The East Coast...Part Two

After going to the game in Atlanta on Thursday night, we had to get to Baltimore, Maryland to meet my Dad, my sister Lauren, and her fiance Brian for the Orioles game Saturday night. We headed out from Georgia Friday morning and drove straight to Greensboro, NC to stay with Andy's cousin Tim and his wife Cathy, who were hosting us so we could split up the 10 hour drive. We got to their house in the late afternoon and a few hours later went out to dinner to a local Vietnamese restaurant. We got talking with them about our trip and what not during dinner and the food was delicious and we were more than stuffed. But, it didn't stop us from getting ice cream supposedly the most popular spot in town, just across the street from UNC-G. The ice cream certainly lived up to expectations! We went back to the house to watch the Sox-Yankees game...I felt like I was in New York or something with Andy, Tim and Cathy all die hard Yankees fan. However, I got the last laugh as the Red Sox won! (Although, Tim almost made me sleep in the yard in my tent. Almost.) We woke up the next morning to biscuits and gravy to get us started for the second part of our trek up to Baltimore. Thanks to Tim and Cathy for having us and showing us around Greensboro. It really seems like a nice town, hopefully we'll get to spend some more time there at some point.

So, we hit the road once again and despite Tim's advice to not take 95 north to Baltimore, for some reason we didn't it anyway and ran into some pretty heavy traffic. Our GPS (which has some issues sometimes but for the most part gets us where we need to go) also got us going pretty much through downtown DC instead of going around the city. Anyways, we got there, and apparently did so easier than my family, as it took them 7 hours to get from New Haven, CT to Baltimore! Ouch! But, I was ecstatic to see them, as I hadn't seen any of my family in almost three months.

So, we caught up with each others lives in the hotel for a bit, then headed over to Oriole Park at Camden Yards which was only a few blocks from where we were staying. We headed over, and it was the first time any of us had been to this stadium so it was really fun to check it out. One of the nicest parts is the open concourse in left and center field. You can only get there with a ticket, but you still feel like you're walking on the street as the famous brick buildings are on your left and the field is on your right. Andy and I even noticed a footbridge that was one or two stories up and went over the street into the field. We were both a little curious about that, probably some VIP area. We kept walking around and ended up finding some open seats near the left field foul pole. I was told to just by the cheapest tickets you could and sit wherever there are open seats, and I would give this advice too after going to a game here. There was a decent crowd (all things considered) but there was still lots of empty space scattered about. For Dad, Lauren and Brian it seemed strange to them to see so many empty seats (having only been to Fenway) but with all the empty ballparks Andy and I have seen this summer it really wasn't that bad.

Before the game started, we got to see an Orioles Hall of Fame Induction ceremony which was pretty cool. For those who don't know, Buck Showalter recently became the manager of the Orioles and has really turned the team around and they were actually undefeated going into this game under the Buck Show. There was definitely some excitement in the air and it was an entertaining game against the Chicago White Sox, though the ChiSox took away the victory 4-2 with AJ Pierzynski, Alex Rios, and Carlos Quintin doing most of the damage.

There were some interesting fans around us too. Some kids in front of us to the left were from western Mass, and then the guys in front and behind were all from New York. They certainly made for more entertainment throughout the game, so it was a great time all around. After getting back to the hotel, Lou, Brian, Andy and I went out to some bar for a couple more beers but it was pretty late so we crashed after that, and a failed attempt to walk to the harbor. They all had to leave early in the morning to head back up north, so we all said our goodbyes and hit the road again! It was great to see you all...very glad you could make it down for this part of the trip!

We're still playing catch up but there's so much to talk about so we'll continue in a later post. Check back soon.