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2004
baseball trip august nyc to minneapolis and back. |
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| after convincing me to join a fantasy baseball league, dan and jamie were able to convince me to join them on their annual baseball trip. for the past six or seven years they've traveled to different parts of the country for a mix of major and minor league baseball games. we left on a weekday and stopped at the wendy's outside allentown, i think. it's the wendy's one stops at whenever traveling from ny to pittsburgh. i'm sure you know it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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the photos for larger images - |
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our first stop of the trip was harrisburg. we rolled into town with just enough time to cross the bridge to the little island where the senators play their home games. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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feeling the call of dinner, i created a plan to enjoy a hot dog at every stadium. i had grand visions of recording price and quality in a little notebook. sadly, i never bothered to acquire the notebook. but there are more pictures of me eating hot dogs than there really should be. or do i mean i ate more hot dogs than i should've? | |||||||||||||||||||||
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america loves mascots! minor league baseball brings at that urge to just bounce around and go crazy and run into things. too bad, they don't rent giant gorilla suits to everyone. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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after the game, jamie stopped by the batting cages just a hundred feet from left field. it took him a bit of time, but eventually he was able to get around on the fastball and hit "major league pitching." | |||||||||||||||||||||
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one of the coolest things about the stadium is the walking bridge connecting the island to the city of harrisburg. walking across the bridge with the lights of the ballpark in the background left me on a baseball trip high. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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(standard group photo required at all baseball game stops) |
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whenever i travel, i check to see if there's a chick-fil-a near where we're headed. after sleeping in washington, pa we got on the road early and drove to indiana. after traveling on a lot of flat roads and encountering some rain we found the oasis we all needed - a chick-fil-a (bloomington). | |||||||||||||||||||||
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on the way to chicago, we stopped in gary, indiana for gas. i never knew gary, indiana was a real place. and it's just as semi-depressing as you expect it to be. i took a self portrait - note the length of my very short beard. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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after a stop outside chicago to visits friends of dan's, we were joined by jamie's friend gary for a chicago white sox game. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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paul konerko was on my fantasy baseball team - like the idea of photographing all the hot dogs i sampled, i thought i'd try to talk photos of all the guys i saw who were also on my fantasy baseball team. i think konerko is the only one who had his photo taken by me. the beer vendor was not on my fantasy baseball team. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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ooh - chicago! | |||||||||||||||||||||
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uh, yeah, so the hot dog experiment continued. i'm writing this in april 2005. i don't remember either of the hot dogs i'd had by the point this photo was taken being very good. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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gary and jamie. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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(required group photo) |
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this is the kind of thing that the fans like - it's a way to really interact with the team and feel like you're part of the experience. taking a picture with my head on a player's body really makes me think that my ticket to the ball game was worth all the service charges and whatnot. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| it rained heavily as we left the ballpark, so none of us felt like hanging out in chicago. jamie, dan and i motored out of the city, stopping in rockford, illinois for a night of sleep. i convinced my friends that it was early and we needed to go out for a drink. we drove down the main strip off the highway until we found a shopping center with both an internet cafe and a bar. the two jokers i was with were more excited about the internet cafe. after two drinks in the bar, last call arrived and then i was more excited about the internet cafe - where i created this ridiculous blog entry about "the trip so far." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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the second full day of the trip included a lot of driving. we arrived in minneapolis with just enough time to get a hotel room, get over to the metrodome and find some food in the outdoor fun-time area. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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dan pours melted caramel into his throat. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| i was excited to try my third hot dog of the trip. i chose some monster version while in minneapolis. i took a bite and was disgusted. it was the end of my hot dog experiment. i didn't even finish it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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indoor stadiums are weird. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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during a lull in the game, i noticed this fan composing a list of reasons why she should have a cell phone. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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(required group photo) |
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after the game we explored the city and took a monster walk from the stadium to a bar, then to the sugar mill area. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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we crossed the stone arch bridge toward the university. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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and it was on to dinkytown. | |||||||||||||||||||||
balgavy.com site index |
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