So..... We're a week later now. What has happened in the past week. So. Monday Taylor and I went to Kings Island, an amusement park in Cincy. We had a good time there and were able to do everything that was worthwhile. I was quite impressed with the park.
Tuesday we bounced. We picked up Stella, a friend of Taylors that he grew up with, and we got on the road towards Provo. I was in the Lazarev's car, while Teej and Stella were in his car. It was a dang good thing that I was driving, too, because they barely had enough room with me carrying half of their stuffs! We went to St. Louis, passing through Indianapolis. I stopped in Indy and drove around just to see the Conseco Fieldhouse as well as Lucas Oil Field, where the colts play. I thought Lucas Oil was tiny, but it was impressively large. They also had that crazy earthquake on the east coast while we were in Indy. they made a huge deal out of it on the news. haha
We got to St. Louis around 5, and headed to the magical arch of expansion, aka the gateway arch. We tossed a baseball on a hill under it, and Stella got a stellar picture of it. solid. (to be added later....) um, LKF (aka little known fact) The magical arch of expansion is actually just as wide as it is tall. despite the fact that it is optically illusion-ized to make you think it is way taller. it is actually630 feet tall and wide. Teej didn't believe me, but wikipedia had my back.
We went to the game afterwards and got some tickets from a scalper. we got our tix for 10 bucks each in the outfield bleachers. It was HOT! So stinkin hot and humid. it was like 95 degrees at first pitch at 7:00 The dodgers crushed St. Louis. it was 11-0 when StL put in an outfielder to pitch the 9th. the final was 13-2 after LA had a 2 run homer off of Shumaker, but they also got struck out twice, too, so.... I had fun yelling at Dodger outfielders. and we snagged front row outfield seats when i asked some people leaving early if i could take their seats. haha. it was pretty bad. I wasn't too impressed with the stadium, but taylor loved it. It was midway for me.
This is my final stadium rankings for all the stadiums I have been to:
1 Fenway, Boston
2 PETCO Park, San Diego
3 Citi Field, New York Mets
4 Old Yankee Stadium, NYY
5 Camden yards, Baltimore
5 Great American, Cincinnati
5 Citizens Bank, Philadelphia
5 Busch Stadium, St Louis
5 Safeco Filed, Seattle*
10 Yankee Stadium, New York Yankees
10 PNC Park, Pittsburgh
10 Nationals Park, Washington DC
13 The Jake/ Progressive Field, Cleveland
14 Angel Stadium, Anaheim
15 Qualcomm Stadium, SD
16 Dodger Stadium Los Angeles
17 Kauffmann Stadium, Kansas City*
* I was young andbarely remember these places, but we drove by KC, and it is still ugly. haha
Also, a special ranking of best skyline view beyond centerfield, acording to me
1 Pittsburgh
2 SD
3 Baltimore
4 St Louis
5 Philadelphia
So, after the game, we got in the cars and drove towards Kansas City, but decided to pull off in Columbia. So we stayed in a motel there.
The next day, we got up around 9 and headed across the country: Through Independence, Missouri to Kansas City to the middle of nowhere Kansas to Colby Kansas and finally we arrived in Denver, where we stayed with the Gibbs family. They were so nice and it was good to get to know Erics family a tiny bit better. I spent these few days as a very hyper person when I got around people after being couped up in a car all day. I was having fun.
Thursday we got up around 8 and headed over the continental divide and through Aspen, along the Colorado River to Grand junction, then through eastern Utah and up to Provo! I made it the whole way, not only driving the whole way, but I was alone in the car the whole way after Cincy. do work. one day, i will drive to California again, and i will be able to say, although extremely drawn out, that i drove from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Boston to San Diego. nice.
I went up to SLC with the Lazarev's and picked up my car from Anne and Danny's, then went to Garrett's and DID WORK on the car and crammed everything into the car. I conjured a way to see my blind spot and had to lean awkwardly forward because I had a box where my head was supposed to be. nice.
I spent thursday night and friday moving in. Friday night was also my first night of work for the Athletic marketing team. I helped out at the soccer game, passing out promo items and free posters, and during the game, we had way too many free churro's, so i went out into the stands to just give them away. haha
Sat i got alot of errands done before going to Salt lake for dinner, as Dad and most of his family were in town for Anne and Danny's farewell, and then we went to shop briefly before I came home.
Sunday I woke up early to get back to church in Salt Lake, then after church, we went to Justin's place for lunch. We spent all afternoon there, talking, eating, playing Settlers, and celebrating Jason's Birthday. I then dropped Dad off at Malee's before going to Janessa and Cara's place to pick up Michael and Nich on my way back to Provo to start school at 8:00 on monday morning!
School is good so far. I have Information Systems 201, Humanities, Volleyball, New Testament, Fun, and Anatomy. I still haven't had anatomy, but the rest have been good. It should be a challenging, but rewarding semester. Now Fun class.... It is fun. not officially known as fun class, but it should be. We just played interaction party games/ get to know you type things for 2 hours. our homework is to type up a sheet to teach everyone else how to play our favorite game, such as mafia or signs. So easy and it is fun. A solid 3 credits that will keep me sane!
Well, I think that sums up thus far.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Day 14- Final official day of the tour
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| Part of Garrett's hat collection |
We then hurried to the airport in Dayton and Dropped Eric and Garrett off with 40 minutes until take-off, but they were already checked in, had only carry-ons, and security in dayton is quick, so they were fine. And that was when the trip officially ended. We finished the day by coming home and having yet another delicious meal from Aunt Nan, then talked for a while, and eventually called it a day. So here is the final score board:
Jumbotron appearances: 6
Balls from the game: 8 (Mitch, Taylor and Garrett- Tennis; Garrett-DC; Taylor-DC; Nicholai- DC; Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
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| Eric left his door opened SO much. haha |
Promotion items: 4 (All- T-shirt in Pitt; Mich- Bobblehead in Pitt; Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 34+ 5 at tennis
Rainouts hours: 5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 42
Miles: 2300
States: 12
Cars acquired: 1
Shy smiles from cute athletes: 1
and Awards:
Cincy: Best hook ups, game seats, and cutest tennis girl.
Cleveland: Mike... and Gail... 'nuf said
Baltimore: Most fun non-traditional tourist city
New York: Best city to tour and have a good time.
Boston: Best stadium
Philly: Best Fans
DC: Best Chili Dog and most balls acquired and best crazy person story
Pittsburgh: Worst fans, but best ushers and city-scape and most exciting game.
and HUGE Thank you's to:
The Jensens for great tennis and Reds tickets and hosting us
the other Jensens for housing us and letting us stay all 14 innings despite their roadtrip the next day
Lynne for housing and letting us do laundry
The Runyon's for housing us, cooking and just being amazing
and the Lazarev's for housing us and giving me something to do next week.
ALL that and so much more was greatly appreciated and helped us pull off 2 of the best weeks of our lives! Thank you so much!
and our awesome video at:
http://mlb.jibjab.com/view/xvy5KMuIJjmvrOkB
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| And the Fella's in the car |
Taylor and I will road trip across the country to Provo this week, adding 4 more states to the list of states visited in august, we will restart the license plate game, and also hopefully visit Busch Stadium in St. Louis to get one more game in. That'll be 9 stadiums from the tour, plus St. Louis, San Diego and Anaheim this month for me. 12 stadiums in 3 weeks of August for me and 17 states, including CA.
~~THE END~~
Day 13- Cincinnati once again.
After our 4:00 am arrival, we slept pretty well to say the least. We had breakfast right around noon then instead of doing crazy stuff like going to the amusement park, we just hung around the house. It felt good to slow down, but not be stuck in a car. I did some catching up on the blog, we watched some baseball, played some pool, and went to eat Skyline Chili. Now for all who have heard Taylor or anyone else from Cincinnati rave about this stuff, I can give you an honest outsiders opinion. It is okay, but far from the best chili I have ever had. It just was nothing spectacular. BUT- it was so different that I can understand why once you have acquired the taste, it would be a sign of home and a taste you cherish forever. But for me, Eric, and Garrett, it just wasn’t too great. We also got one more McDonalds smoothie. Haha- we ordered on two separate checks in the drive thru, and we paid for the second one through the back window, and picked up the second order through the back. The cashier freaked out when Taylor started pulling up to the back seat window. It was so funny.
We eventually made it up to the Tennis grounds where the Cincinnati Open Tennis Tournament was going on. As Keith “Uncle K-Train” Jensen (Taylor’s Dad) put it, “I couldn’t get you very good seats so I got you some horrible seats… in the first row…. Right behind where they serve”. Haha What a man!
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| Me and Maria Sharapova in the background |
So we went early to watch the doubles semi-finals, where the Bryan twins lost, something that never happens. We then headed to the main stadium for the matches we came for: the Semi-finals for the Ladies. First was Maria Sharapova vs Vera Zvonareva. Now you need to understand that Maria Sharapova was my first Tennis crush. She is amazing. So it was very nice to be sitting first row right behind her. I cheered loud for her. J She was very focused, and I probably didn’t help much. Haha she lost the first set, but came back to win the next 2. So after the match, she is walking out towards the exit in our general direction and I shout out “Great Match Maria!” and she looks up at me and kinda gives me this cute little shy smile thing as I continue with “I love you!!” haha brilliant. So she totally wants me is all I know. Haha
So after that, Garrett and I went out to the ESPN set and watch the interview, then afterwards, Chris Fowler, who is ESPN’s host for both Tennis coverage and College football Gameday, is standing 2 feet from me. So I start talking to him about BYU football. Legit. He seems to think things could be good for BYU. So this day just keeps getting better.
Earlier in the match, I was watching these ladies serve and wondering how fast I could serve since I’ve never clocked my serve. So I notice they have a serving radar booth out on the grounds, so I decide to try it out. I watched maybe 10 people go while I was in line and 91 was the fastest I saw. The guys behind me are placing bets on who can break 100 between them two. So I get up, not knowing if I can only hit it 70 mph or 110. My first serve was 93 and they clapped a little, but then my second one… clicks in at 100 flat! Haha they went crazy. Later I went back with the fellas and got 2 98’s, 2 99’s, another 100, a 102 and a 106. So 8 of the 20-25 balls, 8 were 98 or better. I’d say that is statistically significant. TJ got the second best with one 98 mph ball. The people behind us that time were all drunk and loving that I could hit triple digits. Haha they were rooting for “the guy with the head band”! ha
So I’m stoked to know how hard I hit, plus breaking 100 was tight. But I thought that was the end of the greatness of the night. But oh no- I was wrong. So during the next match, near the end there was a stop in action and they did a fan cam- something that I don’t think is normal for tennis. So I get up and start dancing a little with the Mitch dance move (a little hand wave with the body and head moving with it). It was solid. I wasn’t sure if the ESPN and house cameras were the same, so I pointed at one of the ESPN crewmen and he turned his camera towards us. I later heard we were on TV dancing thanks to that point.
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| Us four doing the Mitch after the match |
But another camera in the mean time had picked us up and they left us on the stadium jumbotron for probably a minute. Haha it was nice. All 4 of us were just doing the Mitch back and forth. left and right… left and right…. So they turn the camera off and every one cheers and claps for us. Haha so naturally I start bowing, then I turn around to sit down and Jelena Jancovic is walking right towards us to play again and she is laughing at us. Haha. So now I am once again hyper, so later when Jancovic comes to use her towel right by us (like right by us… I could have reached out and touched her) I say, “Hey, come give us high fives when you win!” and she laughed and shook her head at me. It was great. So that was 2 players who acknowledged me.
The match ended and then Pam Shriver, from ESPN, walks by and I shout out her name and she looks up and winks, then realizes that we’re the dancers and turns and say “Great dance guys!” as she walked away! Boom baby! Then the ball boys exit right by us and, we assume because they liked our dancing, toss us three balls! Haha Then Jancovic starts leaving the court so I holler out “Jelena!” and wave, and she turns around and waves bye to us. Haha Then we took our balls to her exit and I snuck in past security and got two of them signed by her, but couldn’t manage the third. Haha So it was turning out to be pretty solid.
As we were walking out, we had probably 10 people comment on our dancing- “Great Dance, guys” or “Will you be back tomorrow?!” and stuff like that. We went to a little after party and were given complimentary drink tickets on the way in. So we go up to the bar and ask for 4 sprites, and the bar tender looks at us like were crazy, rolls her eyes and gets them, after clearing up that “You know you can get any drink here, right?” haha yes, we do. We did an encore dance on the dance floor, then headed out. The best part was the guy we were by whenwe left asked us how we got the tennis balls, and I said, “Did you see those fellas on the screen dancing?” and he gets all excited and exclaims, “That was YOU?!” and laughs, “I took pictures of you!” haha so he whipped out his camera and shows us. Hopefully he will e-mail me those pictures.
We then headed home. Well as if today wasn’t good enough yet, we have been playing the license plate game the whole trip, and we were down to 7 states left. Well, we saw New Mexico on the way home, and despite the last second lane changes needed to confirm the plate, we still made the exit. Perfect ending to a perfect night. Once again, the Jensen’s hooked us up big time. I cannot say “thank you!!” enough on behalf of all of the fella’s. Tonight took an amazing road trip and was way more than the cherry on top of our tour. It was probably the highlight of my trip. Thank you so much Uncle K-train and Aunt Nan!
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 6
Balls from the game: 8 (Mitch, Taylor and Garrett- Tennis; Garrett-DC; Taylor-DC; Nicholai- DC; Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 4 (All- T-shirt in Pitt; Mich- Bobblehead in Pitt; Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 34 baseball + 5 at tennis
Rainouts hours: 5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 40.5
Miles: 2222
States: 12
Cars acquired: 1
and Shy smiles from cute athletes: 1
Day 12- Pittsburgh
We were planning on leaving DC around 10:00 this morning, but none of us woke up! We went up for breakfast around 10:00 and got off closer to 11:30. So the day before, Nico’s dad approached Eric and Garrett while I was showering and said “fellas, I need to get to work, so I’ll cut straight to it. I have this car that I need to get to Utah. I’ll pay you to get it back” etc… they both said they couldn’t, but later in the day I was thinking, 'well heck!? Why not? I have nothing to do when I get back to Provo, I might as well earn money to drive back to Provo and just cancel my flight.' So we called up his dad, and he said okay. So we picked up a car in DC! So they packed up stuff in their car and we drove off towards Gettysburg with the two cars.
We got to Gettysburg about an hour later, went through the museum and watched their movies, etc. It was okay. We then drove around the area a tiny bit to see the battle grounds, etc, grabbed a bite to eat, then got on the road towards Pittsburgh.
We encountered some heavy rains on the drive, and since we went to Gettysburg, we weren’t on a freeway. We drove through windy country roads that sent us over the Appalachian Mountains. It was actually a really pretty drive, especially as we came to the summit of the mountain. As we approached Pittsburgh, we knew we weren’t going to be getting there on time. I turned on the radio to listen to the start of the game, and just our luck, they said due to heavy rains, the game start was being delayed. Solid. We had some pretty bad traffic as we approached the city, but it was okay.
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| The beautiful backdrop of Pittsburgh |
We purchased standing room only tickets as it was a sellout, but found ourselves in front row seats of the short-fenced left field. We were right behind the former Padre Ryan Ludwick. It was a way fun game. We had some Pirates fans that sat behind us for a few innings that were funny and heckling the Reds left fielder, Fred Lewis. (“Hey Fred! It’s me! From 3rd street!” followed by “watch- he really grew up on 3rd street and he’s thinking, ‘oh shoot… I owe that guy 20 bucks!’ or ‘ah man. Should I turn around? What if I really do know him!’ ” or after a man was kicked out for throwing a homerun ball back, “Apparently, you can’t throw balls back at PNC park... Who’da thought?!” or the sidekick fella just yelling “Fred!!!” at random points or my favorite, “HEY DERF!! -- that’s uh… Fred backwards… if ya didn’t know and incase he speaks the backwards language”… haha)Other than those fella’s though, I was thoroughly disappointed with the fans of Pittsburgh. I hear Steelers fans are great, but probably those very same people were there last night and hardly clapped when they had bases loaded three different times during the game, and they sure didn’t even think about standing up. I was disappointed. I was one of the best Pirate fans there. And I was even a declared neutral fan for that game, ‘just cheering for baseball!’ But… They won the award for best ushers and best stadium backdrop. When we made our tour stop behind home plate, I looked out and was stunned at the view. Very pretty with the city and bridges behind- better than it is on TV. And the ushers were very friendly and willing to take pictures and letting us take pictures.
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| This one is in honor of my dear roommates... |
Game prediction standings:
Taylor 6-3 (Picked Cincy in all 3 Cincinnati games and went 1-2 in those)
Eric 5-4 (went 1-1 in the games his teams played in- Col beat Cincy, and the Yankees lost)
Mitch 4-5 * (finished on a 4 game losing streak, but wins tie breaker because of picking the perfect score in Cleveland)
Garrett 4-5 (Garrett picked opposite of my pick, knowing if he picked the same he would guarantee himself sole possession of last place, and if he picked the opposite, he might tie. So he chose Cincy 20-0! :p)
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction in Cleveland.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 5 (Garrett-DC; Taylor-DC; Nicholai- DC; Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 4 (All- T-shirt in Pitt; Mich- Bobblehead in Pitt; Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 34
Rainouts hours: 5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 40
Miles: 2200
States: 12
Cars acquired: 1
Day 11- Washington DC
We stayed with Nicholai Lazarev’s family in DC. He lived in an apartment with Garrett on the mission, and I saw him probably more than any other missionary while in Paris. They live probably half an hour north west of the city. So that is who we stayed with...
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| Cousins with Ridiculous hats |
One of the best stories of the trip was the crazy lady who freaked out at the cashier there. She was yelling things like “come out front and fight!” and “he says he wanna knock me out!” Things like that. She was mad about something and stood there complaining for 20 minutes or so. We got a good laugh. My two favorite lines were “Come out and fight… you know what, no. I’m gonna say don’t come out- ‘cause if you come out here, Imma beat you up!” And the best- “What kind of McDonalds is this?!” As if she had high expectations for McDonalds. Haha and it was a pretty nice Micky-D’s, too.
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| What is more American than baseball on the Capitol lawn? |
After the air and space, it was game time, so we got on the metro to the stadium. The street from the metro to the stadium was kinda scary. It was fully of scalpers and shady people. We got our tickets in the far upstairs corner and went up to our seats. Taylor and I quickly realized that between it being the Nats and a late start due to rain, they weren’t going to be close to a full house, so we went downstairs and braved the rain to watch Bronson Arroyo warm up in the Cincy bullpen. TJ has this cool hat that has hair coming off the back like Bronson has, so he stood out a little while standing right over the bullpen. Bronson noticed and kinda smiled at him. Right before the start of the game, a reliever tossed a ball to Taylor.Eventually, the other fella’s joined us down stairs. Some of the players were throwing stuff at another pitcher, Arrendondo, and he would always turn around and look right at Garrett before realizing it was his teammates. Haha All in all, Nico ended up getting a ball and giving it to the kid by us, then at the end of the game, Chapman tossed Garrett a ball, too.
Cincy lost the game, but we left with 2 more balls (plus the third given to a kid). We enjoyed the stadium. It was nothing special, but still nice.
We then went back home and got to bed after some dessert. The end.
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| DC, Fellas |
Game prediction standings:
Eric 5-3
Taylor 5-3
Mitch 4-4 *
Garrett 3-5
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction in Cleveland.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 5 (Garrett-DC; Taylor-DC; Nicholai- DC; Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 30.5
Rainouts/ hours: 4
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 31.5
Miles: 1650
States: 11
Day 10- Philadelphia
Today we woke up in Boston, got packed and ready, and headed out around 11:00. Then we had a LONG drive ahead of us. We drove from Boston through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey (past the meadowlands where the Jets, Giants, and NJ Nets play), then pulled across the Delaware river into Philadelphia around 4:30.
Funny moment driving though New York: we pull up to a yellow light, and Taylor stops. I give him a hard time for not going through the yellow, so just after the light turns red, Taylor decides to take it. Haha. Illegal, but to be sure, it was safe. But right after that, there was a cop that was coming towards us, who then flipped a U-turn right after he passed us, then sped up. I think Taylor was a little nervous. He passed us and we never saw him again. Haha lesson learned.
When we got to Philly, we parked right by Independence Hall, took a gander at that, then went into the Liberty Bell building to see the bell, went up towards the Philadelphia coin mint, then wandered around a tiny bit looking for a cheese steak place that Eric had eaten at before. We eventually found it. The other guys thought the cheesesteaks were just okay, but I loved mine. We got the car then headed down to the game.
We snuck in just in time for the first pitch. We were way upstairs but it wasn’t bad. As we headed down to take our tour of the field, Taylor got split off from the group, and tried to slip through a concessions line to catch up, but the vendor saw him, and got in his face for cutting in line and threatened to throw him out of the stadium. Haha. We ended up behind the bullpen by the end of the game. It was a close game, then Philly blew it open with 7 runs after the 7thinning. So it turned out to be a blow out, yet a close game. We were extremely impressed with the phans in Philly and we loved the Phanatic, their mascot.
We hurried back to the car after the game to get headed towards DC, and turned Gail the GPS on, but Taylor decided he was smarter than Gail. So instead of turning onto the freeway, we headed right into stadium traffic. Haha… it was okay in the end though. We sat there in traffic for 40 minutes, but then we got out into the clear and flew no problem to DC. We passed through Delaware and into Maryland just before midnight, making our total number of states visited for the day come out to seven. Solid. We pulled into DC around 1:15 and quickly got to bed.
Game prediction standings:
Eric 5-2
Taylor 5-2
Mitch 4-3 *
Garrett 2-5
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction in Cleveland.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 27
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 31.5
Miles: 1650
States: 11 (but 7 today alone- all but Ohio, Kentucky, Utah, and Colorado)
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| Eric and the Liberty Bell |
When we got to Philly, we parked right by Independence Hall, took a gander at that, then went into the Liberty Bell building to see the bell, went up towards the Philadelphia coin mint, then wandered around a tiny bit looking for a cheese steak place that Eric had eaten at before. We eventually found it. The other guys thought the cheesesteaks were just okay, but I loved mine. We got the car then headed down to the game.
We snuck in just in time for the first pitch. We were way upstairs but it wasn’t bad. As we headed down to take our tour of the field, Taylor got split off from the group, and tried to slip through a concessions line to catch up, but the vendor saw him, and got in his face for cutting in line and threatened to throw him out of the stadium. Haha. We ended up behind the bullpen by the end of the game. It was a close game, then Philly blew it open with 7 runs after the 7thinning. So it turned out to be a blow out, yet a close game. We were extremely impressed with the phans in Philly and we loved the Phanatic, their mascot.
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| The Fellas in Philly |
Game prediction standings:
Eric 5-2
Taylor 5-2
Mitch 4-3 *
Garrett 2-5
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction in Cleveland.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 27
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 31.5
Miles: 1650
States: 11 (but 7 today alone- all but Ohio, Kentucky, Utah, and Colorado)
Day 9- Boston the second
Well, I am currently sitting on a couch at the Jensen residence. AKA it is August 20, and I am writing about what happened on the 16th. Aka I hope I can remember everything.
Today was a fun day. We got up and headed to a field near the Runyon house and met two of Scott’s friends, JP and Tony, who we played a lil’ bit o’ football with. We got there early and threw a baseball around, hit a bit, and pitched, etc. It felt good to throw and also to swing a bat. I don’t know when the last time I batted was. So that was good. We then played a game of football where Eric, Taylor, and JP took on Scott, Garrett, and me, and we jumped out to a quick lead, but a stellar (like literally the best catch I have seen in years, especially in a pick-up game) interception by Eric turned the tides. A pick during the next series by Taylor helped push them ahead and they ended up with the win. The next game, JP went all time offense, so it was Tony, Taylor, and Me. I took over at QB for our squad. The first game I had tossed a few passes back to the QB, and it hurt to throw (from pitching a lil’ too much), but by the second game, I was feeling good. I’m usually pretty humble, but dang, I was doing well that day! Haha I also came up with two picks on defense, and we ended up winning. Overall, it was very fun.
We headed back to Scott’s, where Sister Runyon had made us lasagna for lunch. It was very good. We then got showered, took Scott into Boston for work, then we headed up the road to Harvard. I really liked their campus. It was old and neat. We walked across the river, and it was a stunning view, I thought. They have these little brick bridges spanning the river, and it is all colonial and green. I loved it. We ran to the football stadium and walked on the field. We then headed back to the car and watched the parking cop print a ticket. We tried to get away before he gave it to us, but he said he had waited 3 minutes to see if anyone would show up and we didn’t, so we were already too late. We were only 4 minutes late. Dang. That cost us 25 bucks. Oh well.
So then we went back towards Boston and drove around a little bit, then picked up Scott from work, and headed to the game. We found meter parking nearby, so only had to pay $1.25 for parking, which was nice (especially after the parking ticket).
We got to Fenway Park, and I think all of us instantly fell in love. It was amazing. Garrett and Scott used the Runyon’s season tickets, which were half way up from first base. We had tickets about twenty rows back behind the pesky pole in right field. The game was good, but nothing spectacular. But the stadium and atmosphere were awesome. The seats were so narrow so they could cram as many people as possible in there; the crowd was loud and into it. The only two problems were they have pillars holding the upstairs up and obstructing views, and we were right on an aisle and there were constantly people walking by. But other than that, perfect. We walked out to the monster, but they wouldn’t let us on it, so we took a picture just in foul territory. We went right by the press box and watched a few at bats. I loved that every seat- from ours to right next to the monster, to right next to the press box- was an excellent seat. I felt so close in the far corner, up by the monster. I can’t say enough. The stadium is so petite, but they manage to fit 36,000 in there.
Tampa Bay ended up winning and we headed home for the night. Oh! On the way out, some cop yelled at us to get out because we were taking a picture in center field, then when Scott left, he ran off in a bizarre way, making funny noises. The cop didn’t like it, but we thought it was funny. But yeah, we went home and then watched a movie about the 2004 Championship red sox team, then went to bed. Great day, and a much better impression of Boston than yesterday!
Game prediction standings:
Mitch 4-2 *
Eric 4-2
Taylor 4-2
Garrett 1-5
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction in Cleveland.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 24
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 23
Miles: 1190
States: 11
Today was a fun day. We got up and headed to a field near the Runyon house and met two of Scott’s friends, JP and Tony, who we played a lil’ bit o’ football with. We got there early and threw a baseball around, hit a bit, and pitched, etc. It felt good to throw and also to swing a bat. I don’t know when the last time I batted was. So that was good. We then played a game of football where Eric, Taylor, and JP took on Scott, Garrett, and me, and we jumped out to a quick lead, but a stellar (like literally the best catch I have seen in years, especially in a pick-up game) interception by Eric turned the tides. A pick during the next series by Taylor helped push them ahead and they ended up with the win. The next game, JP went all time offense, so it was Tony, Taylor, and Me. I took over at QB for our squad. The first game I had tossed a few passes back to the QB, and it hurt to throw (from pitching a lil’ too much), but by the second game, I was feeling good. I’m usually pretty humble, but dang, I was doing well that day! Haha I also came up with two picks on defense, and we ended up winning. Overall, it was very fun.
We headed back to Scott’s, where Sister Runyon had made us lasagna for lunch. It was very good. We then got showered, took Scott into Boston for work, then we headed up the road to Harvard. I really liked their campus. It was old and neat. We walked across the river, and it was a stunning view, I thought. They have these little brick bridges spanning the river, and it is all colonial and green. I loved it. We ran to the football stadium and walked on the field. We then headed back to the car and watched the parking cop print a ticket. We tried to get away before he gave it to us, but he said he had waited 3 minutes to see if anyone would show up and we didn’t, so we were already too late. We were only 4 minutes late. Dang. That cost us 25 bucks. Oh well.
So then we went back towards Boston and drove around a little bit, then picked up Scott from work, and headed to the game. We found meter parking nearby, so only had to pay $1.25 for parking, which was nice (especially after the parking ticket).
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| With the green monster behind |
Tampa Bay ended up winning and we headed home for the night. Oh! On the way out, some cop yelled at us to get out because we were taking a picture in center field, then when Scott left, he ran off in a bizarre way, making funny noises. The cop didn’t like it, but we thought it was funny. But yeah, we went home and then watched a movie about the 2004 Championship red sox team, then went to bed. Great day, and a much better impression of Boston than yesterday!
Game prediction standings:
Mitch 4-2 *
Eric 4-2
Taylor 4-2
Garrett 1-5
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction in Cleveland.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 24
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 23
Miles: 1190
States: 11
Monday, August 15, 2011
Day 8- Boston
Today we woke up in Concord, Massachusetts and were all alone in the Runyon house. People trust us! I don’t know why! Haha. They left everything out for us so we could have breakfast, then after getting sandwiches made and showers, etc. done, we headed down to Boston, about a 25 minute drive from here. It was rainy from the moment we woke up until when we got back tonight.
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| My bloody shoe and sock |
As we caught the trail, we crossed paths with a news crew who asked us if we wanted to be interviewed. Of course I jumped right on it! I’m always happy to get on TV! :p They were doing a story about Boston being ranked the number 6 city of romantic men in America. We told them we weren’t from there and had only been there for 5 minutes, but they were ok with that and asked us why cities like Salt Lake were more romantic than Boston! Haha (SLC was 4th on the list) Taylor told them he was romantic because he makes picture frames with macaroni noodles, and Garrett told them SLC ranked higher because they get married younger in SLC! Haha. We came up with so many funny things we could have said later (like, “do I look romantic?! I’m on a roadtrip with 4 dudes!”). But we weren’t quick enough.
We continued to where we thought the freedom trail started, then turned around and headed down the trail. We saw a few churches and grave yards (Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams graves…) and a few land marks, and before we knew it, we were at the end of the trail. It was surprisingly short. So we got out a baseball and started throwing in the rain for about 15-20 minutes. We then headed to a food court where we ate our lunches and then, since it was raining, we hit up an H&M store. I got a new hot pink polo, and everyone else also got some clothes, too.
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| This is me in the rain. the hand signal says it all... |
Today I did a little complaining, but mostly just joking around and having fun. It was kinda miserable (between my feet and the weather) and I think my view of Boston was affected by it. Hopefully it will be better weather tomorrow. The forecast says it will still be a little rainy in the afternoon, but not too bad. We are hoping they won’t cancel the game! But I hope one day I get a chance to see Boston on a sunny day so I can get a better view of one of America’s most historic cities. If nothing else, today was very memorable!
We headed home and Sister Runyon had prepared dinner for us. We ate a delicious casserole and sat around the table with Scott and talked a bit. We watched Jim Thome hit his 600th home run, so that was cool, and now we are wrapping up and getting into bed! Here’s to better weather tomorrow, but overall, I can’t complain- it has been a great trip so far and today honestly wasn’t that unbearable.
Game prediction standings:
Mitch 4-1 *
Eric 3-2
Taylor 3-2
Garrett 1-4
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 21
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 22
Miles: 1160
States: 11
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Day 7- Connecticut
Today we woke up and got packed up and cleaned up the apartment before braving the rain on a walk to grand central station where we caught our metro out to Queens to pick up our car. It was pouring when we got there, but we got to the car with no problems and got packed into the car and hit the road towards Lynne’s house in Connecticut. We got there around noon and got a load into the wash before heading to church. Lynne took us to church a few minutes down the road in what was coincidentally the building that Taylor was blessed as a baby in! His parent’s old ward met in the same building that morning.
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| Lynne and the fella's right after lunch! |
Game prediction standings:
Mitch 4-1 *
Eric 3-2
Taylor 3-2
Garrett 1-4
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 21
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 22
Miles: 1100
States: 11
Day 6- New York City, Day 3
Saturday we woke up a little late again, which was nice. We headed down to Union square and walked through a farmers market, then down to Washington Square, where we stopped and threw our baseball in the grass for the first time, gas stops not included. It was enjoyable. I put my knee brace n so that I could throw a pitch and not worry about rotating over onto my bad leg, so that was fun. I’ve started throwing a really good change up. J We then went to a store where Garrett bought a shirt, then down to a Cuban Place for lunch, which Taylor’s sister highly recommended. It was not a letdown, as we all really enjoyed our food. So good!
We got around today and had a fun time. We headed up to the flat iron building, then to Madison square garden, to the NYC temple and Lincoln center. We then headed up to the museum of natural history (from night at the museum) and checked out the dinosaurs in the lobby, then headed across central park to the Met. We stopped and threw for a few minutes in Central park. I was pretty impressed with the met, not gonna lie. It was a way better museum than the Louvre, in my humble, but right opinion. We were there for about 2 hours. I thought it was perfect. I was ready to leave. Our feet were really tired after standing and walking all day. We actually stopped and sat down in the Met for about 15 minutes. That was a good rest. We headed back towards Lynne’s place to have dinner at an Italian place that my dad suggested. It was pretty good, but also expensive. Luckily Dad offered to pick up the tab.
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| The Putzer Jensen Raptor pose in the Dinosaur museum |
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| Outside the Met, just having fun |
So Taylor ordered Lobster…. With the shell. He claims he did it because he is a quick eater and wanted something to slow him down so he wouldn’t finish way before everyone else. So we get our food and he was struggling with it. Haha we all finished atleast 20 minutes before him as he tried and tried to work the meat out of the shell. We came home and watched a video of someone deshelling a lobster in literally 5 seconds. There were plenty of jokes about it at dinner and since then.
We then relaxed for a few minutes after our classy dinner where we talked about finer things like art and stocks, then headed to get dessert. One wasn’t enough, so we got banana pudding then some cheese cake. Both were absolutely delicious. We then walked to a souvenir shop and some of us got I <3 NY tee’s. Some of us didn’t, but were not bitter.
It was short to write, but it was a long and fulfilling day. New York was tons of fun, but I think we got our fair share and don’t feel like we are leaving too soon.
Game prediction standings:
Mitch 4-1 *
Eric 3-2
Taylor 3-2
Garrett 1-4
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 21
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 16.75
Miles: 900
States: 9
Day 5- New York City Day 2
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| Taylor seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time |
After the tour around Manhattan, we headed down to Wall Street, to Trinity church, then over to ground zero where we grabbed Pizza right across the street from where the towers were. I enjoyed being there again. They have a few buildings going pretty tall, and the freedom tower was well on its way, with a memorial center, as well as the reflection pools looking pretty well done. We hurried onto the subway and up to China town and little Italy just to walk around, and then headed up towards Yankee Stadium.
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| At Yankee Stadium |
After the game, we actually split up some. Eric had a girl to meet up with, so he headed towards the city to have his date. The other three of us hung around a little to avoid metro traffic and we ended up standing outside the players’ parking lot exit for some time and watched fella’s like CC Sabathia, Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter drive off. Taylor and Garrett headed back to Times Square while I went back to Lynne’s to finish my homework for my music class. I wrapped up the essay and met up with the fellaz. They had walked up 5th avenue to central park, then back down broadway, and I met them in Times Square, and we went to Rockefeller plaza, then down to the Empire State Building. We snapped a few pictures in each place, then hit up McDonalds (I know, classy) to get some shakes before coming home. We got in around 1:30, and Eric got home soon after. He said he had a good time and hung out at Washington Square. I think there was more to the story than he told us, but if he doesn’t want to tell us how his date really went, that’s his choice! :p
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| They have mormon.org ads in Times Square and on taxi tops, etc |
Mitch 4-1 *
Eric 3-2
Taylor 3-2
Garrett 1-4
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 21
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 16.75
Miles: 900
States: 9
Day 4- New York City Day 1
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| NEW YORK CITY |
On Friday, we left early from our Delaware Hotel and headed towards the city. We drove over the Staten Island Bridge into Brooklyn, up to Queens, and parked before heading to the Mets-Padres game at noon. We took a dead-end turn walking to the game so we got there late.
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| Citi Field with the big apple on the left |
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| Me catching the ball Maybin tossed me |
Citi Field was our favorite stadium as a consensus. It was huge, but it didn’t feel huge. I enjoy fun outfield walls, and Citi has lots of rises and drops as well as ins and outs. The atmosphere was good, and I just liked it overall.After the game, we walked towards the Tennis grounds but it was all fenced up. So we didn’t go in, but we did get a picture with the old apple. We then got our metro tickets, and we headed back to the parking garage to repack and head into the city.
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| Times Square with all our luggage |
We were to meet Lynne at her apartment at 6 and got there at 5, so we headed to Times Square to get us some tickets to a Broadway show. We were hoping for like 30-40 dollar tickets at the discount/day-of stand. Well, we were in for a rude awakening when the man told us the cheapest tickets were 61 dollars for some show no one had heard of. So we decided to spend a little more to go to a better show and got tickets to Phantom of the opera on Broadway! We then headed over to Lynne’s apartment to meet her and get the instructions. We were greeted by the bell hop and he called up and cleared us for entry. We were all trying to be as proper as possible. Haha we then went upstairs and Lynne quickly went over instructions- Luggage in the Kitchen, no food in the apartment, how to use a TV remote, where exactly we could sleep on the floor, and most importantly not to stand over the toilet- before she left us to ourselves and headed home to Connecticut.
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| Times Square after Phantom |
Game prediction standings:
Mitch 3-1 *
Eric 3-1
Taylor 3-1
Garrett 1-3
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 2 (Mitch-NYM; Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 18
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 16.75
Miles: 900
States: 9
Friday, August 12, 2011
Day 3- Baltimore
Today was a LONG day. We didn’t get in until late the night before, so we slept in a little. The Jensen family was leaving kon vacation, so Eric got up early to say goodbye to them and thank them and get instructions, then he went back to bed. After that, I woke up at 9:30 and was the first one up. We got out of there around 11:30 after eating, showering making lunch etc.
Our drive was very long today. I think it will be the longest of the tour. We went from Akron, OH to Baltimore. We drove around Pittsburgh and acrossed Pennsylvania and 6 hours later, we pulled into Baltimore. The whole drive was through the Appalachian mountains and forest. It was pretty, yet boring. Haha. Only 5 miles out of the city, there was no sign of civilization, then it opened up at the last second and it was pretty cool!
Baltimore was my favorite city thus far. Granted, we didn’t have any time in the other two cities, but still…. We parked around 5:30 and then walked to the Chesapeake harbor and had a good walk around. It was very clean and neat, I thought. They have a few boats and submarines in the harbor, including the USS constellation, a really old battleship- like Pirates of the Caribbean style. They also had a submarine, too. We snagged some dinner then headed over to battery hill on the south side of the harbor and took some pictures there. I love the Baltimore skyline, and I thought the parts we saw were neat.
We then walked through some old brick neighborhoods to the game. We entered through the building down the right field line, then went to our seats which were essentially the exact same spot as we had in Cleveland. We didn’t really like them because they were covered again, so we sat there for an inning and then moved down right infront of us, about ¼ of the way down from the walkway. We were all drained and not really into the game, and to make matters worse, I was starting to get a sore throat and couldn’t really talk.
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| Us and the Oriole |
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| Taylor showing off the foul ball he grabbed |
We really liked the stadium in Baltimore. It was open and inviting. The view of downtown beyond centerfield was spectacular, as well. It was missing something like a hall of fame or memorial park, though. I really liked the building out in right field, too. It was a nice touch. It was a perfect old school ball park I thought.
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| The awesome view beyond Center field in Baltimore |
Bullet points to mention
- When we came to a toll road booth, Eric said to the lady, “It was cheaper in Ohio!” and she didn’t say anything. Awkward silence. I enjoyed it.
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| One of these doesn't look like they belong! |
- While throwing a baseball at a gas station in Pennsylvania, a guy came up and shouted out his window, “that’s why you don’t play in parking lots! Go to a park!” We were like Wtf. Haha what is why we don’t? we hadn’t even dropped the ball let alone obscured traffic or hit a car or something. I was confused. :P
Game prediction standings:
Eric 3-0
Mitch 2-1 *
Taylor 2-1
Garrett 1-2
*asterisks denotes a correct score prediction.
Scoreboard:
Jumbotron appearances: 4
Balls from the game: 1 (Taylor- Balt)
Promotion items: 2 (Garrett- Hat in Cle; Mitch- backpack in Cle)
Stadium hours: 15
Rainouts/ hours: 3.5
Extra innings: 6
Car hours: 14
Miles: about 800
States: 7
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