2014 Ballpark Tour

It's finally Friday and I am long overdue for a blog post! It has been almost four weeks. Oops! But it's not because I have not been doing anything - I've been quite busy! Even managing to get some training in, which is good because I have a race on Sunday...

Well, I last left off I was about to leave on vacation. My son and I were going with my cousin Dino and his son on a four-day, four-ballpark tour:

Monday, July 21 - Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins
Tuesday, July 22 - Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers
Wednesday, July 23 - Kansas City, Royals (Bo Knows Baseball!) at Chicago White Sox
Thursday, July 24 - San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs

Travel details:

Sunday: Fly to Minneapolis
Tuesday morning: Bus ride (6 hours) to Milwaukee*
Wednesday morning: Train (1.5 hours) to Chicago
Friday night: Fly home

*In Milwaukee, my AUsome friend from High School, Kent, who not only went to the game with us, was our personal chauffeur. He truly rocked! Sadly, we hardly spent any time in Milwaukee, so I plan to make a trip back there in the next few years.

Yes, it was as crazy as it sounds! My cousin and his son are from San Diego and are die hard Padres fans. There were in the DC area to visit some of his family. So we all flew out together on Sunday morning from BWI. The airport was crazy busy and we barely made it to the gate in time. Seriously! And we arrived at the airport 90 minutes beforehand! Flying on Southwest and boarding that late we were unable to sit together. But someone moved so my cousin could sit with his son, who is only 5. We made a timely yet bumpy connection in Chicago where we had time to find a bite to eat and relax a bit before the connection to Minneapolis. 

Once in Minneapolis, we managed to sight see a bit and on Monday morning we visited the Mall of America, which the location is the former home - Metropolitan Stadium - of the Twins and the Vikings! There we stood at the site of home plate:

Bonus Ballpark!

The mall was pretty cool, what with the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park in the center court. But living in this area, I'd say Tysons Corner Center is a pretty sweet comparison, minus the amusement park. However, in general, I pretty  much stay away from malls! 

The game at Target Field was a blast and we had managed to score free tickets in the upper section behind home plate. We got to see where the organ player, who had a broke arm(!!!) played from, and the Twins won, 4-3! Great night of baseball in a pretty cool ballpark! 

Pre-Game at Target Field! Go Twins!

Tuesday morning after breakfast at our hotel, the Hyatt Regency (my cousin works for Hyatt!) we headed out to catch an 11AM bus to Milwaukee... 

The bus ride to Milwaukee was interesting and we made one rest stop at about the halfway point. We all sat together and pretty much arrived to Milwaukee on time, around 5:30. Kent was there waiting and he quickly drove us to our lodging for the night, the Schuster Mansion. We think it was haunted! After rushing through check-in, we made it to Miller Park in time to hear the National Anthem! This park is pretty cool, with its retractable roof! And since it rained that night we got to see it in action, which no break in play! Pretty cool. But man, it was hotter than Hades that night. We were sitting in the upper deck, again behind home plate. Whew. 

Speaking of our seats: Dino had ordered these. We had four seats in one section. Three in one row, one in another. I had give Kent the section number with the two rows we were in. He managed to get a seat RIGHT NEXT TO THE SINGLE SEAT! How crazy is that? 

The upper deck at Miller Park - a park named after beer mind you - did NOT have cupholders! Boo to that! Otherwise, it was a pretty AUsome ballpark! The Brewers won, 4-3 with a walk off home run. Sweet!  

Post-Game at Miller Park! Yay Brewers!

After the game we headed to a section of the river walk for a photo-op with the Bronze Fonz:

With Kent at the Bronze Fonz!

Kent dropped us at the haunted mansion with the promise to get us at 7:15AM and drive us to the train station - which doubles as the bus station. He did and had coffee and these amazing cinnamon rolls for us! We arrived to the station on time and we were practically first in line to get on the train! Thanks again, Kent! 

Our Haunted Mansion!

The train to Chicago was fast! We were again all together and the train seating was much more roomy than the bus was. And we had foot rests and tray tables!

Once in Chicago we hailed a cab to the hotel. It was only a mile-ish walk but we were hauling all of our luggage. It was a beautiful morning! We again stayed at a Hyatt Regency. (Thank you, Dino!) 

After check in we did not have a lot of time, as the game was at 1PM. The prior two games had been night games. We took the "L" to US Cellular Field. My son had predicted this would be his least favorite park, but we both loved it! My cousin walked around with his son and saw much more of it and said it was a great park. 

View from our seats at US Cellular Field!

Unfortunately, the White Sox (who Bo also played for) lost, 2-1. But it was a great game! It was also very chilly out. The temperature had dropped about 25 degrees or more from the previous day and by the end we were sitting in the shade in 65 degrees! Still a gorgeous day for baseball! 

US Cellular Selfie with the Son!

Back on the "L" to the hotel for a quick change. We were headed to Geno's East to meet up with another  old friend of mine from high school - Sandy - and her husband and son. And her son was the same age as Dino's so they had fun playing! I tried genuine Chicago deep dish pizza and surprisingly liked it! 

Thursday morning I had planned to go on an organized group run through City Running Tours, of Chicago's Front Yard. Would you believe I not only ran with someone (Laura) from the DC area, but she and I have a mutual friend in common, Kim! Crazy! 

At 'The Bean' in Millennium Park!

I got back to the room and everyone was just waking up. We got cleaned up, had breakfast, then did a little sightseeing: we went back to The Bean! 

At The Bean!

Then, we visited the Sears Tower, now known as the Willis (what you talking 'bout) Tower! There we took an express elevator up 103 floors to the Sky Deck where we literally, went out on a ledge:

Looking down 103 flors to the street from "The Ledge" - CRAZY!

Having walked over to the Sears Tower, we decided to cab it back to the hotel. There we had time to connect with Dino's friend, Susan, and her neice, who were in town to cheer for the Cubs at the game that night. We met for lunch then sardined ourselves into a cab to head over to Wrigley Field.

Wrigley!

Everyone wanted their picture taken out front of Wrigley! What is so crazy about this ballpark and Fenway, is that they are so old (100 and 102 years respectively) that they are just kind of nestled into their locations. Everything is built around them. Kind of reminds me of where my sons went to high school. But on a much larger scale! You can't really expand if there is no where to go. What a really great experience. Here's the entire group:

Who do YOU cheer for?

The Cubs lost in a blow out - our second viewing of the Cubs losing badly this season. Patrick and I saw them on July 5 at Nat's Park where they lost 13-0. (Yay Nats!) This time they only lost 13-3. Dino and his son were quite happy though! Susan and her neice, not so much! It was a really fun night and the sunset was just amazing:

Wow.

After a sardined ride back to the hotel, it was time to call it a night! Dino and his son had an early flight to catch on Friday, but Patrick and I had time to do a bit more sightseeing. We chose to go on the Architecture River Cruise, as recommended by my friend Sandy - it was fabulous! And we visited the Art Institute of Chicago. We wanted to trace some of Ferris Bueller's steps! Maybe you remember this scene?

Bueller? This was all about Cameron though. 

Patrick and I got home super late Friday night - early Saturday morning. We were both exhausted on Saturday! It was a fun vacation and I would recommend it and we will definitely do another ballpark tour in the future! 

A week and a half after we returned from our trip it was time to say goodbye to Patrick as he was off to his fourth and final year at Auburn. Wow - time flies! He and his roommate moved into a super cool little house. More about that 3-day road in the next post. It's no wonder I'm still tired! 

Next up: General Smallwood Sprint!

Happy and Healthy Training!