Best Ballpark Weekend Wrap-up

The ballpark tour is officially over, we just arrived home. I'm not really sure where to begin, so I guess I'll just start at the beginning. Our trip started off with a trip just north from Harrisonburg to watch the Nats take on the Mets at RFK stadium. This was a place we had all been to, but it was still going to be nice to take in a game.

Nathan, Michael and I got caught up in some traffic, but we made it for the 3rd inning. We met up with Erin Bailey, a friend from EMU, and enjoyed the game very much, dispite missing the first few innings. Pedro Martinez pitched a great game. Not wanting to finish our night too early, we headed out on town with our friend Becky from EMU, whom we were staying with, and hit up a great oyster bar in downtown DC. We ended up meeting up with Ben Schlabaugh, who was also going on this trip at that point and he began the journey with us.

We left DC early so that we would have plenty of time to get up to Boston... unfortuately it was not enough. We ended up spending almost 12 hours on a trip that should have taken 8, getting stuck in some horrible traffic in and around NY City. Not the best impression for my first time to the big apple!

I was pretty much overwhelmed knowing that the game was going on without us -- we were able to listen on XM, but it was killing me that we weren't there. Nathan was nice enough to drop me off at the park and I proceeded to run to our seats.

Fenway did not disappoint, and neither did the Jays. The stadium was breathtaking - I really can't put it any other way - it is something that every baseball fan should go see at least once in their life.

We were able to stay with a friend of Bens... Jon showed us Boston, at least a little bit from a music student's perspective. It was a great evening. The Jays even pulled out a huge win and I got to experience an amazing city, and an amazing park.

Shea Stadium was up next - it gave me a chance to see NY up close and personal for the first time. It was great to have Ben, Nathan, and Michael along to check it all out with. We spent some time in Soho and ate at a sweet Asian restaurant for dinner.

Unfortuately the baseball gods did not want us to see a full game from beginning to end, because it began to rain at about 3pm, and didn't stop until after 8pm.

By the time the game started, we were pretty cold and wet. We lasted for about half the game, but with our conditions and needing to get to Philly for the night, we ended up leaving early... 3 games, none watched from beginning to end.

We stayed with another college friend - Drew - near Philadelphia. It was good to see him again, and he even took us down to South Street in the city for a cheese steak before we bid fairwell.

Camden Yards was beautiful as usual. The day was perfect, 4:30 start time, and 85 degrees fairenheit at game time. I was able to watch some batting practice, tour and take some pictures, and we even moved down to much better seats during the game. This time we got to see the whole thing, and it turned out to be a perfect end to our weekend.

Things I got to cross off my life list --

2 new ballparks - shea and fenway, 2 new major east coast cities - NY and Boston, 4 new states - NJ, Connecticut, Rhode Island (which is not an island, Ben says it's more like a Road), Mass, first boston sausage and peppers, first baltimore crabcake sandwich -- all in a weekend's work