99 Lessons Of A Baseball Road Trip 536r1c

99 Lessons of a Baseball Road Trip

Christopher Mehfoud

Dedication

For Donna, who gave me the ability to plan, For George, who gave me the ability to calculate, For Elise, for her ability to stand, And Nemo, for his ability to tolerate.

For Joseph, for Sara, for Gregory, and for Emma, For ing me, for having fun, and handling each dilemma.

For everyone else who ed me, and helped me, on this trip, Without you all, it would have been an event that memories skip.

And for the car, I didn’t give it a name, because it’s a car, and that’s insane.

Planning the Trip of a Lifetime Lesson #1: The journey is the reward. Old news, but we need to start with simple lessons. Before you start planning a road trip, you need to set a location to head towards. It takes time to learn and experience, and if you stay close, it doesn't take time to get there. I'm not saying stay-cations can't be fun, but they are not road trips. Lesson #2: When it comes to planning, the destination is the start. Once you know where you're going, plans can be made to get there. And when finding a destination for the road trip, I started with three criteria. First, you need to be ionate about the destination. Basically, take something that you enjoy and find a location that defines that thing, or at least, exemplifies it. This is pretty simple criteria to fit. Second, go to take something out of that destination. It is very easy to learn, regardless of the circumstances, but aim for an experience that you couldn't get unless you go to that destination. And third and finally, go somewhere you haven't been before, or go in a way you haven't gone before. Here's the story of how I chose my destination/ destinations: I started playing baseball when I was four and had dreams of playing in the majors. Like an extremely large majority of 4-year-olds playing with me, I didn't have a chance. But innocence still drove a ion. As I got older, that ion developed into a love of the game and watching it. My father took my brothers and I to Richmond Braves games at The Diamond, and eventually to see the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. The atmosphere at the ballpark is one that can be experienced in no other place. The smell of hot dogs and beer became the smell of summer, and the crack of a wooden bat or the smack of a glove became as peaceful as birds chirping or rain falling. There will be several times in this book where I try to explain what baseball means to me, and I'm certain I will not get close to how it really is. I had been to several ballparks throughout my younger years, and always enjoyed going to a new one, to see any level of baseball. In college I realized the dream, went through a few degrees of research and decided, I wanted to see all

30 Major League Baseball stadiums. I figured, with enough time, , and money, this trip (while taking a lot to plan) would be possible and amazing. Lesson #3: Plan ahead. This will be called the golden lesson, as it will be brought up several times. When I realized the dream, I did not have the time, money or ; so it was just a dream. But when I got a job offer in December of 2011, I knew I would have a little bit of money and time after graduation. Lesson #4: Check expected financials. Another golden lesson, I needed to make sure I could afford the trip before I could sell it to others. Basically, the dream was feasible with reference to time; I had May through July. Next, I needed to create a rough plan of the trip to figure out how much it would cost. With years of savings, g bonus money, and income in July, I estimated I could afford a trip expensing less than $10,000. Lesson #5: Give yourself multiple options. Over winter break (about a month long vacation at most colleges), I had several friends going on cruises, and big vacations spending money. I sat in front of a series of excel sheets with MLB schedules on them. If I was going to every stadium, I was obviously going to see a game in each of them. I had simple criteria for a few regions, for example, if the Cubs were in town, and the White Sox were not, then that wouldn't be the best time to visit Chicago. Also there were several days in the first half of the season where there were only a few games being played, or big travel days for the majors, where it would be hard to catch a game. So I mapped out a path based on schedules and closest distance to each ballpark, then again based on clusters of close stadiums. I left Seattle and Denver (Colorado) out of clusters because they were out of reach of any cluster. I planned based on flying to each pocket of ballparks, renting cars in each region. For example, I would fly into California, and drive around Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco. With pockets, I could travel from one to the other by finding the shortest distance between clusters, rather than stadium, and that would minimize overlap. I planned renting a car versus driving my own car. In total, I had over ten possible plans/routes.

Lesson #3, #4, and #5 tied together here. Lesson #3: Plan ahead. Six months ahead of my summer trip, I broke down each of the possible baseball stadium routes cost wise (living up to Lesson #4), each ticket would cost $30, daily food would cost $50, nightly hotel would cost $150, and gas would cost $4.50 a gallon with a car that could go 20 miles per gallon. I was playing it safe. After looking up a few flight costs and rental car costs, they put me over the edge of $10,000 by a couple thousand dollars. When driving, the cost is the same for as many people as the car can hold, but when you fly, that cost is multiplied by the number of people flying. I used Google Maps and a couple websites to find distances from ballpark to ballpark, rental car costs, and flight costs. The appendix will have planning documents and spread sheets for reference. I was limited to only a few routes where I was using my own car. For a better background, I was scheduled to graduate from Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA and am originally from Richmond, VA. I needed to start my trip from here, so my options were further limited. I was still six months out and had a good idea on the path I was taking. Lesson #5 and Lesson #3 had been beneficial for this process, but I was still struggling with Lesson #4. Financially, these adjustments had cut costs, but because I had to start at home, costs had risen a little with gas increases and mandatory flights, and I was a couple hundred dollars over my limit. I knew there would be additional costs, but I also knew if I could get friends involved, I'd be able to spread all costs out as well as have places to stay in some areas. Basically, I convinced myself I was going to do this trip. And regardless of whether friends would be able to help me out with finances, I had several who wanted to experience this trip of a life time. Lesson #6: Travel with people who are on the same page with the destination. You would not take a girl out on a date to a seafood restaurant, if she was allergic to seafood, regardless of how badly you want to go. I wasn't about to invite friends on a baseball trip who I couldn't have fun with, or who didn't like baseball. So I sent out a few emails, made a few phone calls, and explained my ambitious plans. A few people jumped out as interested, and those people were added to the

planning process. Elise, Tyler, and Nate are a few names of friends that share the love of baseball and would be ing me on this trip. Elise (my best friend), when learning of the feasibility of the trip, became an asset in the planning. Lesson #7: The plan will sell itself. If you are advertising a trip with friends, the more you have to sell, the less they wanted to go initially. The trip will be better if the company you take is just as excited as you are. Lesson #7 is almost the planning version of Lesson #6, but it can be more important. For example, when discussing ideas with people who have the same ion of topic, more ideas will form and the ion will increase. Additional ideas that erupted from discussions with Elise were Cooperstown, Williamsport and the Field of Dreams. Lesson #3: Plan Ahead. Elise and I went out and got a cork board, planner, pens, paper, and a big map of the United States. We wrote down the schedule in the planner, and then plotted all of the ballparks on the map. Lesson #8: When you are on a schedule, you need time to get places. The worst part about driving long trips is that they take time. And when you are on a schedule, you need to make sure you have time to make those long drives. Also, you don't want to drive too long at one time. So once we established that we would be able to hit each of the plotted points in plenty of time to make it to the game, we started doing extra planning. Extra planning consisted of figuring out every state that we were driving through, and going on their tourism websites and ordering brochures. During the next three months, I would get packages in the mail and Elise would come over to help me sift through these booklets and make decisions on extra plans. Lesson #9: When you go somewhere, you might never get out there again. Lesson #1: The journey is the reward. The first route had us traveling to Toronto, Canada, through Pennsylvania and New York. And another route had us driving through Iowa twice. And another

route gave us 4 days to get from Kansas City to Denver, where the Colorado Rockies play. Finally, another route gave us 3 days to get from Denver to Los Angeles. This can all be seen in the planning documents. With those routes, the mind set was, “we'll never be out here again, let's experience what there is to offer.” The booklets helped dissolve some of these things. Solid plans to fill in these route blanks are as follows: First, on the way to Canada, we planned to stop at the home of the Little League World Series (Williamsport, PA) and then the home of the birthplace of baseball and the Hall of Fame (Cooperstown, NY). Second, on our way through Iowa, we decided to experience the Field of Dreams (Davenport). Third, and the biggest detour of the trip, we had to experience the home of the College World Series, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone's Old Faithful, and Grand Teton National Park (ranging from Nebraska through South Dakota and Wyoming). And fourth, on the way to Los Angeles, we were determined to check out the Four Corners, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I could not see myself having the ability to drive to Yellowstone ever again, so I had to cash in on the opportunity. Based on our planner and map, the road trip was falling into place. In the next three months, I got word from of my family and other friends ing, which established places to stay and hosts in certain cities. As we filled the people and places into the calendar and map, we had other holes to fill. Lesson #10: Plan in accordance of importance, and not necessarily chronologically. I went over the map and schedule about every day during those 6 months leading up to the trip, and still in the first two months, there were points that needed to be circled. Just like football teams circle rivals on there calendar to prepare for them earlier, we needed to focus on several events before others. We planned on seeing the Yankees play during their 66th Annual Old Timers game, the Angels play the Dodgers, the Nationals play on Independence Day, and the Red Sox play on a Friday night against the Yankees. I'll go into detail about each of those events at that part of the book, but Lesson #10 stayed true, we got many of those tickets in March when the ticket offices opened for the first time. Several hotel rooms played out that way as well. With the trip planned, the next three months consisted of getting confirmations

from friends and family. For example, with Elise, she was starting the trip with me but needed to find a time span and airport to fly out of to get home. Nemo had school deadlines, so he needed to find an airport to fly into, an airport to fly out of and time to do both. Basically, for those three months while we were getting necessary tickets, people interested in coming on the trip were figuring out logistics. Without Lesson #3, last minute plans would have been not possible or extremely expensive. Along with special ball games that we needed to get early tickets for, we also needed to make reservations for hotels early. There are several reasons to do this: first, hotels can be cheaper; second, they can fill up; and third, it gives you the ability to make plans based off of locations set by the hotel. Lesson #3 strikes again here, along with a new lesson that will prove to be noteworthy. Lesson #11: Sign up for a hotel rewards hip. Being a hotel reward member, you're able to gather free nights for a percentage of the road trip, or maybe part of the next road trip you decide to take. Lesson #12: Get smart phone apps. Without speaking on behalf of a specific application, phone, or company, (or advertising for these) I will mention apps that made the road trip easier. Lesson #11 and #12 sat on top of each other, and there were many times that the specific hotel chain's app was used in accordance with Elise's or a computer in order to compare and contrast hotels. There are additional applications on ticket finding, parking, food ordering, food finding, and weather. As well as applications for entertainment, recording, and of course, socializing. Ambitiously, we all wanted to eat the best local cuisine at all the places, record trip details, and socialize the sights of the exploration. While getting hotels reserved, we knew the other applications would be useful in other ways, but that Lesson hadn't been learned in the first few months of planning. As several lessons get more specific, there will be direct anecdotes relaying those lessons and how we, or I, learned them. Unfortunately, some of those lessons were learned in a negative way or too late. Lesson #13: Double check schedules and times.

Checking through the schedule in late March, we found that we had scheduled a Baltimore game in between Atlanta and New York. The problem was, the Baltimore game was during the day, and it would have been difficult, stressful, or impractical in relation to drive time. This concerned us and we looked into it deeper; and we found out that the Braves didn't play on the Thursday before (Friday game) which would have solved our problem. We decided to adjust the route by moving Baltimore to the end of the road trip. Lesson #8 threw us through a loop. This was not an issue, because I live close to Baltimore. However, upon further research, we saw that Baltimore was at home for opening weekend, and we had to start our trip then. Lesson #14: Set a standard. Opening weekend in the beginning of April would give us the ability to set a list of objectives and statistics that we wanted to track. It would give us over a month to figure out feasibility, worth, and further analytics. Lesson #14 would give us a head start. We had our knowledgable, Red Sox loving, baseball-woesunderstanding friend Tyler with us. He was interested in the trip and would be able to provide valuable insight and us in the Northeast when we got there. Baltimore Orioles; Oriole Park at Camden Yards; Baltimore, Maryland; Stadium #1; April 8th It was Easter Sunday, and we had driven up to Northern Virginia the previous night (Elise lives there) so it was a short hour drive. Our friend Chris lives in the area, so we were able to pick him up and have him us as well. We parked in a garage near the Inner Harbor, which set us back an initial $15. We checked out the Inner Harbor which is a traditional Baltimore scene; unfortunately, the food was overpriced. After taking pictures of the city and a few old ships and submarines in the harbor, we decided to head down the street for some pre-game festivities. Right outside Camden Yards, there are a couple bars: Pickles and Sliders, where we found simply labeled, "Cheap Ass Beer." We grabbed a few and moved inside for more picture taking. This was the first ballpark, so I established the

standard pictures that would be taken at each of the 30 ballparks. To start, I would take pictures of each entrance, each statue, home plate to center, to left and to right. Then, I would take pictures from right, left, and center towards home. So there was about ten pictures that were mandatory for each ballpark. My dad was especially enthusiastic about Lesson #14 in regards to pictures, as he had no idea I planned on taking over a hundred pictures at each ballpark. The objective of each place was centered around finding something unique. In Baltimore, they were using the flag from Fort McHenry that was flown during the Battle of Baltimore, or the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner. The historic flag only has 15 stars and was a sight to see; we didn't see that at another ballpark. Lesson #15: Bargain hunt. All ballparks of the major leagues have costly food and costly merchandise in common, so it can be advantageous to look for cheaper food or drink options and to take advantage of deals. This will come into play with my dad later on, but it was beneficial for more than just “cheap beer” in Baltimore. There are a few select concession stands that have kid's hot dogs in Camden Yards, which are good hot dogs that are a little smaller for a third of the price. Knowing this, we were able to grab a bunch of hot dogs as our meal for the day. Lesson #16: Small costs add up. This bargain hunting strategy developed into a stat tracking pattern of costs as well as statistics. This would prove to be important for Lesson #4 and checking financials, but we weren't there for the hats, hot dogs or beer. There was a baseball game.

It was a great game and a pitchers duel, as Orioles' pitcher Jason Hammel had a no-hitter going into the 8th. The Orioles won 3-1, and Hammel got the win with 2 hits. J.J. Hardy hit a home run, and the Orioles completed the sweep over the Twins. Lesson #14 came through for recording information and statistics that were both

baseball and not baseball related. The non-baseball statistics and costs were helped along by Lesson #16. We noticed that parking had been overlooked, which would add over a hundred dollars a week to our total trip costs. So, with a month more of planning, we were able to learn and continue with Lesson #3.

Before I take you on the first leg of the trip, there are a few random things we decided to record based on lessons: (These are in no particular order and not all inclusive.) Cost of parking Hours in the car Hours watching baseball Costs of ballpark food Number of hot dogs eaten Costs of alcohol Gas location along with gas costs Hits, home runs, runs seen Spoiler alert: Baltimore gave us our shortest game of the trip. Lesson #17: Every day, and every game, brings something new or different; find it.

The schedule for the rest of the trip, in regards to games played out like this:

May 16th, Toronto Blue Jays May 19th, Detroit Tigers May 20th, Cleveland Indians May 21st, Pittsburgh Pirates May 22nd, Cincinnati Reds May 24th, St. Louis Cardinals May 26th, Minnesota Twins May 27th, Chicago White Sox May 29th, Chicago Cubs June 1st, Milwaukee Brewers June 4th, Kansas City Royals June 8th, Colorado Rockies June 13th, Los Angeles Dodgers June 14th, San Francisco Giants June 15th, Oakland Athletics June 16th, Seattle Mariners June 18th, Los Angeles Angels June 19th, San Diego Padres June 20th, Arizona Diamondbacks June 22nd, Texas Rangers

June 23rd, Houston Astros June 26th, Miami Marlins June 28th, Tampa Bay Rays June 29th, Atlanta Braves July 1st, New York Yankees July 3rd, New York Mets July 4th, Washington Nationals July 6th, Boston Red Sox July 8th, Philadelphia Phillies

Lessons expected: In the planning phases of the trip and packing the car days before, there were preparations that we made in a pre-emptive manner to learning the lessons that follow. Lesson #3: Plan ahead. Lesson #18: Bring a cooler. When you're on the road, bringing a cooler can lead to making more positive decisions. For example, when we were on the trip, we planned on bringing lunch meats, juices, and waters. This saved money on our eating budget and kept us moderately healthy by avoiding fast food. Spoiler alert: we went nearly a month without eating fast food (and we had good reasons to eat fast food when we did). While the cooler might take up a lot of space and find itself with beers and soda inside at some points, it was a great preparation. Lesson #19: Bring reading supplies. If you're a reader, there is nothing like killing time with a book. It can be easy for some people to read in the car, and it can be used by some to wind down after a long day. They can also be useful books, like this one if you're on a road trip. Think about how advantageous it would be for a backseat driver to shout lessons on how to road trip at you. We brought a few text books, Astronomy, Geology, and a few others as well as fun reads. The preparation won't be made next time as I was not hanging out with readers. Spoiler alert: while we did get to see geological phenomenon, the astronomy book did not come in-handy because of light pollution and cloudy skies. Overall, books were an okay preparation. Lesson #20: Bring maps and know how to use them. When we went state-by-state on the internet asking for tourism guides, we also asked for maps. We also went out and got a wall map as mentioned beforehand. No spoiler alert here, but these preparations were necessary and extremely utilized. You'll have to read on. Lesson #21: Bring simple entertainment, like cards, games, etc.

On the road, there are a ton of sights to see, but there are also times when time needs to be killed or boredom might kill you, or put you to sleep. This can happen when others are driving, or when you're taking a night, or morning, off. Some games can even be played by the driver (common sense, please, card games and the like are not advised). For us, we were tired many nights, and resorted to putting on a movie, so the preparations were not well utilized. Cards were an okay preparation. Lesson #22: Bring car chargers, and of course, wall chargers for phones. The last place you want your phone to die is on the road, especially if you have apps and directions. We became so efficient at using phone battery, we didn't even open the charger case. Lesson #23: Bring a printer with your laptop. (While I do not need to go into the usefulness of the laptop, they can be highly utilized on long road trips to look up details from tickets, to hotels, to directions, to places to eat, and to type notes and statistics and pictures that your camera is too small to hold.) I digress, with a printer, you're able to print those tickets or directions. The expectation was that many hotels will have a business center with printers and internet, but we didn't want to be caught needing printing in a hotel without a business center. Fortunately, we never ran into a situation where this became necessary, so our printer stayed in the box. We did need things printed such as boarding es and tickets, so all in all, it was a smart preparation that should be considered, but might not be necessary. They do have fancy travel printers, though we just got one for $25 dollars (cheaper than most ink cartridges). Lesson #24: Bring blankets and pillows. Sleeping can always be made more comfortable. I got some pictures of some uncomfortable sleepers on the trip, but bringing more comfort or warmth is beneficial if it doesn't take up too much space. While useful, not mandatory, so okay preparation. Lesson #25: Bring change for tolls. When driving on a long trip, you will hit tolls. Change is necessary to have for tolls, and while EZ- might be easier, they are area specific es so will not

be easier everywhere. We did bring around $50 dollars in change, but some tolls were too costly to break it down into quarters, New York bridges or tunnels for example. The preparation was mandatory, should be thought out, but small cash might be better than change. It was a good preparation. Lesson #4 would have been helpful here (check expected financials) because of Lesson #16 (small costs add up). Lesson #26: Make car rules for texting and sleeping. The only rules we had for the car were no texting or sleeping. If there was more than two people in the car, the others can sleep and that would be fine. The idea was that if the driver can't sleep or text, then the engers would not be helpful to the driver if they were doing so. Later on the trip, these rules started falling through. In my dad's defense, he had just learned to start texting and didn't understand how the bluetooth phone connection worked with the car. The rules were actually very beneficial as we all stayed awake, kept each other awake, and kept each other entertained. The car had bluetooth so we answered phone calls as a group and were able to save phone battery like this (a main reason we didn't need our car chargers). Along with Lesson #7, the plan will sell itself, if everyone agrees with rules being made, it's much easier to abide by them. These 26 lessons proved to be good to learn pre-trip, and there were many more lessons to learn on this trip of a lifetime.

Pre-Trip Costs: For each chapter, I will have a small cost break down of about how expensive the trip was that day, and per person that day. Before the trip, we were able to get maps through our “motor club” and through websites of state agencies. We already had a cooler, books, laptop, printer, etc. Essentially, we assumed there were no costs in preparation (even though we bought tickets and hotels and other things, these will be factored in later, and an in-depth cost breakdown and predictive model can be seen in the Appendix). The only costs that we will consider as pre-trip were those accrued on the way to the Baltimore game. We bought a tank of gas, at $3.99, 4 cheap tickets ($10 each), food and beer, and realized we’d forgotten about parking cost estimation (which didn’t destroy the plans, but was still an eye opener). Total Cost: $170 Cost per Person: $42

Before the First Leg Lesson #7: The trip will sell itself. The Friday before graduation we were looking into plans for departure, packing, and celebrating the success of our last four years. Basically, the feeling that you get when you’re not going to see someone for a very long time was hitting us. We needed to have one last get together. Logistically we were going to be in Northern Virginia, so the eleven hour drive on Tuesday was not a fifteen hour one. So we needed to convince people to come up there, which wasn’t terribly hard considering a few lived in the area. Lesson #27: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. (When on a baseball trip, go to baseball games.) When we realized that the Nationals were going to be in town, we told our friends to come to the game. It ended up being an adventurous “going-away party.” This was the first spontaneous baseball game we would run into on the trip. And with it being Dollar Monday at Nationals Park, everyone was excited. Along with Elise and I, over ten others ed us, and we sat up under the rafters, ate, drank, and were merry. Grayson, Nick and Chris (who went to Baltimore with us) made the trip up with our friend Kristen with plans to take a bus back. Everyone shows their dedication when they get to see baseball and eat hot dogs for less than $20. The trip was selling itself, at a bargain (good usage of Lesson #15: Bargain hunt). Along with Lesson #15, Lesson #28: Know when the ballpark is having discount days or giveaways and take advantage. Lesson #29: Know the ballpark specific foods and deals. Lesson #28 speaks for itself, but Lesson #29 is a variation of Lesson #15. The take-away here is that at Nationals Park, they have cheap beer before the first pitch at the bar in centerfield, as well as a delicious french fries in right. Baltimore has Boog’s Barbecue. As I go through each game, I will include what

foods I was able to enjoy in hope that you, too, will make the effort to chow on some famous ballpark delectables. Washington Nationals; Nationals Park; Washington, D.C.; Stadium #2; May 14th Before the game, we explored an area bar called Justin’s Cafe, which is an excellent pre and post game destination. They have drink specials and food specials on game days and during happy hours, and even though it’s the oldest bar that close to the ballpark, they still have reasonable prices and a solid selection of beer. We spent $5 on a couple of hot dogs and fries, because we’re official bargain hunters on the second day of the trip. Also of note, we parked about 5 blocks away in Nationals Park lot HH, which cost us $1, and while this is not always the case, it is the cheapest lot. As for the game, we knew where we wanted to go and take pictures, so we able to do that, despite the weather. It was cold and rainy. We had already planned to come back through Nationals Park on the 4th of July, so we weren’t worried about the game being played. Lesson #30: When possible, have a back up plan. In accordance with Lesson #5, giving oneself multiple options, if for some reason the game on the 4th was cancelled, we would have been able to enjoy a game in Nationals Park already, and as just mentioned, visa versa. We were able to move around to avoid the rain with cover as there weren’t 19,000 in attendance (as reported). Besides the Nationals having a comeback win in the rain, taking a 4-5 deficit to an 8-5 win, we didn’t see much of anything historical... well, except Bryce Harper, the young prospect who had just been brought up, decided to hit his first career home run! So yeah, you never know when you’ll witness history.

Daily Cost:

Before starting the trip on a full tank, we stopped into Nationals Park with $1 parking and $1 hot dogs. Between the 8 of us (that I knew) and the costly beer, we ended up spending about $80 on food and drinks. However, because we were fortunate enough to have a place to stay, the ballpark’s promoted bargain day left us sitting pretty after $9 tickets. Total Cost: $150 Cost per Person: $19

Inspiration and History of Baseball, Day 1 We started the official “road” trip at 7:58 AM on May 15th. We felt accomplished, because (as lessons have mentioned) we set a deadline, and beat it. Small victories matter, so value them, road trip or not. It was a rainy day traveling through the Appalachian Mountains, and there was a feeling of awe as we twisted and turned up and down these ages of beauty. We reached a pinnacle of speculation that we wouldn’t turn back on for the rest of the trip as we came across the skyline of Harrisburg from over the river through the fog. It’s a beautiful city that has the appearance of what an old European city could look like, and was a complete surprise in our voyages, as we knew we weren’t driving through or going to it. Elise, myself, and the camera didn’t sleep on that drive the first day, nor did we fully comprehend or capture the sight of Harrisburg. We pulled into Williamsport, which is a small town that hosts the Little League World Series. They have a museum and a couple of maps that allow for a walking tour of the grounds. Even the uninhabited fields had an aura about them, taking pictures of their emptiness was rewarding despite not having the ability to see a game there. (They host the international tournament late in the summer.) By watching the tournaments on TV, one doesn’t fully grasp the age of this place. There’s a true history that lies there and can be enjoyed by all baseball fans. We made it a point to stop at the Little League fields as well as Cooperstown on our way to the first ball park on the first leg of the trip. As the trip progressed through New York, the back roads, while maintaining their beauty with regards to scenery, did not keep themselves up very well. Fortunately we didn’t run into trouble, but it was something that we considered important as well as getting gas for the first time. Back to Lesson #3, plan ahead; know where you’re going to get gas and how you’re going to handle roadside emergencies. When you’re in a strange place, it will be more difficult to do both. That being said, when you’re in a strange place, there are things you can see, learn, and taste that you might not be able to do

elsewhere. We decided that we were definitely blessed when we got gas at a place in the middle of nowhere, and bought a slice of pizza. While I never could recommend gas station pizza, and was concerned for our health for even attempting such a feat, that slice was probably some of the best pizza I’d had in my life. It was Italian chicken with a garlic butter white sauce, and made our mountainous trip even happier than it already was. Cooperstown is a quaint town in the middle of New York that is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The town itself is a fantastically old and fully representative to the jewel that it holds. If you love baseball, it’s essentially your post 10 year-old Disney World. Cooperstown also hosts tournaments during the summer at their Cooperstown Dreams Park, which I’d been able to see before, but again the emptiness gives a more realistic impression of the work that’s done to create the experience. Doubleday Field is a piece of Cooperstown that’s also worth seeing. Named after the inventor of the game and built in the 1920’s, the field has hosted the Hall of Fame Game and games of the legends since the 40’s. Sitting in the grandstands was another noteworthy moment early in the trip. Elise and I decided to eat at a place in the town for dinner, Cooley’s Stone House Tavern. There are many other dives that serve great food and have that small town feel, many of them I’d recommend. The tavern we enjoyed would definitely be on the list of those, and served a good grilled cheese with a good price tag. We had another few hours to get into Rochester that night, and felt the need to unwind and gather thoughts as well as watch hockey. We strolled down the street to a bar, that turned out to be more of a weird honky tonk hosting a karaoke contest between two people who kept insisting they didn’t actually want to sing. The place resembled what I thought a Texas bar would look like so well, that after 5 minutes of being confused and not talking or finding hockey, we left. Which made our beer-less night costless. Also while driving through New York, we came upon a lot of cows, flashing red stop lights, and cemeteries, I made a note of this in my trip journal. I will leave it for you to decipher.

Not everything we did on the first day was magical. Lesson #31: Know when to hit the road and when to hit the pillow. On the first day, care was taken in hitting the deadlines of departure, which made seeing the landmarks feasible. Just as importantly, care was taken in deciding when to hang the hat. The first day could have been the longest day of the trip, and from then on, the decision was made to keep track of how long we had been in the car on a daily basis. (It was decided later that I might not be getting enough sleep, so we started recording that as well, confident that we, in fact, were responsible about hitting the hay.) Daily Route: Washington, D.C. to Williamsport, PA to Cooperstown, NY to Rochester, NY Daily Cost: We managed to make it up with only one fill up as we encountered our first hotel stay of the trip. We kept food fairly cheap, but could not fight off temptation and ended up purchasing a jersey at the Little League World Series. Total Cost: $210 Cost per Person: $105

Niagara Falls On May 16th, or the second day on the road, we’ll jump back to Lesson #3, plan ahead. After a good rest, we got up and out at 10 o’clock to dip down into Buffalo for a restaurant we’d read about on a famous TV show’s website. They have a lot of shows about places to eat, as well as apps that recommend these specific places. Long story short, we used both of these to get to one of these establishments. It was amazing. The Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub is a must experience if you’re around, in, or have ever thought about being around or in Buffalo, New York. Elise and I shared three things, including their signature Beef on Weck, and it was all great. Buffalo was merely a stop on the way to the adventure of the day though, we were going to see Niagara Falls for the first time. Niagara Falls is superficial, tacky, costly tourist trap, until you get to the actual falls. Driving in, we were able to park for $5 (that included a free souvenir, and jokes on them, because we would have bought a postcard for way more than $5). But by parking outside of the National Park, we did save money; however, we learned that the costs weren’t terrible. I cannot explain Niagara Falls in writing, and my pictures are not any better than others, so I will not attempt to express the humbling awe and power of what we were fortunate enough to experience. That being said, we spent a lot of time, walking the paths and just enjoying the scenery. We decided not to spend additional money to do the even more touristy things, which would have included more accessible views and water experience. Leaving the country did not instill the regret of not emptying wallets for the full American falls experience, because it was a completely new thing for me. Getting into Canada was not difficult or time consuming. I was a little nervous, but I had my fresh port, and answered a few questions, and even paid a toll on a bridge leaving the States. That feeling of missing American falls attractions hit slightly when we were enjoying the Canadian view while driving and thought about parking to explore more. The parking that we found, close to the viewing locations, demanded $18.

Knowing that we could have taken the Maid of the Mist for cheaper, we decided to view and take pictures from the car. While co-pilots on the duration of the trip have innately been unable to take pictures from a moving vehicle, (I say this in jest, but it is a skill few have) it was a decision we did not regret. Looking back, the further exploration of American costly options could have been taken, parking might have been cheaper further away, and we could have parked for cheaper with Canadian cash. All those being options, we did not look back, at the time, at the decision to keep moving. And now all things considered, it was a good decision. After spending two hours at the falls, we spent about equal time on boring highways into Toronto. Pictures were taken of the absurdly high speed limits, though sadly slower than normal. The first thing we did was exchange money, and while punished by the exchange rate, it’s a smart thing to do unless one is in the possession of an international credit card or something that doesn’t pile on rates (and even then it’s good to have some currency). The Toronto skyline was neat to drive into from Queen Elizabeth Way and Gardiner Expressway, with the CN Tower clearly jutting out above everything else. Toronto is known for being a very diverse city and an international hub, and one block into the city, it becomes obvious that this could be visually observed. Checking and double checking maps, while getting honked at, we circled a couple of blocks a couple of times in search of our hotel. It was hidden in a pseudo- mall behind several store fronts in the middle of Chinatown. It’s a good thing we finally found it, because we had a room there for three nights. Because we were so interested in being confused, we decided, after gathering our thoughts and materials, to look for an authentic Chinese restaurant. It was a failed search. In the middle of Chinatown, no Chinese restaurants could be found (by us). Because everything was in Chinese, and we had yet to learn it, we decided to walk towards downtown and find something to eat. We headed down to the ballpark with the idea that there was a game there tonight, and lacking tickets, we asked around for prices but knew that we were in search of food more than the game. The Yankees were in town, and while the ticket wasn’t ridiculously pricey, the demand tonight was obviously higher. While walking around and taking pictures however, we noticed that Rogers

Centre was attached to a hotel. So we had to check this out. While walking around and taking pictures of the hotel, we noticed that there was a restaurant in it over looking the field. So we had to take pictures. Then subtlety and suddenly, the realization was reached that this accomplished multiple goals. We decided to eat dinner in this fairly fancy hotel restaurant while watching the game through glass windows above the left field seats. Toronto Blue Jays; Rogers Centre; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Stadium #3; May 16th The restaurant had fancy bar food that was reasonably priced and actually very good. If I had the ability to spend a lot of money on a meal, this might not have been a bad place to do it. We ordered alcoholic drinks for the first time, knowing driving wouldn’t be done for a few days. I mention this because I wanted to enjoy local cuisine when I had a chance, and local craft beer was definitely a focal point of this. As for the game, we actually saw a few baseballs get retired (probably) as the Yankees were crushed by the Blue Jays 8-1. We saw the 100th HR for Kelly Johnson, the 100th win as a manager for John Farrell, the 300th double for Robinson Cano, and the 1500th hit for Mark Teixeira. After the game we decided to go to Wayne Gretzky’s bar and have another drink while watching a hockey game. It seemed like the Canadian thing to do. That being said, hockey is a big interest of mine, and I plan on taking a similar trip with hockey arenas at some point in my life. Lesson #32: When traveling international, more than border crossing needs to be considered. As mentioned earlier, we converted a few funds to the correct currency, but we did a lot more preparation. For example, cell phones were shut off, we printed maps and directions before hand, we were mindful of international credit card rates, and we got gas before crossing the border. The price of gas was higher in Canada and the rates are expressed differently which could lead someone unfamiliar to not even considering the cost difference. By understanding these

consequences of leaving the States, we were able to save money for our own wallets as well as bills that we’d see later in of cell phones and credit cards. Daily Route: Rochester, NY to Buffalo, NY to Niagara Falls to Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Daily Cost: Hitting a tourist trap added to the costs of parking and staying in the one of the most expensive cities in North America. And even though we found a baseball game for free, our guilt pushed us to raise a bar tab higher than usual. We also located that nice Buffalo restaurant before the trip started, so we had to check that out. It resulted in the second most expensive food and alcohol per person day. Total Cost: $280 Cost per Person: $140

Toronto Tourism Hotel breakfasts, if complimentary, saves money on meals as well as makes getting up out of bed a lot easier. It is a deadline that if not met, is not forgiven until the next day. Besides the Canadian version of Sportscenter, there was hockey on TV, which provided another reason to wake up. If you’re not a hockey fan, this day would not have interested you. From the beginning we had planned on going to the Hockey Hall of Fame, because as mentioned before, it was an interest of mine. And along with other touristy activities, that would be the focus of the day. After having breakfast, and getting things together, such as writing some notes about Canada and our previous packed day, and of course watching a little international hockey on TV, we decided to take a walk. Toronto is a big city, but our Chinatown location was great for walking to our points of interest, including the Hockey Hall of Fame, the CN Tower, and the Rogers Centre. Upon arriving at the Hockey Hall of Fame, I was able to take a picture of a baseball catcher’s mask and how it has evolved from a hockey goalie’s mask. I was very proud (at least in my daily notes) that I was able to make a connection between baseball and hockey, on this hockey based day. At the Hall, I took a ton of pictures, read a lot about and learned a lot about history of hockey, and played a few games involving shooting a plastic puck 85 km/hr (it was in my notes, so that again means it’s important for you to read). I also touched the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is the trophy given to the NHL champion, and is considered the oldest trophy in sports, because the same one is given to the new champion each year. However, there are two of them (one for display and the other real) and because I touched it, I cannot win it (according to legend, it’s not a legal stipulation). I also resisted strong urges to buy unique but expensive hockey jerseys in the gift shop, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to be so self-controlled if I go again. From there, Elise and I voyaged out to the CN Tower, which until 2007 was the tallest free standing building. Along with this fact, there are others that I made note of that really highlight how cool the experience was. And because it takes about a minute to get to the top, there is a guide who presents these facts to

visitors. He presents them in his native Canadian language with Canadian measurements so it was hard to understand. For those who do not understand or enjoy sarcasm, it was English as the language, and the International System of measurement, but actually is still tricky to conceptualize coming from the English system of measurement. Back on a baseball note, we were able to take amazing pictures of the field from over a thousand feet above it. (They also could have been the earliest pictures of batting practice we were able to take). As for eating options, we again searched for a Chinese restaurant. After failing for a decent amount of time walking around Chinatown, we found a couple several blocks away (on the outskirts of the area) and in the basement of the mall where our hotel was located. Our hotel was a portion of the third floor, and the basement was a gloomily lit place that at first glance appeared to be a stereotypical basement. Every thing between our hotel and the basement were stores that sold merchandise in Chinese and were store fronts that were out of business. Not only did I not understand the language, I didn’t understand what they were selling. In the basement the food looked undercooked and unappetizing forcing us to again exit Chinatown, craving a more American meal. While this doesn’t sound like fun, it was an experience that one typically encounters when going where one is unfamiliar. The day was moving quickly, and we slid over to Boston Pizza to watch the game. It’s interesting to watch a game on TV across from the stadium that the game is being played in, and there might be more baseball fanatic cities to do it in than Toronto. Also, Boston Pizza is from Edmonton, not Boston. And although it’s a chain, it’s a Canadian chain. Still feeling guilty about eating at a chain, rather than a Toronto specific dive, we got a pizza called the Great White North, consisting of their signature sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, and ham, as well as had Toronto crafted beer. The meal was so good, we contemplated going back the next night, and I will definitely be going back next time I’m in Canada. Lesson #33: Location costs can outweigh travel costs. As mentioned before, gas would have been more expensive, and because we wanted to do a lot of things in Toronto, parking each time into the city would have built up maybe costing more than we paid for the 3 days we were there. Location is a top thing to consider because of proximity as well, there is more

time to do the things you want to do when you’re near them. And without parking timetables or travel time, flexibility becomes a valuable tool, especially in a foreign place worth exploring. Location, location, location. Daily Cost: We spent money on the sites of Canada and kept everything else fairly cheap. But when tourism is nearly $50 a person, it’s hard to cut total cost that much. Total Cost: $250 Cost per Person: $125

Rogers Centre and the Blue Jays The more that I write about Toronto, the more that I wouldn’t mind living downtown. My typical day would probably start like the 4th day on the road did: Ate breakfast, went on a run around the ballpark, checked out a few places on the run that I’d go later, ran back to the hotel, showered, then organized trip things. After handling a few housekeeping things, which needs to be done regularly on a long trip, we would voyage down to the city to eat a late lunch and attend a happy hour before the game. We ran into people celebrating a long weekend for the Canadian holiday of Victoria Day, and noticed that there was a volleyball tournament in town. These things are of no importance, but that we had seen a volleyball tournament in Baltimore, and it’s nice to know what regional holidays are occurring when you’re in the region. Two out of three cities we had seen baseball games in had volleyball tournaments, (we record weird statistics) and while this trend didn’t continue, you have this pointless and maybe ironic note in front of you now. As for the holidays, they’ll be highlighted later on the trip. We decided to eat a couple of hot dogs from street vendors, because they were cheap and because we were recording the number of hot dogs that we’d eaten on the trip. Two bad reasons resulted in an amazing hot dog and a cart we’d have to find our way back to later that evening. For happy hour we enjoyed something called “Double Fisting Friday” at Fionn MacCool’s Irish Pub, and even though we left a US quarter as part of our tip, we would like to apologize with this book shout out. In Canada, they were making a commercialized American light beer push, so we were able to wrangle up 4 free beers and a couple of glasses by showing ID’s that showed we were over 18. (We haven’t been and won’t be trying to drink illegally in other places, as we were both over 21 as well.) Internationally it wasn’t something we considered, and that these beers, though not craft or regionally specific, were acceptable. The game, which was our second in Rogers Centre, put the Blue Jays up against the Mets. And because Elise is a big Mets fan, I decided to purchase a Blue Jays shirt and make it a spirited event. It also involved her getting her picture with the mascot.

This game was technically the first planned game of the trip, so we had tickets beforehand, sitting up in the nose bleeds. And other than the seats being steeper than other ball parks, the view was spectacular with the CN Tower peering in as the roof was open. The atmosphere was pretty fun as everyone seemed social enough to lightly pick on Elise for being a fan of the opposition. It could have been because she’s a female or because the Mets were getting beat, or just the type of fan, but nothing was offensive, personal, or threatening in anyway. It really added to the experience. The fans love their team as well as being a part of the crowd attempting to start the wave over 25 times, which could for the 14- 5 win. I got to meet and tell Gregg Zaun, Blue Jays announcer with zauntarage, about the trip, though I’m not sure anything came of it. The ushers were very strict with seating, not letting people down to empty seats as late as the 8th. Standing close was not forbidden though, so after leaving the upper section, we enjoyed the game from behind home plate. While there we witnessed an 8th inning pitched by the Mets catcher, Rob Johnson, who was the only Mets pitcher that game who didn’t allow a base runner (even had a strike out). The slugfest included 6 home runs, with a couple of guys having multiple HR games. Both go to show that you never really know what you’re going to see, which is another pretty big highlight to Lesson #17 (not to mention we got to see the first Brazilian MLB player and first Brazilian HR). Lesson #34: The game and atmosphere are more enjoyable when involved and invested. Elise’s team lost that night, but it was still a good time with a good crowd because we were social and soaked in the experience. We knew that after the game, we’d need to be all business with preparations to get back to the States. Daily Cost: Instead of spending $50 on tourism, we spent half of that on a t-shirt and a baseball game in our last night in Toronto. Total Cost: $220

Cost per Person: $110

Comerica Park and the Detroit Tigers Got on the road early to head to Detroit for a 4 o’clock game, the drive is a little over 4 and a half hours long, but we decided to leave at 7:30 AM. This was a good idea, as the drive hit delays, and wasn’t very exciting, except for ing Wayne Gretzky Parkway. The delays included Detroit traffic, which we didn’t plan for and crossing the border, for which we did plan. Unfortunately each delay was over an hour and half long, (a lot of people want to get into Michigan) fortunately, we were still able to get to the stadium with time to spare. Before the game we walked around and took pictures of the very spirited ball park. Because of its accessibility and spirit as well as neatness, uniqueness, and surrounding attractions (such as history, kid friendliness, and eating options), this became one of my favorite ball parks. Because it is overlooked when referenced next to the classics and the ballparks on the water, I wasn’t expecting to be as pleased as I was with this place. I recommend going to this ballpark and consider it one of my favorites after the entirety of the trip. We found a bar called Hockeytown and had to walk inside (by now as a reader, you understand my appreciation for other sports). The place is a necessary visit as well, as it includes a lot of historical Detroit sports memorabilia. This very exciting place to visit accommodates all interests; it is a nice restaurant on the ground floor, a sports bar in the middle and a typical bar on the top level, which includes a roof top and unimpeded view of the ballpark.

Detroit Tigers; Comerica Park; Detroit, Michigan; Stadium #4; May 19th As mentioned before, the field was extremely well kept with the Detroit skyline in the background, and we were able to witness Negro League day which provided a nice ceremony, neat history lesson as well as baggy uniforms. Another reason I loved the ballpark as much as I did was the fans. They loved their Tigers, who were the Stars from Detroit on that day. They gave their pitcher Verlander a loud standing ovation for his performance the night before which he let up only one hit in the 9th. The opponent was the Pirates, or the Pittsburgh Crawfords on that day. It was the first away team we had seen win even with the crowd rocking for a clean up hitter in the bottom of the 9th with a chance to win it. McCutchen for the Crawfords had a multi- HR game, which meant we had seen 3 in two days. All in all, with the Negro Leagues day, and close game, the crowds involvement made the ballpark and going an amazing experience. After the game, we left Detroit to head into Toledo, Ohio, where would stay the night to make the drive East to Cleveland shorter. Lesson #35: You get what you pay for. Today we learned this lesson, not related to the ballpark in Detroit, but the hotel in Toledo. the Knights Inn was the cheapest we had stayed at all trip, and it looked that way as well. The atmosphere of the hotel was unsettling, and didn’t exactly feel safe as there were people outside of it essentially camping out. It was in the middle of nowhere, though right off the highway, and it didn’t seem clean. It was difficult to fall asleep, and we didn’t bother eating or showering there. It was easy to wake up and get out of bed though, because of our desire to leave the place. Toronto, we experienced the same lesson, but of a different scale as the hotel was cheap but clean, had poor Internet, was hard to find, and put a large price tag on parking.

Daily Route: Toronto, ON to Detroit, MI to Toledo, OH Daily Cost: We lost a lot of time sitting at the United States border, but we didn’t lose much money just driving, watching a baseball game, and sleeping in an extremely cheap hotel. The most expensive part of the day was a tank of gas, which we were able to get in the States (so we saved some money). Total Cost: $210 Cost per Person: $105

Progressive Field and the Cleveland Indians If you wish to get out of bed and be productive without hesitating, sleep in a place that you do not want to be. Scared there would still be people drinking beers on coolers and pickup truck beds outside our door, like there were the night before, we got up and out within minutes. The dew was settling and the birds were just waking up when we hit the road that morning; it was an early afternoon game, and we were going to be early. We tried to escape so quickly that we got lost jumping onto the highway, but realizing we were free, calmly corrected our trajectory. Traffic was incredibly smooth that morning, and we decided to make a few American based phone calls, since we’d been outside the country and for a couple of days prior. On the phone with my brother, we discussed Cleveland parking and dining options, though we planned on driving post game, it was nice to have options. Bargain hunting saves money as we’ve learned. We decided that we’d check out the basketball arena and cheap parking downtown. And while on the phone, we hit a $6 toll that bankrupted the car. As I read this in my notes, I was clearly more upset with it that day, than I am right now. That being said, when we look back at Lesson #25, small cash can be more valuable than change. Even with 2 people, finding, breaking down, and counting twentyfour quarters is easier said than done with the social pressure and urgency of a toll lane. We did a few things on the trip, related to Lesson #21, or to keep us entertained. One of those things was counting the cops that we ed and the phone calls from parents we received. The biggest help from the co-pilot was being able to record these and tweet out so that the world could see statistics on my dad calling me and telling me not to drive drunk because it could ruin the trip. Since I’m already on a digression, we did not drink on days where we would be driving, and we did not drink to get drunk when we did. Consequences did outweigh the benefits, and we did rationalize this before and throughout the trip, regardless of the parental units. We arrived in Cleveland to find a situation much like Detroit, ballpark with

arena and city in the background (or football field). However, unlike Detroit, with just Hockeytown, there was a quaint downtown selection with even a street shutdown to traffic for restaurants, bars and outside dining. Even though it was early, a lot of city folk and fans alike were enjoying the weather and an early lunch. We were able to find the parking my brother recommended and walk around and enjoy this area before progressing to Progressive Field. It was extremely tough to resist temptation and not go into restaurants as the area looked neat and smelled good. We had bought All-You-Can-Eat seats for the game, and wanted to enjoy it to the best of our ability. Most ballparks offer this option to some extent, whether it be a small cheap section or an expensive suite, they typically consist of hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, and drink. And since we were counting our hot dogs eaten, it was projected to be a good option. Cleveland Indians; Progressive Field; Cleveland, Ohio; Stadium #5; May 20th In this inter-league contest, runs were manufactured and good baseball was played by two over .500 teams, the Miami Marlins, with their fresh new logos decided to drive fans away in the 8th with 3 runs to make it a 5-1 game, the Indians put 2 back up on the board with an empty facility in the 9th, but couldn’t change the outcome. Progressive Field was a very neat and well organized ballpark, and while there’s no specific wow-factor flair, (like the green monster, or warehouse, or ivy on the walls), they have an Indians Heritage park with monuments, a Disney kids zone, and a guy with a drum who inspires and syncs up the crowd during the game. And as these new ballparks present fun for the whole family, why wouldn’t you go? After the game, we were able to jump on the road to Pittsburgh, and after scrounging our way through more tolls and a couple more hours, we got into the hotel where we would be spending a couple of nights. Lesson #36: By sticking to the plan, one can learn better options. AYCE, or all-you-can-eat, seats enabled us to down 8 hot dogs, 2.5 nachos, 1

popcorn, and 5 drinks. We would have done better if Elise had stepped up to the plate, or stepped up to the table with the plates more often. And while we were able to enhance our hot dogs eaten number, the hot dogs might not have been as quality as the franks served or other food served throughout the facility. Financially, AYCE can work out great, but on a trip like this one, it might not be the best idea. At the time, we loved the seats and hot dogs, but looking back and for next time, it would be nice to enjoy some of the restaurants in the downtown area as well as some other foods at the ballpark. By sticking to the plan, we saved money and got to enjoy a good thing, but by keeping an open mind, there are definitely other options available. Daily Route: Toledo, OH to Cleveland, OH to Pittsburgh, PA Daily Cost: We spent over $15 in tolls, and the hotel was twice as expensive, but the drive wasn’t long enough to require gas, so we saved money on that front. We got AY-C-E tickets, and experiments have shown that food outside of the ballpark becomes cheaper when these seats are used. Total Cost: $220 Cost per Person: $110

PNC Park and the Pittsburgh Pirates After driving before and after baseball games for two days in a row, it was nice to be in the same city (or close) for Monday, May 21st. Driving to the ballpark would be just 30 minutes instead of multiple hours and state or nation borders. Because the drive was short, and the game was at 7 PM, we were able to sleep in and collect ourselves that morning. My mother was on my case about the amount of sleep I would get, as previously mentioned on day #1 with Lesson #31. And in the spirit of recording hours slept, this day would result in a trip high. We took time that morning to continue the never ending process of planning the details of the trip. Around 3:15 that afternoon, we drove into Pittsburgh, and found parking in a deck that looks over the river and into the ballpark. Amazing view, and I only say this because we didn’t exactly plan this parking situation too well, as it was costly, but at least we got pictures. Pittsburgh was extremely picturesque for us that day, as we had plenty of time to walk around the city towards the ballpark and take pictures of both, as well as several of bridges. That being said, if we had left earlier, we probably could have found much more scenery to capture. Because we were hungry and since we were in Pittsburgh, (Lesson #29, knowing the ballpark and specific deals) we knew we would be eating a Primanti Brothers sandwich. After doing some research, we realized we could get an authentic and cheaper Primanti Brothers experience by walking half a mile over the Clemente Bridge into the Market Square heart of downtown. There we found an actual sandwich shop rather than a kiosk at the ballpark. It was decorated with ion and the Pitts-burgher sandwich tasted just as unique. Loaded with meat, cheese, and french fries, it’s a real man-wich.

Pittsburgh Pirates; PNC Park; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Stadium #6; May 21st Walking across the Roberto Clemente Bridge is part of the baseball experience in Pittsburgh, and from the bridge to the park, everything radiates tradition and ion. The views around the ballpark are fantastic, and one would be mistaken if they just went to and from their seat before and after the game. Walking around this ballpark would have satisfied my baseball addiction, regardless of whether there was a ballgame. Fortunately, there was a game, and a good one. The Mets, behind ace Johan Santana, took a 4-0 lead early, but the bullpen for the Pirates shut them down. With the strong bullpen effort, they were able to claw back for error induced rally that would put the winning run home on a play-at-the-plate in the bottom of the 8th. The crowd was a ton of fun, very spirited, polite, and this message was relayed to the ushers. This was the first ballpark where we were welcome to enjoy seats all over the stadium, and we hopped down to the outfield bleachers just in time to celebrate with the fans over a late inning comeback. While commenting of firsts, this was the first day we didn’t consume a hot dog (possibly sick of them from the AYCE day before), and while one was shot at us, from a cannon by a mascot/spirit crew, it cleared the upper awning and flew out of the park (also a first). Weirdly enough, Pirates closer Hanrahan notched consecutive saves 9 and 10 with Elise and I in attendance, and Elise had now sadly experienced the Mets lose twice. No one heckled her in Pittsburgh though, fans seemed too nice in this early season outing (especially since Pittsburgh was working to end a postseason draught). Lesson #37: Take time off from taking time off. Even on shorter vacations and trips, home sickness can be a contagious ailment that spoils the adventure. Getting into Pittsburgh the night before, we were tired,

grumpy, and getting frustrated for no reason. We needed to take a step back so that we could endure the trip as it was very early. Time off can be time alone, time doing something simple like playing games, or time doing something related to home. For us, there was a Pizza Hut next door, and we put on a TV show that we typically watch. Even though Pizza Hut and TV aren’t Pittsburgh specific, it was a simple reminder that home wasn’t too far. We planned to sleep in the next morning and calm down. That next morning, we were refreshed, calm, and forgiven. We started recording sleep time, as well as miles from home. While we didn’t do anything area related during those 18 hours, it was valuable regrouping time. Daily Cost: Arriving in Pittsburgh the night before cut down on typical driving costs for the day, but we did need to pay a little on parking at the ballpark. That being said, the parking deck provided a pretty neat view of the river and PNC Park. Total Cost: $190 Cost per Person: $95

Great American Ballpark and the Reds Five days, five baseball games, five different stadiums was what we were aiming at on the 8th day of the trip. Cincinnati was across the state of Ohio, almost 300 miles away, and after an early breakfast we hit the road for this long drive. We had spaced out the driving pretty well before and after for the previous days’ day games as to make the distance shorter. By the time we got into town, or around town, Elise had done some excellent reconnaissance work to find a dive much like the one we found in Buffalo, but similar to the Cincinnati scene called Blue Ash Chili Restaurant. There we got a reasonably priced meal that included Cincinnati chili. It was probably the gloomiest day since the Nationals game, and after a long drive, good lunch and hotel check-in, I napped. Do not underestimate naps. After the nap, we decided to walk around town before heading to the game. The hotel was a Travelodge that was 100 feet into the state of Kentucky over the river from Cincinnati, it was cheap, felt cheap, but was a great place to stay for a game. They even had a banner the size of their sign cheering on the Reds. The town is called Newport, and is the home of an aquarium as well as a few other points of interest. After exploring Newport for a little while, we went to check out the ballpark. Like PNC, it has a couple of famous bridges going over a river in it’s backdrop, but the city is behind it. That being said, the uniqueness of the park really comes from inside the stadium, like Rogers Centre or Progressive Field. After walking around and seeing that the Reds Hall of Fame would have been an expensive endeavor, we took a and voyaged inside the ballpark.

Cincinnati Reds; Great American Ball Park; Cincinnati, Ohio; Stadium #7; May 22nd The ballpark is built right on a few highways crossing through the city and seems to be elevated on a few parking decks. Because of this, the structure is neat and efficient, and has a functional appeal to it. The venue was not fully packed, and the ushers weren’t even as close to as friendly to those in Pittsburgh (not only could we not sit anywhere, but we couldn’t get pictures in those places), but there was a good, knowledgable and social crowd. With many I discussed the trip, and received tips on future locations. We were also put on notice of the Brooklyn Bridge prequel past the right field wall, named after the designer John Roebling, a Cincinnati landmark. The Reds had been on the rise in the last couple of years, and we were able to see one of the big reasons why as second baseman Phillips hit two home runs and led his team to victory. Bourn had led off the game for the Braves with a home run and hit another later. So we were happy to tweet that we’d seen 5 multi-HR games for individuals despite being only 8 games into the trip. Another first for the trip was watching Cincinnati closer hit triple digits with his 100 MPH fastballs to fan Atlanta batters. To reach the hot dog quota today, I continued with the Cincinnati theme and had a chili cheese coney from Skyline Chili. While I was and am very proud of this move, Great American Ball Park provides several other unique dining experiences such as a grill that cooks up something different for each away team, called Mr. Red’s Smokehouse. Being involved in the game and situation, we were able to erupt for “free pizza and ice cream for everyone” after the Reds pitchers struck out 11 batters. And even though we didn’t get to partake in the prize, we had fun in cheering on the accomplishment (it was as loud as the park got all night, including the home runs). So after having setbacks earlier, (to be discussed with the day’s lesson) and not being able to get all of the pre-game pictures we typically like to get, because of strict ushers, we still had a good time at the game.

Lesson #38: Know what day it is, where you are currently. In Canada, we could have found Victoria Day specials or events that would have been cheap or fun to attend. But our experience here was more bizarre. Down the street there were several bars that offered game day specials, cheap appetizers and dollar beers, and since today was a game day, we got excited to enjoy these festivities before walking over the river to the game. Unfortunately for us, it was election day in Kentucky. This was unfortunate because we were not aware of the law in that state that states no alcohol can be served on election day before 6:00 PM. I’m not sure I could run into a law like this if I tried in the future. But we definitely learned that it could help to know what day it is where we were, whether holiday, election day, or whatever. Also, if you find yourself in Kentucky on election day, don’t expect to drink before 6 o’clock. And if you were expecting that tip in this book, you’re welcome. Daily Route: Pittsburgh, PA to Cincinnati, OH Daily Cost: A cheap hotel, a tank of gas, cheap tickets, and a walk to the ballpark cut the costs of the day. We would have probably spent more if we were allowed to drink in Kentucky. Also, the researched restaurant that we attended was inexpensive. Total Cost: $180 Cost per Person: $90

Louisville Bat Factory The Louisville Bat Factory was on our way to St. Louis, and checking this place out was the only thing that made our day eventful. While there are several ways to get from point A to point B, there was one path that gave us this option, even though it was a little bit longer. Plan ahead. The Louisville factory is a baseball must see, where they make their bats but it’s also a museum where they have everything from wax figures to history of ballparks. One can even get a bat made and engraved there, which has been one of the coolest souvenirs of the trip. They have exhibits that are temporary which is unfortunate because the exhibit on display was one of the history of ballparks, where they examined every ballpark that was no longer in commission and Wrigley and Fenway with facts, notes and pictures. While I was unable to get photos of any, being able to go around this room and learn made the current trip that much more meaningful. We also found a Louisville t that served pizza, as we were making it our second main journey to explore pizza of different regions. The place was Wick’s Pizza, and this place seemed like a dive gone popular. The pizza was piled with an inch of toppings, then covered in cheese, not only providing a unique taste, but also a different look. So filling, it would provide us with a couple of meals thanks to the fact that we had a cooler. Driving down I-64, there was nothing else that happened this day. In my notes I wrote, “There was so much nothing there that you could see for miles, unfortunately the only thing miles away was nothing.” Elise even put on a movie so that the car stereo played gunshots and explosions which easily kept us awake. Getting into our hotel just outside of St. Louis, we just ate our left over Wick’s pizza and went to bed. Lesson #39: Take care of your ride. This should go without saying, but get gas before your light goes on and get your oil changed. I had read through similar materials of other people taking the trip

that they had planned to have an emergency gas tin on board. Throughout the entire trip, we never once ran out of gas, but were monitoring it closely. We were planning our next stop for gas with our current stop, and the same goes for oil. We knew which days and which cities we would be getting our oil changed, and Louisville was one of those. We planned out about 3,000 miles between oil changes to be safe with what was recommended (the oil, car, and personal preferences will change how this is treated). The costs vary greatly with city to city for oil change, and if this is something you can do yourself, that would save money. Also get your car washed, it will need it. Daily Route: Cincinnati, OH to Louisville, KY to St. Louis, MO Daily Cost: When you spend money on souvenirs and museums as well as an oil change and gas, costs will be high. And even though we had the day off from a baseball game, our six hour drive was not cheap. Total Cost: $300 Cost per Person: $150

Busch Stadium and St. Louis, Day 10 Heading into the city of St. Louis, we knew there were more things to do than we could with the time we had. At the top of our priorities, we had researched the zoo, art museum, and the Gateway Arch, and declared them all as must sees. The art museum was the first stop. And even when art is not an interest, art museums should be experienced. And while it wasn’t baseball related it all, it was a St. Louis attraction, and it was free. The zoo is also not baseball related and not of everyones interests, but also free. The zoo and the art museum are in the same park, equally far away from the Metrolink, and they were both under construction. And because of the heat, it wasn’t the best experience of the trip. Each destination was well worth the time, and should be visited if one is in the city of St. Louis. That being said, when it is 90 degrees, it isn’t smart to leave water bottles behind, because free museums and zoos charge a lot for small items as such. Because the zoo was under construction, we got lost and wasted a lot of time. To commemorate the incident I made the note, “the thing worse than getting lost in a zoo is getting lost in a zoo, where you can’t find the animals, it smells bad, there are tons of people blocking paths and getting lost in front of you and it’s 90 degrees out.” We weren’t lost to the point of asking people to direct us, but to the point where we had to walk around half a mile to get to a location that should have been a few steps away. The steps and time added up, and we still needed to check out the famous St. Louis Gateway Arch and the baseball game, which was why we were in St. Louis in the first place. The Metrolink in St. Louis goes right into the heart of the city. However, it only has a couple of tracks so while we weren’t going to get lost, we did have to wait for the train. The system pops up right outside of Busch Stadium and might be the closest metro to ballpark distance in the league. After taking pictures, we walked down to the river where we got to experience the beauty and awe that is the Gateway Arch. There’s a free museum under that we got to check out as well, and learned a lot about Louis and Clark’s expedition. After enjoying the pretty park and the American landmark, we walked up the river to Laclede’s Landing.

In this famous St. Louis district rich with culture, we sought out a St. Louis style pizza. They love their cheese there. Rather than a tomato based sauce, the thin crust pizza is based with a cheese sauce. I washed down this cheesy goodness with a local brew (and while I’m pretty sure all beers there are local, this one was from a microbrewery down the street). From the proximity advantage, we were able to jump from Laclede’s to the ballpark through the Metrolink. St. Louis Cardinals; Busch Stadium; St. Louis, Missouri; Stadium #8; May 24th The ballpark is an outstanding facility, with a great city view over the centerfield wall. As a fan, you can walk the entire ballpark and concourses, with typical club level exceptions. The atmosphere is one of the best I’ve witnessed, bands playing pregame on a stage behind the centerfield gates, World Series trophy on display to get pictures, and a fan zone for little kids (which regrettably includes video games). The fans in general are very friendly and enthusiastic about baseball, and about having fun. It isn’t rare to hear a section burst out in a “Happy Birthday” midinning for a seat neighbor, and make them feel like they’re celebrating together. The section also participated in a few es of the wave; the capacity and enthusiasm were able to carry it around the ballpark more times than the Toronto faithful. If you didn’t get enough food, then you might want to enjoy some Nachos, as St. Louis loves cheese; and as mentioned earlier, they also pride themselves in beer. From what the fans are saying, other food they have to offer is good as well, but I couldn’t eat much after stuffing my face at Laclede’s. As for the game, it was a back and forth battle, with several home runs where a 6-0 lead after two evolved into a game tied at 7, with the away Phillies coming away with a 10-9 win. This game showed us teams 14 and 15 of MLB as well as presented us with the most runs, hits, strikeouts, and guys left on base that we had seen. It was the hottest and longest game so far as well.

At Busch Stadium on the night of May 24th, there was a streaker. You’ll never know what you’ll see on road trip, and some things might just surprise you. Honestly, I’m happy that I can say I’ve seen a streaker now. The guy climbed out of the right center field bleachers, ran across the outfield, and in nothing but socks and shoes, put on a few juke moves that caused the crowd to erupt in laughter, cheers and overall a ton of noise. Elise, myself, and the birthday section had the perfect seats for the occasion: we could see that the streaker was naked, but couldn’t see the full details of the situation. After being knocked down, and then leveled again for showboating, the crowd’s excitement was sustained through the end of the nail-biting finish, where even the stadium’s sound staff kept up the energy by playing “The Streak” by Ray Stevens. Lesson #40: Take your time, but not too much of it. When we got up that morning, I told Elise, “take your time.” We had a long breakfast, complimentary of the hotel, did laundry, which needed to be done, and casually got out the door. We found ourselves losing time quickly later in the day as we didn’t correctly estimate how to get through the public transportation, time for the museums, and time for the zoo. And while we exhausted ourselves with the events of the day, we were interested in touring a brewery and hit the arch minutes after the last elevator went up. If we had planned the day better, and got up and out, we could have explored more of the landmark, history of the city, and toured a brewery. While the famous Anhe-Busch brewery was driving distance from the downtown area, we could have accomplished that activity as well as others if we had gotten up and out. When I go back to St. Louis, there will definitely be things to do that I haven’t done. Daily Cost: Starting in St. Louis, enjoying free points of interest, and walking a few miles saved us a lot of money. The tickets were cheap, but we did spend about $10 total on laundry, the store (for a cold soda to save our lives), and the Metrolink of St. Louis.

Total Cost: $200 Cost per Person: $100

Iowa, the First Time It takes over 9 hours to get from St. Louis to Minneapolis, and that was our longest direct drive of the trip. Since we had planned on going to the game on the 26th, we had a day to get there. Drives like that take a lot out of a person. I get exhausted just thinking about how long that drive was, because there is nothing to see. The emptiness of the land in Iowa is near unbelievable and incredibly tiring. The only thing I can add here worth reading is the lesson of the day and the advice to use things to keep you awake, make the drive with multiple people. Lesson #41: Use spare time to plan details for planned or un-spare time. First, not finding a incredibly popular or famous cuisine in the plains of Iowa, we were able to utilize our cooler yet again by stopping and picking up food in a Kroger. Second, while we did plan the whole day for driving, if we had left earlier, we could have gotten to explore more of Minneapolis the next day, and even possibly hit a game that night when we got into town. Even though internet and materials might be limited on the road towards a destination, the car is a good place to plan routes, priorities, as well as other destinations. Ahead of us, we had complicated deadlines from Minneapolis to Chicago, as well as 5 days to enjoy Chicago. We never want to be late and never want to be sitting in our hotel room with nothing to do. So we used some of this drive time to organize thoughts of Chicago. Daily Route: St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis, MN

Daily Cost: The exciting day cost us over $100 in gasoline alone. We saved money by getting our meals, and filling our cooler at a store rather than going to a restaurant. We were crashing in the city that night, so the hotel cost also did some damage to the daily cost (but we did fill up on free fresh baked cookies and milk provided). Total Cost: $250 Cost per Person: $125

Target Field and the Twins At this point in the trip, we had driven, taken a metro, walked, and walked over two bridges over rivers to get to games. In Minneapolis, there was a new way for us to get from hotel to ballpark, and that was the skyway. The skyway is unique to Minneapolis, which attaches buildings by enclosed paths. There are 8 miles of skyway that link 69 blocks of Downtown Minneapolis including the Target Center and an outlet to Target Field. The system protects people from weather as well as makes it easier to get across streets safely. It was so foreign and neat to me, that I’d be interested in living there at one point in my life to utilize these paths fully. More importantly, the Minneapolis Skyway System protected us from the rain that day, and while we got to the ballpark early, we were required to enjoy a delay. Minnesota Twins; Target Field; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Stadium #9; May 26th Observing a rain delay and grounds crew for the first time, we began to regret not getting into town slightly earlier the night before. However, the game was eventually played so we got the game in and got to record a rain delay, an optimistic win-win. Everyone in Minnesota, much like Pittsburgh, was proud of their facility and baseball tradition. They were kind and welcoming, and there to have a good time, whether or not they were looking at the best product on the field. We ran into an usher that we got to discuss the trip with, and he gave us tips for several other stadiums as well as a pseudo tour of Target Field, telling us even what to eat at different ballparks. Another interesting takeaway was the rain delay entertainment that they provided. Target Field was really trying to keep fans there; and if it wasn’t our mission to attend a game in each ballpark, we would have stayed for the Cowboy

hat giveaway and the ability to watch cartoons while other games were not showing. After braving the cold by purchasing a blanket, we saw the Twins fall to the Tigers 6-3. With that game, we got to see Tigers’ pitcher Scherzer record 9 strikeouts on the way to a trip high game total of 24. Because the game was delayed, our timing was pushed back and we were forced to drive at night, which we’d been trying hard to avoid. After traveling through a storm, we made it the 4 and a half hours to Madison, Wisconsin for the night. And while Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we ed just as many in Wisconsin as we did in Minnesota. Lesson #42: Get places early. While for many, I do not need to preach of promotional items that are given away to the first 10000, or so, fans, this is a reason to get to the stadium early. These items can be cool, useful, sold, or even collected by some people. I’ve seen people buy bulks of promo items, as well as leave after getting the promo items, as well as your casual fan selling the item to buy their ballpark beverage. Also, there are other reasons to get places early. At Target Field, they hold a Saturday festivity where local celebrities compete with each other and the TC bear, the Twins mascot, in home run derby. They’re positioned about 30-50 feet behind second base, and they try to hit a softball over the fence. They each have seven swings, and the most home runs wins. I was under the assumption that everyone would be popping balls out and giving fans souvenir softballs, but when the first guy bounced it to the warning track, it was obvious this wouldn’t be the case. The next two radio hosts hit a couple of pop ups, but nothing even close to where the first guy was hitting it. The final contestant was the TC Bear, full mascot suit, left handed, and had a smiley face head on. On the first swing, the mascot ripped one into the upper deck, and the crowd went wild as if they’d seen a streaker. The mascot obviously ended up winning, and we were very happy we got to experience it. Daily Route: Minneapolis, MN to Madison, WI Daily Cost:

Parking was cheap, gas wasn’t needed, and the hotel was outside of the city. However, it was cold and rainy and the free cowboy hats were not keeping us warm, so Elise bought a blanket. Total Cost: $210 Cost per Person: $105

US Cellular Field and the Chicago White Sox, Ballpark 10 Elise and I estimated that it would take about 4 hours to get to the game, which included the drive to Chicago, the shuttle to the airport, the metro ride downtown, then the line transfer to the ballpark. Leaving at 6:30 AM gave us plenty of time to do this. It was 35 degrees hotter than it was the day before at the Twins game, and when we got to the ballpark, we sought out shade as the top priority. Being the middle of the morning, we were able to check out a Chicago sporting apparel store outside, before getting something to eat at a sports bar and restaurant attached to the ballpark. We could have spent a couple hours in the store because it was two stories filled with jerseys, history and air conditioning. But because we were trying to be cheap, we decided to escape to fight temptations of spending money. The bar and areas around it were all giving out free merchandise, and after g up several of our favorite names, we got a couple of t-shirts and hats. Then with our new swagger, we enjoyed a nice pre-game scene at Bacardi at the Park, before heading into US Cellular. Chicago White Sox; U.S. Cellular Field; Chicago, Illinois; Stadium #10; May 27th Opened in the early 90’s, the ballpark still carries a couple things that frustrate me about many ballparks. First, along with batting cages and radar pitching area, which promote action, they have a video gaming station, where fans can play video games at the ballpark. Second, they have cellphone charging stations, which should only be useful for fans who don’t have a charger and get to the ballpark early. Another frustrating aspect Cellular was that if you bought a 500 level ticket, you could not access the main concourse or any of the lower levels. The

teenage ushers had rigid guidelines, and wouldn’t allow me to even take pictures. Fortunately, after talking to guest services, and explaining my mission, I was able to check out some pretty neat features of the ballpark. First, they had a black and white scoreboard with vintage graphics that was pretty neat to watch. Also, fans were able to beat the heat by using an old shower from Comiskey Field, which is a well known place at the ballpark. Among the neat features of the ballpark, we were able to see a few cool things in the game itself. The league’s leading hitter, Konerko, hit a three run homer for us. We saw our first two triples of the trip, which came back-to-back. In the 10 games that we had seen, there were 5 people hit by a pitch, but on that one day we saw 6 people get plunked. There was a 1 - 2 - 3 double play and a play-atthe-plate. That day we also got to see Orlando Hudson, who had played for the San Diego Padres, play for a different team, the White Sox, only a couple weeks apart. The White Sox were able to sweep the Indians on that Sunday afternoon, and we made the long trek back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. Lesson #43: The only way to fully understand the transportation system is to experience it. We picked a hotel an hour outside of the city because of the cost. The hotel had a shuttle to the airport, and the airport was on the CTA Blue Line which was an hour trip directly into the heart of the city. From there, the Red Line would take its engers North and South to either ballpark in Chicago. The timing was largely based on waiting for the shuttle and the trains and their respective stations. We realized on the first trip into the city that we would need a lot of time to get from A to B while we were there. And even though we saved a good amount of money by picking the hotel, we had to plan our time accordingly to adjust to the activities we had planned in Chicago. We would learn a lot about public transportation during those next five days. This lesson was also learned in St. Louis a few days before. The timing situation was not misestimated, but the location and convenience was. For St. Louis, the Metrolink does not reach out to much of the activities we wished to participate in, forcing us to walk several miles that day. The Metrolink is extremely efficient

for all Cardinal fans getting to and from Busch Stadium, but other attractions require extra measures and possible knowledge of the bus system. After using the Metrolink, and the CTA in Chicago, as well as the Skyway in Minneapolis, we became more proficient with them. This necessary awareness became an aspect of large research emphasis further along the trip. Daily Route: Madison, WI to Chicago, IL Daily Cost: We found a modest hotel out near the airport, which enabled us to shuttle then take the CTA into the city. This was a one time fee which we set to the next day in the city. On the way to the city, we did need a tank of gas but it wasn’t too bad overall. The first 10 ballparks set us back a little over $3,000 dollars, so if our costs stayed consistent, we’d be looking at spending less than $10,000 between the two of us. Total Cost: $200 Cost per Person: $100

Exploring Chicago and its Airport The bulk of the day was planned around meeting a friend and picking up my brother at the airport. This wouldn’t be a big chore as the hotel location was established to provide easy airport access. Nemo was excited to us, and Elise and I were excited to add a new member. With more people on the trip, using a car becomes cheaper as gas can be split up and hotel and parking costs can even be spread out. However, more space is taken up and food and ticket prices go up. But beyond the cost savings and space eating, we like Nemo. Along with a big pre-trip lesson, like the people you travel with. Before we had to go to the airport, we decided to take our morning to explore downtown Chicago. A very big city, we were able to enjoy a few simple sights for a couple of hours. Besides stepping into a few souvenir shops and walking around, our main objective was Millenium Park. The park is pretty neat with a few Chicago specific attractions that are national and international tourist magnets. We were even able to take a picture of ourselves taking a picture of ourselves in the reflection of the Bean. The fountains and the park in general were packed because it was Memorial Day, and it was great to see people enjoying their day off. And although grilling out is customary, we had an agenda that we needed to stick to. First, we took the hour long train ride back to the airport, where we would meet a friend on a layover and pick up Nemo. We were able to keep our homesickness dormant by relating to our lovely friend Grayson, who was going to be backpacking across Europe for a month with people he hadn’t met. Seeing Grayson was planned last second, and it was one of the highlights of the trip. Seeing someone from home far from home, brings home closer. Nemo came bringing stories and memories from home, and everyone was excited to build on the trip. Our first step, Chicago style pizza. Piled an inch thick with cheese and topped with tomato sauce, it was an experience that ended with full stomachs rather than empty plates. After that, with Nemo tired, we went back to the hotel to plan the next day and

relax a little bit. Unfortunately, with Memorial Day we were unable to pick up supplies at a grocery store, Lesson #38 not quite learned, but the down time was used to cut out time for grocery shopping the next day. As a daily recap, we got pictures of the postcard images of Chicago, as well as ate the famous Chicago pizza. But it was one of the most tiring days because of the emotional toll, and the fact that we went to the hotel pool. Lesson #44: Ask for and take advice. We reached out to people on social media websites asking for recommendations on what to check out and where to eat, for a large majority of locations where we had time to check out and eat things. Several times we were able to get good advice and act on it, and in Chicago, this was one of those times. We were told to go to the Chicago specific chain of Giordano’s Pizza, and while other people recommend other places, we did not regret this decision and would recommend it to others. Daily Cost: As mentioned before the cost for everyone’s CTA card for the week was set on that day. The pizza wasn’t the cheapest we had had over the course of the trip, and we managed to find the only toll in Chicago, but that only set us back $1.50. The biggest advantage of the day, with reference to cost, was that we had an extra person to cut down the cost per person. Total Cost: $190 Cost per Person: $63

Wrigley Field and More of Chicago It is typical for people to experience a few days where their body feels like cement as they try to pull themselves from the sheets to get out of bed. For Nemo, that was Tuesday, May 29th. After some motivation, we were able to mobilize into the city for a day game at Wrigley. Because of the time it took to get to the ballpark, we went straight there rather than hanging out downtown for any amount of time. On the train to the ballpark, the Red Line to Addison, we ran into a couple of Hokies. And as I’ve mentioned before, nothing cures homesickness like a reminder about how small the world is. Also, nothing builds energy of the trip like being able to talk about and share what you’ve learned. As we arrived in Wrigleyville, we parted ways to check out the scenery. We found a bar and got some Chicago local craft beer. If you are not able to do this, you’re not in Wrigleyville. Tradition was spilling from every nook and cranny a block from the ballpark and our excitement was building as we took all of the typical pictures we had seen in movies and pictures. Chicago Cubs; Wrigley Field; Chicago, Illinois; Stadium #11; May 29th Beyond rating ballparks, Wrigleyville was one of the coolest areas I had ever been (the ballpark and surrounding blocks). And while I’d like to say it was indescribable, I’ll try to describe it. There were stands on top of apartment buildings that were able to look into the field, because the park didn’t have enough seats or something. Wrigley did not have a true jumbotron video board, and they didn’t need one. They had a manual score board with the umpires numbers listed just in case the fans knew the guys in blue by number. One of the events we recorded was the 7th inning stretch to learn what different teams did for this tradition. The tradition at Wrigley Field was not to play a pop

song after, but to actually sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. It was a blast. They had the idea that if the ball comes back into the field after a home run, it shouldn’t count as such, so every opposing home run is thrown back. There are about 16 shops selling Cubs memorabilia within eyesight of the entrance, if you’re spinning. These shops are all filled. They love their Cubs like family. People go to Wrigley, to be there, regardless of the product on the field. People just love the experience of a ballgame; at least the people in the bleachers felt this way. The walls of the outfield are covered by ivy. The game was a pitchers duel until the 5th inning where the Cubs eventually took the lead and the win. It was a fitting result as the winning pitcher was the featured bobble head given to the first 10,000 fans. As for firsts, we got to see a balk, Alfonso Soriano make a diving catch and then hit a home run in the same inning, and a wild pitch steal of home. In my notes I even emphasized the ability for Elise to almost finish her soda. And even more bizarre, there was a possible double play that was broken up but then called out by runner interference, where both coaches decided to come out at the same time to argue with two different umpires about two different calls. I wasn’t quick enough to focus with the camera, but we were all pretty baffled in the stands. I’m pretty sure that’s a rare experience, maybe on the level of a streaker. Post game we decided to take the advice of my father, a big SNL fan, and go to the Billy Goat Tavern. Not only home of the “cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger” skit, but it’s also the home of the 1954 World Series goat curse, where the owner was not allowed to bring his goat into the stadium. The burger t was fantastic, and like Wrigleyville, full of tradition. And it was hard to find, until we looked underground. After grabbing a bite to eat, we decided to utilize the most of the remaining daylight and head to the top of Willis Tower and watch the sun set. From the observation deck, it was pretty neat to look over the city much like we did in Toronto. It was more difficult to find the ballparks, and they were a lot smaller in the distance, rather than looking onto the field of the Rogers Centre. It was humbling to watch the sunset over the big city of Chicago, and we

probably took more pictures than necessary. I definitely recommend watching the sun set, or rise, from an observation deck or tall building at least once. Lesson #45: Know alternate, even if longer routes of public transportation. After the game, we were going to take the Red Line back downtown, and the station was packed with a line running a block away from the entrance. After talking to a few people and doing some research, we found out that there was a fire forcing the line to be shut down temporarily. Rather than try to wait the several hours, and having things to do, we looked into alternate modes of transportation. And in big cities, while taxis are readily available, they can be expensive. So we found the nearest bus stop, less than a block away, and again, after doing some research, found the appropriate bus that would take us into downtown. Because we were able to hop on the bus, we could continue with our daily plans, save time, and even a little bit of money. From that point on, we made it a goal to research bus schedules as well as train schedules of the big cities we found ourselves in, just in case. Daily Cost: Meals, tourism, a baseball game and an amazing day in Chicago. Chicago wasn’t as kind to our wallets, but I’d gladly drop that again for the same experience in a day. Total Cost: $370 Cost per Person: $123

Wrigley Field Again You know how little 7 year olds get really Christmas-style excited for foul balls or batting practice two hours before the game, preventing the parents or guardians from hanging out in local bars and drinking? Paint a goatee on one of them and you’ll get Nemo. We asked Nemo what he wanted to do that day, and thinking yesterday was fun, he wanted to do that again. So that was the plan, day game in the Wrigley Field bleachers. A side note to Wrigley Field is that like U.S. Cellular, a ticket to one part of the ballpark does not grant you access to the rest of the ballpark. The bleachers are completely separated and require a different ticket than the main grand stands. Two lessons came into play on this would-have-been-day-off that we would have used to exploring Chicago. First, Lesson #41, use spare time to plan. That morning before everyone woke up, I was planning and booking hotels for Texas and the West Coast. Second, Lesson #27, when on a baseball trip, go to baseball games. We probably could have seen more of Chicago, but it’s hard to not go to Wrigley Field when you have the opportunity. Pre-game we ventured across the street for Wrigleyville Dogs, and while this not only added to our hot dog count, they were our first restaurant hot dogs in a couple weeks. I’d recommend this place as a must go when in the area, but every place is a must go, so it really depends on how much time, money, and how much of an appetite you have. Lesson #34, the game and atmosphere are more enjoyable when involved and invested. Before the game, like mentioned earlier, we went to batting practice, sported Cubbies gear, took group pictures, and talked to Cubs fans. We sat in the center field bleachers, which ended up being great seats. All of the fans there were happy, talking, drinking, and cheering. No one was concerned about embarrassing themselves, or disrupting the section, so everyone was loud together. During the game, Quentin for the Padres delivered another 2 HR effort and the

Padres got up early. But playing gutsy baseball, and topping off the most stolen bases we’d seen in a game by both teams with 7, Campana for the Cubs stole 2 with 2 outs in the 8th, to help tie the game. This led to the most dramatic 9th inning we had seen so far. Two outs, two strikes, and a man on first, we were on our feet expecting to at least see our first extra inning game. Darwin Barney cut that expectation short with a blast that landed 20 feet away in the bleachers for a walk-off Cubs home run. The crowd erupted in the “Cubs Win,” and the “Go, Cubs, Go” song as they raised the ‘W.’ We did not have a voice leaving the ballpark that day, and my hands were sore from high-fiving everyone who made eye . From Cubs fans, we were able to pull some pretty solid quotes that describe how they enjoy Wrigley and Wrigleyville before and during the game. First, the ticket fee to attend is, “the only drinking cover-charge [he] will ever spend.” Because it’s a big social atmosphere where you buy drinks before moving to the next bar. It was essentially described as an all day event in the area. Also while talking, we learned “baseball here is more of a social thing, around 80% of these people will be at the bars outside later and when there isn’t a game. It’s a party all summer.” We were able to utilize the bus system and train portions of the CTA again to get back to the hotel, and did a little shopping before calling it a day. The cooler was continuing to be useful. We were able to escape the afternoon without spending a lot of money, and we were proud of that. Lesson #46: Get up, get excited, and go all in for each day. This was the first day of the trip where we didn’t have actual plans. Initially, we assumed we would sleep in and check out some of the typical Chicago sights and sounds. This day would not have been a bad day. However, from the enjoyment we had the day before, there was no reason not to experience that again. When we decided that another Cubs game was something we wanted to do, we were going to go all in. We got up for batting practice, were excited for baseball in our Cubs attire, and had a blast. That day, we were Cubs fans and not tourists. Daily Cost: Settling for a cheaper meal and an extra baseball game, we saved nearly a couple

hundred dollars compared to the previous day. Total Cost: $200 Cost per Person: $66

Navy Pier and More of Chicago One of the first notes that I recorded during this day was “when you’re prepared, you’re happy.” This thought goes along with lessons that I started writing about such as the #3 classic of planning ahead. It became our tourist mission to check out Chicago’s Navy Pier, which is down town on the water. It’s full of shops and has a few points of interest that we explored. First, there was the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, and within it, or along the way, was a year to year history of Chicago. Both of these occupied a good chunk of our time as we also hit up a few of the shops and of course stopped by the legend Harry Caray’s Tavern, which is a restaurant and sports museum. The Navy Pier itself was seemingly a tourist trap and one that could be very bustling on days when it wasn’t raining. Unfortunately for us, on this day, it was raining. The boat tours were nonexistent, and we were limited in our actions on that day. Lesson #47: Rain can ruin days, if you do not have a tarp or a trained grounds crew. The night before, I made a note that I was disappointed that there wasn’t a game to go to or plans to act on the next day. The plans for the day were not in my hands, and the idea was that we would go into Chicago and walk around the downtown area, specifically to the Navy Pier. Because it was raining that day, we decided to try to stay dry and take a bus. We were unable to find the correct bus for a while, and when we did, we had wasted time and got lost. We did accomplish Chicago things, but if it were sunny, our day would have gone much more smoothly. With reference to the tarp and grounds crew, this could have been attained by planning for the rain and knowing which buses to use as well as establish other plans that could have been put into place depending the weather. We would learn for next time to prepare for the rain, because when you’re prepared, you’re happy.

Daily Cost: Our rainy day fund increased because of how little we spent on this day. After the hotel, we bought a souvenir glass and a meal with some drinks. It was a very modest day with a little free tourism included. Total Cost: $140 Cost per Person: $47

Miller Park and the Brewers During the planning phases, we put in a lot effort to have days like June 1st when it comes to travel. Chicago to Milwaukee was a nice drive to make for a baseball game, regardless of whether you’re driving across the country. The trip was a smooth 90 minutes. The quick drive and the ability to check into our hotel allowed us time to get housekeeping and laundry done. We had to plan for these details and stay organized so that the trip could continue to go smoothly. Milwaukee is known for its breweries, and since we were going to a ballpark named after one of these beverage companies, we needed to take a tour of one. We went to a smaller and more of a local brewery called Sprecher. If you’re a fan of beer, or even art, I recommend taking a tour of a brewery. There’s an elegance that goes into the creation of beer and observing this craft and ion can be a unique experience. Also, many brewery tours include free tastings and souvenir glasses, so it’s usually more than worth the small fee. Another well planned out detail for the day was the hotel shuttle. After the tour we went back to the hotel to get the shuttle to the game early. Milwaukee Brewers; Miller Park; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Stadium #12; June 1st For the first time in a week we were able to explore the entire ballpark, rather than be restricted to our ticketed area. Miller Park is a fascinating place with a wedge roof that opens at home plate and has windows that will let sun in when the roof is closed. Overall, very neat ballpark; from the slide at Bernie’s Dugout, to the Brewers clock and other festive decorations, to its overall structural magnificence. Coming from Chicago, Miller Park did not have the general feel of Wrigley, but

more importantly and more noticeably, it didn’t have the Wrigleyville. Miller Park is a stand alone ballpark, which meant there was nothing there besides the park and the only way there was by driving or getting a ride. And even though it’s surrounded by fields of pavement, it’s easily accessible by interstate and highway. A big thing in Miller Park and Milwaukee, and Wisconsin as a whole is sausage and grilling. The popularity sets up the big attraction in the bottom of the 6th inning known as the Sausage Race. And while these mascots can been seen all over the ballpark, another hot dog should draw more fan interest. While in Milwaukee, I had the best hot dog of the trip. The following is a blurb from an article I wrote on aforementioned hot dog: “Milwaukee’s Miller Park, with the basis of trying to serve fans what they couldn’t grill themselves, has an outside area called Plaza Pavilion Grill, where they create the best hot dog in baseball. In order to get there, after walking in the front gate (right behind home plate) take a right and step outside into a gated off area where they have grills and smokers, and smells like cook out/ tailgate heaven. “This hot dog would be an outstanding hot dog served plain in my opinion, juicy right off the grill with the crispy grill marks, it is then wrapped in thick strips of bacon. If you’re looking for a nice barbecue sandwich, they smoke brisket at this grill as well, and I know that the brisket is good, because they put THAT on the hot dog wrapped in bacon. They serve it with a fork, which confused me at first. The first notion is to try to fit this sandwich of delectable meats into your mouth, which fails only a little by making a mess. The fork comes in after you’ve finished the dog, to clean up the remains. “I love baseball as much as the next person, but I could very easily see fans buying a ticket as a cover charge to get ahold of that hot dog.” The baseball game unfortunately did not provide the trip excitement that the hot dog did. But it was a good game nonetheless. We got to see the Pirates win another game, and another set of back-to-back triples. As for seeing something new, during the game we saw 6 runs in an inning, which was the most we had seen. Also, after the win and home runs, their mascot slid down the slide in left field and they shot off fireworks, inside. Both of which we had not seen.

Lesson #48: Be social, the friends you make could have amazing stories and helpful advice. Everyday we would realize how fortunate and blessed we were to be making such a trip. In Milwaukee, on the shuttle back to the hotel, we would learn that lesson in one of the biggest ways of the trip. First, for the lesson, being social means talking about the trip to people around you. While social media can help, it is not the only thing. In St. Louis, we ran into a man who had been following the trip for some time, because he found us on one of these sites. On the shuttle back to the hotel, we overheard a gentleman talking about taking the exact same trip. We were both on stadium #12, and staying at the same hotel, so we had to interject. We ended up talking to our newly met friend, Joel Shirley, for a good amount of time, sharing stories, lessons and purpose. Mr. Shirley was traveling to all 30 ballparks on his motorcycle as a tribute to his late wife and to benefit Multiple Sclerosis research. He had a website that we followed from Wordpress entitled Terry’s Tribute Tour. It was awesome running into a man with the wisdom and class that Mr. Shirley had, and we would hope to provide even a fraction of his character to others that crossed our path. As for the lesson, being social helped us gain and spread wisdom, and in this case, we were humbled and ridiculously blessed to be in the situation we were in to make this trip. This trip was a dream come true for me and to have the time, resources and companions to make it was amazing. Daily Route: Chicago, IL to Milwaukee, WI Daily Cost: When we were planning the trip, we ended up getting an extra ticket to the game. This does not dissolve through to each person, but it is a charge we had to worry about. We also spent $13 on a brewery tour, and found another toll. Again, the big cost on the day was the hotel.

Total Cost: $310 Cost per Person: $90

Iowa and the Field of Dreams The plan for the day off from going to a baseball game was to check out the movie site of Field of Dreams, or go to the Field of Dreams. And the best part of traveling from Milwaukee to Kansas City, or Kansas City to Milwaukee, or living in Dyersville, Iowa is that it’s on your way! It’s around a 10 hour trip that we had planned on cutting in half so we could sleep in cheaper locations and have an easier drive. When traveling, it’s not a bad idea to break up drives for cheaper hotels because many times, the location knows of its tourism, which inflates hotel prices. We broke up this drive because we hadn’t driven more than 90 minutes in the past week. And along with Lesson #9, when you go somewhere, you might never get there again, so it seemed fitting to see this famous baseball attraction. The introduction hints at how little there is to do in Dyersville and at the Field of Dreams. While it is a neat site and cool field, its existence and worth is dependent on the movie and whether one has seen it. Unfortunately for our visit, the corn had already been harvested so we couldn’t walk from the corn onto the field like the movie (as there was no corn). We spent about a half hour there and completed the drive to the capital of the state, where we buckled down and started planning the next couple of days. It was nice to take some time to relax and prepare for busier days ahead. Lesson #49: Not all points of interest will live up to those expectations. I made a note saying that I wouldn’t drive over 500 miles to see the Field of Dreams again, and while I’m glad that I went, I stand by this statement. It wasn’t an exciting attraction of the trip. I’m not sure what we expected to find or feel when we got there, but the only thing besides the field, house, and bleachers were a visitors log and a shack that sold t-shirts. And while it is on the way (of a longer route) from Milwaukee to Kansas City, it’s along a few dirt roads, is limited on it’s appeal of typical tourist locations and doesn’t provide any factual history.

However, the movie is great, and I think that if I had taken this trip with eighteen people, it would be a phenomenal experience to play a game on the field. Daily Route: Milwaukee, WI to Dyersville, IA to Des Moines, IA Daily Cost: The point of interest that day was free, so the day turned out to be relatively cheap as well. We spent $50 on our first tank of gas in a week; dinner and hotel rounded out the entire costs of the day. Total Cost: $150 Cost per Person: $50

Kauffman Stadium and Kansas City, Day 20 Without hesitation, we got up earlier than originally planned to make it into Kansas City for the baseball game. Consistent with our Lesson #27, we were going to an unplanned game. Traffic was so smooth we made it there before they started charging for parking. I’m not sure of the rules and regulations on tailgating for Royals’ games, but if you’re not doing anything else that day, I’d advise getting there early, parking near the employees and grilling out. It will be fun, and will save enough money to buy a couple of beverages later. The complex was beautifully put together and a great place to host the 2012 AllStar Game. The fountains are a big deal in Kansas City, which we would learn more about the next day. Kansas City Royals; Kauffman Stadium; Kansas City, Missouri; Stadium #13; June 3rd This newly renovated venue showcased our first shut out of the trip. While 17 hits were given up, 5 double plays and a play at the plate and good pitching limited the damage to 2 runs for the Royals. Because they shut out the Athletics, this was good enough for the win. There is so much to do at Kauffman, our early arrival did not benefit us as much as it had in other places. For a small fee, there’s a kids area that includes a mini ballpark, mini golf, mini carousel, and other mini activities. For the historians, there’s a free of charge hall of fame with exhibits that highlight baseball as well as Royal greats. One benefit of taking a trip like this is the ability to see all of the talent across the league. In this game we got to see the young promising Royals squad with Hosmer hitting a home run and Gordon showing off his cannon by nailing a guy at the plate. We’re fortunate to have seen these players and have plenty more baseball to see more prospects and studs alike.

As for the facility, the fountains make the park unique but the grand stands are characteristically aerodynamic, complimented with a massive video board topped with a crown in center field. Because the ballpark is isolated like Miller Park in Milwaukee, driving is the only access but it provides a lot of parking as it is right next to Arrowhead, where the NFL Chiefs play. The ballpark is also fan friendly with reference to the in-game activities involving the mascot, Sluggerr, and fans. During the Sunday game, they dressed up kids to do the daily mascot race which provided extra incentive to cheer as it could not have been staged. Lesson #50: Check plans for the next day the night before. As we are always trying to go to baseball games, this lesson belongs to Elise and Nemo for doing the research. While hanging out after the moderately long drive that day they looked up things to do in Kansas City over a slice of pizza. Realizing we were close enough to make a 3 hour drive for a 1 o’clock game, we got into bed early and got up and into the car early. We unfortunately missed out on the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, because it was not open late on Sundays or at all on Mondays. This might have been one of the larger misses of the trip, and from everything I’ve heard, is a great place to learn about baseball. Daily Route: Des Moines, IA to Kansas City, MO

Daily Cost: We avoided parking costs by getting to the ballpark early. Unfortunately, we ended up buying dinner at the game, so that was more expensive than usual running us about $23 each. The hotel and tickets were the only other costs. Total Cost: $220 Cost per Person: $73

Kansas City and the Royals Our hotel location in Kansas City was located in the hip area known as The Plaza in the southern part of the city. The area had fountains on fountains galore and would have been even more excellent if we were away for a shopping weekend. Because we were on a two-month-long baseball trip, we didn’t have money to spend in the shops or even to throw into the fountains, so we just walked around for a couple of hours. It was a nice place and pretty day to do so. Taking recommendations, we went to lunch at Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque. Finding the original location, out of the several that exist, we were hit with the smell of smoking meat and then the visuals of famous history. Photos of actors, athletes, and politicians eating their barbeque wallpapered the inside of the old building. Back to the smell and meat, they were not shy when it came to serving size, and between the three of us, we easily got a pound of meat. It was lunch, and we weren’t able to finish everything. We got a unique Red Cream soda in a big 32 ounce souvenir cup, and spent a little bit of time just looking around after we finished. It was a fantastic meal that left us unable to move. Went to a place called the Crown Center. We regretted the waste of time, but it inspired us to walk more and check out more of the city, got a few views and pictures from taller hotels. In the heart of the city, we were able to learn a little bit about the surrounding history from a walkway that resembled a little cousin of the Skyway of Minneapolis. Architecturally, or historically, neat buildings that we saw included the Power and Light Building, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Sprint Center Arena, and Union Station or the location of the Kansas City Massacre (1933), of which we learned while we were there. After the extensive amount of walking and eating, we rested before heading off to Kauffman Stadium for the evening. Unfortunately, we had to pay for parking this time, but it wasn’t expensive. Side note, we had a tough time finding our car afterwards. The ballpark looked even better at night as the fountains lit up and changed

colors and the video board popped even more. The Twins were in town for this game, and Morneau hit a home run for us in a win for the visiting team. The game ended 10-7 in an essentially opposite result from the previous game. We were lucky to see both. As for firsts of the trip, we saw a pickle, or a run down, and while it was short lived, Nemo and I got to go crazy. As for the fan activities that day, Sluggerr, the mascot, was shooting hot dogs out of a cannon, like at PNC Park, but then threw a few more. Unfortunately, some thrown were not wrapped the correct way and they unraveled in air and separated from the bun and the aluminum wrapping. A hot dog came our way, and I jumped to retrieve it, and it unraveled. The dog pinballed through a few hands in front of me to the left while the bun soared cleanly towards the people behind me. Coming down from my leap, I swiped it and bit it in one motion. The awesome moment made me a fan favorite in the section, but I was still a little disappointed coming away with only a bun. Lesson #51: When you’re able to, walk to Kansas. As a surprise, that morning, while walking around The Plaza, I led my trusty followers towards Kansas. Although the walk was long, about 2 miles; boring, through a residential region; and made them suspicious; we made it. We can all say we’ve been to Kansas now, and because the tour was not going to cross that state line during the rest of the trip, we were able to cross it off. I know what you’re thinking here, “but you didn’t do anything there.” And while this is true, we didn’t do anything but drive through West Virginia, so why complain about only being able to step into Kansas. To be honest, it was cool enough to be able to say I’ve been there. And to be even more honest, it was even cooler to go there and back to Missouri and tell them, “we’re not in Kansas anymore!” The simple pleasures can go a long way. Daily Cost: Barbecue, baseball, and walking around Kansas City consumed the day, but kept the day fairly inexpensive. Total Cost: $190 Cost per Person: $64

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse I’ll premise this chapter with Lesson #9, when you go somewhere, you might not get there again. That was what this day was all about. We got up at 6 AM to drive through Omaha, Mount Rushmore, and Black Hills before resting our eyes. The drive to Mount Rushmore was a straight shot north through Iowa, before taking a hard left at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Because we had walked into Kansas the day before, and because we were on a baseball trip, we decided that checking out the College World Series Stadium, or TD Ameritrade Park, would be pretty cool. By doing this we were able to cross several things off the list: being in Nebraska, seeing a college facility, and of course, sneaking into a ballpark. The field was under maintenance in preparation for the weeks when the series would be held, and for the most part the gates were locked. However, in the outfield, a few had been left open. We walked in and around for a very short amount of time to take quick pictures and head on up to South Dakota. We drove through Iowa again, boring except for the part where we were ed by a train. The drive got interesting in South Dakota as we started to get to real mountains, cross a time zone, and even hit an allowable speed limit of 75 MPH. Taking recommendations called out from our buddy Damian on a social networking site, we stopped in the widely d (about 100 times by billboard, we counted) Wall, South Dakota. This tourist trap town was built to accommodate the travelers of old trying to cross the country. We had a meal there that wasn’t memorable, but the area as a whole was pretty neat appealing to the Wild West theme. We arrived at our second destination of Mount Rushmore, in Keystone, South Dakota, and after paying for parking were able to enjoy majority of the walking paths to enjoy this American sculpture. Its mystery and appearance are fantastic, and while it draws a crowd, the park area surrounding it is well kept and welcoming. We took many pictures. The next stop was Crazy Horse in the Black Hills, which was about 17 miles away from Mount Rushmore. When it’s finished it will be the biggest sculpture

in the world. Unfortunately, it’s not close to being finished. We watched a documentary upon entering the private land which taught us of the history as well as the potential of the area, fascinating mission but in need of some significant progress in order to be completed in my lifetime. The pictures do not grasp the scale, and it was neat to see, but because of its location, it’s difficult to find worth in visiting without completion. At this point, daylight was escaping us and our cartographer/ navigator, notified us of the town with his name. At that point, we went through a crazy fun tour of the back roads of South Dakota as the sun set in search of Nemo. And while this gave us the ability to make movie reference jokes that had no connection to what we were actually doing, finding Nemo took a little bit of time. After grabbing a souvenir for the rookie member of the traveling squad, we made it to our hotel in Spearfish, South Dakota. We had been on the road for over 14 hours and had driven over 820 miles. Smartly, we didn’t run out of gas, but we spent about $135 on over 38 gallons filling up 3 times. It was a long day. Lesson #52: Even when you’re far away, you could be closer than you’ll ever be. To go along with Lesson #9, going somewhere because you might never get there again, our day revolves around this lesson a little bit better. As for Lesson #9, we weren’t exactly close to Mount Rushmore, because we were about 800 miles away. However, the chance that we’ll be that close with 4 days to get from Kansas City to Colorado again is pretty small. We set up the plan to venture out and take in the sites, because it is something we thought would be worth doing. Honestly, it was well worth it. The baseball trip had the goal to see all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. The baseball stadiums led us to, or in this case, close enough to, places that we had never been but wanted to see. For this reason, we gave ourselves enough time to do many of those things. Because we planned a few days away from the ballpark to check out these sites, we named the trip the 30 Stadiums and United States Tour, or the website www.30stadiumUStour.com. The trip taught us that distance away from something, when you want to get there, is relative. That is why we went North, and that is why we went to Nemo.

Daily Route: Kansas City, MO to Omaha, NE to Wall, SD to Keystone, SD to Black Hills, SD to Spearfish, SD Daily Cost: Three tanks of gas were needed to get us where we needed to go. Other costs that we hit were that of parking and park ission, and of course hotel and food. Total Cost: $320 Cost per Person: $106

Devils Tower and Wyoming From a distance, the majestic first national monument of the United States stood out as impressive. At the first glimpse of Devils Tower, we stopped to take pictures. After that, we stopped a couple more times before arriving. We spent nearly an hour hiking around the geographic phenomenon, taking pictures every few minutes. An awesome experience, even though it’s a little out of civilization. Devils Tower might be a monument of aliens according to pop culture, but it was definitely my favorite non baseball point of interest on the northern leg of the trip. According to the notes, I drove for forever to get to Grand Teton National Park. From this drive I two things that can be used as advice. First, every possible route that indicated a scenic route, we took. Some routes were disappointing or lacking compared to the others. Those others were phenomenal though, and we spent a lot of time just stopped taking pictures. If you’re in an area that indicates a scenic route, and you have a GPS, gas and time, do it. (There is a chance that it will be a waste of time. However, there is a larger probability it will provide those postcard pictures of nature that you find on your friends’ social networking sites, which are too good to have been taken by them.) From the scenic routes, we finally ended up in the National Park of Grand Teton, where we drove even further checking out back roads and getting to our hotel in the town of Alpine. Even our hotel room had a back door that led to a view that was so inspiring; I would follow the sunset to the stars and got up early for the sunrise just to take pictures of all of them. I had the Snake River and a couple of mountains in my backyard. I took hundreds pictures, but the camera couldn’t represent the appreciation I felt for nature at this point. Lesson #53: Construction in Wyoming means closed roads. This is the second thing that I learned while driving across the state. We hit five road construction sites, and typically, where I’m from, this just means backed up traffic and slow moving along a one lane road for about 100 yards maximum. In Wyoming, it is not slow moving, it is stopped. In Wyoming, it is not 100 yards, it

is several miles and all gravel and dirt. Where there is construction near me, there can be a delay where you stop at a hand held stop sign for a minute or two to let the people going in the opposite direction drive through. In Wyoming, you stop for fifteen to twenty minutes minimum to let construction happen and to let people approach in the opposite direction. However, in Wyoming, because the conditions of the stretch of road under construction is so bad, they do give you a pilot car to follow. We hit Wyoming construction five times. We spent over an hour behind a make shift stop light (no person required), or behind a pilot car. Because of this and the scenic routes, we were able to enjoy a total of 2 more hours of driving than we expected. Daily Route: Spearfish, SD to Devils Tower, WY to Grand Teton, WY to Alpine, WY Daily Cost: A trip to the store would save our food costs for the next day, but along with two tanks of gas, a hotel room, and dinner, the day wasn’t cheap. Total Cost: $250 Cost per Person: $84

Old Faithful I was up at 5:30 for the sunrise over the mountains and the river that morning. Just writing that makes me pause at its beauty, and pictures do not do it justice. It was going to be a long day, and the group had decided to backtrack to Old Faithful. I keep writing in my notes that “we wanted to stop and take pictures more than we wanted to drive.” This was one of those days as we left early for Old Faithful. We didn’t leave when I woke up, as I went back to sleep after my 5:30 sunrise viewing. We should have though, because when we arrived at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful, we were met with half of the population of Wyoming and over an hour and half wait. The waiting is normal though and we observed the surrounding National Park a little bit which included some falls and sulfur deposits. Looking at the pictures is phenomenal, but hitting each site during the last couple days humbled the entire experience. (This was not entirely bad because we still left in full awe of the experience.) Also, along with the trip notes, if you find yourself taking a trip like this one, you’ll be lucky enough to see animals such as deer, pronghorns, buffalos, cows, horses, foxes, rabbits, prairie dogs, moose and others. I mention this, because I hadn’t seen some of these critters before, and you’ll need to watch out while driving. With many miles behind us, we ventured to one of the only large globally commercialized department stores in Cody, WY, for food supplies for the evening and next few days. We made use of our cooler. As the sun went down that evening, we night drove through a portion of Wyoming. Because there is little in the plains of this national park riddled state, we decided the best course of action was getting behind commercial trucks to protect us from future road kill. Safely, we arrived in Laramie, where the University of Wyoming resides. We crashed there after driving 630 miles and over 12 hours again. Lesson #54: Have a co-pilot who can navigate using a map.

In order to see Old Faithful, we had to backtrack a couple hundred miles and a few hours in total. Because the group decided that this venture was worth the lost time, they took the reigns and drove for the first time during the trip. Nemo had become a cartographer, and Elise had helped navigate during the difficult paths. During this expedition, we had looped around, and caught ourselves in spotty cell reception. During road trips, if lessons are not followed, cell phones can lose juice, and even when they’re followed, reception is not always guaranteed. But because we had a map, and more importantly, someone who could use it, we were able to escape confusion, long roads, and Grand Teton National Park. We also ran into trouble that required the navigation assistance and map skills of both Nemo and Elise earlier in South Dakota. Also, a com, on the car or in the hand help when using a map. Daily Route: Alpine, WY to Old Faithful, WY to Cody, WY to Laramie, WY Daily Cost: The day was relatively cheap only setting us back another trip to the store, a tank of gas, entry fee to the park, and a night at the hotel. Total Cost: $220 Cost per Person: $73

Coors Field and the Colorado Rockies The voyage back to civilization started the day as another member needed to be picked up from the airport in Denver before the game that evening. The scheduling worked out well again as we had time to get breakfast and drive before the plane landed. The Denver International Airport was the second airport that we visited on the trip, and while we decided to get lost for a little while driving around it, the pick up was smooth. Gregory provided entertainment from the start, while we took some time to regroup before heading into town. The car needed a cleansing after driving the roads through the parks and Wyoming, as well as an oil change. The ballpark is nestled downtown in a scene much like Busch Stadium, where the outside is neat, architecturally fascinating, but nothing like Comerica that screams Rockies. Surrounded by bars and even a brewery, the area resembled a new age Wrigleyville, but being in the middle of Denver, it hosted more upscale venues, and expensive restaurants. We were able to find a bar next to the park with a local flavor, where we enjoyed a few drinks and talked about home before heading into the ballpark. Colorado Rockies; Coors Field; Denver, Colorado; Stadium #14; June 8th Before going into Coors Field, we made our way around to find out they were giving out free Rockies hats, and being excited to get free memorabilia, Gregory and Nemo jumped on the opportunity. The excitement for the little things has been a huge driving force of the energy of the trip, and as the little things built up, the trip was much more fun. Highlighted by a purple ring of seats and a small forest in center field, the ballpark provided nice amenities and plenty of foods for the average fan to love. However, what really made this ballpark fantastic was the view of the sun setting over the Rocky Mountains that we were able to enjoy throughout the later

innings under the purple brims of our hats. This surreal event sured the appeal of the left field mezzanine, center field fountain, and the ability to sit a mile above sea level and would have been well worth the visit even if the team wasn’t playing. There was in fact a game that evening and it showcased itself as one of the biggest single performances we had seen on the trip. Torii Hunter hit 2 home runs, and knocked in 6 runs for the Angels as they beat the Rockies 7-2 behind the arm of CJ Wilson. And Hunter’s production was not limited to those 6 runs; he scored the 7th. We were privileged to see the talented show by Mr. Hunter as well as another well respected ball player and future Hall-of-Famer Todd Helton. Even in his age, he provided more offense than most of his teammates that game. He is so well respected in Colorado that he has his own restaurant in the ballpark that we were also able to check out. Lesson #55: Not everything will be fun for everyone. After picking up Gregory, I needed to get an oil change and car wash, and rather than drag everyone to do this, I put on a movie for them, and gave them juice boxes to hold them over. Typically, this lesson can be sent to parents with kids, but those are the people who already know this lesson. In other scenarios, if the group wasn’t tired, I could have taken them to a point of interest, from a museum to a zoo, to kill the time while I did chores. This lesson was the realization that my time isn’t everyone else’s time. And while the schedule needed to be followed, and I was their ride home, they didn’t need to be with me 100% of the time. Daily Route: Laramie, WY to Denver, CO

Daily Cost: After a tank of gas, an oil change, and a car wash, the amount we spent on the car was around $100 that day. We also paid for parking, but the number of tickets and the cost of our food increased. Gregory ed us as a fourth member, so our costs per person were again cut. Total Cost: $380 Cost per Person: $95

Scenic Driving in Colorado It was a simple set up day, to put us in a position to tackle the beauty of the American Southwest. It was going to be a pretty drive through the entire state of Colorado, with enough time to rest and watch the NBA playoffs when we got to our hotel. The best part about not needing to be somewhere at a certain time is the ability to take time and enjoy scenic views and utilize scenic byways. Over the course of this 8 hour, 400 mile drive, we were able to bond. The car bonded over simple games and musical trivia, and if we weren’t in awe of the surrounding area, and Gregory’s first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, we still would have been entertained. There were, however, a few things that hit us as unplanned on that drive. First, while overlooking a jagged cliff onto a beautiful postcard worthy valley, they had a fence warning people not to cross. Gregory crossed this fence. Do not cross fences with warnings about not crossing when the other side is the edge of a cliff that leads hundreds of feet straight down. This does not need to be a lesson to most people. However, after Gregory’s left foot lost traction as he was trying to get a better view, we knew he hadn’t learned this lesson. My heart jumped, as I’m sure his did too, and we were extra careful from then on in (on the trip, as in life). We had found out that the National Parks can be dangerous places, and should be treated as such, no view is worth a life. Gregory was not hurt and only yelled at to at least heed the instructions that are common sense. The second thing that hit us was the traffic warnings driving into the city where we were staying that night, Cortez. We were warned traffic might be bad because of the rodeo that was taking place that evening. We had not been practicing the lesson of “knowing what day it is, where you are currently,” but a simple Internet search could have helped us to avoid this traffic with timing, as well as given us the ability to go to a rodeo. Lesson #56: When in Rome, do as the Romans do (when in a Mexican town, eat Mexican food).

Because we were missing out on the rodeo, we felt that we had to do something cultural that evening. Nearby we had a few restaurants, but we felt as if the most authentic would be the best. We had been eating the pizza of the region in many of the places we had been, but the main dishes of regions should be enjoyed. Cortez was our place to enjoy a bite of Mexico, and even though there are more authentic places closer to the border and obviously in Mexico, it definitely hit the spot. Daily Route: Denver, CO to Cortez, CO Daily Cost: No major costs left us a pretty cheap drive to go along with our pretty scenic drive. Total Cost: $190 Cost per Person: $48

Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam The Western United States can provide wildlife that can be as fascinating as the geographical phenomena themselves. There was a time driving this day, after ing several random warning signs (from cubs to prairie dogs), where we had to stop for a moose. Wildlife was an aspect of the trip that we didn’t expect to run into, and were thankful to do so, and also blessed to not literally run into any. The closest we had come to prairie dogs and other animals that we saw on the trip was in a zoo, but we were well aware of the dangers. The eight hour drive across Arizona is an incredible journey through this variety of wildlife as well as many natural attractions. We started at Four Corners, which is the location where the states Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah come to meet. We all got our pictures standing in all four states at the same time. Knowing that we had a full day ahead of us, we had decided not to spend a lot of time or money on the next few attractions. By spend a lot of time, we meant extra time enjoying activities. At the Grand Canyon, there are probably hundreds of things that one could do, if one had the time and money, from viewing it from both the North and the South to rafting or canoeing. The awe of the Grand Canyon matched that of Niagara Falls, and despite being slightly harder to get to, was very easy to enjoy, because of its size and location. (While we took pictures of the Grand Canyon, we felt like they were all the same or that they ran together. But looking back through them, each is incredible.) To be able to stand near something that majestic is humbling. In order to keep with time, we drove along the southern edge of the canyon and on to the Hoover Dam. After some research, we failed to realize that we could park and enjoy the view of the amazing structure for free. Upon arriving, we were able to do this and follow groups of tourists through a park that described its builders, engineering, and the creation itself. And while we might not have been able to white water raft around the dam, we could have spent more time and money there. After the Hoover Dam, we had only a short drive to get into the Sin City of Las

Vegas. We had found a hotel and casino south of the strip for the next two nights. It was a different kind of awe and amusement to be hit with bright lights, loud sounds, slot machines, and the smell of stale hopes and dreams. I was traveling with 3 intelligent people, and I would sometimes like to consider myself intelligent. So when we arrived in Las Vegas, we knew we were going to experience it, because we might not be back. However, we weren’t going to throw away the rest of our trip by gambling all of our money away, so we set aside an entertainment fund. We thought of it as paying to gamble, so if we had $10 going in, we didn’t expect to leave with that $10. It was an expected cost, any gain would be bonus. Las Vegas did not bankrupt or corrupt us, and perhaps we also didn’t fulfill the realm of opportunities that the city had to offer, but that night we got a taste of what it’s about. In the notes, I left a line blank implying that it was crazy or that something bad happened (what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas), but we were responsible and smart. Lesson #57: Understand timing, time zones, and time frames or deadlines. Just because we could have spent more time and money there, does not mean we regret our decisions to handle things the way we did. For our trip, it was optimal to enjoy these parks and places without spending weeks and savings on it. After all, the money and time was primarily meant for the ballpark. We learned a lot about time at each step of the day. First, the location of Four Corners is on the Navajo Nation reservation, which is the only piece of Arizona that recognizes daylight savings time. We left so early that morning that the park would not have been open in Arizona time, but was by Navajo time. Second, by driving on the southern side of the Grand Canyon, we could make our connection a lot easier to the next stop (the Hoover Dam), but we did research options of staying and further enjoying the amenities of this spectacular American landmark. It’s also a lot longer, and harder to drive through than just the miles that are included. Not quite the difference of city versus highway miles, but closer than one expects. Also, as a sub-lesson for the day, buy a National Park if you’re considering visiting more than one in a full calendar year. It would have been worth the money.

Third, the Hoover Dam provides tours and is a great engineering marvel, but running out of daylight, it became more important to get to our destination. And finally, when we arrived in Vegas, we went to sleep. Yeah, it might have been after 3 AM, but we consciously made the decision not to stay up the entire night. We were able to enjoy things that we normally wouldn’t be able to because of proximity, but we didn’t delay the progress of our mission. Daily Route: Cortez, CO to Four Corners, AZ to Grand Canyon, AZ to Hoover Dam, NV to Las Vegas, NV Daily Cost: Park ission was the only extra cost on this beautiful drive into Vegas. Total Cost: $220 Cost per Person: $55

Las Vegas and Minor League Baseball We were able to spend some winnings on late night bowling and our first, somewhat unique, pseudo fast food experience of the trip. From that point on, it became acceptable to enjoy fast food that I couldn’t experience at home. Gregory might have fallen in love with Steak Shake during those two days, but we figured it was better that than gambling or other possibly negative Vegas habits. The hotel was attractive for us to follow Lesson #37, or taking time off from taking time off. Because of this, we made it our mission to enjoy all of the hotel’s amenities. And from the Steak Shake, casino, movie theater, and bowling alley, we conquered the hotel. These were cheap alternatives and a pleasant cool down in preparation for a Vegas show that night. We were able to sleep in and build back our energy from the previous week of extremely long drives. We did enjoy other touristy activities that day by driving down the strip during the day and at night, which was pretty entertaining. The show that night showcased a former MLB star named Vladimir Guerrero. And to save time and speculation, that show was the Las Vegas 51s. The show we saw was a baseball game, our first minor league game of the trip. The AAA game showcased a few ballplayers that we had already seen in Toronto, another multi-HR game, and Guerrero hit a triple. The minor league atmosphere is a different experience than the majors for the fans. In an article I wrote, I explored the advantages: “In-between innings at ballparks in the MLB, they have two main activities. First, the seventh inning stretch is always a classic. Second, there's usually a race of some sort. Now, these activities can be tons of fun for the whole family and have many times resulted in television highlights, especially if a racing sausage gets hit in the head with an accidental back swing. “However, if you're looking to entertain the entire family for the whole game, or your kids younger than 8, I'd advise heading to a minor league ballpark. For the parents, the tickets are cheaper, the parking is easier, and the beer is bigger (and often cheaper). For the little kids, the mascot's are always willing to take

pictures, give high-fives, and even heckle if you're wearing the opposite team's colors. There's a greater opportunity for the kids to get t-shirts and balls, and even less of a crowd and smaller area to get lost in. “Often at minor league parks, you'll be able to get involved in a game on the field where you create a human hamburger, run a race after spinning around a bat, or even play redneck horseshoes, where you hurl toilet seats towards a post. Next time you come across a minor league schedule, check out the promotions to find out if your Star Wars loving child can have a chance to get pictures with Darth Vader on Star Wars night. And while you're thinking about why the coach didn't put on the hit and run in the early situation for some insurance runs with a pull hitter at bat, your kids won't have to entertain themselves with the same thoughts; the mascot is funny. Plus for every baseball fan and for the price, most minor league parks are worth exploring.” Cashman Field in Las Vegas was a nice venue that was extremely family friendly and not too far from the things that were not. Located with a view of mountains that reflected a sunset, the back drop was a modest comparison to the soon to be seen Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles. It provided all of the entertainment listed above as well as discounts on food, drinks, and a cheaper than normal gift shop, where we did some shopping. Getting back that night, we felt the need to re-experience Steak Shake before getting ready to leave Vegas in the morning. We weren’t expecting to get addicted in Vegas, but anything can happen. Lesson #58: Know where you can go, where you are. In Las Vegas, you have to be 21 to be on the floor gambling at the casino. There’s a chance that we might have broken this rule and in fact gotten in trouble or removed for doing so. Also, in Wrigleyville, there were bars that we tried to get into unsuccessfully because we were traveling with an under. In no way do we regret our experiences or being held back by the ages of the of the group, but we would have been able to do different things had this not been a factor. It is something to be mindful of when traveling to or experiencing some of these places. On the positive side, it could provide a permanent designated driver. Daily Cost:

We set aside a specific amount of money for gambling, and established it as an entertainment cost, regardless of whether we lost it all or made money. After eating Steak Shake, bowling, watching a movie, and going to a baseball game (and buying jerseys and t-shirts), our costs added up quickly. It was the most expensive day where there wasn’t a flight. Total Cost: $680 Cost per Person: $170

First Glimpse of Los Angeles Upon entering Los Angeles, the second thing we noticed, after the traffic, was the smog. The third was the expensive gas prices; cleverly, we had bought gas before entering California, but this would not last the entirety of our duration in the state. For lunch, we found the California based In-N-Out Burger and enjoyed our first true fast food experience of the trip. Like Steak Shake, we figured since it wasn’t available where we were from, it was worth trying. The chain has a decent little history, a “secret” menu, and was definitely a good and interesting experience, although probably taken for granted by most Californians. After those negative aspects of the arrival into the city, we were able to find the scenic Mulholland Drive fairly quickly. This road is a fantastic way to check out and take pictures of the mandatory Los Angeles sites, from the skyline to the Hollywood sign. After locating ourselves and our hotel, we were fortunate enough to meet up with our uncle (from Virginia), who was in town on business , downtown for some pizza. The artfully crafted Neopolitan pizzas were outshone by the ability to discuss the first half of the trip with family from home. The world was getting smaller for us each day. Lesson #59: Traffic in Los Angeles is terrible, safety can be threatened among other things. I do not need to advise people to drive safe in a book about lessons on a road trip. It goes without saying. However, LA traffic is a horse of different color; be mindful of that. There are other things that can be threatened when it comes to the traffic. The first is habit; if you’re used to exit signs with street names and numbers, you will not get both, and a lot of writing is on the road, in a fashion that’s not normal for people outside of California to read. This results in confusion and hesitation. The second thing threatened, not including safety, is the most notable. The thing is time, and is why this chapter of the book is so short. Besides taking pictures on Mulholland Drive and checking into the hotel and dinner, majority of our

time spent in LA was in traffic on that day. We learned this lesson very quickly and applied it for the remainder of the trip that we spent there. Because there are two teams located in LA, it was a valuable lesson to learn. Daily Route: Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, CA Daily Cost: Another free self-guided tour of the city set up hotel and food as the only costs for the day. Total Cost: $190 Cost per Person: $48

Dodger Stadium and Los Angeles, Day 30 There were several things we had planned to do that didn’t materialize completely, for one reason or another. The first was to park on one of the offroads of Dodger Stadium. Even though new owner Magic Johnson cut the price of parking, free would have been cheaper. Because we were driving around during the work day, cars already occupied the common street parking. With uncertainty, unfamiliarity, and inability to read the indicating signs, we decided not to risk the towing of our vehicle and researched other methods. We ended up around Union Station in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, and even though we ventured through some bad areas to find it, we survived and began exploring. There was no way we’d be able to take in everything in LA, and didn’t plan on doing so. We decided that an extended, self-guided walking tour would satisfy the exploration of culture. From Union Station, we immediately enjoyed walking through a Mexican market, which was enriched with culture. We didn’t buy anything, but it got us excited about food. One of the better accidents of the trip happened when we decided to eat at Phillipe’s Original Restaurant on a whim. We discovered it by a quick search on a cell phone, and if we had had time to search for places to eat in Los Angeles a month ago, we probably would have stumbled upon it then. The place was fantastic, famous, and well worth the visit for even the atmosphere. The atmosphere was not what we were after though, and the food more than appeased us with these needs. The home of the original French dip sandwich had the best au jus soaked meal one could imagine. The classic feel in downtown LA had other unique but classic cafeteria style cuisine, and I highly recommend it. After a delicious lunch, we continued our walking tour to check out the Walt Disney Concert Hall and its glorious architecture. Nearby was the famous Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, where we took another self-guided tour and got to enjoy another series of famous stained glass (like Chicago... Not sure I’ll ever see as much stained glass in my life as I did in those two weeks).

We also decided to check out the not so touristy but cultured City Hall and Los Angeles City Mall, as well as walk through Chinatown on the way to the ballpark. Los Angeles Dodgers; Dodger Stadium; Los Angeles, California; Stadium #15; June 13th I’ll discuss two aspects of Dodger Stadium that I pulled from my experience. First, the stadium herded people like animals. Arriving, they didn’t let cars or people through the gates to the parking lot until 2 hours before the game started. So people and cars were lined up together to get into Chavez Ravine, where Dodger Stadium is located. Next, people could only enter the gate where their section was. A combination of both Chicago parks, if you were in the upper deck, you were confined to the upper deck, and if you were in the bleachers, you were confined to the bleachers. I’m not certain, but I think there are 5 sections that you can buy tickets for and cannot escape. If you bought tickets in the left field bleachers, you cannot walk over to right field or walk to the infield to get concessions, take pictures, or fill empty seats. These restrictions are frustrating and are only seen at a handful of ballparks. If I were a regular customer at either, then I’d be able to enjoy all parts of the park attending multiple games, but for the fans that don’t have an unlimited opportunity to check out these parks, it creates a closed point of view about what the ballpark looks like as well as about the ballpark. The second aspect pulled from the experience was the culture of the atmosphere. The park, with its symmetrical look and lack of unique features, had an aura about it. From the upper deck, the mountains were masked with smog and the parking lot was more on display from the back drop, but it was still a pretty place. The Dodger Dogs (and Super Dodger Dogs) were sweet, good, and longer than most hot dogs, but people weren’t going to the game for the food. The aura must have originated from the history and the ion of the fans. They loved their Dodgers and they made the stadium a blast to be in. But more than they loved their baseball team, they loved being at the ballpark. They brought

beach balls to throw around in the upper deck, (we counted 24), started chants, waves, cheered and heckled other fans, and even found love (we saw two marriage proposals). The Los Angeles Kings, from the NHL, who had just won the Stanley Cup, were in attendance with the Cup (second time seeing the Cup on the trip), and were all able to throw out a first pitch. Enhanced with the hockey team’s appearance, the air was buzzing that evening over central LA. The culture might have been catalyzed by the two Los Angeles baseball teams playing each other, but either way, it was a spirited event. As for the game, the pitchers duel went late into the game as the Angels belted a home run in the top of the 9th to take the 2-1 lead. The Dodgers had opportunities and fans on their feet in the bottom of the inning but choked on chances falling short. As for other notes, we were able to see our first real pickoff of the trip. Also, we were involved with and loved the ion of the fans, but we stayed away from the hostility; there was some noticed in the upper deck. (Dodgers Stadium has been known to be a dangerous place because of the ion.) Lesson #60: Explore parking and transportation options with regards to cost and traffic. A downfall of having sporting events start at 7 PM local time, is that fans who wish to show up early have to deal with rush-hour traffic. Normally, this is a minor inconvenience. However, in LA, when one isn’t accustomed to driving there, it can make the difference between getting to the game before it starts or not. The traffic issues in LA also build up post-game because of the way the Chavez Ravine traps fans, and while this is after the game, usually late at night with nothing to get to, it can still be frustrating. These traffic considerations are not typically considered when discussing parking, and it’s usually just a conflict of cost. However, one should analyze both. As mentioned earlier, one can park for free, on the roads outside the gates prior to the game, but they’ll also have to deal with traffic. Others can use the Dodger Stadium Express to and from Union Station, where parking is cheaper. While this won’t get you from A to B quicker than driving yourself, it does dilute the traffic you’ll have to deal with before and after the game. This is the

route we took, and it worked out fairly well. Daily Route: Los Angeles, CA to Oakland, CA to San Francisco, CA Daily Cost: Parking and walking far away saved about $4, and not using a hotel saved us a little over $100. However, the tickets, food, two tanks of gas, store costs and laundry ran up the costs for the day. There were days where I received benefits from friends, or family, or simply did not pay the amount that I expected to pay that day. During these days, I will add a “Total Cost without Benefits” amount. (Honestly, it wasn’t a benefit to not stay in a hotel.) Total Cost: $290 Cost per Person: $73 Total Cost without Benefits: $390

AT&T Park and the Giants Irony has hit us a few times on this trip, and when we were going to see the Giants play, it hit us again. That day was Nemo, Elise, and Gregory’s last day on the tour, which was sad and grieved about in the daily notes. I was staying in Oakland, and the rail system to San Francisco, the BART, had been shut down temporarily due to a rail fire. This was ironic because on Nemo’s first day, there was also a rail fire that shut down the line in Chicago, and forced us to find new transportation. Unfortunately, we didn’t fully learn that lesson before San Francisco. Instead of finding an alternate public transportation route, which there might not have been, we decided to take the long way around the bay to get to the ballpark. This took an extra hour but allowed us to check out Candlestick Park, without getting caught in heavy traffic. Upon arriving, we discovered how expensive the city is by means of how pricey parking was. Over a mile away we found parking for $20, but next to the ballpark, we could have spent $70 to park. The game wasn’t a special game either, where most ballparks jack up prices of tickets and pricing. San Francisco Giants; AT&T Park; San Francisco, California; Stadium #16; June 14th The entrance screamed San Francisco Giants almost to the extent that the entire outside of Comerica screamed Detroit Tigers. Walking in was even better; an incredibly unique ballpark that was a mix between PNC and Oriole Park at Camden Yards with a little extra standout advertising. Walking in, we were able to check out the ballpark from over McCovey Cove and then check out McCovey Cove from the side of the ballpark. The area around it was pretty well dressed in Giants spirit, making it feel like a modern Wrigleyville in that aspect. Unlike Dodger Stadium, Busch, and Comerica, the spirit on the inside didn’t

light up the ballpark. The previous game had been a perfect one thrown by Cain of the Giants, and while they had a nice video tribute the crowd cheered meekly. When we were in Detroit, the crowd erupted after seeing a video clip showing Verlander lose a no hitter in the 9th. Nearly every aspect of the ballpark was unique. From the Coke bottle slide, to the big glove, to the location of the bullpens, to McCovey Cove and its splash downs. Not that it relates to the ballpark or the trip, but AT&T also had the first female announcer we heard at the ballparks. As for the game the Houston Astros came out hot, and after a Gregory predicted grand slam, they held the victory. This was our first grand slam that we had seen on the trip, but we were also lucky enough to see a McCovey Cove splash down in the form of a home team home run by Brandon Belt. It was 1 of only 3 home runs that splashed down in 2012, regardless of team. The crowd didn’t have much to cheer for after that as the Giants couldn’t cut any deeper into the 6-3 deficit. That evening, we raced to each airport in the bay area to get the crew ready to fly home for school and camps. Again, it was well planned and very sad. Lesson #61: Don’t let inexperience and personal preference dominate rationality. Flashback to the night before, we had a free hotel waiting for us to use on our rewards program. We waited to book the hotel until we got on the road and had a good assessment of our energy. The drive from Los Angeles was 6 hours, and we had around 14 to get from ballpark to ballpark. After taking a poll, of people who weren’t driving in the car, majority decided we would drive through and find a hotel in San Francisco. This was against the previous plan, which was to book a hotel 2 hours into the drive and wake up for a 7 AM drive to get to the ballpark (which had already been done before). It would have easily allowed us 4-5 hours of sleep. Proceeding with majority, we hit two big problems trying to book a hotel in San Francisco on the drive though. The first was that because of the US Open going on that weekend, most hotels were already booked full. Again, not learning the lesson of knowing what day it is, where we were. The second problem became the biggest one, in that after a certain time, the smart phone application didn’t

allow for us to book a hotel for that night. For many people traveling across the country, they’re usually prepared to sleep in their cars or have camping gear, and while this is cheaper for road trips, this is not a preparation we made. It also wasn’t a preparation we could have made at this point as the car was full with the four of us on board. While this event is one of the biggest mistakes and regrets of the trip, when we got into Oakland early in the morning, we were helped out. The hotel staff (of my hotel the next night) was sympathetic towards the trip and predicament we’d built for ourselves, and they allowed us to crash awkwardly on their lobby couches and get in on the complimentary breakfast. Moral of the story, or other ways to word this lesson are ‘it’s better to be safe than sorry,’ or ‘book your hotels before you need them.’ Daily Cost: We all went to the ballpark that day, but only I stayed at the hotel. For this reason, the cost for me, or cost per person, is larger than it would have been if we all stayed at the hotel. There were tolls, parking and other costs which added up to appear like a normal day. Total Cost: $300 Cost per Person: $147

O.co Coliseum and the San Francisco Bay Before heading to the ballgame that evening, I decided to walk around Oakland for a few minutes to see how close the hotel was to the ballpark. I quickly walked back not thoroughly enjoying the scenery and drove to San Francisco to check out the sites. It was a pretty day for a drive, and there’s a lot to see that’s relatively far apart (for walking up and down hills) in the city. The parking situation is something to consider when you’re in San Fran, and it’s not exactly easy. Just like many cities, there are specifications on when you can park where, but unlike most cities, how you park is also regulated and necessary to know. Beyond seeing the city skyline, Alcatraz, and Lombard Street, I spent a lot of time walking around the historic parks and forts around the entrance of the bay where there are great views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The city is a showcase to phenomenal architecture, and a lot of time can be spent just checking out some of the buildings there. However, traffic during rush hour, to get over the bridges, is not much better than Los Angeles traffic. With traffic delays, I had just enough time to get back to the hotel and save money on getting the shuttle (from the hotel, big reason for picking the hotel) to the game. Oakland Athletics; O.co Coliseum; Oakland, California; Stadium #17; June 15th Upon arriving to the second and final multipurpose facility of the trip, I noticed stacks of bleachers stored on the side of one of the parking lots, and barbed wire protecting the fence across the bridge towards the pavilion that held the ballpark and an arena for the local NBA team. Also, entering the ballpark, majority of the upper deck had been covered with tarps that while reflecting the spirit, noted the lack of attendance compared to the football teams capacity. The football suite area is open for fans to walk through in center field, which is

pretty neat, because typically, non suite ticket holders at ballparks can’t even look into those areas. Also, like PNC Park in Pittsburgh, it is relatively easy to move around and sit in empty seats in the lower level. As for the spirit, it was drenched in Athletics garb, and the fans brought just as much spirit with a season-ticket-holding-section of fans that are probably the same people who wear the spikes and helmets at the Raiders’ games (the NFL team). There were several new notes that hit the sheets of our trip after this game. The first and simplest was that I saw the first fireworks show. Pertaining to the baseball game, a few pitching feats seen were that the Oakland pitcher, after getting an 8 run lead, won his first MLB game in 8 years (drought of 20042012). The second pitching feat was that the closer for the A’s took that 8 run lead and recorded a 3 inning save, also a first for the trip. And despite the 10-2 gap, and 6 runs scored by both teams in the first inning, 5 pitchers during the game was the fewest we had seen in one game on the trip. The environment was quite entertaining, and would be an excellent facility to attend a playoff game. The fans stayed until the end of the fireworks show and made it tough to get to the shuttle before it left; the shuttle was near the BART, which is where most of the fans were headed. Lesson #62: Share the purpose and sell the need to buy the tickets. First, this lesson doesn’t always refer to tickets. In the case of the previous night before the Giants game, it referred to the hotel room or a place to sleep. But the main idea is that there may be times where the tickets aren’t purchased ahead of time, and you might need to scalp or find cheap ones closer to game time. When I was in Oakland waiting for the shuttle, I ran into a couple headed to the game. We got to talking about the game, then myself, then the trip. They had interest in aspects of ballparks and methods of travel and were asking thoughtful questions as we waited and on the shuttle. Because these were nice people, I let them know that I didn’t have a ticket and was going to be buying one (had assumed it wouldn’t sell out, and it didn’t) at the game. These fantastic people from Reno, Nevada, not only sold me a cheap ticket, but hung out for a little while to talk more about the trip, as well as waited for me at the shuttle back. By sharing my story, planning, and insights, these people returned the favor by helping me with a ticket. On another note, the ticket was a

family Friday ticket, which included a hot dog and a soda, as well as ission; so they contributed to the hot dog count. Daily Cost: After people have left the trip, the total cost became the cost per person. The tickets, food, and hotel were fairly cheap for the day. Total Cost: $130 Cost per Person: $130

Safeco Field and the Seattle Mariners When I decided to have a hot dog as the mid morning meal upon my arrival in Seattle, I considered myself officially addicted. That being said, I’m not a huge coffee person and found myself in between about five shops and a hot dog stand. I met up with my friend, who had recently become a resident of the fine city of Seattle. Pat, the extremely hospitable host that weekend, started it out by giving me a simple tour of the downtown area. We checked out the world famous fish market at Pike Place. Along with the smells and culture, this was a great place to pick up views of the lakes. After taking in the sights from sea level, we moved on to Columbia Center. Columbia Center, the tallest building in Seattle, provides an outstanding observation deck where you’ll be able to see the Space Needle, the lakes, into the sports facilities, and Rainer on a clear day. The roof was open at Safeco Field before the game that night, so we were able to get pictures into it. They weren’t quite Rogers Centre, but they were much better than Chicago. After walking around the city and talking about a typical Saturday, and life for the host in Seattle, we met up with another friend who was living out in the Northwest. The three of us nestled into a brewery and bar across from the park and waited out the typical Seattle rain. Before entering the ballpark, and as the rain tempered off, I was able to do some quick souvenir shopping for people who had just left the tour. Seattle Mariners; Safeco Field; Seattle, Washington; Stadium #18; June 16th I noticed two things about the ballpark, and the first was that it was an engineering marvel. When we got into the park and took the initial pictures, the roof was on, and the windows were fighting out the remaining drizzle. When I got to my seats, the roof was open and the setting sun was shining in.

The second thing I noticed was that the fans were all just there to have a good time. Light-hearted baseball fans that would cheer for their team were regular, but they were all friendly, found entertainment and knew how to do the wave. We learned the in depth rules and design of the now popular game, Ground or Mound. We also had a home run hit into our section, and after several seconds of being left hanging, I did high five the recipient of that upper deck blast. In the end, the true M’s fans drowned out the fair weather fun seekers as the Mariners put up the last 5 runs of the game to edge the Giants 7-4. Another fun note of the day was that we saw our first clean double steal of the trip, but it only resulted in 1 run on a shallow single. After the game, we declined the free giveaway leaving the ballpark and went back to get ready for a fun day on Sunday. It might be the first openly declined giveaway at a ballpark for me, ever. It was a bag of Safeco soil. Easily a 10 pound, over the shoulder, what would I ever do with this, is this even allowed on planes, and would it fit in my car, bag of dirt. Lesson #63: It’s not practical to drive everywhere. While driving would have added another 1600 plus miles on the car, and directed us through the college town of Eugene, Oregon; the drive there and back would have taken over one full day. If I were trying to do San Francisco, or Oakland to Seattle and back in a car in a week, it would be a fun trip to hang out in Oregon and check out the parks in Northern California. However, the flights there and back were about 2 hours, and pretty cheap. Also, the SeaTac light rail system in Seattle, goes directly from the airport to the ballpark. So if I didn’t have the fantastic friends in Seattle, I could have left Oakland at 3 PM, and been back by 3 AM the next day (or a 12 hour trip with spare time, which is a lot better than a one-way 14 hour drive). Money and time were on the side of this decision, but in many cases flights and renting cars to get from park to park can get expensive (as mentioned in the Appendix). Not all cities have parks that can be accessed directly from the airport. Daily Route:

Flight to Seattle from Oakland. This also would represent the return flight 2 days later. Daily Cost: I bought the flight well before the trip, but the price will be placed on this day for both the flight to and from Seattle. Other than that, I had to get a tank of gas to prepare the car for the drive when I flew back (the most expensive gas of the trip at $4.03 a gallon). Seattle wasn’t terribly expensive, but I enjoyed myself and even bought Nemo a souvenir. The majority of the cost (gas and flight) fell on me, but I was able to stay with Pat, so I received a benefit on this day that would absorbed the price of hotel stay. It was the most expensive food day of the trip, as we enjoyed the brewery next door. Total Cost: $700 Cost per Person: $400 Total Cost without Benefits: $800

Seattle Exploring The day of Seattle tourism was bookended by sleeping in and getting to bed early from catching up from and trying to prepare for, big days of travel. While I did sleep a lot, Pat and I were able to get a lot done. The first stop that day was the Red Hook Brewery for a tour and lunch. An extremely amusing tour showcased with some excellent beer and a good meal, as the second brewery tour of the trip, it again comes as a definite to-do of travelers and tourists. After the long lunch and tour, Pat and I decided to check out a few of the local scenes as well as take a drive to check out the landscape a little more. Seattle really is a fascinating city with regards to geography and culture. I got to learn about some of the established bars as well as a few of the dives before heading back to get some sleep to prepare for my trip back to Los Angeles. Lesson #64: Go urban hiking. Urban hiking is a term that refers to bar crawling, or going from bar to bar and drinking. This lesson does not condone the over consumption of alcohol, but rather the moderate consumption of alcohol to receive an over consumption of culture. Towns were built on pubs and old restaurants that instill a cultural flavor by the craft of their brew. While one might run into a delicious beverage, one will definitely run into a better understanding of the area and what it stands for. Also, urban hiking, by definition, exemplifies Lesson #37: take time off from taking time off.

Daily Cost: After indulging ourselves the day before, we decided to pay a little less. Brewery tours are typically cheap, if not free, and I went to bed early. The day ended up being the cheapest of the trip, which was ironic compared to the day before. Total Cost: $70 Cost per Person: $35 Total Cost without Benefits: $170

Los Angeles for Angel Stadium of Anaheim From before I woke up, I had to plan this Monday to the minute in order for three things to work out: I needed to get from Seattle to Los Angeles, my dad and brother needed to get from Richmond to Los Angeles, and we all needed to get to the baseball game at 7 PM. After another short and early flight, I landed in Oakland and got to my car and started the 6 hour, 300+ mile, drive south. During this drive, I was in with my dad and brother, Joseph, to organize their arrival in Los Angeles by way of the LAX airport. LA, like most major cities, has transportation connecting two sites of mass transportation. So the idea was to meet them in downtown Los Angeles at Union Station, because driving to the most western part of the city would throw us into near rush hour conditions before the game. They took the Union Station shuttle from the airport, and while that got stuck in traffic, they ended up getting there within an hour, and within schedule. I was able to scoop them up at a great time, and to celebrate our travel orchestration and time mastery, we went out to lunch. At this point, this was only my second time in Los Angeles, but I had to go to Philippe’s Original again. They, like the others who had just left the trip before the weekend, loved the originator’s French dipped sandwiches. So that day, before 3 PM, I had flown to Oakland from Seattle, and then drove to Union Station in Los Angeles, for a total of around 1150 miles, and 8 hours. Joseph and my dad, George, had flown over 2500 miles, and taken a shuttle through LA traffic that added an hour to their journey. But we had sandwiches and recharged to travel an extra 30 miles. LA traffic hit us in the face and delayed our trip once again, but we were able to get into our hotel with plenty of time to unload, regroup, walk over to stadium and take pictures before the game. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Angel Stadium of Anaheim; Anaheim, California;

Stadium #19; June 18th It is a very open ballpark that welcomed driving to and from, just like Dodgers Stadium. It has a unique and established decor on the outside that included big Angels hats and the iconic big ‘A.’ Upon entering the facility, it also has some neat features to go along with the mountains in the back drop. The batters-eye had a stone ‘A’ structure and a pleasant waterfall which matched the desert mixed with the Hollywood design of the ballpark. Showcasing food options such as a Jack in the Box, (first regular fast food place I found in a ballpark) they also had barbecue and cheese covered hot dogs. It was pretty good, but not comparable to Miller Park. I mention the food, because George decided he would go for the nachos. Most ballparks sell a nacho helmet, which is nearly a pound of nachos, and normally can be handled by three extremely hungry people. The lesson for the day would have been ‘do not get the nachos,’ because we warned him not to do it. George tried and failed miserably. It was good, but it was too much. So be advised, nachos are not always a good idea. As for the game, it got off to a run per inning start that ended in the 4th. And when the sun was setting on the mountains in the backdrop, the Giants managed to put up one more run to secure a 5-3 win despite the many energetic and fanloved attempts by the Angels’ famous Rally Monkey. I wouldn’t tell you to want a team to lose, but it was quite a treat to see the Rally Monkey (because the Angels were down). It was easily Joseph’s favorite part of the day. As for firsts, it was Cain’s first start and win after his perfect game, and we got to see quite a few studs play and produce from Pujols, Hunter, Trumbo, Trout, Posey, and the current MLB hit leader Melky Cabrera notch 3 more hits. (This is ironic, because unrelated Miguel Cabrera would win the first Triple Crown in 45 years that year, and Melky would be suspended for testosterone usage.) Also, Lakers’ star guard Kobe Bryant was in attendance that evening, which was a first, we think. The hotel was down the street through a residential area outside of the parking lot of the stadium. It was incredibly convenient to stay at, and there are many places like that because of the proximity of the famous Disneyland attraction. We were able to make it back quickly and hit the hay. Not soon enough for one of us.

Lesson #65: Traveling can be tiring, but stay awake during the games. The baseball games (stadiums) were the reason we were traveling across the country. And it’s tough to travel if you’re not used to it. I have been on this quest for 35 days now, so I’m used to it. George, however, is not. He was tired. He fell asleep. Fortunate enough for him, he did not fall asleep into his nachos, as this would have been the cover photo for the book. Don’t fall asleep during the games, and try to get enough sleep beforehand. Daily Route: Flight from Seattle, WA to Oakland, CA to Los Angeles, CA to Anaheim, CA Daily Cost: I didn’t pay for people’s flights to me, and I had already set my flight to a couple days prior. However, I was required to pay for parking when I landed, and we did get a tank of gas on the trip (with California prices). With my dad and brother now on the trip, they would spend a little extra on memorabilia. They didn’t believe people would believe that they’d been there. Total Cost: $410 Cost per Person: $135

Petco Park and San Diego, Ballpark 20 The drive from Angels Stadium in Anaheim to Petco Park in San Diego is a very pretty drive, and a smooth drive down the coast of California. It is a different pretty than the drives in Wyoming, but pretty nonetheless. The quick and enjoyable voyage allowed us to take our first and only peek at the Pacific Ocean and got us into San Diego with plenty of time to check out the area before the game. We checked out the Gaslight District and the area around the ballpark, which included everything. The arrival of the ballpark in the downtown area really lights up the city with culture and boosts the economy during the summer, at least it seemed to us. With tons of options to choose from, we settled, ate a small standard sports bar styled meal, and moved around the ballpark to take pictures and search for some merchandise. When shopping for merchandise, I’m always trying to hunt for something cheaper than exists, so I don’t typically find anything, but save money. From the outside, the ballpark reminded me a little of Nationals Park, but it was in a much more dense area of the city. Even while in the city, it showcased some spectacular architecture, that gave it a southern beach-like, or specifically San Diego vibe. Hard to explain, but if it was a stand alone ballpark, not in the city, it would have looked just as great. San Diego Padres; Petco Park; San Diego, California; Stadium #20; June 19th Upon entering the ballpark, the stadium utilized the surrounding city to help the architecture, character, and fill the backdrop. It was even connected to a hotel across the street. However, they also attempted to separate themselves from being in the city with a few features. First, at the foot of the centerfield bleachers, the ground was covered in sand, providing a fun sitting, and a playing area for kids, much like the beach. Second, at the foot of a Tony Gwynn statue, they had a hill where fans could lay out a blanket and watch the game. The hill

was big enough for hundreds of people and included an area behind the scoreboard, with a video board to watch the game while kids played on a mini baseball field not in view of home plate. With regards to character of the architecture and design, with both outside and inside, it was easily one of the top ballparks. Along with the facility, the fans and ushers were incredibly nice and welcoming, inspiring a family friendly venue. The fans were creative, and while working on an unoriginal roll call, they developed a ‘Q’ counter, that counted quick outs, or outs that their Padres get in three pitches or less. The Rangers offense and fan-favorite (or George-favorite) Josh Hamilton were too much for the Padres that evening. The American League pitcher even got a hit and RBI that day. Another aspect of baseball that I enjoy is seeing a player go all out on defense to make an incredible play where the length of his body is fully utilized. On that pretty day in San Diego, we got to see a few of these pretty plays. And as usual, we saw a few firsts. There was a home run that hit the foul pole several feet from us, and it was reviewed and upheld. This was the first time we had seen a call video reviewed, as they just started video review of home runs that year. We also saw a call overturned (a fouled off third strike), because a coach jumped up and showed objection. The umpires huddled and decided that it was fouled off and gave him another chance. The opposing coach came out to argue the overturn without the same luck. And along with firsts of third strikes, we saw a pitcher attempt to bunt with 2 strikes and fail. The traffic slowed us down a little getting out of the city, but we made our way to Yuma, Arizona that evening to get ready for an early game in Phoenix. This drive, while longer than the one to San Diego, got us just as close to Mexico as we were to the Pacific Ocean, if not closer. It cut the distance from San Diego to Phoenix in half. Lesson #66: All-You-Can-Eat (AYCE) seats are hit or miss; they are not all the same. This lesson does not refer to either the pricing or the food, but both. In many cases, the ability to consume food can make the price of these seats, at any sporting event, worth the ticket and food prices.

Typically, from my experience at other facilities and ballparks, the AYCE eating options do not change much, and the taste doesn’t either, as they are usually second rate steamed hot dogs, soda, popcorn and peanuts. However, in San Diego, the tickets put us in the lower level down the right field line, and without the AYCE they would have been reasonably priced in all other parks. As for the dining options, the hot dogs were thick and quality hot dogs with amazing sesame seed buns. They would have easily been over $5 at all other ballparks. And the sodas and waters were in bottles so you could have even collected a few for post game consumption. If Petco Park keeps doing these seats the same way, I highly recommend them as AYCE seats to check out. However, things can change, and it doesn’t mean all AYCE options at other ballparks are as worth the fan experience that San Diego offers, because normally you could miss out on good food and/or a good view. Daily Route: Anaheim, CA to San Diego, CA to Yuma, AZ Daily Cost: No gas fill ups and a game utilizing AYCE tickets kept us away from spending too much more than what was needed for the hotel. Total Cost: $280 Cost per Person: $94

Chase Field and the Arizona Diamondbacks The temperature approached 110 degrees driving through the desert on the way to Phoenix. We had left early enough, and it was hot enough, to avoid any traffic. The city was a ghost town, there was no one on the streets. That day was the day of the trip I decided it would be okay if we weren’t early. George kept pestering us to get moving towards the ballpark, but if we had gotten there before the gates open, we could have roasted. The ballpark was a few blocks from the hotel, and we arrived a couple minutes after the doors opened. I let them enjoy the air conditioning of the park while I walked around and got the mandatory pictures. Arizona Diamondbacks; Chase Field; Phoenix, Arizona; Stadium #21; June 20th The stadium kept the culture of the area represented on the outside, with a few neat decorations and areas that fought the heat. It also had a neat Rube Goldberg Machine that would have entertained kids for hours if the heat would have allowed it. I had to get inside quickly though, because the free frozen waters and misters didn’t help enough. Inside, it was a fantastic 77 degrees under the roof. The ballpark on the inside was very similar to Miller Park. Where the slide was unique in Milwaukee, Chase Field had a swimming pool that was different. The building, along with the air conditioning, was built on fan friendliness, and the game on June 20th must have been kids day because they came on buses. They had a few play areas, value concessions, misters, cooling fans, the pool that sprayed water, an organist, and a very friendly staff. We utilized the value concessions to increase the hot dog count, just as we did in Baltimore. The organist was in the open air, which was unlike many other ballparks or arenas. And while I didn’t bug the organist, or play in the play areas, I took pictures of all of them. Another aspect of kids being at the game is the video board activities get interesting. On a baseball trip, you’ll see about everything from weird kiss

cams to famous people; in Arizona, we saw some strange dance moves and even a kid pick his nose and eat it. The game itself was a slugfest, and it broke trip records and official records. For the Diamondbacks, the 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 hitters hit home runs. One of those was an inside-the-park home run, which we hadn’t seen yet, hit by Roberts. The six home runs were a franchise record for the Diamondbacks. The Mariners, only hit two home runs, but compiled 10 runs in a 14-10 losing effort. The 8 home runs and 24 runs were a trip best. Because of all the home runs, and a few double plays, we also saw the fewest runners left on base of the trip. We saw an inning with one run, an inning with two runs, an inning with three runs, two innings with four runs, and two innings with five runs. After the game, when the sun was setting, we found it cool enough to walk around Phoenix and check out some neat shops as well as check out a nice American restaurant, before resting for the next day. Lesson #67: You’re not the only one doing what you’re doing. Obviously, if you’re reading this book for tips on how to take your own baseball road trip, you understand this advice. However, this applies to every trip or action you could ever take, except in the most extreme cases. Even in those extreme cases, there are similar actions that could help with your specific action. At Chase Field on June 20th, there were at least two other groups traveling to all 30 baseball stadiums that summer. When I gathered their information, I reached out for advice and the ability to offer some of mine. We weren’t taking the same trip, but I knew some lessons and stories could relate to what I was working on. A lesson that I frequently turn to in life is this: there is always someone better, and there is always someone worse. For the trip, I didn’t want to rule out the opportunities and advantages I could possibly gain by running into either. And if I was better or worse in certain instances, I could share strengths of insight or lessons learned from mishaps or missed chances. For the most part, that’s what this book is about. Daily Route: Yuma, AZ to Phoenix, AZ

Daily Cost: Souvenirs, a lot of food, a tank of gas, and a hotel stay rounded out the costs for this hot day. Total Cost: $360 Cost per Person: $120

Midland Rockhounds From Phoenix to Arlington, where our next game was, we decided to do half the trip in a day. We found a nice town where former United States President Bush had a ranch in Midland, Texas. And after taking a tour of Phoenix, or getting lost, we got to Midland smoothly. The drive epitomized Texas, ing several oil rigs, cows, a few oil refineries and even a through border control, with puppies sniffing our car. The time we got lost trying to get out of Phoenix put me a few minutes late to a minor league game. I attended the game by myself, and it was between a couple of teams in the AA Texas League. Along with the typical minor league attractions, this small park was quite pretty with a good size mezzanine and even a mini field beyond the wall in left center and a couple of playgrounds that look into home plate. The home team, Midland Rockhounds, powered through a Frisco Roughriders 9th inning rally to take the win. I didn’t count the stats, I just sat really close and took pictures and enjoyed the promotion of Thirsty Thursday and cheap concessions. The long drive ending in a baseball game ended up being a good day. Lesson #68: Sometimes you just have to get lucky. As hard as this may be to understand as a lesson, one’s preparation could benefit from another’s lack there of. In the case where I showed up at Citibank Ballpark on a cloudy evening after the first pitch, I was the only one with a rain jacket on. The windy evening turned into an immediate storm in the middle of the 5th inning. I had been walking around taking pictures when the sky opened up. When this happened, the crowd shifted like a raised curtain under the awning above the bleachers. I walked down through the rain to the seats right behind the dugout. When they continued playing through lighter rain, I was the only one in the stands and got a few fancy pictures. When the staff came down to throw out t-shirts, I just looked and got thrown one. And if these things didn’t secure the best minor league experience, a rainbow appeared from beyond left field over to right, following the symmetry of the ballpark.

It was more than just having a rain jacket before a freak rain storm, it was being lucky. This was one of the best baseball game experiences I had on the trip, because it’s been a dream of mine to watch a game alone. The crack of the bat, the slap of the glove, and the chatter of the infield sound so pure without the buffering nonsense and clutter of cheers. Daily Route: Phoenix, AZ to Midland, TX Daily Cost: The ticket to the game wasn’t bad, and neither was the hotel. However, the car required three tanks of gas. Total Cost: $340 Cost per Person: $118

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and Texas Another Texas drive sent us flying East with speed limit signs reaching 80 miles per hour as we ed more Texas scenery. The drive took an hour less than we planned, which was the first time on the trip that that happened, and should not be expected for those reading. The complex with the ballpark contained Cowboys Stadium, a Six Flags amusement park, a Six Flags water park, and our hotel, along with a few other hotels and restaurants. So after getting checked in, we went out to lunch and then took a walk to the ballpark. We walked over two miles around the convention center, ballpark, and over to Jerry World, or Cowboys Stadium. The area has a pretty lake and walking paths and a few artists sculptures. The setting might be the best ballpark setting that isn’t a city that I’ve seen. But that day was really hot, and we couldn’t walk around much longer. To escape the heat, Joseph and I went into the billion dollar palace of Cowboys Stadium; my dad, George, went into the Rangers gift shop. First, this was a mistake, he spent more than we did on a tour. Second, the tour of that football stadium was quite impressive. It allows you to check out the suites, locker rooms, and walk around on the field. But the most impressive part is the hanging video board that’s almost as big as the field. We enjoyed the air conditioning of the indoor field before walking the threequarters of a mile back to the ballpark for the typical pre-game walk around and gate opening.

Texas Rangers; Rangers Ballpark in Arlington; Arlington, Texas; Stadium #22; June 22nd The ballpark is evidently big, and has a unique set up. From the outside, it’s similar to Busch Stadium and Coors Field with the neat brick uncharacteristic architecture; but goes all the way around, almost a square with no views of the field. Walking in, the mezzanine opens up behind centerfield without a view of the ballpark, but views of the team offices. The ballpark has ties to many older retired ballparks in the design including a right field like old Tigers Stadium, the roof decor reminiscent of old Yankees Stadium, arching windows like Comiskey Park, and a few other implications of parks like Fenway and Ebbets Field. We saw our biggest crowd of the trip there, which included a record setting soldout game in a row for the park. And though we didn’t attempt to eat it, we saw the biggest hot dog of the trip, or the Boomstick, which is two feet long, and weighs up to around three pounds. Obviously, it would have been the most expensive as well, at a cool $26. Everything is bigger in Texas apparently; except the post game fireworks show, which was nothing impressive. Roy Oswalt took the mound for the Rangers for the first time and gets a W in an impressive pitching outing as the Rockies left 10 runners on base. Oswalt hadn’t won a game since 2011. The final score was a low 4-1 because of rare feats such as a caught stealing, play-at-the-plate, and runner interference. The power guys for Texas hit well except Hamilton who ended up with three strike outs that game. After the game and fireworks show, it was an easy walk to our hotel. It was a great planning move for the whole day, with lunch, the tour and the ballgame. It’s pretty easy to avoid traffic when you’re walking to and from the game. Lesson #69: Eat steak in Texas. For lunch that day, we went across the street to a steak house. We got steak. And we got steak to go along with our steak, and as an appetizer on nachos. It was so

good, we took pictures of it to it. The meat could be fresher, they could know how to cook it better, and it could be bigger. I’m not entirely sure. I’ve been to Texas a few times, and had steak each time. Those steaks are better than any other steaks I’ve had anywhere else. Steaks at chain restaurants in Texas are better than five star restaurant steaks in many places. It could be psychological, but if it’s not, please do not miss an opportunity to enjoy a steak in Texas. I’m pretty sure they could turn vegans into carnivores. Daily Route: Midland, TX to Arlington, TX Daily Cost: Over $225 were spent on tours and memorabilia that day in Texas. We also went Texas big with our meals, getting steaks. Total Cost: $430 Cost per Person: $144

Minute Maid Park, Day 40 After an early drive down I-45 to Houston, we found ourselves walking around the ballpark waiting for my buddy, Will, who was living there. George and Joseph had to get some memorabilia as they were flying home the next day. The driving in Texas made the driving around cities like Los Angeles and Detroit fair, based on how smooth and easy it was, and the gas prices were quite nice as well. We were about to cap off a 10 baseball games in 11 days streak, so it was all good moods heading into Houston. Houston Astros; Minute Maid Park; Houston, Texas; Stadium #23; June 23rd The ballpark was built connected to an old train station, and because of the history of this, there’s even a train in the ballpark. The train moves after a home run with a cannon explosion, and before the game to wish the team good luck. If the Astros win, fireworks go off and the train moves to this. The ballpark also has a retractable roof and windows which are open to a 60-85 degree temperature rule. If there’s no game, it stays open to let sun and water get onto the grass. It takes 13 minutes for the roof to close, and because it was over 90 degrees that June day, it was closed. The bulk of what I learned comes from the tour that they give at the ballpark. Ballpark tours are great experiences, where they teach you about the ballpark, to what’s unique, to features and of course the seats and suites. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a tour at each ballpark because of the cost and how often they offer the tours. As for Minute Maid Park, along with the train in left field, there are a few unique aspects that make the ballpark a statement of the individualistic mission of the trip. There is a bullpen inside of the left field wall, and one is exposed in right field. Also, there is a hill in centerfield, which is a piece of the deepest ballpark. This hill contains the only exposed pole as well, and while some might not like

these ‘tacky’ features, I feel they provide a solid home field advantage. The Astros started off cold and the Indians struck first. But after their first 12 batters were retired, the Astros put together an inning with the trip’s first backto-back home runs. The Astros would rally for more runs after that later in the game putting their total at 8. Because their pitcher, Keuchel, had only allowed 1 run, he was able to complete the game. This was our first complete game of the trip. Keuchel was the first pitcher in 3 years to record a complete game in only his second start. It was good to have friends and family on the trip, and sad yet again to leave Will, Joseph, and my dad, George, behind before the next game. After the game, we drove to the eastern edge of Texas to get ready for a short drive to New Orleans the next day. In Orange, Texas, I ate at a fast food chain I had never seen before called Whataburger, as well as got dessert with my family, where we truly discovered everything is bigger in Texas. Lesson #70: Some games are more important to other people. On the baseball trip, the games mean something to me, as well as mean something to the mission. However, baseball games can be bigger than just the trip. Before the game, my brother and dad went around to get batting practice balls, while I went around taking pictures and looking for Will. Down the left field line, after snagging the picture, I saw a ball coming into the stands, and I got a good jump on it for the ricochet. I shot across to the ball and swooped in before a guy could turn into the row to pick it up. I beat out a couple people to the ball, and after, I walked ed a kid who really wanted it. Simply, he wanted it more than me. He was there with family: mom, dad and little brother, from the way it appeared. Being there with my dad and brother, and ing my first trips to ball games with them, I ed the inspiration they instilled in me to be a fan. Being a fan is amazing, because it is irrational; explaining an allegiance to a team can be like trying to define love. And I love the ions and emotions that run through the ballpark. Going to a place to enjoy the atmosphere and ambiance are what the sport stands for. Baseball is American, it’s complex, it’s simple and diverse all in the same breath. You might already know that I think the coolest

thing ever is going to baseball games and being a fan of the game, so I knew that this boy could also have that same feeling later in life. So, I gave him the ball and told him about my trip. I hope they found and enjoy the website, pictures, and notes. There are a lot of things I would like to say about the situation, but unfortunately, I can’t find the words to do so. The kid has the ball now, and I hope he got a few others. I’m sure he and his brother will in the future. Daily Route: Arlington, TX to Houston, TX to Orange, TX Daily Cost: Another tour, more memorabilia, more Texas food, a fourth person for the game, and a final Texas tank of gas created the costs for the day. The hotel stay is also recorded, as were the four days before; however, we were able to utilize Lesson #11 (Sign up for a hotel rewards program). Three of the hotels in the last week were discounted by $240 total. This money from Lesson #11 was placed into our pocket rather than factored in as a cheaper hotel cost. Total Cost: $390 Cost per Person: $98

Exploring New Orleans and its Airport June 24th, we had a pretty simple schedule arranging drop off and pick up at the New Orleans airport. My mom, Donna, and sister, Emma were flying into town to me, and my dad and brother were flying out. But not before enjoying New Orleans first. Using the guidance of my brother, who had been there earlier that year, we walked around the main streets and checked out some shops. The city was just as one would predict, extremely festive and colorful, ready for Mardi Gras. As we got closer to lunch time, we made our way to Bourbon Street to check out the key places and then on to lunch. We came to rest at a place with cajun food called Café Maspero, which came across as highly recommended by Joseph. The meal was good, but nothing compared to others we had had. What was memorable was the famous dessert place that we went to. We had to wait in a line to get into Café Du Monde, but we realized why there was a line when we got inside. The rectangular cake-like pastries, called beignets, had cups of powered sugar dumped on top of them. I’m pretty sure people in heaven dip these in hot chocolate regularly, so that’s what I did (and kept the mug). We had to scoot back to the airport to drop off the guys and decided to take it easy and go to bed early before getting up and driving through a tropical storm. Lesson #71: Not every experience is worth having. In New Orleans, I chose to go to sleep early rather than party and drink. While I might have missed on a few big New Orleans traditions this way, I felt as if it would be better to go back another time. In Las Vegas, I acted the same way: there is a lot more to do there than I was able to at the time. In both scenarios, the people I was with wouldn’t have enjoyed the activities, or weren’t allowed to partake. Because I was on a baseball trip, there was no pressure to experience these activities immediately. Also, it wasn’t Mardi Gras, so we would have missed out anyway. That being said, we did get to experience some of the culture, fun, and food that they had to offer.

Daily Route: Orange, TX to New Orleans, LA Daily Cost: With two people ing and two people leaving, food and gas was spread out but the hotel was just put on the people who crashed that night. Total Cost: $290 Cost per Person: $74

Driving through Debby to Gainesville While driving over the Gulf of Mexico, we were fighting time for the chance to compete with a tropical storm that was about to make landfall. Debby was only a bad tropical storm, but it was headed right at us. The first five hours of the eight hour journey were incredibly smooth with sunny skies. But when we hit the time zone change, the last three hours easily turned into five. We cautiously moved through winds and sheets of rain that allowed zero visibility. It was one of the scariest drives of my life, and my mother, Donna, even took the wheel for some of it. Writing this book, it’s obvious we made it through to our destination of Gainesville, but Debby was more devastating than was predicted, which we would later find out. During the journey, to get out of the rain, we even stopped at a fast food chain for lunch and a bathroom break. Our first time for either, as I’ll allow the other to be a secondary reason. There were positives though, it was my first time in 23 days that I had been closer than 1000 miles to home. Also, we were able to get gas under $3 which was a rare. Lesson #72: When possible, stay in college towns. College towns can be petri dishes of culture for the region, where towns are built around the colleges. They are cheap, fun, and very festive. Gainesville was a halfway point for us, but we made it count. Home of the Florida Gators, we were able to find a famous area restaurant. Every college town has one, where each class tells the class below to go there, and what to get. Students eat there and work there, and take their parents there when they visit. One of these restaurants in Gainesville is called Ballyhoo Grill, which came recommended by a student. We braved the storm that evening to drive down the road for dinner there. Full of menu items with titles that spread across the football conference representing seafood to steak, this delightfully decorated place hosted us and enlightened us on some of the cool things around Gainesville and the University.

I’m sure there’s a small liberal arts school whose culture is the exact opposite of the town that it’s in, but for most college towns this isn’t the case. If you’re looking for regional people, places, food and culture, a college town is a great place to find it. Daily Route: New Orleans, LA to Gainesville, FL Daily Cost: A couple tanks of gas and an oil change resulted in a fairly expensive day for the short drive. The hotel was also a little bit nicer since my mom was on the trip. Total Cost: $340 Cost per Person: $114

Marlins Park, New in Miami 2012 In an effort to avoid more of the Tropical Storm, we ed through our largest toll voyage of the trip. The five hour drive put us just as close to Disney World, as we were to Disneyland in California; but like Disneyland, there was no stopping. After a stop for gas and food, we made it to Miami; we had just enough time to settle into our hotel. Walking distance from the ballpark, we decided to check out the free trolley instead. The trolley added to the methods that we had used to get to the ballpark, and Miami had many options of ballpark access from water taxi to rail. It was a lot of fun to ride the trolley post game with people singing and cheering, despite the loss (spoiler alert); pre-game it appeared to be a way for many people to get home from work. It was an easy way to get to the game, and we got there early as usual. It was the first game for Donna and Emma, so they needed to learn the ropes. Miami Marlins; Marlins Park; Miami, Florida; Stadium #24; June 26th Marlins Park is brand new and beautiful. That night we got to enjoy the closed roof, but it didn’t take much away from the park as the glass windows in left allowed fans to see the Miami skyline. The roof opened after the game, and I got a few pictures of the park from the outside. The colors of the park were stunning and filled the Miami swag category that many people talk about. In left center, they have a fun sculpture that’s colorful and moves after a home run, which we got to see. As for other famous and original features, they have an aquarium behind home plate. The fish tanks are hard to see, but they’re probably awesome for the 15, or so, VIP people that sit close enough. Being a new ballpark, they also have all of the amenities one could need that are becoming typical at ballparks (kids areas, games, charging stations). Beyond the typical,

they had video boards outside the ballpark, and even had a DJ playing music post game for fans to hang out and dance, and of course learn about games and promotions. As for the game, as mentioned earlier, the Marlins lost to the Cardinals 5-2. But what was rare was how they lost. Zambrano, throwing for the Marlins, threw 125 pitches, giving up 0 Earned Runs, and was credited for the loss. He was the 7th pitcher that year to give up 0 ER on 125 pitches, and 2 of the others had no hitters. The 5 unearned runs was a record for a team, inning, and game for us on the trip. Ozzie Guillen, 2012 coach of the Marlins, and notorious for both his on field and off field actions, was ejected that game. It was the first ejection we had seen, and unfortunately it wasn’t anything special. As a Marlins highlight, we did love the new park, and we did get to see young star Stanton blast a home run. Lesson #73: Upgrading seats are an option that allows for different views of the ballpark. It is common for ballparks to allow seat changing throughout the game, and before the game, by official means. To explain it, the fan assistance section will gladly replace your current tickets, with tickets at the same value, or with the difference in money, and upgrade of seats. Prior to the game, we had gotten seats that gave us a bad angle at the scoreboard. And since it was Emma’s first game with us, we decided it would be best that we all see the scoreboard. Relatively cheaply, we were able to move to other seats with it in front of us. While this might seem like a hassle, it was actually as if we had two different seats during two different parts of the game and gave us a different perspective. I don’t expect fans to find distaste with purchased tickets often, but I didn’t necessarily know ballparks offered this option.

Daily Route:

Gainesville, FL to Miami, FL Daily Cost: We spent a lot on memorabilia; in our defense, they were introducing this new ballpark, name and logo that year. Also, we ran into $20 of tolls and $20 of parking, which were both ridiculous. A tank of gas and a Miami area hotel made the day that much more expensive, not to mention food and tickets to the game. Total Cost: $530 Cost per Person: $178

Marlins Park for Another Game We had planned a beach day in the lower part of Florida for the 27th of June. It was up in the air on whether we would do Miami, Tampa Bay, or somewhere in between. However, the tropical storm had cut across the state leaving us a very wet day, not conducive to the beach. We decided to stay in Miami for the day. After some shopping and car work, and of course, some Miami bourbon chicken, we did what any group of two ladies and dude would do on a baseball trip: went to the baseball game. The planning that day got tangled because of the weather, but we were still able to partake in some area cuisine and check out the region. While doing the typical walking around at the ballpark, I got a phone call from my mother telling me that she had acquired a foul batting practice ball, using unspecified methods and baseball skills she picked up watching us play. Apparently, the guy in front of her, who was on the phone didn’t see the ball coming right at him, and missed catching it. The ball, not sympathetic of this man’s inability to pay attention or catch a ball, bounced and hit Donna, and she picked it up, while he shouted in disgust of himself. Several home runs set the pace of the game, and while the Cardinals got up first, a set of back-to-back home runs changed the lead to favor the Marlins. A couple of firsts were involved with the second home run: it was the first home run that was called in play (as a double), then over turned to be a home run; also, it was the first pinch hit home run that we had seen on the trip. In other rare events, we saw a successful third strike bunt, which we had seen failed several times. All of these attempts were by pitchers. A big pet peeve of mine, in baseball, is the inability to lay down a bunt. It’s like missing free throws in basketball, just practice more (I know neither is easy or guaranteed). During the video review, I’m clearly seen in the replay signaling home run. This was probably the reason that they over turned the call so quickly. Cardinals catcher Tony Cruz hit his first home run on that day, which added to the list of players we had seen on the tour hit their first home run. This list included Yan Gomes and Bryce Harper. If you count Harper’s high school days,

they were all catchers at one point. Getting to the game that day was made easier by the use of the parking facilities at the ballpark, and it was also relatively easy getting out and back to the hotel. The cost wasn’t bad for how close you are to the ballpark, and definitely not bad compared to other parks and their proximal parking. Lesson #74: Safety precedes comfort, especially with weather. With the rain, we weren’t going to make it to the beach, and we knew that this was the case. Fortunately for us, Florida teams had prepared for hurricanes and tropical storms, so we weren’t going to miss a game, too. And Tampa Bay wasn’t in town on the 27th, so maybe it was just ironic that we decided to stay in Miami. However, like that day, and the couple days before, while dealing with the storm, it was more important that we stay safe rather than stay on course. Luckily, we got where we needed to go, and it’s a bigger concern in snowy travel of winters up north, but road conditions could more than end a trip if not respected. We got the car checked out and got the necessary maintenance performed while we hung out in Miami that day. I figure that I’ll be able to go to another Florida beach at some other point in my life, and if you’re interested in reading about the day we went to the beach on this trip, you won’t find it here.

Daily Cost: The day was constructed around car maintenance (which cost around $100), tolls, parking, more gear, and a trip to the store to fill the cooler. Another baseball game, more food and another Miami hotel helped created another expensive trip day. Total Cost: $520 Cost per Person: $173

St. Petersburg and Tropicana Field We took only the second bathroom break of the trip driving from Miami to St. Petersburg, where we would catch a Rays game. We checked out a few cool areas in St. Pete before catching another trolley to the ballpark; we had begun to like this method of travel. We hung out around St. Pete for a while before the game, but made it there early as usual. Tampa Bay Rays; Tropicana Field; St. Petersburg, Florida; Stadium #25; June 28th While it was the only dome stadium, where the roof is always on, its main use was the baseball team. It was similar to Dodgers Stadium where it was older and not that special, but the ion of the crowd carried it a long way. Unlike Dodgers Stadium, it had a few special features besides the roof, namely, the tank in center field that had rays in it. After seeing the parks in the area as well as across the country, I felt it would be fitting for this one to be near the water or have a retractable roof, but that wasn’t the case. Especially for how much I liked St. Pete, an open air ballpark, even with a retractable roof, could be fantastic. To go along with the disappointment of the roof, Tropicana Field has aged quickly; there were signs falling apart, signs painted over other signs, and not terribly neat for a place that doesn’t have to fight weather. Also it was poorly designed, as fans in the upper deck could not see the scoreboard, because it was obstructed by rafters. Home of one of the smallest seating capacities in baseball, but one of the longest lasting waves of the trip, spirit really carried what was good about the facility. Packed half full with fans who loved their Rays enough to bring cowbells and vuvuzelas, they made the cheering sections present. If it had been full, the place would have been shaking because of the benefit of the dome bouncing noise back.

As for the tank in center field, it was cool to have, but it wasn’t anything that was mind blowing big. And if you had experienced it before, it’s just an out-ofthe-way-line-waiting petting zoo. Instead of waiting in line to pet rays, I watched the game, which featured Scherzer versus Shields in a pitchers duel that ended with the Tigers coming out on top. A few firsts were recorded in this game, but the best experience had to be watching future Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera destroy at the plate. Facing 7 pitches during the game, he went 4 for 5 with a home run, a double, and a couple RBIs. This was, by far, the most efficient we had seen a player be at the plate during a game; even his out was a line out that the second baseman had to leap to get to. The first squeeze play we had seen during the trip happened during this game, and it was successful as the Rays failed to handle a couple of bunts correctly enough to get one out. In other rare feats, we saw another player play for his second team of the trip, making it 4 players playing for two different teams. The combination of Scherzer and Valverde wasn’t abnormal for us either. They had combined to get wins and saves three times that season, and we had been at two of those games. In other news, Emma and I got nachos to rub it in George’s face, after he failed to eat his in Anaheim. The secret, non-written lesson of ‘do not get the nachos,’ had yet to be learned, and we failed again. We did get the neat helmet to take home as a souvenir though. Lesson #75: You’ll find points of interest when you’re not looking. After arriving after a four and a half hour drive through the Everglades without seeing any crocodiles, we decided we’d walk around and look for a big lunch to hold us off until we got to the ballpark. It was then that we discovered the beauty of St. Petersburg. Pretty and unique architecture combined to create a stylish city that was quiet but open. It resembled a place where you could hang out all the time, but didn’t want to mess up; it’s like the China set that never gets used, but is there for fancy occasions. While walking around and taking pictures, I noticed a ballpark right on the

water, and knowing that it wasn’t where the Rays played, I did a little research and found out it was a spring training park and used for soccer. While this was slightly disappointing, I was able to get into a hotel to take pictures. The observation room was under construction, but I was able to get up to take a few above views of this ballpark on the water. Also while walking, we discovered that the area has a few history museums which are rated well. We spent a lot of time reading about the old sports history of Tampa Bay, which was extremely fascinating. Most importantly, we found a spot to eat dinner, or a nice little Mexican restaurant downtown, called the Red Mesa Cantina. After eating, we made our way to the ‘Trop’ by a nice little open air trolley ride. This was also the first place I witnessed a Trolley Pub, and might have to be my method of travel next time I go to a Rays game. Even at the Rays’ game at Tropicana Field, they have the Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame, that has a great display of memorabilia and history of Ted Williams and amazing players of the past. This museum is both free and enlightening to fans attending games. I spent a lot of time in the museum reading about several of the best baseball players in the history of the game. Unfortunately, with all the rain and scrambling in Miami, we didn’t have much time to plan for things to do in either area, but it ended up being very interesting without preparing for it. Daily Route: Miami, FL to St. Petersburg, FL Daily Cost: We spent about $40 total on gas, parking and tolls, and the hotel was well above average. However, Tropicana Field is considered one of the cheapest ballparks in the majors, so we were able to enjoy that. Total Cost: $320 Cost per Person: $108

Turner Field and the Atlanta Braves An eight hour drive turned into nine after dealing with Atlanta traffic, or sitting in it politely. Our 8:00 AM departure time put us at the ballpark as the gates were opening, and it was another hot day, approaching 109°F. Driving through the northern part of Florida was eye-opening to the devastation that Debby had caused. While it wasn’t record breaking, or a hurricane, it did leave a noticeable trail of down trails and extreme flooding. If the trip to Atlanta had been planned days earlier, we would have needed to find a different route as many roads were flooded and left imable. The heat was beneficial for the flooding, but not something we were looking forward to dealing with after being in air conditioned facilities the last three days. Atlanta Braves; Turner Field; Atlanta, Georgia; Stadium #26; June 29th Growing up a Braves fan, and watching the Richmond Braves play, we were excited to see the area and ballpark consumed in spirit. They were playing the Nationals, so it was my home team versus my childhood favorite team. But we made a point to always root for the home team on the trip, so we got caught up with the Braves Country attitude rather than the Natitude. The tomahawk chop and the big drum and drummer would spread throughout the ballpark like a fire. It was so effective that it would shut down waves instantaneously. The chop however couldn’t get things going for the Braves and stopped for the Nats on that hot night. Fans stayed for fireworks and Beatles music and had a lot of fun with that. The ballpark did a good job with the show, but only half of the ballpark could view it. The ballpark itself was nice, built with a few neat ments like AT&T Park with the Coke bottle, and focused on capacity. It did promote the franchises

history with retired numbers out front like Baltimore’s Camden Yards, and of course the fence honoring Hank Aaron’s record breaking home run. As for the game, as mentioned earlier, the Braves couldn’t rally late and actually allowed the Nats to put up a few runs before getting a hit, the first coming on an RBI single from the pitcher (it was Detwiler’s only RBI of the season). The Braves ended up tying it late, but the Nationals pulled ahead and shut it down. It was the first game we’d seen a guy go a perfect 4 for 4 from the plate with an RBI and run scored. Morse, that player for the Nationals, ended up hitting the game winning home run in the 8th. After the game, we had to start the long drive up north so that we wouldn’t have to spend over 14 hours in a car in one day minimum. We decided to drive for a couple of hours, like we should have after seeing the Dodgers play, and stayed in Greenville, South Carolina. Lesson #76: Prepare for the weather, don’t underestimate how you’ll experience it. It’s tough to make a list of all of the accommodations ballparks have to help with fans’ hydration and dealing with heat. In Atlanta, they had water bottle refill stations, just like in Washington, D.C.. In Arizona, they gave away frozen waters for free outside the ballpark when it was over 100°. I wrote an article about some of the fun ways that parks dealt with the heat, or at least the parks I’ve been to when it’s been hot. “As the summer looms upon us, a fun early trip to batting practice might turn into a miserable afternoon (if the home team isn’t winning), because of the heat bouncing off of the seats. There are a few general tips that can help with these scorching day games: First, check out seats in the shade, the outfield bleachers tend to cook. Second, bring in water bottles, and find out where the facility distributes free ice or water. And third, before the game, check out the team store. Many ball parks have these open even before the gates and they are always air conditioned. With this tip, I’ll provide a warning, do not go into the team store with both money and kids: you might end up losing both (you’ll find the kids again, not so much on the money). “Several ballparks do unique things to help fans beat the heat. In a few ballparks, they’ll have misters distributed around the mezzanine, like in Las

Vegas’ Cashman Field. In Lancaster, PA, there’s an independent league team that has bumper boats as a part of their park. At Chase Field, if you’re not able to get over their hot weather with their classic frozen water salesmen, you can get seats by the pool inside. Also, it helps to know that you’ll be beating the heat with a roof and an inside temperature of 77 degrees. And if you’re just trying to make the heat more comfortable, the Gateway Grizzlies, outside of St. Louis, provide a hot tub suite for a good summer time. “At US Cellular Field in Chicago, it’s a tradition to go to a humid uncomfortable day game to enjoy the outfield amenities. From the old Comiskey Park, they’ve brought back The Old Comiskey Park Shower in center field for fans to use to cool off. This shower is popular, and I’ve even heard rumors of it being duplicated. But if that doesn’t do it for you, they have misting stations all over, including the Rain Room in right field. It becomes a place where fans look forward to beating the heat.” In Texas, my dad spent a lot of money because he was in the team store for a long time. Other weather preparations include bringing a rain jacket if you think it’s going to rain, you could be the only one that does when it does. Also, at the beginning of the season and end of the season, it can get cold, so dress for it, and prepare for wind as many ballparks can be like wind tunnels circling the air and creating more of a draft. Daily Route: St. Petersburg, FL to Atlanta, GA to Greenville, SC

Daily Cost: More memorabilia, two tanks of gas, some decent tickets, and parking were the staples of this day, which was only a little cheaper for us than Miami. Total Cost: $510 Cost per Person: $169

Drive Up the East Coast We drove the whole day through only seven states (from South Carolina to New Jersey), but ended up achieving the goal of seeing all of the United States state license plates. We were in the car just over 12 hours, and got to reminisce about all of the traffic we had been stopped at. Lesson #77: Home is never a bad pit stop. I was able to stop in Richmond to do a little laundry, drop off a few things, and see my dogs. I discussed being homesick, and being home is definitely a cure. Being able to interact and see people from home, or relatives or close friends makes the trip better. I highly recommend going out of your way to see friends, or family, or to pick them up on the way. Fortunately for me, I was able to do both, as Elise was coming with me to meet Tyler in New Jersey at my uncle’s, so we could go to the Yankees’ game bright and early. We got in bed fairly early and mapped out how to get into the city the next day. Daily Route: Greenville, SC to Richmond, VA to Pennington, NJ Daily Cost: Two tanks of gas and $8 in tolls, split between myself and Elise, who was ing me on the drive up was all that we spent. We ate food we had bought previously and were benefitted and blessed by the ability to stay with my aunt and uncle for the next few days. Total Cost: $80 Cost per Person: $40 Total Cost without Benefits: $180

Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium Using the New Jersey Transit, along with the ‘A train’ and ‘D train’ from the New York Subway’s Penn Station, we made it to the ballpark in under two hours. We had to get up early because we had to get there around 10:00 AM for the 66th annual Old Timers Day. New York Yankees; Yankee Stadium; New York City, New York; Stadium #27; July 1st In my notes, I listed all of the players we were able to watch scrimmage and make their way out to the field, and the list is impressive: Including Yogi Berra, Don Larsen, Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, Joe Torre, and many others. It’s like watching an actual Field of Dreams, or Cooperstown game. It’s quite amazing to be in the same building as all of those ballplayers. In my notes, I listed the Clippers as taking the win in the Old Timers Day game, but I’m not really sure. I just watching Darryl Strawberry watch a triple roll ed him to start the game, those guys can’t move like they used to. For this game, I can tie all of the mandatory firsts back to the Old Timers. Yogi Berra and Don Larsen, who combine for the only battery to have a perfect game in the World Series, or just Yogi Berra with the most rings and World Series played in. As for the actual game, former Yankee enemy, Kevin Youkilis, knocked in the first RBI in a two run inning for the White Sox. The Yankees Hughes would shut them down, as Yankees bats, including all star second baseman, Robinson Cano, knocked in four off of home runs to take a 4-2 lead. Unfortunately, Rivera was injured in 2012, but we were able to see a good closer in Soriano get things done for the Yanks on that day. Yankee Stadium, built almost as a comfortable replica of the old Yankee Stadium, is a classic ballpark from the awnings to the stone outside. The biggest piece of Yankee Stadium is Monument Park, where the great Yankees are

honored. I took tons of pictures of this area, and read a lot about these players, from Ruth down to a few of the gentlemen I was able to see today. Unfortunately, I’m not going to write about these guys here, but fortunately, they all have books, websites, and movies to honor them better than I could have. Also at Yankee Stadium, they have the original Roll Call, which is loud and distinguished calling out each player except the battery until they acknowledge them. While the fans in right field were loud for this event, and the ballpark was loud for the Old Timers, they didn’t get up for the White Sox, and the high capacity facility was left a little lacking during this down year. Not to say they were bad fans, because they’re some of the best, most storied in baseball, but they weren’t loud or cloaked in spirit like people we had just seen in Atlanta. After the game, we parted ways with Elise, and Tyler and I headed back into New Jersey. We were going to spend the whole next day doing touristy things. On the way to the train, we walked across a park, where the old Yankee Stadium was standing. In this park, we saw a quote that remained as the motto for the remainder of the trip: “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains.” The quote, from a baseball movie, made us think and appreciate our luck thus far in the trip. After ballpark #27, our trip was coming down to an end. Lesson #78: Go to Old Timers Day at Yankees Stadium. This lesson is meant as a metaphor. There is no better way to take in the history of the New York Yankees than checking out Monument Park and watching the introductions and the scrimmage of Old Timers Day. It’s an extremely humbling experience, and only could have been better if I was able to talk to each of those guys and shake their hands. In many places, there are classical must-do activities that absorb all of the appreciation for the area or event. Do those things. Typically these activities can be classified as touristy, but they’re still appreciated by the area. On this trip, we’ve done several from the CN Tower, to Chicago pizza, to Los Angeles traffic. And if I ever visit , I’ll be the first to say, “let’s eat a baguette under the Eiffel Tower.” Daily Cost: The next few days wouldn’t require much long traveling as we explored many ways to get into the city of New York from Pennington, so we saved a little cost

on those methods. The bulk of the costs on Old Timers Day were transit, parking, tickets, and of course food. Tyler ed us in New Jersey and absorbed some of the cost, and all of the fun. Total Cost: $300 Cost per Person: $99 Total Cost without Benefits: $400

New York Tourism In attempt to continue to utilize all different types of transportation, we waited out rush hour traffic before making it to Staten Island for the ferry. We had a few standard New York tourism things to check out before heading back for dinner. The first thing we did was check out the construction of the Freedom Tower and Ground Zero, it’s coming together nicely and provides a great honor for the brave men and women of New York. Our next objective was to get approached by every single solicitor in Times Square on our way to get a New York slice of pizza. We ate at Famiglia, and while a chain, this pizza of the Yankees was a solid slice of what you would expect as New York pizza. Maybe not the best pizza in New York, when competing with all the pizza of the trip (including the deep dish we had in Chicago), I’d prefer the pizza of Toronto, (entitled Boston Pizza) so really everything’s a toss up (pun intended). The must-do of the day was check out the observation tower of the Empire State Building as we had been in the tallest buildings of Toronto, Chicago, and Seattle already that summer. On the way to doing this, we walked through and around Central Park. And while this culturally diverse area was everything we could expect and more in of its eccentricity, we decided to veer off path towards 5th Avenue. Down 5th, we were able to check out FAO Schwarz, Saks (5th ave), Trump Tower, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and of course the Apple Store (because that’s iconic, right?). From 5th, we actually were able to catch a pretty neat glimpse of the Chrysler Building, which promoted our journey to the Empire State Building. The line was long, and it was pretty expensive. Longest line and most expensive of the sky scrapers we had been in. It was pretty neat though as it was the only one where we had to go outside to see the city. It was smaller than the Willis Tower, but more packed, like the CN Tower. We got some pretty spectacular (but standard) pictures of lower Manhattan. Leaving the city to meet up with relatives in Pennsylvania for dinner took a little

bit of time, but we made it happen. In Pennsylvania, we stopped in a town called Newton, and ate at Isaac Newton’s. The place was one of those local dives, where the food was good and the beer selection was impressive. While I did enjoy a sandwich and local brew, the best part was being able to meet up with family. We were all going to go to the Mets game the next day, but being able to relax, hang out, and discuss the trip without a time crunch was a blessing. Even though this day in New York was free of baseball, we actually remained pretty attached. Approaching street vendors for hot dogs for breakfast and finding baseball helmet ice cream in FAO Schwarz, we kept the theme alive while checking out the sites. Lesson #79: There’s more than one way to get into New York City, and some are better than others. During the trip, we used a few different bridges to get around the city, and through the city. We even used a tunnel while driving. We took a train into the city from the New Jersey Transit, and we even experienced the Amtrak path. But on that day for a tourism outing, we took the Staten Island Ferry. It’s very easy to promote methods when they are free, and the ferry is free. But besides the costs, which most other methods rate poorly in, the ferry is the best way to take in the views of the city on the way to it. We were able to get great views of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and obviously the classic New York City lower Manhattan skyline. I highly recommend this method if you’ve got the ability to check out New York for an extended amount of time. The only drawback is the time that it takes to get to Staten Island and then across the bay can be more than you’re able to afford. For baseball fans, if you’re able to plan it right, the Staten Island Yankees play right next to where the ferry leaves with an amazing backdrop of New York. We got a couple pictures of their ballpark, Richmond County Bank Ballpark (by habit of being in the area of a diamond). Daily Cost: Tyler and I as tourists did a good job in the city, but while navigating we lost $40 total on tolls, parking and gas. The other costs were food and visiting the

Empire State Building. Total Cost: $150 Cost per Person: $73 Total Cost without Benefit: $250

Citi Field and the New York Mets, Day 50 The plan was to go to the Mets game on July 3rd to catch some post game fireworks. That was everyone’s plan apparently as Citi Field would set a new attendance record that day. But not everyone was ed by their mother and sister on the way to the game. Again taking the NJ Transit into New York’s Penn Station, just like we did for the Yankees game, we had more time to check out things in the city. I say things because with Nemo with me, we ended up just checking out a few stores that Donna and my sister, Sara, wanted to check out. That being said, I definitely recorded our excursion of Macy’s. The place is too big to play hide-and-go-seek, but small enough to find an exit. While these were the only things we cared to do before leaving and finding Times Square, my mom and sister might have been productive. With my uncle ing us on this voyage, (he and his wife, my aunt, were housing us as well) we went to an Italian market and bistro cleverly called Eately. From experience, I know that if I follow my uncle around big cities, I’ll immediately find myself in the best areas to eat, drink, and check out with regards to dives and architecture. Eately was an original meal of neapolitan pizza, washed down with Italian beer, and finished with gelato. After a little more walking around in the city, we took a fairly empty ‘7 train’ towards the World’s Fair and Citi Field. First, the World’s Fair has a few attractions such as museums and zoo if you’re in the area for a Mets game. Unfortunately, we didn’t think we had enough time to enjoy these while we were there. New York Mets; Citi Field; New York City, New York; Stadium #28; July 3rd As mentioned before, everyone seemed to have the idea that we had. The ballpark, with a pretty good Independence Day fireworks show, set an attendance

record. The fireworks showed the Mets of the past five decades along with music from those decades, and while it wasn’t specifically American themed, it was a good show. The baseball game wasn’t a bad show either. The Mets put up 11 runs, with Wright and Murphy each posting 4 RBIs. Niese held the Phillies to just 1 run in 8 innings of work. Wright gave us the opportunity to see the home run apple rise up and Murphy was that one home run away from the cycle. Colorfully painted walls, in the spirit of the Mets with blue and orange, the ballpark carried that tradition of the home run apple from its old Shea Stadium. They even had the old apple outside in front of the rotunda that honored Jackie Robinson from his Brooklyn Dodgers days. Also tying back to the Dodgers, the outside of the ballpark resembled that of Ebbets Field. Trying to the old ballpark and the city even more, the Mets even put up Shea Bridge, for people, over awkwardly-angled bullpens beyond the right center field wall. The attendance showed up leaving the game after the show and forced us to wait for a train back to Times Square. While waiting we encountered some interesting people that exemplified the lesson of not licking the rails or windows of a subway car. After a brisk walk through the well lit but slightly chilled Times Square air, we headed off to New Jersey for some rest for our early drive to Washington D.C.. Lesson #80: Keeping everyone entertained keeps everyone happy. While we were in New York, Nemo and I walked around places like Macy’s, Toys’R’Us, The Disney Store, and others because of the interests of our family. If it were just Nemo and me, we would have gotten into trouble in other places. While these weren’t our top choices, we still managed to take a lot of pictures, announce our whereabouts effectively on social media, and embarrass others. The moral of the story is that we dealt with the requests of others because we knew they wouldn’t be as happy as we would be at the ballpark, for whatever reason they might have (probably the temperature). Daily Cost: For this day, there were six people, a ton of food, transportation into the city and out and parking (which ran us around $200 for everyone) and tickets to the ball

game. All of this made the day costly but reasonable for all of us. Total Cost: $510 Cost per Person: $85 Total Cost without Benefit: $610

4th of July at Nationals Park Getting on the road around 6 AM still didn’t seem like enough time to get to our second game at Nationals Park in the nation’s capital on the Nation’s birthday. It was planned to be a more laid back day with friends and family, because we had already recorded a trip to that ballpark. Nationals Park and Washington D.C. were dressed up for the occasion though. During our first morning game, or our first 11 AM game, we saw our first flyover. We got to see a giant American flag, sing God Bless America, watch baseball, and eat hot dogs. It was the perfect 4th of July. Nationals Park really knows how to be patriotic; over the left field wall, the Washington Monument is visible, and going towards center field you can see the Capital Building, and then a couple of fire engines during important games holding up a giant flag. Four Nationals home runs ended up putting the Nationals well above the Giants, 9-4, that day. Morse, even though he got out in this game, was one of the home run hitters for the Nationals, whose blast came on the back end of a back-to-back effort started by Zimmerman (3rd set of the trip). In our effort to enjoy the holiday, we made our way north following the game for a bite to eat at a t called Good Stuff Eatery, where the burgers and milkshakes compete for the best-I’ve-ever-had award. After a bite, we shifted over to the National Mall to see those monuments and memorials up close and to take some touristy pictures. It was all coming together after being out west with Mount Rushmore and the Gateway Museum and an overall view of how America memorializes history and achievement. To wind down, we all went to Georgetown for some food and a drink before hitting the pool at Elise’s to relax before a big drive north for the final two ballparks; because it’s always good to take a break for a deep breath. Lesson #81: Washington D. C. is a great place to be during Independence Day, but it’s also a tough place to be. Starting on the drive down, and continuing through our walk around the city, and

leaving the city that evening, we were stuck in traffic. Driving in, with Elise’s family, we discovered how traffic was diverted and changed and detoured all the way to the park. Walking around, areas were fenced, roped off, and closed down for fireworks and security. Simply put, just like in airports, when safety is a concern, accessibility and ease will suffer. In D.C., during the 4th of July, this is very true. I’m sure a big reason they have the baseball game starting in the morning is to avoid traffic and congestion later when they’re setting up fireworks. The lesson almost falls into the category of ‘know what day it is where you are,’ but it’s a cool place to be during the day as well. The fireworks shows in the area are some of the best, and the one over the mall is well worth seeing, even if it’s from across the river in Virginia. Daily Route: Pennington, NJ to Washington, D.C. Daily Cost: As for transportation, we had a tank of gas, $7 in tolls, and $9 in a metro ride. Tickets to the morning baseball game were bought before the season for cheap. Food ran pretty high at typical DC prices, and I was again benefitted with a costless stay at Elise’s house, who was ing us again. Total Cost: $280 Cost per Person: $55 Total Cost without Benefits: $380

Drive Back Up the East Coast I reached a new record on toll money spent on the drive from Northern Virginia to Stratham, New Hampshire. The bulk of which came from around New York City. This was a record for the trip, so it was worth recording in my notes. I’m not sure how happy I was about it. Lesson #82: Some of the best and worst views of a city are from the surrounding highways. First, many of the best views are psychologically positive views of the city because of that feeling of ‘we’re finally there.’ Second, the skyline can be easily interpreted from the typically flat highways. Third and finally, the highway usually highlights and s what to look at with the city, so certain things can be easy to notice. However, many times when you’re able to observe cities from the highways surrounding them, you’re stuck in traffic. This was the case during the trip in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C., and New York. The driving is a lot smoother and easier when you’re traveling from A to B with nothing in between. While Iowa might have been boring, it was very easy to get through. Trains on the other hand, allow you to see the cities without getting stuck in them. And if I didn’t need the car, I would have used this option. Fortunately, I was able to check out these cities, and get a couple of cool pictures along the way. Daily Route: Washington, D.C. to Stratham, NH

Daily Cost: The driving day cost $7 in tolls, $50 in gas, and food. Total Cost: $120 Cost per Person: $120 Total Cost without Benefits: $220

Fenway Park for a Red Sox - Yankees Game My good friend Tyler’s family had put me up for a couple of nights as Tyler and I, along with his sister and friend (Dana and Megan), made our way into the city for the game. Stratham was a quick drive from a ‘T stop’ where parking was free. I had never been to Boston before, so we got into town early to explore. Walking historic routes of the Boston Tea Party and reading about the revolution we made our way into Quincy Market to grab some food. A fantastic open air market in Boston, its history and tradition are just as valuable as they are useful. Because it is next to Faneuil Hall, and nearly 200 years old, I decided to buy some Red Sox memorabilia after eating and taking pictures. At this point, Tyler and I decided to check out other views of Boston. We were able to get several views of the Boston skyline on the way to TD Garden. TD Garden is the arena where the Celtics and Bruins play, but also a ‘T station’ or stop for Boston’s subway; so I had to check it out. While next to TD Garden, I was able to get a good glimpse of the Bunker Hill Monument and of course, the famous Zakim Bridge. It was unfortunate that I was only able to stay for a day because there was a lot more to see. After taking a few pictures of these landmarks, Tyler and I went off to do some brief urban hiking at the oldest pubs in America. The tradition was rich and the beers expensive, so it kept us popping in and out to check out the next one. Moving towards Fenway Park, we quickly came upon Boston Common. A pretty park in the middle of the city, you’re able to get great views of Boston from walking around and enjoying the fresh air. On our way to the ‘T’ for the game, we decided we’d stop into one more traditional, famous bar. And after shuffling through people unable to get a drink in a reasonable amount of time, we left Cheers. It was the same Cheers from the TV show, but it appeared more crowded than it did on the show. Getting off of the stop to the ballpark, we followed the bagpipes and smell (and crowd to get to Fenway).

Boston Red Sox; Fenway Park; Boston, Massachusetts; Stadium #29; July 6th We got there a few minutes before the park opened and made our way to Yawkey Way. Probably the most famous street in baseball, far ahead of Eutaw Street of Baltimore, it was doused in tradition and Red Sox spirit. A lot like Wrigleyville smushed and put onto one street, the shops, people, smell, noise were all Red Sox and baseball. There was a band playing, a man on stilts and plenty of other characters dressed up to entertain. The ballpark had turned 100 years old that year and had been declared a landmark, so we left Yawkey to get pictures pre-game. However, one of those pictures looks down on the street, and after that picture, we just hung out in awe and amusement looking down. The Green Monster, because of the age and tradition, is one of the most iconic features of any ballpark. Unfortunately, it is the only place where tickets are limited as they are treated like suite seats of most ballparks. We were able to get pretty close though, but not on top during this trip. For the game, we had spent a decent amount of money on standing-room-only seats, so we figured we’d be walking around a lot more. The seats were actually a pretty good view, and the price wasn’t bad for a Red Sox - Yankees game. We didn’t miss a play during that game, and got to scream along with the crowd. The best part was being a part of the 8th inning “Sweet Caroline” sing-along which outshines other sing alongs in baseball such as “Don’t Stop Believing” in Detroit, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in Chicago, and recently “Take on Me” in D.C.. In Boston, it is loud, proud and a major cause of goosebumps or smiles depending on how many times you’ve been to Fenway. The Fenway Frank, however, is just a hot dog wrapped in a slice of bread. It is unique because it’s not a bun, but it’s not that great. As for the game, we were in for a treat that Friday evening. First, they honored David Ortiz for hitting his 400th home run the day before in Oakland. The ballpark was loud, and a neat video was successful in portraying his career up to that point. It was awesome to see him and the Red Sox play, as it was the only

team I hadn’t seen yet during the trip. Second, every Red Sox starter got a hit, with the last one coming from Cody Ross and nearly going over the lights of the Green Monster (it was a home run; we saw 4 shots off the Monster that game). And while all of the Red Sox starters got a hit, all but 3 Yankees were able to get two hits, which they were able to turn into more runs winning the game, with our second Soriano save, 10-8. Third, the biggest rivalry in sports combined for the most runs they had ever scored in the first inning. The Yankees quieted fans by rallying off of poor pitching from Beckett with five runs. The Red Sox woke up the Fenway faithful by manufacturing a couple runs, and then got them standing as Saltalamacchia blasted a three run home run to make it five runs and tie game before the second inning. Soriano ed Hanrahan and Valverde as pitchers we had seen with multiple saves on the trip. And the number of pitches sured the previous trip record by one pitch. The Red Sox - Yankees game was the longest game we had seen on the trip, ing the rain delay game in Minnesota by 20 minutes. Mr. Joel Shirley (from Terry’s Tribute Tour) was at the ballpark, and while we didn’t find out until after, it was ironic that we had crossed paths yet again. Lesson #83: Go to a Red Sox - Yankees game. This is not a metaphor, I recommend going to a Red Sox - Yankees game. Maybe go to two, one at Fenway, and one at Yankee Stadium.

Daily Cost: Tickets to the big game were $85 a piece after service and convenience charges. I bought memorabilia in Boston which drove up the costs. And because we had to drive to the T station, I also included the driving costs as a benefit that I received, as well as the place to stay. Total Cost: $600 Cost per Person: $150 Total Cost without Benefit: $720

Driving South for the Last Time Another day of driving with a few road pictures was all that culminated after a fun filled day in Boston. I was traveling south for the last time of the trip, and I was directionally on my way home. I had one more ballpark to visit though, which I would get to see on day #55. For this day, I drove for almost eight hours from Stratham, New Hampshire to Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Because I could afford the time, I decided to skip out on New York City tolls and enjoy the Tappen Zee Bridge. While I was caught in traffic several times, I still made it to Downingtown in time to enjoy dinner with my good buddy and last member of the trip, Nate. Lesson #84: Taking bathroom breaks when driving alone can be relieving and reviving. Bathroom breaks probably wasn’t a topic that one thought they’d come upon during the trip. And seeing as how we didn’t take one until Emma ed us, it wasn’t my plan to include them. However, as drives are long, they can be great to stretch legs and take a deep breath. It was only the 4th bathroom break of the trip, but it was needed to wake me up and give me the energy to get down to Pennsylvania. I was once told that stopping regularly can make the trip faster and more comfortable; I’m not sure if this is true, but it was on that day. Daily Route: Stratham, NH to Downingtown, PA

Daily Cost: Food, gas, and tolls rounded out the cheap day as I was again blessed to stay with friends (this time Nate). Total Cost: $60 Cost per Person: $60 Total Cost without Benefits: $160

Citizens Bank Park for the Phillies, Ballpark 30 The last day of the trip was upon us and Nate and I had a full plan of action for the day. Seeing as how I was checking out the tourist sites of cities while I was on the trip, it made sense to take in the history of the city of brotherly love. We got up early to drive to a nearby SEPTA station. First stop was City Hall, where we walked around and then over to the historic Independence Hall. It was awesome to come around full circle with American history from seeing the Liberty Bell, to the Statue of Liberty, and the first American National Monument to American monuments under construction. In Philadelphia, it was similar to, but much smaller than the Mall in D.C., and we checked out most of the tourist traps without actually touring (the typical plan). From there, we hit up a place with some original Philly cheesesteaks, and enjoyed them before catching the SEPTA to the AT&T station for the game. The station was the home of all the sports teams in Philadelphia, and a venue for people to hold concerts. Philadelphia Phillies; Citizens Bank Park; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Stadium #30; July 8th Walking in, the place was at a lull as the Phillies were having one of their worst seasons of the decade. They were playing their rival Atlanta Braves, so it would pack up eventually. The walk around the ballpark was bittersweet as it would be my last. A state of the art ballpark fashioned with plenty of standing room, the city in the background, a cheesesteak place, and a light-up Liberty Bell for home runs, Citizens Bank Park was a decent way to end the trip. Nate and I enjoyed the ballpark from several different areas, including the centerfield standing room only bar area, which is a neat view of the field. After the home team got up early, the Braves closed the gap and took the lead

with a McCann home run late in the game and Kimbrel shut it down. It was our first time seeing the future 2012 National League leader in saves get a save. The Braves completed the sweep of the Phillies that day, which was ironic because the first game we saw on the trip was also the completion of a sweep. Post game, we were going to head off to an independent league baseball game in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the Barnstormers were playing. The Atlantic League Professional Baseball game started at 6 PM, and we didn’t have much time to train to 69th Street station and drive to the park. It was a fun game with cheap food, souvenirs and of course ission. The facility was a neat ballpark called Clipper Magazine Stadium, and had a bumper boats pool beyond the right field wall for kids. Even though the ballpark was further away than expected and caused us to be late, we were able to catch majority of the game including a walk off 9th inning home run by the clean up hitting tank of the Barnstormers. We ed the corner of Lemon Street and Lime Street on the way back to Nate’s as the sunset on the day and the trip of a life time; it was becoming more bitter than sweet. Lesson #85: Go to two games in a day when you have the chance. While it takes a lot of effort, it’s always good to have more baseball. Whether it’s a back-to-back double header, a day night double header, or two games in different ballparks, the more baseball the better. For the trip, I decided against doing two New York teams, or Chicago teams, or Los Angeles teams, or Oakland and San Francisco, for the reason that I wanted to enjoy the ballpark and surrounding areas. Also basing a schedule on these days would have strained the drives for the rest of the trip. If someone had the money to fly and rent cars, these games could make the trip faster, and it could possibly be completed in 26 or fewer days (when including other parks like Houston and Texas, Washington and Baltimore, or others in the Midwest United States). For Nate and I, the ability to enjoy this team that I hadn’t even heard of was fantastic. It was eye opening that I was able to see things I had never seen before, even after visiting all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. The trip was

not over yet. Daily Cost: Nate drove a decent amount that day, so it was included in benefits along with the place to stay. Along with additional costs that day, we spent money on two sets of tickets and a little on the SEPTA ride, as well as parking. We also had to indulge ourselves in some Philadelphia food. Total Cost: $250 Cost per Person: $123 Total Cost without Benefits: $370

The Trip’s Not Over, Day 57 The next day, I was supposed to wake up and drive back home. But after some convincing, I decided to enjoy the area with Nate. I did a little bit of research and found a single ‘A’ ballgame going on in nearby Wilmington that we would also hit up. The first half of the season had ended the night before so we couldn’t go back to Philadelphia. However, the minor leagues take their all-star breaks at different times, so we were lucky to find baseball during the only part of the summer where it isn’t played. We started the day by going to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania. If you’re in the area go check out this breakfast, and if you’re hungry but not in the area, get to the area and check out this place. Authentic Dutch cooking provides 200 feet of breakfast with nearly 20 different meats not including bacon sauce. The restaurant is famous, the gift shop is famous, and the restrooms should be famous as I’m told they’re the nicest in the state (having couches and a waiting room). After a food coma we took it easy by the pool and played some backyard HR derby to get ready for the real thing later. Growing up across from each other, we used to build whiffle ball parks in our backyards and host neighborhood tournaments. Nate and I used to build lego ballparks together which expressed our creativity, originality, and built my ion for the trip and experience of each cathedral. Being in the Philly area, Nate guided me to one of the best cheesesteaks I’ve had in my life at Brothers. It was a great last meal of the trip, and combined with breakfast, I was good for the next day without food. The Wilmington Blue Rocks played the Myrtle Beach Pelicans for a Minor League Baseball A game that night. Right off of I-95, the ballpark is a neat venue that hosts the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame. The sunset that night was a pretty sight as we headed back to his place to watch the HR Derby on TV. Lesson #86: The locals know what to do, utilize their expertise.

It wasn’t the first time I had learned this lesson, and it’s best used when staying with family or friends. Nate, Pat, Tyler, my uncle Tom, and even my uncle Cal were able to guide us around various cities I hadn’t had the ability to experience before. As a culmination of a lot a lessons learned on the trip, sometimes when traveling, it’s best to go along with the ride and take advice more than trying to discover yourself or trust what you read. Daily Cost: Nate drove again, and I stayed another day at his place. We spent money on Blue Rocks tickets and gear, and really took advantage of what the area offered with food. In preparation I also filled up for the last time. Total Cost: $140 Cost per Person: $70 Total Costs without Benefits: $240

The Trip Home Driving home made me “trip sick,” the bitter feeling that I would have to put all of the fun behind me and start working for a corporation behind a desk. The next week I was headed off to an Orioles game, because it had been three months since we had been to Camden Yards and that was too much time away. While being interviewed for a newspaper article about the trip, I explained that I just had to keep going to check out more ballparks, that I was possibly addicted. Lesson #87: After a baseball trip, you’ll find yourself addicted to going to baseball games. Unlike eating the same cereal for weeks in a row, you don’t get sick of it. In fact, I decided to explore all of the minor league ballparks in Virginia to add to the quest. During this journey, I sured 50 baseball games for the summer, and in the summer of 2013, I went to over 100 baseball games. There were other lessons that I learned on the trip that were myths I believed before I departed on the longest road trip of my life. Lesson #88: Energy drinks aren’t mandatory for taking long road trips. We didn’t deprive ourselves of caffeine on the trip, but with only 4 energy drinks consumed, we didn’t rely on or even use them. We were able to stay awake by getting enough sleep and not driving excessive distances in a short amount of time. By always looking for the next little town, and keeping everyone in the car awake, there’s always a good indication of when a stop is necessary. Lesson #89: Gas costs and timing can be planned to save a lot of money. During the trip, we didn’t get gas on 25 days, and we limited our gas consumption in states like California, and stayed away from paying for gas in Canada. While the gas definitely needs to be planned, planning for tolls is also important. Planning for one can save money for the other, but planning for both can cut hundreds of dollars from trip costs if the trip is as big as ours. Lesson #90: With an open mind, the more time you spend in a place, the more

you will enjoy it. After taking the trip, there are many ways it could have gone better, but the best way to do it would be to spend at least a series in each city throughout the course of the season. Each ballpark is shaped by its region with architecture, fan culture, location, transportation, and the food that it provides. If you’re unable to appreciate the region, then it’s hard to fully appreciate the ballpark. Lesson #91: Driving is less safe and slower than flying, but it’s also more profound. Beyond the bonding time invested between driver and enger, there’s an essence of enjoying the scenery on the way to the location. Even when the drive isn’t the prettiest, the destination becomes more valuable for taking the journey. The growth of appreciation for the time necessary to complete a relatively simple task can reestablish a since of wonderment and return experience individuals to a time of innocence. I’m not saying the trip is like Disney World, but if it runs smoothly, it could definitely fall into their advertising mission statement. Lesson #92: Avoid night driving when possible. A simple lesson that was seen in the Northwest as well as on the coast should have been preached as a planning tip. Driving time should be set up so that sleep is not pushed back and daylight is an ally. This lesson holds on the basis of experience and safety in general. One will not be familiar with all of the animals, drivers, road conditions, or roads when on a trip of this length. Lesson #93: Organize the car’s trunk space. Having luggage organized in the car will help with unloading and loading getting into and out of hotels. It will also help with establishing a carry on for flights rather than needing to check bags. The biggest element of this organization lends itself to dirty clothes and souvenirs: one will comeback with more than he or she left with. Lesson #94: Exercise. Two things we didn’t record daily were calories and weight. This would have enhanced the knowledge of the trip, but probably ruined our moods. Exercise

can be tough when everything else is on a schedule. However, foreign cities, hotel exercise rooms, and a consistently bad diet could help inspire this action. Lesson #95: The trip is long, save money when possible. Costs can be reasonable, even through other methods explained in the appendix, but it is necessary to be modest with spending. The more money you save early in the trip, the more money you have as a cushion for emergencies or extra activities later. There are many tips available on saving money, but there are big ones we utilized. For example, with souvenirs, instead of hats, t-shirts, or jerseys, we bought a cup from each ballpark. Lesson #96: Don’t hate, or throw out, math. As one will read later in the appendix, math is tool of mine that I used to establish the feasibility of the trip. Math is also used to estimate costs, times, and distances on a daily basis. Above the necessary advantages of math, it becomes a tool for finding a unique perspective and a few funny comparisons throughout the journey. Lesson #97: Never be pressed for time, if you want to enjoy yourself. This lesson ties into Lesson #90 and Lesson #8, but more importantly, it ties into the biggest thing that I would have done differently on the trip. If, or when, I am able to take the trip again, I will want to spend a series in each city. The lesson ties to the current planners as well though. When you’re in a rush to get out or into town, stress and tension will present themselves. If Lesson #8 is followed, or time is set up to allow the ballpark, safe mobilization, and an emergency cushion, then Lesson #90 will open itself to practice. However, if these lessons are not set up, make sure patience is practiced. In the worst case scenario, it is just a baseball game. Lesson #98: Bring materials to record information for the trip. Whether it’s stats, opinions, problems or solutions, it will be interesting to look back on and could be helpful for friends or oneself in the future. If there’s enough information, you could even turn it into a helpful book. If there isn’t enough information, you could turn it into a pamphlet or essay. I’d read either. Lesson #1: The journey is the reward.

The trip is something that I’ll never forget as I grow older. And while it will be nice to be able to say I’ve been to these places, the trip was more than the pictures and ticket stubs of proof of my simple accomplishment. The trip was about the celebration of the Chicago Cubs’ walk-off home run, the hot dog in Milwaukee, the dreadful drive through Iowa, the amazing drive through Wyoming, my dad trying to kill a helmet of nachos, my mom getting hit during batting practice and all of my siblings and closest friends sharing a ballgame with me. The journey is the reward, and as much fun as it was, I only want to take the trip again, because I know it will be different. The most valuable lesson was assumed and appreciated at the beginning and made this trip worth our time and money. Lesson #99: Read this book. Simply put, if this book was out before I ventured out, I would have read it and used it on the journey. You should do the same. Reach out to people who can provide advice, regardless of how much or how little. You can always learn and improve. With all of the lessons I learned, I have mentioned people to thank them for their time, hospitality and wisdom. And if you’re reading this book and wish to take a trip like this, whether the scale is bigger or smaller, feel free to reach out to me with questions. Daily Route: Downingtown, PA to Richmond, VA Daily Cost: On the drive home, I decided to count this in the number of days when planning a future trip, because I’m not sure how long it would actually be. For me, it was very short, and after hopping on the interstate that morning, I was only slowed down by a couple of change requiring tolls. Total Cost: $4 Cost per Person: $4

My name is Christopher Mehfoud, and my email is [email protected].

Check out the website for more pictures and the Twitter for more comments: www.30StadiumUStour.com @30StadiumUStour I have also blogged and helped plan trips through the website, www.ballparksavvy.com, which is a great site to check out for info as well as planning baseball trips with advice from fans with experience of taking those dream trips such as mine.

Blueprint to a Baseball Road Trip The following includes more intricate details that encomed the planning phases and the trip in its entirety. It is set up to be a blueprint to planning a baseball road trip. Based on the website, www.30StadiumUStour.com, and my trip to all 30 baseball stadiums in the summer of 2012, this appendix will serve as a mere guide to understanding how we organized the trip of a life time.

Planning by Location Rather than attempt to drive the shortest possible difference, by using the traveling salesman problem, I wanted to travel a short distance by fixing myself to a region. For example, if I can go to both ballparks in New York, while I’m in New York that would eliminate the drive time and cost of going from and back to New York. For this philosophy, as mentioned before, I established clusters where all the ballparks were located. And I established a rule that I would try to go to all of the ballparks in that cluster, before leaving to go to another. For this analysis, I established 8 clusters circled above. First, the largest cluster was the Midwest from Minneapolis to Toronto (Cluster A in the picture). Then the Northeast, from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, to Boston (Cluster B). The West Coast, or California Cluster, finishes off the big clusters, from Phoenix to San Francisco (Cluster C). Then there was the Florida/Atlanta Cluster (Cluster D), the Missouri Cluster (Cluster E), and the Texas Cluster (Cluster F). Finally, the last two ballparks were too far out to be included in clusters but also must be attended, those

of Seattle and Denver, (the Mariners and the Colorado Rockies). After merging the Missouri Cluster with Cluster A, I was able to define rules that fit each cluster into a schedule. The basis of that schedule was to not leave a cluster before visiting all points in it. While this route set up might not yield the shortest possible distance, it will decrease the number of long drives as well as the number of times the path overlaps with itself. If one were flying, it would decrease the cost and length of the flights as well. The next rule of the clusters was to progress through from cluster to cluster in the most financially feasible manner. It would be easy to fly from cluster to cluster and rent a car for a week and a half to make the connecting drives, but flights from Cluster B to Cluster A would be cheaper than Cluster A to Cluster C. For the same reason, I would use the shortest distance between clusters for driving. Based on the schedule, it led me to hit, A (merged with E), Denver, C (merged with a weekend flight to Seattle), F, D, and finally B. Another benefit of clusters is that, if planned appropriately, each park is a less than day trip from the next, so if you spend 5 days in a 3 park cluster. If there’s a rain out, days can be shifted so that you can catch a different game. Or, in my case, if you love baseball, you can just catch 5 games. Seattle found itself (for my trip) coming from a cheap flight out of Oakland’s airport, but could have been approached from any airport where the schedule opened up a few days that the Mariners were in town. It worked out very well that the shortest flight would open up a couple days in Cluster C’s schedule. But in general, while driving, the shortest path between clusters to finish where you started would be as seen as follows:

A (merged with E), Denver, C, F, D, B....

or Denver, C, F, D, B, A ... C, F, D, B, A, Denver... F, D, B, A, Denver, C... D, B, A, Denver, C, F... B, A, Denver, C, F, D... These patterns would work just as well in reverse and any city (most probably Denver), could be cut out and treated like Seattle with weekend flights. After all, it’s better to spend a few days in a city. Seattle works best with this plan because there are no rain cancellations, and there is no need for a car to get from the airport to the ballpark; so if you’ll be in Seattle for two nights, as long as your flight isn’t cancelled, you’re guaranteed to catch the game you planned to hit.

Planning by Time In order for the clusters to be effective, I established a scheduling rule for using them. After the rule that I wouldn’t leave a cluster before I was finished with the ballparks in it, I set up a time window rule where all of the teams in that cluster would be in town so that the trip would be as short as possible. For example, I wouldn’t want to wait a week between the teams in Texas because those are the only two teams in the cluster and other clusters are far from the state. For those two teams, I set up 3 nights where I would be in the state, this would give me rain delay time (for the Rangers, Houston has a roof) and drive time to and from other clusters. For other clusters, I established similar windows to allow time for other activities within the regions or cities. There was another rule established with Lesson #8, saying that if you need to get places, you need time to get there. Using this rule, we also established this time window for the cluster, and if we left the cluster on time, we would have plenty of time to get to the next one. This idea also trickled down to ballparks. We didn’t want to have ball games on the same day. So the first step was grouping the teams into groups where their schedules lined up with the other teams in the cluster. I would then use the cluster schedule to create my route of the country. I set the revised Cluster A as the top priority, and built the schedule around those 11 ballparks, which ended up being about 2 weeks on our actual trip. Each teams schedule had to be lined up and grouped accordingly. By doing clusters, we were either doing 11 teams, 6 teams, 3 teams or two teams at a time. For Seattle and Denver, we just made sure to include them when putting clusters together. The clustering schedules were set up based on if the teams were in town or not, and not based on a specific pattern. This “yes or no” analysis allowed us to set up a route of only 6 clusters (Denver included). Using these maps of 6 points, where would fill in Seattle later, we broke down and then determined the shortest route in the cluster that would put us in a position to move to the next cluster, based on the cities and activities. This took more time, but because 29 stadiums were represented, it wasn’t stressful or lacking feasibility (as long as Seattle would fit in).

After drafting six possible routes filling in Seattle, we were able to fill in empty days with points of interest and extra destinations, as well as ensure the driving distances and time were possible yet again. We, of course, recounted the number of ballparks to make sure they added to 30. Then using the routes mapped based on the assumption we would be driving (with either a rented car or our own car), we estimated costs based on the parameters that were initialized in the text. From the estimates that over shot our goal, those were revolving around starting points and ending points that didn’t line up and required a rental car per cluster. For this reason, we focused on only where we would start and end at home and picked the route that we did. As the trip evolved (as seen throughout the book), we ended up sticking to the rules created with two exceptions: moving Baltimore to the beginning of the season (moving Baltimore around in the cluster to the end was not an exception), and putting the Seattle in the middle of Cluster C during a weekend (this was more of a realization, than exception, because cheapest Seattle weekend was from Oakland). For further explanation, Baltimore would have been feasible in the middle of the trip where it was initially (June 30th), in the beginning of the trip (May 13th or 14th), or at the end of the trip (July 13th). In of other routes, if someone lived in a city in the cluster, it becomes just as economically feasible, considering the schedule, to begin and end in that cluster. For example, if one lived in Chicago, it would make sense to begin with Cubs leaving town, and comeback through Cluster A to finish their trip with the White Sox in town. There are other variations of this that make sense with other clusters (typically the larger ones, such as A, C, and B). By breaking up these clusters by starting point, it helps the schedule open up more windows of opportunity, especially if A is cut in half. Logically, the odds of 5 teams being in town during one week is greater than the odds of 11 teams being in town in two. And if you have to finish where you start, it makes sense to fill the schedule around both events. In a Seattle disclaimer, if someone lived in the great northwest, the cluster cycle does not fit by flying into the city where the Mariners play. It would unfortunately be more costly and require a drive down, and up, from clusters (preferably Denver, or California). Because of this limitation, the schedule and

shortest trip are greatly restricted, rather than becoming more opened up, which happens when someone lives in a cluster. However, if someone were to fly to clusters, and either drive, or fly, within them (by renting cars), then Seattle would be a great starting point.

Planning Results The planning phase for us worked out fairly well and resulted in the following schedule, which can be seen in the first chapter of the book. On the next page, there’s a complete map of the journey. April 8th, Baltimore Orioles May 16th, Toronto Blue Jays May 19th, Detroit Tigers May 20th, Cleveland Indians May 21st, Pittsburgh Pirates May 22nd, Cincinnati Reds May 24th, St. Louis Cardinals May 26th, Minnesota Twins May 27th, Chicago White Sox May 29th, Chicago Cubs June 1st, Milwaukee Brewers June 4th, Kansas City Royals June 8th, Colorado Rockies June 13th, Los Angeles Dodgers June 14th, San Francisco Giants June 15th, Oakland Athletics June 16th, Seattle Mariners

June 18th, Los Angeles Angels June 19th, San Diego Padres June 20th, Arizona Diamondbacks June 22nd, Texas Rangers June 23rd, Houston Astros June 26th, Miami Marlins June 28th, Tampa Bay Rays June 29th, Atlanta Braves July 1st, New York Yankees July 3rd, New York Mets July 4th, Washington Nationals July 6th, Boston Red Sox July 8th, Philadelphia Phillies

Estimating Costs The estimation of costs has been explained in the first chapter. However, there was not a full breakdown of how it was used. In this section, I will explain how it was created, how it was used, and then what we recorded and how that will help the reader, or someone else prepare a similar trip later. First, the breakdown of the cost estimation:

After laying out the entire schedule, we mapped the distance from ballpark to ballpark, and calculated all those miles, as well as looked up flights in the places where they would be needed.

For the breakdown, I will just explain the breakdown of the trip that we ended up taking. From the “Planning the Trip of a Lifetime” chapter, we know that we set gas to be $4.50 a gallon for regular unleaded fuel, expected our car to travel at 20 miles per gallon, set each hotel to be $150 a night, expected each ticket to be $30, assumed we would eat $50 of food and drink a day, and brought $50 for tolls.

Using these amounts we created our total cost with information from the schedule we created. We calculated the duration of the trip which would be 58 days and nights. The calculated distance we would travel (unfortunately only ballpark to ballpark) would be 11,862 miles, we assumed extra driving would cancel with the over estimation of the gas price, or the under estimation of miles per gallon (also we hadn’t planned in the visit to the National Parks at this point). For the flight we found a modest cost of $280. From this we put together a few equations:

Using these equations we would calculate a total cost, where we left out maintenance and parking (we had considered maintenance, but did not calculate in estimation).

The sheet on the next page breaks this into boxes, but to show the math here:

So the total cost with 58 days and nights:

So, we cancelled the trip immediately.

Obviously kidding, but at this point, I realized that I couldn’t afford the trip alone. I decided to estimate based on two people. With two people, the cost of hotels, gas, and tolls would be cut in half for each person. However, the price of baseball games food and flight would double for the total trip cost. But using a per person analysis I would calculate the cost again:

Baseball games wouldn’t change, 30 ballparks is the goal for everyone.

So the cost of the hotel was now estimated to be $75 per night and the cost of tolls per person would be $25. Or, each person would be responsible for bringing $25 worth of quarters at the beginning (as mentioned in the book, we did this, and it wasn’t as helpful as we thought it would be).

The total cost per person would be calculated based on two people with the adjustments:

We were shooting for under $10,000, so this result made us pretty happy.

However, this was just the estimation pre-trip. In order to understand how much the trip would actually cost, we needed to keep detailed notes on what we spent daily and what we spent it on.

Recording Costs The trip was planned assuming we could afford it. However, we wanted to keep financials in mind so that we could be confident we were affording it. It would have been a disappointment and dangerous if we had planned a $10,000 trip and woke up with an empty wallet before it ended.

To monitor the costs, we collected all of the receipts over the course of the trip and wrote down each payment at the end of the day. We grouped the costs so that we could analyze them and utilize them for predicting and understanding.

The following costs were collected and recorded in a spreadsheet: Game tickets, gas, tolls, parking, oil and maintenance, hotel, flight, stadium food and drinks, stadium alcohol, outside food and drinks, outside alcohol, store items, laundry, memorabilia, and other.

Tickets

Game tickets, when bought at the ticket window, were just that. However, when they were bought online, they were grouped together with service charges, convenience fees and extra taxes to add up to the total ticket cost. The actual ticket cost would be this price divided by the number of people, or

.

For Chicago, there were several taxes on the tickets along with service charge so a $12 ticket would be more like a $20. The most expensive tickets were for the Red Sox - Yankees game, which were a huge outlier at $78 before charges.

Gas

The estimation of how much we would spend on gas was calculated differently than how we could record it without difficulty. For this, we just recorded the total amount that we spent on gas each day. We also broke these values into how many gallons we bought, the cost per gallon, and where we got the gas. This way, when we totaled the miles we traveled, we could compute the gallons we used and get a rough miles per gallon calculation, or .

The price of gas was dropping throughout the trip, except for when we entered Canada and California, so it wasn’t depressing to record these values daily, and we only got gas 34 days of the trip.

Tolls

We greatly underestimated the tolls on the trip, but it didn’t hurt us too badly. There were two types of tolls. The bad ones, which required cash, (unless you wanted to count over 30 quarters) will hurt you on specific roads in Pennsylvania, Florida, and around bridges in tunnels in New England.

The second kind of tolls are what I typically think of, and are the case around where I’m from, are the kind where you pay from $0.25 to $2.00 and have a basket to throw change into. For the second kind of tolls, we were prepared. Unfortunately, it’s the first type that adds up.

Parking

What we paid for parking varied from city to city and included parking at hotels, at ballparks, at locations of public transportation and at the airport. These costs were considered upfront and not included in hotel costs.

An assumption that is made is that parking considerations for planning a trip should be by ballpark. There are ways to utilize public transportation to get to ballparks, but in a majority of cases, you’ll be required to pay where you park at the public transportation. For the predictive models, we included public transportation in the other costs (to be explained later), because if we decided to drive to the ballpark, those costs would balance out. For example, the subway ride to the ballpark might cost $2 per person for 5 people. Those 5 people parked their car at the subway stop for $10. If those 5 people had driven, it would have cost $20 to park at the ballpark. In both cases it cost $20 total. We record the $10 if this method was taken and assume that they were able to find cheap, or discounted, parking.

Many times parking and riding might be cheaper than parking at the ballpark, and there’s always more expensive parking right next to the ballpark. For these reasons, the estimates and averages represent a person who is conscious of what’s reasonable to spend while parking their car.

I believe that if you’re going to stay at a hotel outside of the city, it does not make sense to drive into the city and use the valet at a more expensive hotel to

park your car (if they would allow non-guests to do so). The further from cities and ballparks the hotels are, the cheaper they will be; they will require you to get closer by driving and parking. The closer the hotels are to the city and ballpark, the more expensive their parking will be.

The average cost of parking is just that: an average of what we spent on parking. Majority of the time, we used free methods (walking or shuttles) to get to the ballpark from where we stayed. The assumption is established using the idea that a person would drive from ballpark to ballpark. If this were the case, they would only need to pay for parking at the ballpark (not anywhere else).

Oil and Maintenance

Each time we got work done on the car in any fashion, we recorded what we paid for it. Oil changes were not assumed to be free and were not forgotten. We also had an alignment done and a couple car washes. If we had broken down, which we thankfully did not, we would have included those costs in this grouping. We were prepared, cautious, and careful. By driving safe, we saved money.

Hotel

We recorded the price that we paid for each hotel each night. When we had discounted nights through rewards, we included the entire cost of the hotel, and counted the discount as extra money in our pocket. As mentioned before, we did not include parking or food and alcohol (if bought at the hotel) into these costs. We did include convenience charges and taxes, which were included on top of the booking price.

Flight

The price of the flight was the flight taken on the trip. When my siblings flew out to meet me on the trip, I did not include these costs, because if they had been with me the entire trip, they would not have existed. If the whole trip isn’t possible for time or money reasons though, flying out for a leg of the trip is a good idea.

Stadium Food and Drinks

The total cost of the food at the ballparks. Unfortunately, this is not itemized to represent each soda, hot dog, etc. Stadium food is obviously more expensive that outside food, but some of it needs to be experienced, as you’ve seen in the book.

Stadium Alcohol

Because Alcohol by stadium is not unique we tried to avoid this cost for the most part, unless there was a fun glass. But we recorded the purchases, and they were way more expensive than beer or cocktails bought outside of the stadium.

Outside Food and Drinks

Meals bought outside of the ballpark were recorded as a total per day. When we did buy meals, they averaged out to be about $11 per person per day for the entire trip (this does not include what they bought inside or the beer purchased).

The cooler was good for preserving leftover pizza, among other items that held until we could finish them off.

Outside Alcohol

In our quest to enjoy the local flavor, craft beers and unique cocktails were consumed when we could safely transport to our evening destination. These costs were recorded.

Store Items

Items from random necessities to groceries to eat were recorded. Using the cooler, we could sustain food until we consumed it. While it was way cheaper to get food at the store than at a restaurant, we did not merge these values because we also bought items that would sustain the well being of the trip and people on it. Those items included things from ice to disposable cameras to deodorizer.

Laundry

We did laundry 5 times, and spent our quarters on it. Hotels were found to have machines that we used without issue. While this process did take time, it kept the luggage load modest.

Memorabilia

Everything that we bought that wasn’t necessary, but could be taken home as a souvenir, was considered in memorabilia. This money went to buying t-shirts, jerseys, hats, and other gifts.

Other

While public transportation is listed in this grouping, the majority of the “other” costs come from expenses that weren’t necessary for the ballparks on the trip. In many cases, the public transportation also wasn’t necessary, as previously mentioned in costs. A few examples of these include trips to museums, observation decks, tours, parks and gambling.

We felt it would be responsible to set aside money to gamble with and establish this as a cost, regardless of whether we lost it all or made a ton of money. I’m not going to tell you which of those things happened. But I will say that we only gambled in Las Vegas, it wasn’t a daily cost we had to record.

A daily example:

Predicting Costs To set up a predictive model for costs of future trips, we had to make generalizations and assumptions about the costs explained in my trip. First, what was necessary and what wasn’t in order to accomplish the task. In this book, we establish that visiting all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums is the only thing required for the road trip. Going above and beyond is probably a good idea, but not necessary for us here. After the clusters have enabled us to create a reasonable schedule, we’ll map out the points and measure the distance from each ballpark to the next. From this, we’ll have a good estimate of how many miles we’ll be traveling. We can set a modest value for the car’s milage, the gas price, hotel cost, and all of the other things mentioned.

For the average costs from my trip, I’ve created a model to establish how much the trip would cost per person, from 1 to 4 people. This can be seen here:

Even though it wasn’t the method chosen, it is possible to make the trip by flying between clusters, or even between cities. It is also possible to rent a car and drive the trip that way, which could save time and money heading back to the starting location.

Using a fairly quick analysis, flying with 32 one-way flights averaging $150 a flight (assuming one would be starting from a non baseball city, and that Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay require repeat trips) would cost $4,800 a person. Taxi service could be estimated (based on distances from ballpark to airport) at $1,500 total. Food and hotels would be the same estimated cost of $200 total daily, and a possible 30 days (which is difficult, but has been done) would lead to $6,000. The estimated cost of this trip would be over $13,000 after the 30 individual $30 tickets.

Renting a car to handle clusters could cut the total number of flights down to less than 10, which could be $1,500. Weekly rentals (if someone is over 25, which was our problem), could be estimated around $220 depending on where you are. If the trip is 45 days, costs could also get up to $1,500, or higher depending on the car. The hotel costs, ticket costs, food costs, and gas costs would still remain. But the mileage on one’s car, as well as maintenance costs, would be saved.

With flights and rentals, prices vary greatly and should be organized well before the trip. In these cases, one would, more so, be restricted by their preset schedule.

With reference to being able to fly from ballpark to ballpark, I wrote the following describing options of baseball fans with layovers:

“So you’re stuck at the airport, and they’ve asked you to extend your layover for another flight later that night. Or maybe you’re meeting someone else who’s flight was delayed. Either way, you have nothing to do at an airport for more than six to ten hours at least, in a city that you don’t live in.

“This situation might be rare, but another situation could be that you’re not a fan of traveling via bus, taxi, and want to avoid the cost of renting a car from the airport.

“Either way, as a fan you’re able to get to 15 out of 30 ballparks by using the metro alone. Using this chart could help someone get away from waiting and onto enjoying, or maybe just using the miles built up without spending much more to get to a couple of baseball games.

“For example, if you’re flying into DC to see a Nationals game, you might want to land at Reagan, a quick metro ride away, rather than Dulles or BWI, which could put a transportation delay, as well as a time delay on your plans.”

Attached is an original view of getting from an airport to a ballpark by only using a metro or light rail.

The next chart establishes what the trip would have cost under certain circumstances.

The first column identifies the inputs in the model.

The second column is the representation from two sections earlier in how I calculated the cost of the trip to ensure I would be able to afford it.

The third column uses the daily averages of the trip, which as mentioned on the bottom is slightly skewed because of the driving estimation and hotels and flight.

From there, I estimated how much the trip would cost if I didn’t have anyone to stay with, or didn’t drive up to the National Parks, or spent money or time on tours, museums, observation decks, or jerseys. This would have been an only 30 stadium and not US tour, as the website and twitter suggests.

Also in the chart is an approximate value for if I did receive benefits but did not travel beyond going to just 30 ballparks.

Attached is the same chart with a “future trip” estimation based on values that I’ve set for modest purposes knowing the averages that I computed from the trip that I took. There are methods presented in the book that would cut down on many of the costs listed. However, as listed in the bottom of the chart, it is presented to represent the maximum that someone would need to pay in order to go on this baseball trip. The math model for adjusting parameters is listed as follows:

Recording Information During the trip, we wanted to record more than just the costs. We wanted to keep track of what we saw each day, so we could find the differences, highlights, and know what to look for. We didn’t want to miss anything. Beyond taking daily notes, we also kept a spreadsheet listing other details that were both interesting, mandatory, or funny. Along with a box score that I kept for the trip, I utilized many of the notes and this trip information in the book. However, if you’re looking for a recap, you’ll be able to find all of the trip information and daily notes on the website, which is again: www.30StadiumUStour.com. The total, or sorted, box score is not on the website, or attached here, but the most interesting points are written in the book.

The following information was collected and recorded during the trip every day: Location, actual location, actual activity, records or notable feats, number of people with me, names of the people with me, total people, total days, number of MLB teams seen, MLB ballparks seen, games, drive time, miles, states, state names, license plates, tolls, roads, game start, game time, rain delay, ballpark name, year opened, attendance, percentage capacity, capacity, pitches, innings, winning pitcher, winning team, losing pitcher, losing team, save, home runs, triples, hit by pitch, double plays, number of pitchers, strikeouts, total left on base, stolen bases, runs, hits, errors, game or day temperature, hours of sleep the night before, total gallons of gas, average price per gallon, locations of gas station, gallons of gas at each location that day, prices of gas at each location that day, number of pictures taken, hot dogs eaten, seventh inning stretch, outfield pattern or design, elevation, outfield dimensions, stadium giveaways, other jerseys seen, stadium waves, thrown back home runs, balls collected, received parental calls, distance sleeping from McDonald’s, miles from home, Twitter mentions, accidents en route, cops seen, ballpark notes, and game or day notes.

Location

The location where I would attend the baseball game or activity for the day

Actual Location

The location where we stayed that night, rather than the location of the ballpark

Actual Activity

The activity of the day, whether it was a baseball game, or touring the city or driving from city to city

Records or Notable Feats

Experiences of the day that were noteworthy for the real world in of Major League Baseball, driven by an opinion of the value of the statistic or feat

Number of People With Me

The number of people that were with me during the game or duration of the game

Names of the People With Me

The names of the people with me...

Total People

The total number of different people that have ed me on the trip at the moment

Total Days

The number of the day of the trip

Number of MLB Teams Seen

The total number of teams seen after that day

MLB Ballparks Seen

The total number of ballparks seen after that day; the objective here is to get to 30

Games

The total number of games seen after that day

Drive Time

Number of minutes driven during that day

Miles

Number of miles driven during that day

States

The number of States driven through on that day

State Names

The names of the States driven through on that day

License Plates

This was a list of the different State’s license plates seen that day. We ended up seeing all 50 States’ plates during the trip, including Alaska and Hawaii, so that was bizarre.

Tolls

The money spent on tolls that day

Roads

This was a list of the major roads driven on during that day, to keep track of the interstates and for mapping out the trip on a literal map, as seen in the first chapter.

Game Start

We recorded each start time of the game each day, where we saw times from 11:00 AM - 10:10 PM Eastern Time.

Game Time

The duration of the game in minutes for the game that day

Rain Delay

This is a list of the time, in minutes, of the total rain delay during the day. Fortunately, there was only one rain delay during the trip, which was in Minnesota, for 65 minutes.

Ballpark Name

The name of the ballpark

Year Opened

The year that the ballpark opened

Attendance

Attendance of the game that day

Percentage Capacity

Percent that the ballpark was filled that day

Capacity

Capacity of that ballpark

Pitches

Total pitches thrown by both teams during the game that day

Innings

This was the total innings that the game lasted, which was either 8.5 or 9.0 innings, because we did not see one extra inning during the trip.

Winning Pitcher & Losing Pitcher

The names and records of the pitchers we had seen earn a decision

Winning Team & Losing Team

The records and names of the teams that day

Saves

This was the recording of names of the pitchers that got saves throughout the trip and their number of saves, we saw multiple pitchers get multiple saves.

Home Runs

The number of home runs seen that day

Triples

The number of triples seen that day

Hit by Pitch

The number of times players were hit by pitches that day

Double Plays

The number of double plays seen that day

Number of Pitchers

The number of pitchers that day from both teams

Strikeouts

The number of total strikeouts seen that day

Total Left on Base

The total number of players left on base seen for both teams that day

Stolen Bases

The number of stolen bases by both teams that day

Runs, Hits, & Errors

The number of runs, hits and errors by both teams seen that day

Game or Day Temperature

The temperature of each day

Hours of Sleep the Night Before

This was the amount that I slept the night before, because there were people concerned that I wouldn’t get enough during the trip. The story behind this is in the book.

Total Gallons of Gas

The total number of gallons bought that day

Average Price of a Gallon

The average cost spent that day for a gallon of gas over multiple locations

Locations of Gas

The locations, or cities, where we got gas that day

Gallons of Gas at Each Location

The number of gallons bought at each location

Prices at Each Location

The price of gas at each location

Number of Pictures Taken

The number of pictures taken (and not deleted) that day

Hot Dogs Eaten

We counted the number of hot dogs eaten by the group that day, more fun stats about this are listed on the website: www.30StadiumUStour.com.

Seventh Inning Stretch

The song played during the seventh inning stretch of the game that day

Outfield Pattern

We decided to remark on the pattern on the outfield grass at the ballpark. However, only two ballparks had unique outfield patterns: Busch and Tropicana.

Elevation

The elevation of each ballpark was recorded, which highlights the extreme difference of Coors Field.

Field Dimensions

The dimensions of the ballpark was recorded as well, showing that the second deepest ballpark wasn’t a Major League park.

Stadium Giveaways

The giveaways by the stadium on that day, from bobble heads to hats to milk to giant bags of dirt

Other Jerseys Seen

We assumed that the we’d see Yankees jerseys everywhere, this was not the case as we recorded jerseys seen at each ballpark, where the teams were not playing.

Baseball fans represent their team fairly well.

Stadium Waves

We counted the number of waves that we saw at each ballpark. In order to be counted as a wave, majority of the section must be involved and the wave has to make it around 3/4 of the ballpark.

Thrown Back Home Runs

The number of home runs that we saw and were thrown back

Balls Collected

The number of baseballs collected during that day, during batting practice, but we would have included foul balls

Received Parental Calls

My parents called a lot, so we recorded their calls.

Distance Sleeping from McDonald’s

We saw a lot of close McDonald’s, some as close as 100 feet away.

Miles from Home

The distance from home could be felt at times, so we recorded it to get a better glimpse of where we were, or where we weren’t

Twitter Mentions

@30StadiumUStour mentions per day

Accidents en Route

Accidents that we rubbernecked each day, fortunately we stayed out of them.

Cops Seen

We counted the number of cops that we saw daily during the trip that were in a position to pull us over and ticket us for speeding or whatever they were looking to for, but we stayed out of trouble.

Ballpark Notes

The notes and characteristics that we saw at each ballparks, we recorded these in the websites and through each chapter. A lot of notes were made including the amazing Green Monster to the frustrating cell phone charging stations.

Game or Day Notes

Notes describing the day or game

Learning Information This is a list of all of the lessons we learned on the trip: Lesson #1: The journey is the reward. Lesson #2: When it comes to planning, the destination is the start. Lesson #3: Plan ahead. Lesson #4: Check expected financials. Lesson #5: Give yourself multiple options. Lesson #6: Travel with people who are on the same page with the destination. Lesson #7: The plan will sell itself. Lesson #8: When you are on a schedule, you need time to get places. Lesson #9: When you go somewhere, you might never get out there again. Lesson #10: Plan in accordance of importance, and not necessarily chronologically. Lesson #11: Sign up for a hotel rewards hip. Lesson #12: Get smart phone apps. Lesson #13: Double check schedules and times. Lesson #14: Set a standard. Lesson #15: Bargain hunt. Lesson #16: Small costs add up. Lesson #17: Every day, and every game, brings something new or different; find it.

Lesson #18: Bring a cooler. Lesson #19: Bring reading supplies. Lesson #20: Bring maps and know how to use them. Lesson #21: Bring simple entertainment, like cards, games, etc. Lesson #22: Bring car chargers, and of course, wall chargers for phones. Lesson #23: Bring a printer with your laptop. Lesson #24: Bring blankets and pillows. Lesson #25: Bring change for tolls. Lesson #26: Make car rules for texting and sleeping. Lesson #27: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. (When on a baseball trip, go to baseball games.) Lesson #28: Know when the ballpark is having discount days or giveaways and take advantage. Lesson #29: Know the ballpark specific foods and deals. Lesson #30: When possible, have a back up plan. Lesson #31: Know when to hit the road and when to hit the pillow. Lesson #32: When traveling international, more than border crossing needs to be considered. Lesson #33: Location costs can outweigh travel costs. Lesson #34: The game and atmosphere are more enjoyable when involved and invested. Lesson #35: You get what you pay for. Lesson #36: By sticking to the plan, one can learn better options.

Lesson #37: Take time off from taking time off. Lesson #38: Know what day it is, where you are currently. Lesson #39: Take care of your ride. Lesson #40: Take your time, but not too much of it. Lesson #41: Use spare time to plan details for planned or un-spare time. Lesson #42: Get places early. Lesson #43: The only way to fully understand the transportation system is to experience it. Lesson #44: Ask for and take advice. Lesson #45: Know alternate, even if longer routes of public transportation. Lesson #46: Get up, get excited, and go all in for each day. Lesson #47: Rain can ruin days, if you do not have a tarp or a trained grounds crew. Lesson #48: Be social, the friends you make could have amazing stories and helpful advice. Lesson #49: Not all points of interest will live up to those expectations. Lesson #50: Check plans for the next day the night before. Lesson #51: When you’re able to, walk to Kansas. Lesson #52: Even when you’re far away, you could be closer than you’ll ever be. Lesson #53: Construction in Wyoming means closed roads. Lesson #54: Have a co-pilot who can navigate using a map. Lesson #55: Not everything will be fun for everyone.

Lesson #56: When in Rome, do as the Romans do (when in a Mexican town, eat Mexican food). Lesson #57: Understand timing, time zones, and time frames or deadlines. Lesson #58: Know where you can go, where you are. Lesson #59: Traffic in Los Angeles is terrible, safety can be threatened among other things. Lesson #60: Explore parking and transportation options with regards to cost and traffic. Lesson #61: Don’t let inexperience and personal preference dominate rationality. Lesson #62: Share the purpose and sell the need to buy the tickets. Lesson #63: It’s not practical to drive everywhere. Lesson #64: Go urban hiking. Lesson #65: Traveling can be tiring, but stay awake during the games. Lesson #66: All-You-Can-Eat (AYCE) seats are hit or miss; they are not all the same. Lesson #67: You’re not the only one doing what you’re doing. Lesson #68: Sometimes you just have to get lucky. Lesson #69: Eat steak in Texas. Lesson #70: Some games are more important to other people. Lesson #71: Not every experience is worth having. Lesson #72: When possible, stay in college towns. Lesson #73: Upgrading seats are an option that allows for different views of the ballpark.

Lesson #74: Safety precedes comfort, especially with weather. Lesson #75: You’ll find points of interest when you’re not looking. Lesson #76: Prepare for the weather, don’t underestimate how you’ll experience it. Lesson #77: Home is never a bad pit stop. Lesson #78: Go to Old Timers Day at Yankees Stadium. Lesson #79: There’s more than one way to get into New York City, and some are better than others. Lesson #80: Keeping everyone entertained keeps everyone happy. Lesson #81: Washington D. C. is a great place to be during Independence Day, but it’s also a tough place to be. Lesson #82: Some of the best and worst views of a city are from the surrounding highways. Lesson #83: Go to a Red Sox - Yankees game. Lesson #84: Taking bathroom breaks when driving alone can be relieving and reviving. Lesson #85: Go to two games in a day when you have the chance. Lesson #86: The locals know what to do, utilize their expertise. Lesson #87: After a baseball trip, you’ll find yourself addicted to going to baseball games. Lesson #88: Energy drinks aren’t mandatory for taking long road trips. Lesson #89: Gas costs and timing can be planned to save a lot of money. Lesson #90: With an open mind, the more time you spend in a place, the more you will enjoy it.

Lesson #91: Driving is less safe and slower than flying, but it’s also more profound. Lesson #92: Avoid night driving when possible. Lesson #93: Organize the car’s trunk space. Lesson #94: Exercise. Lesson #95: The trip is long, save money when possible. Lesson #96: Don’t hate, or throw out, math. Lesson #97: Never be pressed for time, if you want to enjoy yourself. Lesson #98: Bring materials to record information for the trip. Lesson #99: Read this book.