Tuesday, May 20, 2008

May 20th -- Midwest Stadium Tour Summary

Trip #2, the Tour of the Midwestern Stadiums, is over. We visited Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. You might be saying to yourself … “Wait a second! You didn’t visit Detroit” And, you would be correct. We’re saving Detroit until September so we’ll have something to do other than just drive to Toronto.

-- Thank goodness for day games and indoor stadiums (and for the blankets we got as a giveaway in Houston at the Astros game). The Midwest is typically cold. However, it was colder than normal this year.

-- We put on 2162 miles and spent $2886 ($1022.45 on tickets; $66.50 on museums and tours; $330.02 on eating out; $318.09 on gas -- average price $3.79/gallon; $956.11 on hotels; and $192.90 on groceries and miscellaneous knick-knacks -- we bought several items at the Leinenkugel Brewery.

-- Miller Park (Milwaukee) was our favorite stadium. US Cellular (White Sox) and the Metrodome (Twins) were surprisingly nice stadiums, as well. A visit to Wrigley Field (Cubs) is something every baseball fan should experience. I had heard good things about “The Jake”, now called Progressive Field, in Cleveland. While it was a nice stadium, it was our least favorite on this trip.

-- The best hot dog was at US Cellular Field, although all the hot dogs we had on this trip (except for the one in Cleveland) were very good. Each of the ballparks had a stand with Leinenkugel, Nancy’s favorite beer. However, the best beer was at the Leinenkugel Brewery.

-- The strangest thing we saw – the Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. While there were several interesting sculptures, there were some very bizarre ones as well. It’s a worthwhile side trip if you ever are in Minneapolis (http://garden.walkerart.org/artwork.wac ).

-- Most interesting food on the trip – the Dari-ette in St. Paul ... An Italian Drive-In with an outstanding meatball sub.

-- The song of the trip: Miley Cyrus – See You Again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tubIRYvfu1E&feature=related It’s in very heavy rotation on all the XM stations.

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