was a state line. As soon as we got in the bar we knew that we were in a different place because people were smoking in the bar. We got to talking to some people, girls, mingling and watching the Celtics lose game 4. Some girls we were talking to actually pointed out that all the players were showing up, and we were actually sitting next to 5 of the starting lineup of the pirates. And of course at that moment she took off to go talk to them. Lame.

Luckily for us these two cool guys started talking to us, commenting on my Oakland A's colored yankees hat. We started shooting the shit about our trip and they were pretty psyched on it. Once they found out that we were planning on sleeping in our truck, they wanted to show us some Cincy hospitality so they took us in. SO CLUTCH.

As it turned out, we had a hangover type day the next day. Our truck was towed out of the garage we left it in. I was not feeling so hot to say the least because we dipped into White Castle the night before for a late night snack (never again). On the upside Chad and Brandon helped us get my truck and then took us to a local pool for a little "suns out guns out" action. We played some cornhole and enjoyed the scenery.

Afterward, we got a bite to eat at this local Cincy chain, Skyline. They serve a plate of spagetti with chilli mixed in and a HUGE load of cheese on top of it. Ben and I got one of those and a coney which is basically a cheesy hot dog. Ben loved it. Me.... well ill just say it didnt love me. It was tasty but my stomach was still a little upside down from the night before.

Next up on our plate, Brandon hooked up free tickets to the Reds game so that we could all go together. We saw a screamer of a game only lasting 2 hours and 15 min. We got to see the Reds hot young arm that came straight out of college to the majors, Mike Leake. He threw a great game until the centerfielder, Stubbs, lost a ball over his head letting up a triple that led to a run. BP got that run back with a solo shot (bring out the fireworks) but the pirates won the game on a home run. At least we saw a win the night before (oh by the way the Reds are in first in the NL Central, no big deal).

After the game we went out to a bar called the Black Fin. It was a sports bar in the front half of the building and then a legit club in the back. It just so happenes that our boy Brandon helped to start the club in the back a few years ago. B used his connections to get us some VIP treatment. We got our own booth, popped champagne all night and never had to go up to the bar once. To top it off it was college night at the club so the place was PACKED. It was by far the best night of the trip so far.

Cincinnati put up a big score on the city rank board (just check out the pictures, you'll know which ones) thanks all to our generous hosts Brandon and Chad. You guys know how to do it up real good!

Pirates 5, Red Legs 7

So these last few days have been pretty unreal, so sorry for the lapse in blogging. We left off in Pittsburgh, so we've got some catching up to do. We hung out in Johnstown, PA for a few days with the NU Club Baseball Team (correction, the NATIONAL CHAMPION NU Club Baseball team! Congrats guys!) It was about a 6 hour drive to Cincinatti, Ohio which was our next stop for the Pirates-Red Legs game on Monday night. (Everyone in Cincy calls them the Red Legs...they used to be the Red Stockings back in the day so I'm guessing it comes from that). So, we headed out Monday morning and got to Great American Ballpark around 5:30 for the 7pm game. We walked around a bit and chatted with a few of the ballpark attendants. The park is right on the Ohio River, which is the border between Ohio and Kentucky. It was a pretty nice ballpark, reminded me a bit of PNC and one of the big attractions is the river boat posted up in center field, which apparently Joey Votto hit a 470 foot homer into the top deck of last week. Would have liked to see that. Then we headed over to a nice restaurant and bar they have in left field and grabbed a couple beers before the game. They had a bunch of memorabilia there including the actual "big red machine" and a photo of Pete Roses last game.

We had $5 nosebleed seats but, like a lot of the parks we've seen so far, it wasn't even close to full so we moved down to the lower level along the first baseline. There was something a little off though, because everything just seemed a little bland at this place... but in the 7th they "turned on the lights" by turning on one of the original lights from Crosley Field from the original game and lighting off some custom pyrotechnics. The jumbotron all game had only the lineups with position and the score line. No stats, no info, and all the side screens were black, which we thought was quite weird but didnt really think too much of them. So after that it was back to normal with all the regular boards and lighting, which really made a big difference in the stadium. The Red legs ended up winning the game. 7-5. We had a campsite reserved but, since that seemed like a lame option as the game went on we decided to try to sleep in our truck and go out to some bars across the river... In another catch up post you will have to find out how well that turned out.

Hurray night games!

GeoTagged, [N39.09903, E84.50508]

Tonight turns out to be the 75th anniversary of the first night baseball game ever. As a result peanuts will be the price of what they were back then. $0.10. Now with the Reds just a half game out of the NL Central, time to put some gas back in the big red machine.

Cube puzzle

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It was only a matter of time until one of us figured it out, but I have conquered the cube string puzzle!

Mile:1293.2
Next stop: The Great American Ballpark (Reds)

PNC Park

As Andy mentioned, one game in one day just wasn't enough. After our second game in Cleveland, we hit the road for Pittsburgh (only about a 2 1/2 hour drive) to catch the 7pm Pirates game against the Milwaukee Brewers. PNC Park was my favorite park so far on the trip (other than the Fens). Here's some photos from PNC:

NU 10, William & Mary 5

GeoTagged, [N40.32002, E78.91222]

NU club baseball down here in Johnstown PA looks like a solid contender for the Championship with a record of 2-0 in the double elimination tournament. Ben and I are staying tonight (Sunday) and heading to Cinncy tomorrow for a 7:00 game against the pirates. Luckily we went to a game at PNC while waiting for Matt to fly into Pittsburg because the game we originally schedualed was rain delayed. It would have been a pain to wait around in the rain. Plus we get to hang out with the team even though there is not much to do here.

Mile:1200 approximatly (I'm not in the truck [for once] so I don't know the exact number)

Progressive Field-Cleveland

Wednesday afternoon, we headed to Progressive field, which was only a few blocks from the hotel, for the Cleveland Indians game against the visiting Kansas City Royals. Brad Mohr, the V.P. of Ballpark Operations, who we were able to get in touch with before the game, invited us to come over a little early to check out batting practice before the game. I was lucky enough to get a ball! Though, it wasn't a homer, just a liner to centerfield that one of the players tossed over the fence (the long arms helped to snag that one!).

Anyways, after watching B.P. for a bit, Brad and Rik, the President of Ballpark Operations, were nice enough to take some time out of their busy schedules to sit down with us for a few minutes and talk about our trip and our first trip to the Jake (I still think to call it that, Progressive Field doesn't really flow). They were great guys and gave us all the inside scoop on the ballpark, including some funny stories...for one, they started having a big pigeon problem around the park, so they tracked down four owls and perched them up on the top of the stadium! Problem solved. But, now they have a sea-gull problem since they are so close to the lake. Rik and Brad say they're started setting off fireworks every half inning to scare off the gulls, but we didn't see that in action that night. Brad and Rik even gave us a personalized "first trip to Progressive Field" certificate, which was a really nice touch, and also an Indians hat made of recycled plastic, which we both thought was pretty cool.

The game wasn't the most exciting matchup (unfortunately Zach Greinke wasn't on the hill for the Royals). The Indians were in order for the W, but closer Kerry Wood gave up 5 runs in the 9th to blow the save (he's fallen a long way since his 20 K days with the Cubs, huh?) and the Royals won 8-4. Andy and I took time to walk all around the park and check out the ins and outs. Progressive boasts a lot of great viewpoints and fun things to check out. There's a great players hall of fame park in center field, a nice full bar in an open concourse in center field where you can grab a drink and watch the game, and they have corn hole! We were definitely excited to see that, since we brought our own set along with us on the trip. There's also a nice home run porch in left field where we camped out for a couple innings. And, the famous guy with the drum was out there banging away in the bleachers, though he hasn't had too much to drum about since the days of Kenny Lofton and Sandy Alomar Jr.

The next day, Brad invited us to come on back to the park for the noon time game, the second of a short 2 game series with K.C. He was able to get us in the park for free, which was awesome, and it was a beautiful sunny day and made our stop in Cleveland that much better. We had great seats behind the first base dugout, and to stay entertained I kept the book on this game, which I haven't done in a while so that was fun. The Indians couldn't muster much in the way of offense in this game, mainly because the Royals' pitcher, Luke Hochevar, spun a complete game gem. 3 runs on 4 hits with 7 K's and 2 walks...quite the performance.

That wrapped up our time in Cleveland. Many thanks to Brad and Rik are in order for everything they did to make our first time at Progressive an awesome experience! Thanks!

Catching Up on The Last Few Days...

So, these last couple days have been a whirlwind so we've got some catching up to do. We left off in Toledo, so after the game there we tried to figure out where we could stay in the cleveland area since we were homeless there. We had plans of going to Sandusky, Ohio to the Cedar Point Amusement park, buttt unfortunately the rain had other ideas. So, we looked around for some campgrounds and found this place called Camp Wa-hoo just outside of Cleveland. It sounded like a good spot so we decided to head there. I guess names can be very deceiving. We pulled into the place and it looked like something between The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and American Psycho.

So, we decided to try to find something else. We drove past a motel, and we were both pretty drained, and it was only $30 a night so it sounded like a good idea at the time. We now call this place the "Motel of Death". Probably the worst place either of us have ever stayed. We gutted it out for one night...luckily the Sox Yanks game was on to distract us. This place was really, really bad. We walked in and there was a cigarette butt on the table, and we had some very strange characters for neighbors, including two guys that seemed to get in a fight as we heard some hollering downstairs.

Suffice it to say we were ready to leave this place, so we decided to take the hit and stay in a Comfort Inn a few blocks from the Indians Stadium, Progressive Field (formerly Jacob's Field). We got there the day before the game so we had some time to kick it around the city. We had a six pack the night before from the Great Lakes Brewery, and found out their brewery was actually in Cleveland a couple miles from the hotel. So, we headed over there and had a sampler of their brews on tap. I was highly impressed. Very good brews, ranging from a pilsner to a 9.0% IPA. We starting chatting with Doug Paige, a very nice guy who was sitting next to us at the bar, telling him about our trip and chatting about his work and our school and what not. He was there to meet with the owner of the Bar, so we were able to meet him as well and he treated us to a beer (thanks very much for that Dan!).

We had tried doing a brewery tour earlier in the night, but couldn't do that because there was and Entrepreneurs for Sustainability event going on later that evening. Luckily, Doug was going to that himself so he invited us to go as well. It was an interesting event as we heard from a few different companies (Energizer, the Great Lakes Brewery, and a local potato chip manufacturer) about the steps they were taking to become more sustainable. From an engineer's viewpoint, I would have liked to hear more hard numbers about energy savings and what not from some of the speakers, but all in all it was a good event. After that, we were in much need for some dinner (that 9.0% IPA will get ya), so we found a local and delicious burrito place across the street. We got to meet the owner and tell him a little bit about our trip. After that, we finished off the night out a bar called the Bier Market and then stumbled our way back to the hotel after a long day and night.

Brewers at Pirates

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Game number 2 of the day! We decided to just get a ticket to the pirates game while we wait fir Jamula to fly in for his baseball tourny.

Indians v Royals

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Thanks to our buddy Brad Mohr of the Cleveland Indians! Hell of a guy.

Indianapolis Indians 0, Toledo Mud Hens 3

Tom, the generous host from Detroit suggested that we see if the Toledo Mud Hens would be home when we pass through. Sure enough they were playing the Indianapolis Indians at 10:30 am on the next day (Monday). First of all what kind of professional game starts at 10:30? Regardless, seeing as how we were on a baseball trip it only seemed appropriate that we make an appearance.

Turns out it was "school day" at the park which esstially meant that the place was packed full of 8-15 year old screaming kids. just about every 2 minuets the jumbotron would have a "make noise" sign and apparently, that is a very effective way of getting kids to belt out high pitch screams at the top of their lungs. Ben made the comment that the place seemed more like a Jonas Brothers concert. I just wondered what the players thought of playing in conditions like that.

Other than the average age of the crowd the stadium was very impressive as for a minor league park. Tom had said Fifth Third Field was very highly rated in the country and I would agree. We got cheap tickets and just walked around the park. We were able to walk all the way around, stopping at different angles. The left and right field fences had no seating behind them so you could get right up to the field which I thought was cool.

The game itself was quite the pitchers dual. The losing pitcher was throwing a no hitter through 5 until he let up a hit, then on a bunt he threw it away, then a 3 run homer and that was all the scoring in the game. The Mud Hens pitcher threw a 2 hitter complete game.

Detroit and Ann Arbor

The beat goes on here in Detroit. As Andy mentioned in our last post, our poor planning led to us missing the first four innings of the Detroit-Red Sox game at Comerica Park. Figures, we miss half of a Red Sox game, but what are ya gonna do.

I will say I am definitely a fan of Comerica. A very friendly and comfortable place, our seats were in the left field bleachers a little ways behind the foul pole. Unfortunately for me, John Lackey had already given up a few runs by the time we sat down. (We were following along on the radio as we were on the highway heading to Detroit...I must say, the radio commentators were excellent, giving all the details including where pitchers set up on the rubber, whose socks were up and down, etc....very nice) Anyways, the lackluster performance gave us some time to check out the details of Comerica. A very open stadium, it holds about 40,000 of Detroit's finest (including the guy in the bleachers with no shirt, trying unsuccessfully all day to start a wave)...and it was pretty much a packed house on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Walking around the concourses, there was lots to look at including memorial towers showing highlights of the Tigers during various decades, a cool Ferris wheel, batting cages, and all sorts of other fun stuff. We got the whole tour and saw the end on the right field roof deck, but unfortunately the Sox couldn't muster a comeback on this day. Final score: Tigers 5, Red Sox 1.

Beer Prices: Labatt or Bud "Regular" $6.50, Large (24 oz) $8, Mircobrew (Atwater Block Brewery) Dirty Blonde - $8.50

After the game, we headed west to the town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, as we stayed with Mr. Tom Stevens and his brother Bob. After we got settled, Tom and Bob took us to Ann Arbor for a tour of the University of Michigan wolverines, including the Big House. Man, that campus is something else with buildings for just about anything you could imagine. I think the football training facility was bigger than any building Northeastern owns! After the tour we got some dinner at a local brew house, stopped for a couple beers at their brewing facility on the way home, then finished off the night watching some Sunday night baseball. All four of us are engineers and avid baseball fans, so there were plenty of good topics of conversation. Simply put, it was a great, great day. Many thanks go out to Tom and Bob! You both were great hosts and we can't thank you enough for having us. Also, thanks go out to the Abbotts for helping to arrange our stay with Tom.

Wooo! Back in America!

GeoTagged, [N42.99896, E82.43462]

With our first lapse in planning we left late to the red sox tigers game. Somehow we got it in our heads that it only takes 2 hours to get from Toronto to Detroit but in reality it takes 4 hours. Luckily we left around 10 (3 hours early) so hopefully we only missed an hour of the game. Unfortunatly we did not account for customs either and that set us back about 40 min.

I blame myself for not checking but I think part of the problem was that I'm so dependant on my iPhone but in Canada I couldn't use it because of international rates. But really.... no excuses play like a champion.

We did get to use our traveling kitchen for the first time this morning. We made some FRENCH toast for Kiki FRENCH (har har har) and Stu, our amazing hosts. (Shout out to Charlie [housemate #3] and his diverse movie collection. You should have woke up for breakfast buddy!) We had a great time roaming Toronto with Kiki and some late night bowling with Stu. You guys are great.

Anyway, hopefully the game goes really slow in the first inning like it did in Toronto and we only miss a little.

Mile: 603.6

Toronto16, Texas 10

Well, then. If all our games go like this, we're in store for an exciting but long summer. The Rangers visited the Rogers Centre last night to take on the Blue Jays in our second stadium visit. Rich Harden took the hill for the visiting Rangers, and Brett Cecil for the Jays, but neither lasted long as the score skyrocketed to 15-10 in favor of Toronto by the end of the 4th.

Andy and I's seats were in the lower level in left field, just behind the Blue Jays' bullpen. Kiki joined us for the game and we were able to sneak her into our section despite the unnecessarily tight security, considering the fact that there were only about 10,000 people there.

We stayed until the end, but it was somewhat tempting to leave early due to the cold weather and uneventful last few innings. Notes on the Rogers Centre: wayyyy to big for that team; fairly comfortable seats and decent legroom; removable roof a great feature, but they should lose the field turf; friendly people but you could sense a little AL East jealousy since Andy and I were both sporting our hometown jerseys; I was introduced to the mouth watering, wonderful world of Poutine (pictured above), a delicious snack of gravy covered french fries with cheese curds mixed throughout; all in all a comfortable place to watch a ballgame.

Beer price: 7.25CAD for 14oz Budweiser draught; 10.25CAD for Alexander Keith's (premium stuff).

Leaving tomorrow morning to see the Red Sox in Detroit!

Toronto

Ohhh Canadaa! After our stop at Niagra Falls, we made it through customs more smoothly than anticipated with only a few strange questions from security. Got to Kiki's house (Andy's cousin who we're staying with) about 9:30 Thursday night and hit the ground running with drinks at the apartment followed by a night on the town. Our first stop was the Silver Dollar pub, which was pretty fun with funkish-hip hop-jazz style live music. After chatting it up with some fellow patrons (one of which was a chic who invited us to go to some goth bar Saturday night...we'll see how that goes) we went out looking for more watering holes but wound up at this diner sort of place that reminded me of a fancy Friendly's that served alcohol. Andy and I were dupped by the bartender who told us that this so-called-IPA was a great beer but it turned about to be a somewhat more flavorful Bud Light. We eventually made our way home and crashed after a loooonggg first day.

Saturday morning we woke up and had some coffee then putzed around the city. We got lunch at a cafe and went in a few stores. There is definitely a lot too see here, all kinds of street happenings going on, lots of different shops, and the waterfront (by the Lake Ontario shore) boasts a beatiful skyline highlighted by the CN Tower (a.k.a the Space Needle), the Rogers Centre, and lots of tall buildings. There a pretty dynamic feel to this city, but the hipster seen is quite noticable (notice the "So Hip It Hurts" sign above. We lucked out in the weather department with sunny skies and 20 degree temps (celcius!), as opposed to last night's cold, wet and gloomy weather. We were all kind of tired so we headed back to the ranch for some rest before the Blue Jays game tonight at 7pm.

Niiagra falls

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Road games

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To keep us occupied while we drive we are playing a few games.

We made it a game that we switch drivers every time we get out of the car. Some times you get a long drive and sometimes only a short one but it also limits the amount of driving to 1 tank of gas. Bens been driving since our first fuel stop.

We are trying to make sure we see a license plate from every state. US and Canada. So far we have 16 of 60. Way to go western NY.

We are also tracing our path in our US atlas. Just something to do and a sweet souvenir.

Mile: 249.4 (from Germantown)
Next stop: Anchor Bar, Buffalo. Home of the original Buffalo wings.

Hitting the Road

Hitting the road today.

Price of gas in Boston: $2.97

Stopped at the IMAX to see ironman 2 with Joyce matt Scotty and dan.

Next stop: Germantown, ny
Miles logged: 87.7

Rainy Day at Fenway

Today, the day after graduation, I got to use my graduation present from My cousin Christina and Duke... 2 tickets to the Yankees Red Sox game at Fenway with their season tickets. They asked me ahead of time so my Dad got tickets to the same game for my mom, and cousin Cary.

When I woke up, I thought there was no way the rain was going to let up for us to see the game. Matt was back by 10:30 from his canceled double header that day. It was thundering all morning but we decided to meet up at Bleacher Bar and try to wait it out. After a couple buckets of "ponys" aka 8 oz High Lifes, we got to sit down on the field level and watch them crew take the tarp off and start the game.

Joyce and I sat out in right field. There was a bachelor party and bachelorette party around us but they were unrelated. So that was entertaining. Joyce tried to play cupid with some high school kids sitting next to us by telling them to sit boy girl boy girl instead of acting like they each have cooties.

Game Notes: the yankees beat up on the red sox pretty good. CC v Buckholtz untill around the 5th when it DOWNPOURED. Luckily for us we were inside getting beers, so we didnt get touched.

Beer price:8.25 for premium draft. Bad Sam summer, Smithwicks, blue moon, Guinness, Harp
Miles on truck:0
Cary, My dad and mom's seats were under cover so during the intermission we went to go visit them on the first base line. Dad left and there was an empty seat so we stayed there until the 8th when Teixeira hit his second of the game. We left in the 7th inning stretch.

GO YANKEES!

Graduation!

Donezo! Yesterday was the Northeastern commencement, held at The Garden (Celtics/Bruins arena). There were rumblings of a 4 hour ceremony, but it was actually a much more manageable 2 1/2. Highlights of the ceremony were a plethora of beach balls (including one that President Aoun threw into the crowd himself), Professor George Adams smashing a beach ball out of the air with his baton, floating inflated condoms, and American Express's CEO as the guest speaker.

After the ceremony, the both of our families along with our Matt's and Alex's familes and Joyce (our friends) went to a massive lunch at Joe Tecce's, an Italian restaraunt across the street. The food was good, but saying the service was bad would be quite an understatement. This girl was dumb as rocks and I don't think she'd ever waited a table in her life. Note to restaraunt managers: don't put a new server on a party of 30. K?

We split ways after lunch and some of us went to Mike's Pastries for gelato and others went home or elsewhere. Later that night, we celebrated at the classy establishment of Conor Larkin's, a popular NU bar, followed by a quick stop at Punter's Pub on the way home.

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating even more with a Pig Roast, and then we're hitting the road on Wednesday or Thursday for Toronto!

Game 1 - Fenway PAAAK

Last night was NU senior night at Fenway, so Ben and I took the opportunity to go to our first game together. Tickets were only $15 through NU.. we both got tickets (they sell out fast obviously).

Notes on the game:Angels @ Red Sox, Lester v Ervin Santana. It was a close game (1-1) until the 8th when the Sox blew it open in the 8th. It was a fast game, over by 10.

Side notes:free barbecue before the game. Baseball Tavern to pregame. Flasks into the game, always a good idea. It was raining on and off and our seats were all separated so we just claimed seats way at the top under to scoreboard. Al, Matt, Me, Nick, Ben, Joyce, Abbie, Diego, and Mike Latina were the core participants. After the game we went to Punters and rocked out two "towers of power" aka a 2 gallon beer dispensing cooler.

It was a chilly night = girls need sweatshirts, guys are OK in shorts and t shirt attire. Spent most of the game up in the nose bleeds, then Nick, Joyce Abbie, and me moved down to 10 rows back from the bullpen for the last two innings.

I was a fun game. Nice to kick off the trip with a lot of people and friends.

Next stop: Fenway again! (Saturday Yankees Sox)

12 Days Till Toronto...

We've started a list of non-baseball things we hope to see along the way. We've got to break up all that driving somehow, so these should keep us entertained:
Niagra Falls
Cedar Point Amusement Park (Sandusky, Ohio)
Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower. When did they change this?)
Lake Erie
Lake Michigan
Miller Brewery
Mall of America
Gateway Arch/Mississippi River
Yellowstone National Park
The Rockies
South Park, Colorado
The Space Needle (Seattle)
Pacific Ocean
Golden Gate Bridge
Lombard St.
Beverly Hills
Hollywood
Las Vegas (did we mention we'll be there for 3 days? Lookout.)
Grand Canyon
4 Corners
The Alamo
New Orleans
Washington DC Monuments
Liberty Bell
Independence Hall
Philly Cheesesteaks

That's a good start. Let us know if you've got any sights in mind that are worth stopping at!