Atlantic City 8-18-08

My casino losing streak is intact. I lost $45 at the Trump Marina hotel playing blackjack. I'm done gambling on this vacation. I won't play again until we do our next Vegas trip. Jeff?

Monmouth Park 8-15-08

Well, I finally had a successful day gambling. My dad and I went to Monmouth Park in NJ to play the horses. I bought the racing form, did all my calculations, studied the form and made my selections. I won $15. I should feel really good about it except for the fact that Nancy picked horses by name, gave me $10 and won $13. I should have just played her horses and saved myself the time.

We're in Brigantine, a beach community just 5 minutes north of Atlantic City. Steven and Rob have joined us for beach time. Hopefully, my luck will carry over. We'll be playing blackjack on Monday.

DC Boat Tour 8-13-08

Not much doing today. We hung around Steven's apartment all morning then decided to go on a boat tour on the Potomac. We've had good luck with boat tours on our baseball stadium trip. They provide a good overview of the sights and a lot of information about the local area. Here's a link to our pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

I can't believe we're almost done with the tour. It's been more than I expected. The stadiums were great, but the side trips really made it great.

NY Mets vs. Washington Nationals 8-12-08

I really liked Nationals Stadium. It is the newest of the parks we've seen and they got all the amenities right. Wide aisles, lots of food choices, decent seats with leg room, a very nice, wide open center field pavilion. The only quibble ... its not in the best of areas and the center field view is marginal. A definite top 5 candidate.

While in DC, we're staying with our son, Steven. He and his friend James came with us to the game. It was T-Shirt Tuesday so we all got Nationals T-Shirts with "Run, Teddy, Run" on the back. The mascot race is between the 'Rushmores', the 4 Presidents on the face of Mt. Rushmore. Apparently, in the 4 years of their existence, Teddy has never won. They keep coming up with creative ways for him to lose. Today, he was in the lead and went back to attack a mascot bee which allowed Abe to win.

Here's the link to the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

It was a good game. The Mets won 4-3. They scored the winning run in the 8th when Damion Easley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Here's a link to the box score:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_08_12_nynmlb_wasmlb_1&mode=wrap

Hot Dog Rating ... we have a new standard bearer. Nancy had a chili dog from Ben's Chili Bowl (in left field). It was great ... spicy chili, a tasty hot dog and a great bun. I had a foot long hot dog from the Senator's Sausages kiosk. great taste, good mustard and grilled sauerkraut pile thick. Yummy!! If I was an Eastern Bloc judge, I'd give it a ten ... "9.9" Nancy liked the beer, but it was a national brand, Miller Lite, in a bottle.

We'll be doing a few museums in DC before we head to the Jersey shore and the Brigantine Condo we've stayed in each of the past 8 years. 28 stadiums down, 2 to go. We'll do Detroit and Toronto in September.

Texas Rangers vs. Baltimore Orioles 8-9-08

The Orioles Camden Yards Parks is one of the original new parks. It has many of the amenities I like in a stadium. However, the view is marginal. They've built hotels and they block the view of the Baltimore Skyline. We had seats in the Club level, but the seats were not nearly as comfortable as the Philadelphia club seats. Getting into the parking lot was easy. Getting out was not ... this seems to be a theme for the 'in the city' ball parks.

We went to the game with a friend from P&G, Rick Beagle, his wife, Elena, and their son, Quinn. Thanks for the tickets, Rick. The highlight of the game was Quinn schmoozing the ball girl to try to get a ball. He got the technique down quickly, but was unsuccessful. However, now that he has the technique down, I'm sure he'll get a ball next time. The game was over in the 2nd inning when Nick Markakis hit a 3 run homer. The Orioles ultimately won 9-0 behind Daniel Cabrera and several relievers. Here's a link to the box score:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_08_09_texmlb_balmlb_1

We stayed with Tom Drum (and Lisa and their kids, Gina and Ava). They have a beautiful home and were wonderful hosts. Thanks, Tom and Lisa.

I've had some difficulty loading the pictures. When I finally load them, here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

The Italian Sausage I had was quite good. It was the spiciest one we've had and had lots of veggies and a fresh bun. Once again, no sauerkraut (is there a national shortage??). I'd give it an 8.5. Nancy liked the Clipper Ship Ale she had.

We're now in DC visiting our son Steven. We'll be going to the Nationals game on Tuesday.

p.s. We had our Garmin stolen from our car in Baltimore. The police officer who took our information was very nice, but held out little hope for its return. I guess I'll be buying a new one.

Florida Marlins @ Philadelphia Phillies 8-7-08

Citizens Bank Park is one of the nicest stadiums we've been to. It's definitely a candidate for the top 5. It's very much like San Francisco's stadium with a view of the Philadelphia sky line instead of the San Francisco Bay. The promenades are wide, there are lots of food choices, and the lines were short. The rest rooms are pristine. The only downside to the stadium is the traffic exiting the parking lot. As I type this (Nancy is driving), we've been in traffic for 30 minutes and we're less than a mile from the stadium.

The Marlins and the Phillies played a day game today. Nancy and I drove from my parents house in Lakewood, NJ (about 1.5 hrs away) We got a late start so we were in a bit of a rush. We got to the stadium at 12:30pm, about 30 minutes before game time. Parking was easy. We found reasonably close, reasonably cheap ($10) parking and rushed to buy the tickets. I assumed that tickets wouldn't be an issue since it was a day game ... and I was wrong. We later heard they had the 3rd largest crowd in their history (45,000+). The ticket booth guy said they were sold out. I had a moment of panic until I turned away and heard a scalper offering tickets. I didn't have the cash for his primo seats. He asked me how much I was willing to spend. "$75," I replied since that's all the cash I had. He sold me one $50 seat in the Hall of Fame Club (like the 4192 Club in Cincinnati) and one upper level seat ($24) for my $75. I figured I could just show my one Hall of Fame Club ticket and get both of us in. One of the benefits of being old and having gray hair is they assume you're honest. HAH! We walked into the Hall of Fame Club and went to my seat. There were enough open seats so that Nancy and I sat together the whole game. We sat right behind home plate and sat in the most comfortable, padded stadium seats ever. Here's a link to our pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

As for the game, the Marlins won 3-0. The Marlins hit just enough and the Phillies just didn't hit. There were a few good plays, but all-in-all, not a great game. It was, however, a gorgeous day. Here's a link to the box score: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_08_07_flomlb_phimlb_1&mode=wrap

The Italian Sausage I had was tasty ... lots of peppers and onions and decent mustard. However, NO SAUERKRAUT and too much of a stale bun. I gave it a generous "8". Nancy liked her Bud Light so much, she went back for another (and got a Flying Club Pale Ale instead which she also liked).

Overall, it was a great day. Tomorrow, it's on to Baltimore. 26 stadiums down and 4 to go.

New York and Shea Stadium 8-5-08

After a family weekend, we moved to a hotel in Queens to be close to Shea Stadium. It's been quite an adventure. The Comfort Inn is less than a mile from Shea Stadium. However, it's in the middle of the Chinatown section of Queens. Good news for eating Chinese food (we had a great dinner last night); not so good for being able to communicate (more on that in a few).

The hotel check-in was an interesting experience. The hotel does not have a place to park your car when you check in. In fact, it doesn't have any place to park. So, while I checked in, Nancy had to drive around the block (and got lost). We had to pull the car into a private lot (and block traffic) to unload our stuff which we had to do in stages because someone had to stay with the illegally parked car. It was difficult to get our stuff up to the room. The elevator was up one short flight of stairs so we had to carry everything up to the elevator. It took us 20 minutes to get everything up to the room and not a moment too soon. A truck needed to pull into the private lot just as Nancy was walking out of the hotel after dropping off the final load. We, then needed to find parking. We were told to go to the lot at the end of the street. The lot custodian did not speak English making the discussion of what we needed to do very difficult. Somehow, we struck a deal for $15/day which is a good NYC rate. It seems to have worked. We were able to get our car today and bring it back tonight. One last complication ... our hotel is in direct line of the LaGuardia landing pattern so it's a bit noisy. I can't wait to try to load the car tomorrow.

Yesterday, we went to the Queens Hall of Science. It's on the site of the 1964-65 NYC World's Fair. It was a very well done science museum. Lots of demos and most were very well done. Nancy liked it and she's not into science.

Today, we did the Circle Line tour of Manhattan. It's a very nice guided tour boat ride around Manhattan. I liked it 28 years ago when Nancy and I took the tour and enjoyed it just as much this time. We took way too many pictures. I'll upload them as soon as I can. Here's the link to our pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

After the Circle Line tour, we rushed back to the hotel, got the tickets to the game and immediately left for the subway to the game. Shea Stadium is another stadium that was great in its day, but badly needs replacement. CitiField is being built in the old parking lot and will be ready for next season. As for the game, the Mets beat San Diego 6-5 thanks to 2 HRs by Fernando Tatis. On the second HR, he did the Carlton Fisk thing waving the ball down the left field line fair. The Mets tried to give the game away. San Diego scored 3 in the 9th on a HR but their rally fell short. Here's a link to the box score: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_08_05_sdnmlb_nynmlb_1&mode=wrap

The Nathan's hot dog at Shea was very good. Good flavor and outstanding sauerkraut. The mustard was spicy, but it was served in a packet. You have to get it at the Nathan's stand near the left field foul pole. I give it a "9". Nancy didn't like the fact that they didn't have any beer on tap although the Coors Light she had met the 'cold' standard.

On to my parents' house in Lakewood NJ and the Phillies game on Thursday afternoon.

Yankee Stadium 8-2-08

The Cathedral of Baseball, The House that Ruth Built, The Home of Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra and many of my childhood memories ... We went to the game at Yankee Stadium today with my sister Shari and her son Tyler. She got us the company tickets which saved us a large sum of money (Thank you Shari). As an added treat, it was Old Timers Day (unplanned ... I didn't know about it until last Wednesday). We got to see many of the Yankees of my youth. The only disappointment, we didn't get to see Monument Park. The line was at least 2 hours long.

The game was great. The Yankees needed a win vs. the LA Angels and got it winning 8-2. Four Yankee home runs and great pitching by Mike Mussina were the keys to the game. Here's a link the the box score:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_08_02_anamlb_nyamlb_1&mode=wrap

I have been spoiled by all the great stadiums we've seen. Yankee Stadium is old, the promenades are narrow, the seats are uncomfortable, and the Jumbotron is old. There is still the view of the courthouse and the greenest grass I've ever seen. New Yankee Stadium is almost finished (and easily seen from our seats) and not a moment too soon. Here's a link to our pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14772189@N03/sets/

The hot dog was very disappointing. I remembered it as being the best tasting hot dog in the world. However, I've clearly been spoiled. While it had a good flavor, it was wrapped, not fresh off the grill, the mustard was in packets and NO TOPPINGS! A "6". Even worse, the beer was warm. Nancy was not happy.

The good news ... I got a Yankee golf shirt. On to a bar-b-que at Abbe's house (my other sister)today and it's Shea Stadium and the Mets on Tuesday.

Addendum To Fenway Park 8-1-08

I forgot to mention the best part of the Fenway experience ... the ritual singing of "Sweet Caroline" before the bottom of the 8th inning. It is something to behold. The whole crowd gets up and sings at the top of their lungs. There's one part of the the song that's punctuated by 3 notes ( a 'bom, bom, bom', if you will). Go ahead, sing the song in your head ... you'll know what I mean. When this part comes up, the music goes quiet and the crowd sings 'bom, bom, bom'. It happens twice in the song. David Ortiz actually delayed getting into the batters box so the crowd could get to do the 2nd one. Very cool.

We're now in Mystic, Ct on our way to Long Island. Mystic is a very cute tourist town if you're ever up in this area. We ate at a seafood restaurant last night -- S&P Oyster Company (http://www.sp-oyster.com/). It was noisy. Lots of kids after a day at Mystic Seaport. However, the food and the view of the Mystic River were outstanding. Worth a trip, but bring ear plugs or sit on the patio.

On to Long Island via the New London to Orient Pt ferry. The Yankees on Saturday. Old Timers' Day.