On The Move...

In our last post, we were spending some time to vacation from our vacation in San Antonio. Thanks to our great hosts the Del Vecchios, we had a really nice and relaxing few days, playing with their kids, going to the gym, going to the pool, and seeing the new movie “Inception” in IMAX (by the way, the movie definitely lives up to the hype. Go see it. Do it.)

On Thursday night, we went out on the town in downtown San Antonio. Mike dropped us off at the Alamo, the famous mission that served as a battle ground during the Texas Revolution in 1836. It was a very interesting place, though had kind of an odd feel to see this kind of historical site in a city center. We left there and headed over to Joe’s Crab Shack for a drink and an appetizer of crab dip and calamari. What’s cool about downtown San Antonio is that most of it is focused around the RiverWalk, a river that winds back and forth throughout a few blocks with boat taxis and tours, and no shortage of bars and restaurants. So we hopped around from place to place for the rest of the night. Surprisingly there were a lot of Irish pubs (I think we went to 2 or 3?), one of which had a piano player who put on a good show. He was asking everyone where they were from and, when learning we were from Boston, played Sweet Caroline and the Cheers theme song. There was also this girl at another table who was absolutely hammed, so she served as great fodder for his jokes. There were also huge buckets of peanuts on every table so the place was full of empty shells everywhere, which was something different. After grabbing some food there, we continued to hop around, finding one place with this drink called a “Hurricane”. The name explains everything. Also, we went into the Coyote Ugly bar, where one guy proceeded to by 33 beers and gave them out. We were close by and got some, so it was a worthwhile stop for sure. We eventually found a cab to get home, and it was quite a long ride. Another city much bigger than Boston, its small size has really spoiled us over the last five years.

The next day, it was time to pack up and hit the road again. And hit the road we would, as over the following four days we would drive to Arlington (Dallas), Houston, New Orleans and West Palm Beach, Florida. We started off by going north to Arlington for the Rangers-Angels game Friday night at the Ballpark in Arlington. Andy found a nice hotel only a couple miles from the park, and there is also a trolley that goes to all the touristy spots in Arlington. It took us a while to catch it but it was way better than driving. We saw a great game, as CJ Wilson of the Rangers and Joe Saunders of the Angels both threw great games. Michael Young's homer in the first turned out to be the only run scored of the night to give Texas the 1-0 victory, and it turned out to be Joe Saunders’ last start as an Angel as he soon thereafter got traded to the D’Backs in the Dan Harren deal. He didn’t seem to take it too well either, as he started balling on tv during an interview. Rough life being a baseball player. The crowd was excited for a Rangers win and we were surprised with a great firework show after the game. During the game, we got talking to two guys in front of us who were also doing a little baseball trip of their own, going to 10 games in 10 days. One of the two (unfortunately we didn’t get their names…if you guys are reading this feel free to leave a comment!) seemed really intrigued by our trip and got the OK from his wife to do this trip of his own at some point. We hope you do it someday! It really is an amazing experience. So we had a good time talking to them for a while, and after the fireworks took the trolley back to the hotel.



For those of you who don’t know, the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium was built in Arlington right next to the ballpark. It is absolutely unbelievable. I’d bet money that if you were to see it for the first time (as we did) your first words would probably be: “Oh. My. God!” maybe with an expletive or two mixed in there. So, in the morning we drove over to take a look, hoping to do a tour. Unfortunately we couldn’t fit the tour in because it would have taken like two hours and we had to be in Houston for a 6pm game that night, and its about a 4 hour drive from Dallas to Houston.




It was young professionals night in Houston, and we were hoping to get tickets for that section because you got 8 buffalo wings, a soda, a baseball hat, and a souveneir mug with a ticket for 48 bucks, and most likely some “networking” opportunities. But, that was sold out unfortunately. But seats are pretty cheap there, so we got seats maybe 15 rows up along the right field field level for $39. We had been buying nosebleeds for the most part lately, so it was nice to splurge a bit. And, it was Roy Oswalt against the young Reds phenom Johnny Cueto so we were anticipating a good matchup. But, despite lots of trade talks, Oswalt laid an egg and didn’t throw too well. The Red Legs (who I think are my favorite National League team now) took this one handily, 7-0. Afterwards, we found this tap house which claimed to have like 200 beers on tap. It didn’t disappoint, as it was pretty packed and there was lots of good beer. They also have this beer club there, and this one guy was celebrating what we thought his 1800th different beer there. It was hard to understand how many he exactly was celebrating, but either way it was insane. We tried going to the upstairs section, but apparently he had that area on lockdown to celebrate. It was kinda cool. But, that’s a lot of beer, and way too much money. Not really something I’d want to invest thousands in. After talking to two girls, we found out that the “Midtown” area was really the happening place. We attempted to start walking there, but that got old quick so we hailed a cab and it only turned out to be like 7 bucks. First we stumbled upon this interesting coffee shop/wine bar/café/beer place. Everything was made out of dark old looking wood, and it had couches and tables and a patio in an open area downstairs, then upstairs there were tables all around the outside, but it was open like a balcony and you could see the first floor. Then there was another outdoor patio upstairs. I really digged it and it reminded me of something that you might find in Cambridge, Mass. We left there and went to this place called the Poison Girl, which was recommended by the two girls at the tap house. It wasn’t bad, but it was getting late and after a beer we went back to the hotel.

The next day, we went to the Johnson Space Center in Houston which turned out to be really awesome. I would definitely recommend it for kids because it has lots of games and activities for them, but we also did a good tram tour that took us to mission control, where all space missions are controlled and all the communication with the space crew is conducted, you know like “Houston, we have a problem.” Anyways, it was fun. We got to do a space shuttle landing simulator, see the Saturn V rocket which was absolutely massive, and see all sorts of other cool artifacts. Definitely something and engineer would enjoy.

We headed out from Houston in the early afternoon. Our next game from here wasn’t until Friday the 30th in Tampa, so we didn’t really have any plans and we had lots of time to kill. So, we decided to go to New Orleans, or should I say “Norlens” as they pronounce it down here. Let’s just say Bourbon Street lived up to the hype. You don’t even really have to go into any bars to feel like your in a party. Drinking is legal on the street, and the place is flooded with all sorts of characters. It’s really indescribable until you go there. I can’t even imagine what it must be like on Mardis Gras. We saw all kinds off great jazz and blues music, a band of young kids playing in the street and a whole bunch of people dancing around them for seemingly no other reason than to have fun. We also saw lots of crazy shops and t shirts, one of which said “FUBP” with the BP logo tainted in oil. I bought that one the next morning. It was slow going in the morning as some of us were feeling it pretty good from the night before, but we eventually made our way back to Interstate 10, which we’ve gotten to know all too well on this adventure as it spans the width of the the country along the southern states. So, we were on the road again with no real idea of where to go. It’s kind of an interesting feeling to be driving all day and have no idea where you’re really going. Try it sometime.

As I said, our next game is Friday and then we’re probably going to the Marlins game next Tuesday. Since we didn’t know anyone in Tampa that we could stay with, we decided to hunker down and drive all the way to West Palm Beach, where we’re staying at a condo that my family friends the Johnsons were awesome enough to let us stay at while we’re here. Thanks so much, you guys are the best! So we’re here now, we hit up the pool yesterday and got some groceries and grilled out last night. No real plans for the next couple days yet, most likely going to the beach and maybe the driving range. But its been a whirlwind of the last four days. So once again, we’re a-okay with taking it easy for a couple days. That’s about it for now. Pretty soon we'll be heading up I-95 with home in sight. Happy reading everyone.

Kickin' It in San Antonio

We've heard some rumblings of how we haven't posted in a few days. So, to keep all you readers from falling off your chair in anticipation, here's a quick update on our last few days of The Tour.

After camping in Joshua Tree and driving through New Mexico, we camped again in the Guadalupe National Park which is in the Guadalupe Mountain Range in west Texas. It was a pretty cool place to stay and we finally got some cool weather (I think it dropped into the 80's?) so it made for the first good nights sleep in a while. We also saw some pretty crazy bugs, mainly big beetles and a nasty looking black wasp-type creature that seemed to be the size of my fist. Andy didn't believe how big it was when I first saw one, but then he caught a glimpse and was like "Holy S#*%!".

So after that night we headed out early in the morning after some time zone confusion (Guadalupe is right on the Mountain/Central zone border) and decided not to do a hike we thought about the night before. But, it was for the better since it was hot, we didn't have much water and we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We stopped for breakfast at a small place in the middle of nowhere when we got close to Route 10. It turns out we were the only ones there who spoke English as a first language, which was sort of an eye opening and odd experience that made us feel like we were actually in Mexico and not in Texas. I thought about trying to bust out the old Spanish skills from high school, but considering I haven't taken classes for five years I thought better of it, thinking I probably would have no freaking clue what the waitress would say in response. Anyways, we had a really good meal (Mexican fare, of course) and headed out for a non-stop trek to San Antonio.

We got to Andy's cousin Sally and her husband Mike's house just about dinner time. They live about a 15 or 20 minute drive north of the downtown area. It was great to get a solid meal in our stomachs after a few days of mainly PB&J while camping, so Sally's home made lasagna certainly hit the spot. We got a chance to play with their two kids, Mary and Sam before they called it a night, and we did too soon thereafter.

Since then, its been a pretty relaxing few days here in the Lone Star State. We've been going to the gym the last two days with Mike who was able to get us some guest passes despite getting some gripe the first day we showed up from the attendent since we didn't "call ahead" before. We made sure we did that the next day. Yesterday, we went to the nearby pool with Mike and the kids and had a blast playing with them for a while. Something about little kids that just makes everything that much more fun!

We're planning on maybe seeing an IMAX movie today and then tomorrow hitting the downtown area to see the Alamo, probably get dinner along the RiverWalk and then check out the San Antonio nightlife. Definitely hopping in a line dance or two to show of the skills.

As far as baseball goes (that's why we're on this trip, isn't it?) we'll be heading up to Dallas early Friday morning for the Ranters game, crashing there hopefully not in the truck, and heading to Houston the next morning for the Astros Saturday night which is also "Young Professionals Night". We'll be sure to bring our game faces for that one. Then its off to Florida with a probable one night stop in New Orleans! Keep tuned for more details soon.

In the desert during a heat wave

We took a extra day to finalize our path to our next stop, San Antonio, TX. Since our next game is not until next Friday, we figured we would take our time getting there.

We have been camping, as you may know. Camping fits us perfectly because it is inexpensive, casual, and quite relaxing after being in cities like LA. Recently though, our path, the southwest, has had a drought and a severe weather warning for heat.

For our first stop we went back to joshua tree national park for one night because, as the ranger had said, once you get in the park the elevation results in about a 10 degree difference. Since it was 110-115 in the desert that meant that the park was 100-105. It was somewhat uncomfortable but we made due because we had lots of water and a breeze.

We learned our lesson to stay out of the heat, and stayed at a KOA outside of Tucson, AZ, which we made sure had a pool.

The camp also had a 9 hole mini put course. After a good swim to cool off, as members of the Dav 312 Mini Putt Club, we played the course. Ben beat me with a late comeback 27 to 28. Par 18. We were a little rusty to say the least.

KOA also had it's own unofficial mascot, who we named Thumper. He was this bunny that hung out in our site, digging holes to lay in and cool off. I even threw him a leaf and he ate it.

All in all the desert isn't so bad if we drive during the hottest part of the day. If you find yourself ever in a similar situation, swimming and wildlife watching, combined with some friendly competition is an excellent break from the heat. It's worked great for us.

Mile:10,563.0

PS - in case you wondered if a Toyota Tacoma trip mileage meter can go over 10,000 miles.... It can't. We had a scare that we lost track because of it.

81st MLB All-Star Game

As some of you may know, I recently joined the smart phone world when my dinosaur phone finally called it quits after about three years of duty and I got the iPhone. So, this is my first post from on the road! Andy and I spent last night in J Tree again and headed east early this morning, arriving at a KOA in Benson, Arizona not too long ago.

As Andy mentioned in his last post, we went to Tuesday night's all star game in Anaheim. It was pretty hard to pass up the chance given this trip and that we happened to be in the same city. (Well, more or less the same city. Side note: still don't get the Angels switch to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. LA, you have the Dodgers and they're close but definitely not the same city. I know there's some history there but it just seems unnecessary.)

Anyways, we got to the park early again, ever afraid of the LA traffic which, by the way, definitely lives up to the hype. Cars everywhere! We poked around the game area again to get more free stuff and try our luck at the 80mph radar gun again. I did hit 76! But 80 is kinda nuts given the setting. After hanging out there for a bit we went into the park to check out what was going on. This being our third time to Angels Stadium, we were quite familiar with the grounds so there was no need for the usual tour. Instead, we posted up along the third baseline hoping for some foul balls. It was the only section they were letting fans go (mind you it was still only about 3 o'clock and the game started at 5) so it was real crowded. The American League was taking BP and we didn't get any foul balls but Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler came over to sign some autographs. I had the BP ball I got in Cleveland and Andy had an all star game hat on so we got each of those signed by Kinsler which was kind of cool.

After that we spent some time walking around, I got a hat and then we found our seats which were in the upper deck near the right field foul pole in the second row of the section. But, once again we had to deal with the sun and this time it was pretty brutal since the game was early.

It was a really entertaining game though, for those of you who didn't watch it. It seemed as though the AL was going to come away with their 14th straight win when they jumped ahead early. But Atlanta's Bryan McCann stole the show with a bases clearing double to put the NL up. Despite threatening in the 9th, the boys from the AL couldn't muster a comeback and the NL won for the first time since 1996. We got to see some great pitching on both sides and all the stars of the show, so it was a really awesome time.

The next day we spent on Redondo Beach and headed out yesterday from LA for good this time. Thanks so much to Nate, Harold and Tiffany for having us! It was great spending our time there and we had a blast.

So, we are headed east for good now. We're on our way to Texas and Florida and finally up the east coast home. Less than a month left which is really hard to believe but it will be nice to settle down after all these adventures. It's been a wild ride and unforgettable so far, but we're not done yet! Plenty more stories to come so stay tuned. We hope you all are enjoying the blog...we have lots of pictures coming up too so be on the lookout for those. Until next time!

Home Run Derby

Once we got Jamula onto his plane we looked forward to the Home Run Derby.  We anticipated an all day event since doors to the stadium opened at 2 and the Derby Started at 5.  I picked up Nate from LAX around 11:30 and he immediately wanted to come.  As it turns out, the later you wait on events like this, the cheaper you can get tickets.  He paid $20 less than we did and he got a better ticket (the right field seats) than we had (upper deck behind home plate).

We got ourselves together and headed to Anehiem.  We got there and in the parking lot there was a pregame activity area.  There was a Wiffleball Home Run Derby with an amazing field, and a mile long line; Fast pitch, all sorts of ways to get free stuff, and places to get you picture taken.  We got to hit in a Nike hitting cage where they use a pitching machine to throw fastballs and curveballs.  Supposedly according to the guy handing out helmets and bats, I hit the curve the best all day. We did a fast pitch game and Ben hit low 70's i hit high 60's.  In order to win, girls and little kids had to reach 50 but guys had to be able to throw 80!  No one that we saw broke 80, or got close. The prize was a fleece MLB Bank of America blanket, but we managed to get 3 anyway from answering trivia questions and surveys.  

After getting our fill of that stuff we went in the park and explored our chances at getting an autograph.  Not a chance.  We walked around for a while exploring merchandise stores and watching BP from different seats.  I could tell that this BP wasn't just any BP because as soon as we walked in we saw a group of David Wright, Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, and Ryan Braun.  Arguably the three best 1st basemen in the MLB and 2 starters in the all star game. It was pretty amazing how hard the balls were hit. 

We ended up sitting in our seats because we could get three together (why make someone sit alone?) and because it was a good overall view of the stadium.  The hitter was probably equidistant from the right field fence to us so that we could get a full view of the arch of the home run.  One thing about the home run derby is that they have a pop artist perform at the beginning.  I'm not sure why someone thinks that people coming to see the home run derby would want to also see a Train concert, but it happens every year.  The announcer went over the rules and then we got going.

I should mention that during all the pregame activities people were handing out scratch tickets to match to the distance of any home run hit with 9 outs (the golden ball).  Between the three of us we had about 15 different ticket ranging from a little over 300 feet to 522 feet! (Fat chance of 522, but nevertheless we had a good shot with all the tickets we held)

In the first round, Chris Young and Vernon Wells hit a total of 3 Home Runs in 20 outs which wasn't very exciting.  Corey Heart stepped up and pounded 13 home runs. That part was awesome but he didn't hit any golden balls out and he didn't really get on a streak.  Swisher hit 4 and got booed each time for being a Yankee.

During each intermission, where, if you were watching it on TV, you probably saw commercials, we were more entertained with lots of cool stuff. We saw awards get given to Pujols and Mauer for being the top vote getters, Reggie Jackson interview Hank Arron and Rod Carew about hitting home runs, and comedian Will Ferrell, a SoCal native and Angels fan, give an interview which was pretty amusing.

Four batters advanced from the first to second round: Corey Hart of the Brewers with 13 in the first, Florida Marlin Hanley Ramirez with 9, Boston's David Ortiz (aka Big Papi) with 8 and Detroit Tiger Miggy Cabrera with 7. Cabrera seemed to be the most promising coming in, but disappointed the crowd in not even reaching double digits in the first round.

The second round got a little more exciting. Cabrera would have gone first, but since he had just gone last in the first, Ortiz led off this round (it took us a few minutes to figure out why Papi led off). Papi put on quite the show jacking 13, most of which were laser shots down the right field line flirting with the foul pole and the fench. Angels stadium, by the way, is quite the lefty friendly ballpark so David had a bit of an advantage.

Since Corey Hart didnt hit a single home run and Cabrera did match Papi, the only other person to move on was Hanley Ramirez.  He was wearing shinny silver cleats, which is probably what made him hit more home runs (jk).  Papi and Hanley moved onto the finals where the last rounds home runs are wiped.  Ben obviously wanted Papi to win and it looked like it would end that way once he hit 11 for the final round.  Hanley put up a good fight with 5 but it was not enough.  Papi wins!

The scoreboard was keeping track of how many home runs we saw.  By the end it was over 100 and they said that it was over 8 miles worth of home runs.  With all the antics that come with the derby, like the mid round Gatorade breaks, the backwards or no hats, silver shoes, and kids on the sidelines, this event was a great exhibition event.

Ive heard stories of other skill competitions.  I think it would be good for baseball to re implement other type of events like this because it would set the stage for skill competitions for kids and lower leagues.  Only good things can happen with that.

After we got home, we up and got tickets for the all star game the next day.  We had such a good time at the derby, we couldn't pass up the all star game.

Re-LA

When we got back to Los Angeles, we had a couple hours to relax and shower before the Dodger’s game. We decided to take public transportation into the city (which is pretty much unheard of in LA) – now we know why. We left Nate’s at 4:30 and got to the field just before 7. We didn’t want to bother driving in the LA traffic, plus we were hoping to go out to the bars around Dodger’s stadium afterwards. Well it turns out there was nothing around Dodger’s stadium as well as nothing in it, as far as we were allowed to see. We bought left field bleacher seats, and stood in line for two different entrances before getting told we weren’t allowed in. Finally (third time is the charm), we made it to the correct entrance and were allowed in. Underneath the bleachers was a sea of I-beams, under which Ben had to constantly duck. They were only 6 - 6 ½ feet of the ground. We tried to walk around the Stadium but literally weren’t allowed out of our section. There was security everywhere (unnecessary), and we joked throughout the game that we were afraid to stand up at the wrong time in fear of getting ejected. The Stadium (from what we could see) was really plain, although the outfield bleachers sections were packed. Dodger Stadium received multiple awards: “Worst Stadium thus far” agreed on by all three of us, “Most sporadic wave attempt stadium,” because random people in different sections would just stand up and try to start a wave just about EVERY inning, and “Stadium most like a prison.” I think Oakland would rival this because of the dull concrete structure that is McAfee Colliseum, but as I mentioned since we were on lockdown we didn’t really get to enjoy the ballpark.

Afterwards we walked for a mile or so before determining we were in the middle of nowhere, even though Dodger Stadium is in downtown LA. So we took a solid $75 cab back to Redondo Beach where we bar hopped for a little bit, found a Irish pub with live music, and eventually made our way back to Nate’s.

(Ohbytheway, I lost track of the number of games I went to - should be 8, not 7. Props to Andy & Ben for remembering correctly every time)

My last day of the trip was Saturday. We went to Venice Beach and enjoyed the relatively nice weather. We were eating outside at a bar when it started raining. People were so startled they didn’t know what to do. One person thought they got pooped on by a bird, another thought he got spit on. Everyone was scrambling and running for cover as if the rain was dangerous (it was a drizzle). On top of that they were recounting what happened for the next 20 minutes like it was some sort of phenomenon. We certainly got a kick out of that.

I wish I could stay and join Ben and Andy on the rest of their trip, but work on Monday and lack of money make that pretty much impossible. They’re taking it easy in LA for a few days and are headed to the Home Run Derby in Anaheim on Monday night. I’ll leave it for them to fill you in and finish up the last month of the trip.

Thanks Ben and Andy and everyone on the trip!! I had an amazing vacation.

Phoenix, Joshua Tree

Our stay in Phoenix was quick and hot. We got in just before the game in time to check into our sweet hotel that Andy had booked earlier from the pub. We walked the ½ mile to the stadium at 6:30pm in the 109 degree heat to get to the indoor, air conditioned stadium. This has been my first experience watching a baseball game in a dome, and it was a really weird feeling. I can’t describe it, but I’ve played and watched baseball every year for the past 18 years, and it was just different. According to Ben and Andy, it was set up exactly like Miller Park in Milwaukee. They said it was pretty much a replica, even down to the Friday’s in upper left field. However, one thing that was different was a pool out in the right center field section that you could buy tickets to. It seems appropriate that they have this considering the temperature outside. I could have used a swim just by the time we took the 5 minute walk to the stadium. It was a nice stadium with a retractable roof (which was closed because of the temperature), and a giant HD scoreboard in center field. I hear it doesn’t come close to rivaling the jumbotron of Kansas City’s park, but it was still nice. After the game, we went to an Irish pub a couple blocks away from the stadium and eventually made our way back to the hotel.

Thursday, we took our time waking up and checking out before beginning our trip back to LA. We drove through the Mojave Desert which was filled with flat, straight roads that extended to the horizon. We decided to camp out at Joshua Tree National Park for the night. Going into it, we had no idea what was so special about Joshua Tree. All I knew is that there were cool rock formations and they went there in Entourage (a TV show on HBO). We didn’t even know what a Joshua Tree was, and when we asked the Ranger at the visitor’s center he looked at us like we had three heads (each). We stopped a few times on our drive to the campground at skull rock and other places. “Cool rock formations” was certainly an understatement, as we quickly found out how amazing these piles of rocks were. Some were shaped like skulls, whales, an arch, while others were just in enormous mounds that made for the perfect adult jungle gym. We ended up driving through forests full of Joshua Tree’s as we made our way up to Ryan Peak - the highest point in the National Park - for the sunset. We then returned to our campsite which was tucked away amidst the huge rocks of the National Park.

The next morning (Friday), we began the trip back to Los Angeles. As we drove through Joshua Tree back to the highway, we noticed that as soon as we left a certain part of the National Park, the vegetation changed. In a 4 mile span, it went from a forest of Joshua Tree’s and rock formations, to fields full of cactus and other plants.

Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon

So we left Vegas on Monday, and checked out the Hoover Dam on the way to the Grand Canyon. The Dam was enormous, holding 17 generators (8 for Nevada, 9 for Arizona). Each of the generators were 7 stories tall (only the top three stories were shown in the pictures) and produce a total of 2 GigaWatts of energy. Quick history: the concrete used in the Dam was originally estimated to take 100 years to cool until it was structurally sound. They had to get around this by developing the largest refrigeration project in the world (to that point in time), by piping coolant throughout the Dam. Thought that was awesome. Over 96 people died on this 5 year project. More info can be found on Wikipedia. After we left the Hoover Damn, we headed out towards the Grand Canyon and stopped an hour short to camp for the night.

The next day, Tuesday, we packed up camp and ventured on to the Grand Canyon. We found a campsite just outside that was free to us courtesy of a pregnant couple who had to cancel for the night. After we had a place to stay, we determined a day hike was in store. We drove up to the Southern Rim of the canyon, and then took a shuttle to where we began our hike. The first sites of the Grand Canyon were amazing. It’s tough to describe, but honestly it looked fake. I walked up and I was just in shock at how enormous it was. It’s one thing to see it in pictures, but when you are standing on the rim looking down, it still manages to blow your mind no matter how many pictures you’ve seen.

We started the hike at Hermit’s Point, the most “western point” accessible to the public of the canyon. I put western point in quotes because as we were waiting for the shuttle, one of the park rangers informed us that the glass outlook where you can literally stand on the canyon and look down was about 5 HOURS west. Not 5 miles, 5 hours west. Just to give you an idea of how huge this thing is, he said it was close to Vegas.

So we started our descent into the Canyon, in preparation for a 4-6 hour hike according to the guide. We were set to hike 5 miles round trip, with an elevation difference of 1700 feet. We started our hike at 7000 feet, and made our way down to the Santa Maria Springs which was at a mile high. We took plenty of pictures of our hike and the views we saw on the way down, and made it to the springs in about an hour. There was a nice little hut, blocked from the sun by a bunch of vines. There was also a guest book there that we read through a little bit and signed it ourselves.

The hike back up was tough to say the least. The rule of thumb is account for double the amount of time it takes you to get up, as it did to get down. Well going down was easy for all three of us. Naturally we broke a sweat in the 85 degree heat, but the altitude didn’t have an impact on our shortage of breath. The hike up was a different story. It took us two hours to get back up (so we held true to the rule of thumb), but it was a brutal two hours. 2.5 miles, and up an elevation of 1700 feet averages out to be an incline of 7.34 degrees. There were some flat parts of the trail, which just made the steep inclines that much harder. However, it was completely worth it. It was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It also helped that we took a trail with very few hikers. We only saw a total of 8 people on our hike. When we got back to the top, we took about 30 minutes to recover before getting some dinner at the lodge. Afterwards we went to see the sunset over the canyon. Needless to say it was beautiful. We met a couple kids from Nantucket watching the sunset as well and Andy knew some of their friends – small world. One of the kids must have said “That’s what’s up” at least 10 times in our 5 minute conversation. We found it pretty funny, but the phrase really does work in a lot of situations. After our day of hiking and our wandering during the sunset, we headed back to camp to set up and pass out.

The next day we were headed to Phoenix for the Diamondbacks vs. Cubs game. Before we left, we decided to check out a couple points along the scenic route of the southern rim. At one stop, we witnessed a proposal, and at another we went up into a watchtower that overlooked the canyon and enjoyed the views a few last times. We then went to a pub in the rim lodge for lunch and a very anticipated World Cup matchup between Germany and Spain. What we didn’t realize though, is that this pub would be packed with people bringing in chairs from other areas of the lodge and café. It was tough to even move around. The pub was split half with tourists from Germany and half with tourists from Spain. It just goes to show how big a deal the World Cup is in the foreign countries that even during vacations, they find time to gather, paint their faces, and cheer for their homeland’s soccer team.

LA Part Deux: Home Run Derby Today!

We're back in Los Angeles for a second time. Matt is going to get you all caught up soon on our adventures since San Diego, so look out for that soon. But like I said, we're hear in LA again at Nate's (our friend Alex's brother) place in Manhattan Beach and were able to get tickets for tonight's Home Run Derby! The All-Star game festivities are in Anaheim this year and though we're not going to the game itself the Derby should be a blast (haha, no pun intended). The field consists of Miguel Cabrera, Corey Hart, Matt Holliday and David Ortiz from the American League, and Hanley Ramirez, Nick Swisher, Vernon Wells, and Chris Young from the National League. Our seats our in the upper deck behind home plate but we'll probably being walking around in left or right field so look out for us if you're watching!

San Diego

We got down to San Diego around dinner on Wednesday and had another home cooked dinner by Ben’s friend Sara and her boyfriend James. We stayed with them in Ocean Beach San Diego and had a great time. Thank you both for a fun three days.The first night we were there, we scoped out the local bar scene and went to a place called Gallagher’s. It was a really cool Irish bar with live music – Lady Dottie & the Diamonds. It was awesome music and a great first night in San Diego.

Thursday we took it easy, went to a dog beach. *Sidenote: it is basically impossible to eat if you ever bring food to a dog beach. We weren’t aware that it was a dog beach* That is all.Later in the day we went to an AT&T store so Ben could get a new phone… an iPhone! He joined the world of smartphone users finally because his dinasour phone completely died in the past few days. Thursday night we headed over to Pacific Beach (PB) San Diego to meet up with some friends I had in the area. It was Dusty’s birthday, so we ended up meeting with him and his friends at the PB Shore Club. Another fun night in San Diego.

Friday we went back over to PB to hang out with Chris, another friend I had in the area. We checked out his place and played some cornhole (first time since Chicago) before heading down to the beach. Chris ended up coming to the game with us as well. Friday night matchup - Astros (Oswalt) vs. Padres (Latos). Two good pitchers led to another awesome game. It was a pitcher’s duel: scoreless through 7 innings (Oswalt had a no-no through 4) before the padres put the pressure on with a 3 run 8^th inning. They ended up winning the game 3-0. Petco Park was my favorite stadium I’ve ever been to (I’ve been to 8). We walked into what seemed like a normal building – which it was. In left field they kept a brick building which was formally the Western Metal Supply Company. They had luxury boxes in the light towers, which was something I had never seen. We had great box seats in right-center field. In center field, there was a sandbox which was loaded with kids, and a nice hill outside of the stadium that people could picnic on. The hill looked right into the stadium and you could watch the game from there. The stadium had a city-like aspect to it. Even though you entered the gates to the facilities, you didn’t necessarily enter the stadium. You could walk around outside as if you were walking down the streets of San Diego.

After the game, they had 4^th of July fireworks that they paired with some patriotic songs. We watched these and then went downtown to a place called the Whiskey Girl. Chris had never been there before but I think he may have found a new place to frequent. The DJ’s were awesome and other than the cover, it was relatively cheap. After we left there we went back to PB for a drink and finally ended up back in Ocean Beach at Sara and James’.

We’re currently on the road. Heading to Vegas. Adventures await.

Scenic Drive, LA

On Monday we continued our trip through Big Sur and saw some awesome views of cliffs and beaches. The road was definitely the most windy road I’ve ever driven on. There was a sign that had squiggles and said “for the next 74 miles.” There are plenty of pictures that will make up for my lack of descriptions of this part of the trip.


When we got to LA we went out for a few beers with Nate, and then relaxed on Tuesday before the Angels game. We got to the stadium really early, so we had plenty of time to walk around and take it all in. They had a full size baseball diamond colored in the stone in front of the stadium entrance. This includes a mound with a color-changing “rubber.” It also had two hats that were size 649 ½. The stadium itself was nice. We had seats in right-center field next to the rocks and stream just beyond the center field fence. They shot out fireworks at the end of the national anthem which was a pleasant surprise. The atmosphere was a little different from other stadiums. Between innings they played commercials on the jumbotron and they had flashing red and white displays throughout the game that got a bit annoying. They also have the rally-monkey. For those of you who aren’t familiar, the rally monkey came about during their World Series season. Every time the Angels rally they show a monkey on the screen. At one point they showed a funny avatar video which they edited to include the monkey.
Again, as is the theme with California baseball, we saw another one run game. Vladimir Guerrero made his return to Anaheim after signing with the Rangers in the offseason. He got a huge standing ovation before his first at bat, and later in the game he homered to cap off a good return. However the Angels ended up pulling out the victory 6-5 over the Rangers in yet another great game.

Before leaving LA on Wednesday, we took a drive down Sunset Boulevard and checked out all the huge (expensive) houses. We swung by Hollywood before jumping onto interstate 5 for the trip to San Diego.

Bay Area

For those of you who don’t know, I’m Matt, Ben and Andy’s friend who is joining them on this trip. I’ve been offered the opportunity to be a guest writer on the blog so I’ll take you through our West Coast trip.



I’ll pick up from where I joined the trip – San Francisco. I flew in on Friday, the 25^th and we started the Cali leg in style, going from the airport to the 21^st Amendment brewery right down the street from AT&T Park. We had a solid lunch/dinner and some quality beers with Andy’s cousin John. The four of us went over to another bar called the Tavern, where Sox fans were all over. I’d say it was about 60/40 between Giants and Sox fans. Pretty cool feeling being out here on the west coast and still in good company. The game itself was great, it ended up being a 5-4 barnburner. Unfortunately, the Sox comeback in the 9^th came up a run short and we saw Pedroia go onto the DL. All in all AT&T was a nice park. There were slides in the Cocacola bottles in left field, while right field was home of the famous McCovey Cove. It was a surprisingly cold night and the breeze off the cove made Panda hats a popular choice. The Giants first baseman Pablo Sandoval’s nickname is Kung-Fu Panda.

After the game we went out to the bars near the stadium and had an interesting night. After being at the bar for a few hours Andy realized he had left his shirt/sweatshirt at the stadium. So he decided to head back to look for it. Meanwhile, every single one of our phones died. Eventually I went to go look for him and when I couldn’t find him Ben and I decided he would wait at the truck for us. So we went back to the parking garage to find Andy waiting by the truck. We ended up crashing in the truck for the night (a first for the trip).

*Ben loses his glasses *


The next day we woke up in complete disarray, but managed to find an awesome bar in San Francisco called McTeagues to watch the USA-Ghana match. It was packed, and the bartender was dressed up as a referee and gave the one Ghana fan there red cards for being too obnoxious throughout the match. After the game we checked out the rest of the city. The hilly streets were exactly how I pictured it from playing Tony Hawk Skateboarding on N64 all those years ago. We went up to Lombard Street which is the famous crooked street on the hill. People were peeling out trying to get up the ridiculously steep hill in the stop-and-go line of traffic. Unfortunately it was overcast and crappy weather, so we couldn’t see the Golden Gate Bridge or Alkatraz too well.

We got in contact with Jen’s friends who lived in Sonoma, so we made the trek up to wine country for the night. We stopped at a store to grab some wine for dinner and when the cashier asked Ben for an ID, he said and I quote “Where are you from? Is that in Canada?” While trying to hold back some laughs I gave him mine too while we explained it was next to New York on the east coast and he says “Oh you’re from there too.” Austin, Casey, Mary and company put us up for the night and fed us a great dinner. Thanks for the great hospitality and the place to camp out!

Sunday we drove back to the bay area to check out the A’s game at the recently named McAffee Colliseum. The stadium was huge, as it is the home of the Oakland Raiders as well. Overall it was a very plain stadium. Nothing to spectacular to see. We were treated to another great California baseball game as the A’s squeaked out a 3-2 victory over the high powered Pirates offense (sarcasm). Actually, there were just as many errors in the game as runs scored (5) and it was an ugly game yet entertaining between two of the league’s worst teams.


The first pitch at the game was thrown out by a sophomore at a local high school who had a crazy story. A few weeks earlier he had collapsed in the middle of a basketball game and his heart stopped. A parent there knew CPR, and tried to revive him until the paramedics arrived. His heart had been stopped for seven minutes before the paramedics arrived and used a defribulator to revive him. It was amazing to see him standing there on the mound after hearing his story.

After the game we tried to get in line to run the bases but it was for “little kids only.” Kind of a bummer, but instead we started the drive down route 1 to LA.

*Ben drops a pen between the seat, finds glasses *

We found a campground at the Manresa State Beach, which turned out to be a popular area for summer camps as we soon found out.

West Coast Livin

The morning after the Mariners game we woke up early and sat in Bed to watch the US soccer game. The place we were staying at, the Sleeping Bulldog B&B, had a wall hung TV with one of those one shot coffee Kurig machines which was awesome when waking up for a 7am soccer game.

After the soccer game we went downstairs and were greeted with a enormous breakfast including muffins, fresh berries, Mexicali eggs, and fresh squeezed oj. It was glorious because it was all homemade that morning. As we were leaving, our host even gave us all the leftover muffins in a plastic bag to take with us.

Our next stop was down the coast, to Portland, Oregon. We only stopped in for a little while but got amazing Mexican food, went to "powells books", and found a craft brewery bar that doesn't ever have two of the same kegs in a row. For the short amount of time we were there, Portland seemed like an awesome town. Kind of an awkward place for a NBA team however... But if it works it works.

We wanted to camp on the coast that night but we tried to leave Portland around rush hour which delayed us quite a bit. We ended up making it to the Pacific Coast due west of Portland just before dark. We set up camp, took in the Ocean, and called it a night after a fire and star gazing.

Once we left camp in the morning the Coast was kinda misty in parts and really clear in parts. West coast people referred to this as the "June gloom" we later found out. An interesting contrast to the east coast humidity that we are used to.

We drove all day until we made it to the Redwoods National Forest. The trees were obviously huge. We got to stay among the trees and the campsite next to us set up their tent IN a tree base. We set up camp an left to go get food, but on the way we found a tree down which was taller and wider than Ben with his hands up. We were driving along the "Avenue of the Giants" with trees more than 100' tall so it made sense that their trunks we 15 feet and up in diameter.

The whole time in the redwoods, San Francisco was on the horizon. Jamula would be joining up with us again and my cousin, John, would be coming to the Giants game.

Cubs 0, Mariners 2

After dropping off the girls at the airport we found a place to stay (Sleeping Bulldog Bed and Breakfast) and cleaned up before headig to the game. We got to Safeco a little early and walked around.

The feel of the park was very similar to Cleveland's Progressive Field. The team used to be really good back in the 90's but never quite got over the hump of winning it all.

Safeco is a dome but the roof was open and it was really warm out which made for a perfect atmosphere for a game. Early in the game Ben and I selected players for the "home run derby" game and right off the bat, Gutierez, hit a two run shot. Ben won a dollar and that was all the excitement for the game.

The best feature of Safeco was that in left field, the bullpens we set back to back with fence the only divider between the fans and pitchers. It was pretty intamate and very neat.

After the game, we went out to some bars and then walked home to get some rest for the US World Cup game at 7 in the morning against Algeria.

Jackson, WY, Yellowstone National Forest, and Beartooth pass

Sunday:
We woke up early and broke down camp because we were trying to make it to Jackson by noon. Jen had notified one of her friends, Chris, that we would be in the area becuase Chris is a white water rafting guide. Rafting trips left at noon and 4.

We got into Jackson around 11 which worked out well becuase we got to meet up with Chris himself before he had to leave early with all the other river guides to get set up. He gave us a little rundown of what to expect and hooked us up with some wet suit gear. We all got signed up and into the wetsuits and jumped on the bus the took us to the launch site.

On our way down we got to see a full size moose in the road with it's baby and a bald eagle watching us from a tree top on the other side of the river we were driving by.

Chris was there waiting along with 3 other guides ready to guide the 40 eager adventurers down the raging river. We all split up to different boats, got introduced to each other and then hopped in the boats. Jen and I started out in front with Joyce behind Jen and Ben behind me.

Chris guided us down the river, hitting rapids and soaking all of us at every chance he had. At a calm point he eggede on to jump in, dareing me that the water was cold and I wouldn't do it. Witha second boat watching I showed him up by not only jumping in but doing a back flip off the front of the boat. And yes the water was very cold, even with a wetsuit. Later down the river Ben followed up with a front flip in a similar situation.

It was neat to come up on these rapids and see all kinds of water sports coexsisitng in a small area. Kayakers and surfers made room for the raft boats as the came by, some times showing of by doing little trick flips in their kayaks. Camera men were hanging out on the banks capturing all the action.

No one fell out of the boat and the boat didn't flip so all in all it was a good boat ride. After thanking Chris we hopped back on the bus and headed back to the truck.

We got some food hung out in Jackson for a little bit, where Ben and Jen took naps in the park while Joyce and I ducked into some of the local shops and walked around.

We learned our lesson in Sinks to get to the campsites early to get a good spot so we headed up to Yellowstone. Once we got there the place we had wanted to camp, Jenny Lake, was full but there were plenty of other campsites avaliabe. We ended on the North side of Jackson Lake at a camp site right on the water. We set up camp and collected some wood for a fire. After some smores and cards we called it a night.

Monday:
At this point Seattle was still pretty far so we needed to get some miles behind us in order to get to Seattle by Tuesday for Jen and Joyces flight. Our agenda for the day was to see Old Faithful erupt and drive Beartooth Pass, not to mention see all the wildlife and diverse scenery that this part of the country had to offer.

Old Faithful erupts every 90 min plus or minus 10 minutes. The next gyser on the list t the ranger station errupted every 4 hours plus or minus 90 minutes. When we got there it was schedualed to go off at 12:14 and it went off at around 12:15. One guy standing behind us stated "your just not American until you see Old Faithful". We are now American.

On our way out of the national park we saw so many wild buffalo, the excitement was diluted. However we did get a chance to see a couple black bear roaming the wood across a revene next to the road. The bears caused a 25 minute delay because everyone got out of their car to take pictures.

Next up was beartooth pass. Simply put, this was the most amazing drive on the trip so far. The pictures can do most of the talking but I do want to point out that it goes up to 11,000 ft (2 miles) above sea level. The air was so thin that in places we drove through chanels of 13 ft of snow on each side. The temp in yellow stone that day was around 80 but when we got up there it was around 45. I would recommend it to anyone traveling that way. Views of 20-30 of the biggest mountains I have ever seen.

We wanted to get into Idaho so that our drive toseattle was less severe but only made it to boseman, Montana to stay the night. We had to get up and out by 8 to get the girls to the airport on time.

After a lot of driving and a lot of scenery ( Mt. Rainier looked CRAZY) we dropped the girls off and headed over to the park for the Mariners game.

Sinks National Forest

With Joyce and jen coming along for the ride, we set off Saturday morning to start our trek to Seattle. We got a slow start that day because we needed to do some serious re organizing to fit everyones stuff in the truck. With Jen's knot skills we solved the problem by tying the cornhole to the top of the bed cover. Our plan was to head west from Denver to get into the mountains a little then head north to make it to wyoming by the end of the night.

Drivig through the Rockies is an amazig experience. For the most part the roads were straight and the areas around us were barren. There are rock formations in the distance but the roads we took passed through valleys.

After putting some miles behin us we ended up in a small town in Wyoming. It was getting later in te day so we stopped for food and enquired about campgrounds in the area.

Sinks national forest was reccomended to us by our waitress and it did not dissapoint. As we drove in, there were huge faces of mountains with caverns and boulders that looked like they could come tumbling down if even a squirle jumped touched them. To our left was a violently rushing stream proving a significant white noise to the area. The sun was settig behind the mountains to add to the peaceful feel of the area.

Since we got there late in the day we got a tiny camp site where we hand to set up our tents on asphault because we were on the rocky banks of the stream. After a little hike/walk on a nature trail at the camp, we used the ice cold water of the stream and a little side pool surrouded by rocks to cool some cans of beer and they climbed on top of a 20' boulder to enjoy the scenery.

After playig cards by moonlight, we called it a night and hit the sack