Baseball Trip of 2006
Itinerary | Budget | MPG Log | Best Of Trip | My "I've Been Everywhere" progress

TRIP BY THE NUMBERS:
total days - 77
total days in car/camp/hotels/friends' houses - 49/1/12/15
miles - 21,099
gas used - 772.79 gallons purchased
best/worst/avg. gas mileage - 23.06/32.88/27.59mpg
highest/lowest/avg. cost of gas - $4.15 (US dollars) in blue river, british columbia, $3.39 in boron, CA. $2.61 in austin, tx and auburn, al. $2.99 average.
total cost - $6,476.88, this doesn't include donations and accommodations from friends, family, and ballclubs.
states and capitals visited -
states: TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, PA, DE, NY, CT, MA, ontario, MI, OH, WV, IN, IL, IA, MO, WY, CO, NE, MN, WI, SD, MT, alberta, british columbia, WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT, AZ, NM.
capitals: austin, baton rouge, montgomery, atlanta, raleigh, richmond, harrisburg, trenton, albany, boston, columbus, springfield, madison, des moines, st. paul, topeka, denver, cheyenne, pierre, helena, salem, sacramento, phoenix.
baseball/national parks visited - 29 baseball parks visited (dodger stadium skipped, chris has been there a million times, meryl will visit it when dropping chris off), game seen in 28 stadiums (weren't able to see a game at dolphin stadium)/18 u.s. national parks visited: everglades, biscayne, canyon de chelly, petrified forest, saguaro, death valley, glacier, crater lake, badlands, wind cave, arches, bryce canyon, canyonlands, capitol reef, zion, north cascades, grand teton, and yellowstone. 2 canadian parks: banff and jasper.
runs scored (visitor/home) - 129-130
shortest/longest/average game - 2:12/4:21/2:58
visitor/home record - 15-13
movies seen - chris: 32, 30 in theater, 1 on laptop, 1 on tv in LA. meryl: 30, 29 in theater, 1 on laptop.

for room, board and donations thanks go to, in alpha order: Barbara, Brad, Clarke, Emily, Hector, Jill, John, Keely, Lisa, Lynn, Max, Mets, Mike, Padres, Reds, Ruth, Stephanie, Steve, Tamara, Vince, Wendy.
thanks also go to everyone who bothered to read any/all of this travelogue, there's a lot of stuff on here so thanks for spending the time to sort through it. 

8-24-06 (23:00)

  • added list of our official rankings.


    • 8-23-06 (21:45)

  • a partial list of (possible) future hall of famers we saw on the trip: glavine, maddux, f. thomas, piazza, bonds, hoffman, griffey, arod, jeter, damon, pujols, ichiro, vlad, ortiz, ramirez, tejada, giambi, halladay, rogers, glaus, zito, nomar, vizquel.


    • 8-20-06 (00:20)

  • one of the things we hope to add in the next frew days is an official ranking of the ballparks so check back for that soon.


    • 8-18-06 (14:26)

  • we'll have a few more features added in the next week, after that this page will be done.
  • great ballpark information here.
  • boxscore info:

    • rangers at astros.
    diammondbacks at braves.
    blue jays at devil rays.
    blue jays at orioles.
    phillies at nationals.
    athletics at yankees.
    mets at phillies.
    orioles at mets.
    nationals at red sox.
    mets at blue jays.
    astros at tigers.
    royals at reds.
    tigers at pirates.
    yankees at indians.
    orioles at white sox.
    blue jays at royals.
    diamondbacks at rockies.
    cubs at brewers.
    dodgers at cardinals.
    mets at cubs.
    devil rays at twins.
    blue jays at mariners.
    blue jays at athletics.
    nationals at giants.
    athletics at angels.
    nationals at padres.
    marlins at diamondbacks.
    mariners at rangers.

    8-16-06 (01:05)

  • i've finally found and correctly configured a photo album program that works for me. here's the link to all the pics, if you want, for some bizarre reason, to download the fullsize pics then there's a little download icon above each picture after you click on it. there's also a slideshow option.


    • 8-15-06 (14:38)

  • after spending most of our final night awake and in a kinko's reading and fiddling with several photo album programs, we left for dallas. when we first got to kinko's at about 2am there were several guys in a nearby parking lot who were playing soccer, i thought that was pretty cool. on our way to dallas, we hit only a bit of traffic (a surprise) and went to dealey plaza. i told meryl how it all went down and a bit about the major conspiracy theories. we opted to skip the conspiracy museum and the sixth floor museum because they were both pricey...we were frugal to the final day. dallas isn't exactly a very cultured city...there are only a few (pricey) museums and they're (from what i hear) not all that amazing. ft. worth seems to be the cultural sibling of the two. we were both tired from having stayed up all night and we weren't all that excited about dallas so we decided to grab a bite to eat and hit the road. i like a lot of the buildings in dallas, but didn't particularly love the place.
  • we found a place called the breadwinner in uptown, where there are plenty of nice places to eat, and had a unique and fulfilling dining experience.

    • beautiful dallas. yuck.

    in spite of the smog and the people, dallas actually has some great buildings...here's my favorite, the wells fargo building in downtown. btw, they have this in the background of the main OCP building in the film Robocop.

    a bit of dallas culture from the dallas observer, read the whole thing:
  • i think there's something to be said about the fact that while we were in boston we saw an israeli day fair along with a peaceful demonstration that was pro-palestine/anti-israel and while we were in the dallas/ft. worth area i heard one guy yell at ichiro (story below) and saw that clipping in a mainstream area rag. i know these could be considered isolated incidents or anecdotal evidence, but it seems to me that there's a palable differernce between the two cultures: one of political vitality and one of outright ignorance and racism. people everywhere dislike other people, but it seems that they deal with it in much different ways in florida (recall the sign that read: visitors beware, floridians have the right to use deadly force"), boston, toronto and dallas.
  • after eating at dallas and stopping in infamous waco for some gas, we arrived in familiar austin.

    • final odometer reading, 21,099 miles:

    8-14-06 (03:39)

  • the southwest, and the desert in general, is pretty great. it's a place of contradiction - a place were life exists when it shouldn't. you look at a desert and often think of it as having little or no life, but deserts are often quite full of life; and very interesting life at that. creosote, saguaro, and yucca plants are three great examples, add to that creatures like the kangaroo rat and you have some of the more compelling lifeforms on land. creosote and saguaro i write about below. there are several species of yucca, but the one i learned about during a talk at grand canyon n.p. flowers only once in its long life time and does so amazingly quickly. it stores energy and liquid for years and then, all at once, flowers into an amazing fruit-type flower. people sometimes take this fruit-flower and cook it for hours and hours in deep pits. apparently it's extremely sweet and tasty. kangaroo rats are equally amazing lifeforms which are able to thrive in desert climates. they extract all their liquid from seeds and other solids. rather than urinating, they excrete crystals of urine, thus saving precious liquid. these are just a few of the species that i know of, i'm sure there are plenty more. but it all goes to show you that life finds a way, even in the desert. this is one of the fascinating things about the southwest, and it's one of the major reasons i like the place so much.
  • i'm a little wired on some energy drink right now. we decided to stay up on this, our last night, rather than trying to sleep. it's 85 degrees right now so we just figured we'd save ourself some grief. so forgive any typos, non-sequitors, etc.
  • after saguaro national park we drove to hobbs, nm and slept in some picnic area. this morning we drove to sweetwater, tx and ate brunch at el taurino, a mexican restaurant. i had the chicken fajitas, meryl had the nachos - a bad decision. after only a few bites meryl knew it was bad news; after 76 days, we had our first barfing incident of the trip. she's fine now so we can laugh about it. my fajitas were great.
  • we hit the road again for the dallas-ft. worth-arlington area. we got here with time to spare so we drove around the arlington area a bit looking for a bookstore to browse. we settled on some mall not too far from the baseball park. the place was completely packed, mostly with morons. i think "cutting" into hair is back, at least here, because we saw several young men/boys who had various things shaved into their hair. it's interesting to see regional trends. it was a fairly depressing place to be since people seemed unusually obsessed with their appearance and there was an unusual level of stupidity (people unaware of their surroundings, posturing, and conspicuous consumption) taking place. we left quickly.
  • we drove back towards the park and stopped by a kinko's to kill some time. shortly thereafter we drove to the park and found an $8 parking spot. the park in arlington, apropriately (since we're in texas), is probably the biggest we've seen on the trip. it's strange because the park is surrounded by a castle-like brick structure marked by tall arches. to my eyes, this brick facade was more a frame of the park than it was a part of the park itself. at any rate, we snapped a couple pictures and went inside. beyond the centerfield area there's a large space for kids' activities - they have a mini-wiffle ball field, a batter's box, and other games. they also have a row of fans equipped with water misters - something that is much appreciated by the fans. the park has several throwback elements incorporated into its design. it has a steel bleacher structure which is reminiscent of wrigley or fenway, the outfield was designed to mimic the polo grounds, etc. for the most part the concourses aren't very open and i generally don't like that. on the exterior support arches there are plaques commemorating different players or moments in rangers history. there's also a mini baseball hall of fame which apparentlly has the second largest collection of memorabilia in the country. it costs an additional $5 so we didn't visit it. there seemed to be an unusual number of closed in shops throughout the lower concourse area. in most parks there might be one or two team shops, but there were many more than that at ameriquest. all in all i found ameriquest to be too large for my tastes. i enjoyed the effort to incorporate different styles and i liked the idea of the mini h.o.f. and the activities for the kids, but didn't like that those were extra. it's not a bad park and it's not a great park. the crowd seemed pretty engaged throughout the game, but i've heard that they often leave early. they were winning in this game so maybe that had an affect. one less than funny moment came late in the game when a popfly was hit to ichiro suzuki. a man behind us, presumably in an attempt to disrupt ichiro, yelled "ko-nichi-wa!" the depth of stupidity involved in making that one comment is staggering. he had to be dumb enough to think it would make a difference, or dumb enough to think it was funny, and dumb enough to not know what it meant (hello), and dumb enough to think it was okay to yell it, and...

    • ameriquest field:








    the final baseball park shot of the trip:
  • after the game we went to a mall and watched the new shyamalan flick. now were in kinko's reading and updating the page. tomorrow is the last official day of the trip and that's sad. we'll be in austin for a bit and then off to la to drop me off. along the way we plan on seeing two more national parks, but we've decided that the official end should be in austin. it's a day after the last game, it'll be our longest break since the beginning and it's where the trip began, so it makes sense. i really wouldn't mind living this way for several more years. learning and traveling are two such great activities that, if my finances permitted it, i'd probably just continue on the adventure. next time i do this i'll keep even better notes and take even more pictures. until then i have to find a suitable job.


    • 8-12-06 (23:41)

  • we passed the 20,000 mile mark earlier today.


    • 8-12-06 (13:50)

  • added an animated gif photo in the x-games section. wasn't on the previous upload because i didn't have a program at the time.
  • last night we had a bitch of a time finding a place to sleep. we planned on staying at a motel 6 near tucson, but saw a travelodge for even cheaper so we went there. it seemed to be in a bad neighborhood, the room was hot, there wasn't a remote for the tv and we ended up having to pay an extra $5 because we had two people. so, we decided to get a refund and go down the street to a motel 6. i went inside and there was some guy with his kid and he was getting in an argument with an employee about something and they went on for a few minutes so i just left. we ended up settling on another motel 6 that we saw about 10 miles back. it was a little more expensive, but it was in a better neighborhood and the people staying/working there weren't morons.
  • this morning we left tucson without checking the city out and went to saguaro national park. we went to the east park - the west park is about 30 miles away, on the other side of tucson - since it was on our way to dallas where we'll be watching our final game of the trip tomorrow. the east park's visitor center and loop road were both under construction so there was a temporary visitor center that was just opened yesterday, and the only access into the meat of the park was via hiking trails. typically the park has a loop road that's about 10 miles long. we were still able to see some good examples of the saguaro (suh-wah-row) cactus, as well as other cacti, but we were a bit disappointed. the visitor center was small and unimpressive, but that was understandable. we watched a 15 minute video on the unique ecology of the park, but it was interrupted by people buying stuff and talking - an unfortunate consequence of the small, temporary visitor center. i felt as though i wasn't getting the most out of the park so i decided to buy one of the books about the area. it's part of a series of books distributed by kc publications. they give a pretty good overview of their respective areas and they're only $10 so i figured it was worth it. i'd really prefer a compendium of all of them for all the national parks, but i haven't seen anything along those lines. the closest i've seen is a book called "geology of the national parks." i'd prefer something that goes beyond the geology, and that's what these do, so maybe i'll just collect individual books about individual parks over a long period of time, rather than buying one book that covers them all.

  • saguaro are pretty amazing cacti. they can live to be 200 years old and can grow to be over 50 feet tall. a 20 foot saguaro weight approximately 2,100 pounds and can provide food and shelter for many species of bird, rodent, etc. in a single rain they can soak up as much as 200 gallons of water because of their shallow and efficient root structure. it takes about 15 years for them to grow to a foot tall. other than habitat destruction (thanks to you know who) their biggest threats seem to be old age and freezing. most of the saguaro occur in the north and east of the park where winter temperatures sometimes reach freezing levels. the saguaro can't stand freezing for more than a day so this is obviously a challenge. creosote is another amazing plant found in the region. they can live to be thousands of years old and are the most common plant in the sonoran desert. they shed leaves to reduce water loss and can even shrivel up and die when there is no water, only to be revived by the next rain.

    • the mighty saguaro:

    (17:26)
  • It's been quite a long time since I've tippy tapped on the old laptop. It was really nice to be in the Bay Area 2 weeks ago, I think it was actually the longest I've ever gone without being in the Bay Area or seeing my mom. So being there for a few days and getting to hang out with my mom and Clarke and see Adam and Erik and Chia Ling was really nice. Sometimes I forget just how hilarious and great my family is. We watched a few episodes of Chappell Show when Clarke's brother and sister-in-law came to visit. We watched "Black White Supremacist" and "Black Bush" which are my families favorites. While we all laughed our asses off, our guests didn't seem as entertained. Oh well, that's what makes my family so great, so what if no one else likes going to see "Bad Santa" on Thanksgiving instead of having a big dinner.
  • The A's game was fun, although they lost. The Giants game was great too. I truly enjoyed wearing my "Buck Fonds" sweatshirt to the game. And OF COURSE no Giants fans said ANYTHING to me, even though they cheer "Barry, Barry, Barry," when he's up. What wussies. In true hateful fashion I proceeded to stand and cheer whenever he got out as well. I was satisfied with my Giants game experience. Clarke however was not as pleased with me - he of course is a Giants fan, so my mom had to monitor our Giants discussions. I remember when I was in high school Clarke and I could barely talk about the Giants without getting into a good natured argument, it was pretty funny. It was fun to also be at a game with my parents (thanks for the tickets guys), I miss going to games with them and my dad. This trip has been pretty spectacular, however, I think the best game I've ever been to was a playoff game when I was in my first year at UCDavis. My dad got thrown out in the 7th inning, I got a foul ball after a scrum with other hooligan A's fans and the A's won. I remember my dad had been gone to the bathroom for awhile when I got the ball and I called him to see where he was, apparently I hadn't heard the 11 missed phone calls he had made. It turns out he was thrown out when some drunk guy started fighting with him in the bathroom and the only reason why he didn't have to go to Oakland City Jail was because he told the security guard he had a "child" still in the park (I was 17 at the time). They let him watch the rest of the game from the dugout store. Yup, I've got to say my dad is my partner in crime when it comes to going to baseball games and being an unruly fan. We used to yell at Ben Grieve so much that when he ran out to left field he would turn the other way so he couldn't hear us as much. And poor Wendy, having to deal with a sometimes belligerent husband and step-daughter. She always tries to be the moderator and make sure we're not too rude, but I think she secretly thinks it's great too. Thanks Wendy :).
  • LA was a lot of fun too. It was nice to get a few days break there as well and Chris' grandma, mom, and dad are very nice and funny. I also got to see Peck, so that was really nice because I haven't seen her in a while. We drove around and had lunch and hung out in a park and chit chatted for a while.
  • Touring around the southwest has been fun as well. I love the national parks in this region of the US and driving from place to place is much more enjoyable because I like the scenery in this region so much. After this trip Chris and I will have visited nearly every national park in the southwest, so that's pretty cool. We're on our way to Guadalupe Mountains NP now (east north east of El Paso - a city that's pretty forgetful). Tomorrow will be our last baseball game, and Monday will be the last day of the trip. It's amazing to think that the trip is almost over. It's strange to think that we've lived out of the car for 2 1/2 months. Thinking about how long ago we were in the Everglades or Washington DC is weird because I can barely remember what we did there, but at the same time it doesn't feel like we've been gone that long. I have mixed feelings about the end of the trip. I will enjoy sleeping in a bed for more than 2 consecutive nights, getting consistent showers and meals, but I will also miss this adventure. It sounds completely cliche, but I really have learned a lot about myself on this trip. Chris and I have definitely pushed ourselves the last 11 weeks and I think it's made us both a lot tougher. A few nights ago while falling asleep we quizzed each other on what we learned at different museums or national parks, the names of stadiums, what our favorite sites were, where we ate or slept in different cities and other random facts. It was pretty cool to be able to rattle off so much information and amazing to recall all the highlights: almost getting mugged in New Orleans, seeing Wrigley and Fenway, visiting Yellowstone, being harassed by the border cop in Detroit, Chris getting a foul ball, meeting great friendly fans, the list goes on. I feel pretty lucky getting to have gone on this trip and thinking about it ending does make me sad. At the same time though, I also miss getting to hang out with my family. This will probably be the longest I've gone without seeing my dad and Wendy too, so it will be nice to get to hang out with both sets of parents, brothers, and friends. I think my family is pretty great, and although I can be a stubborn bitch SOME of the time, they still love me, so that says a lot. Speaking of being a stubborn bitch, I have to congratulate Chris as well, I don't think anyone else would voluntarily spend 77 straight days with me, so he's pretty great for that.

    • 8-11-06 (21:36)

  • so i looked it up and according to one site i found the top ten most visited national parks in 2005 were: great smoky, grand canyon, yosemite, olympic, yellowstone, rocky mountain, zion, cuyahoga valley, grand teton, acadia. mt. rushmore isn't a national park, it's a national memorial, i should have known that. and the everglades didn't even make the top ten. my other guesses were good though.
  • yesterday we went through canyon de chelly (prounounced d'shay) which (i'm fairly certain) is the only national park entirely on private land. it's on land owned by the navajo nation and people still use the canyon bottom for farming, but it's administered by the nps. it's basically a poor man's mesa verde so if you've gone there then there's not much reason to visit this one. the exhibits were a bit outdated - though they were soliciting public input for exhibits that will be installed in the near future - and the visitor center was smallish. it's right next to chinle which is another depressingly rundown native american town. i'm beginning to think that the department of the interior (which oversees native american relations and the parks service) needs to be overhauled. but i guess that goes for the entire executive branch these days. at a few of the stops which provide views of abandoned indian (hopi, navajo, and anasazi) ruins there were locals who were selling their wares - paintings and jewelry. there's some debate over the use of the word "anasazi" to describe native pueboloans. the debate centers around the translation of the word. i've heard it translated as "ancient ones" and "enemies." it's probably safer to substitute "native pueboloans" for "anasazi," but i don't know if there's an official ruling on that.

    • canyon de chelly



    thousands of these little buggers were in carved out pools in the rocks atop canyon de chelly. not certain what they are, how they got there, or how they have survived in the heat.
  • we left canyon de chelly after making a few stops and being generally unimpressed; primarily because the ruins were so far away and we'd already been to mesa verde where we hiked into the ruins. anyway, we drove out the south end of the park and took two dirt roads for what seemed like hours. they were pretty torn up from a semi-recent rain so that slowed us down. we finally made it to petrified forest national park a couple hours later. petrified forest's visitor center is outside the entrance which means you can visit it without paying; that's unusual. we watched the video which covered the science behind the formation of the petrified forest as well as some of the flora and fauna of the park. there was also a section on preserving the park. petrified forest is full of petrified wood which, for the uninitiated, means that the wood's organic matter is replaced by quartz and other semi-precious rocks. some of the samples they have in the visitor center are stunningly beautiful. all this means that the park is unusually susceptible to thievery. they estimate that one ton of petrified wood is taken from the park per month. add to that the fact that people have been taking the best samples from the park since before it was a protected area (in 1906 under teddy roosevelt, who else?), and you have some serious degradation. actually, the park didn't even have regular patrols until the 20s so, while it was a protected area, there wasn't any real enforcement until later. essentially, what we saw at the park yesterday is hardly representative of what it was before people began raiding the place. as a result the park was slightly underwhelming. there are still a few specimens of fallen trees with beautiful colors, but they're few and far between. the majority of the stuff that remains is rather simple looking, but i guess that's how (un)natural selection works in this instance - the nicest looking stuff was the first to go. for this reason, this park ranks among the more depressing national parks i've seen. everglades, glacier and petrified forest are the top, or bottom (depending upon how you look at it), three. people would routinely dynamite and chainsaw the petrified wood to determine whether or not the wood was worth taking. the orientation video also had a section on people who return pieces of wood that they've taken or write letters of apology.
  • the forest existed in the triassic period, some 225 million years ago and was wiped out. the places where the most trees are found are actually flood plains where the water logged trees were carried and left. these flood plains were later sealed and preserved by layers of sediment. unfortunately i've forgotten some of the details and the video wasn't all that extensive, but suffice it to say that the forest was preserved and slowly calcites and other minerals replaced the organic material within the trees. that's the gist of it anyway. tidbit: pronghorn are the fastest animal in north america.
  • we did a couple of the walks within the park and saw some more hopi ruins. we also saw a sampling of the remaining petrified wood. we also may have seen a family taking a little souvenir for themselves. meryl was more certain than i, but we both saw a kid with his parents and we saw that kid run off the trail while his parents were gesturing towards something. the kid then ran back with something in his hand and gave it to them. whether he had that thing in his hand before or not wasn't clear. whether that thing was a piece of petrified wood or not also wasn't clear. i think we live in an age of elevated suspicion so i didn't want to accuse anyone without better proof. at the same time i think anyone who steals from the national park deserves a thorough beating. so we filled out one of the incident forms that the park service passes out upon entry. it essentially allows visitors to document suspected theft with basic "who, what, when and where" type info. meryl put it on a ranger's truck and he picked it up later. we got the family's car make/model and license plate so i think we did our part. there's an inspection stop at each exit and they ask you if you have any petrified wood with you upon entry (places outside the park sell it) so, at least in theory, they've established a rudimentary way of detecting thieves.


  • after petrified forest we drove through winslow (mentioned in cash's "everywhere" song) and onto flagstaff. we listened to some religious wacko on fm radio and got a laugh. flagstaff is at around 7000 feet, i think it's on the colorado plateau, and is generally about 30 degrees cooler than phoenix. we decided to sleep there.
  • the next day, today, we drove to phoenix, elevation around 1000 feet. we stopped in downtown to see heritage square, but it wasn't as exciting as our guide book had indicated. as we were walking back to the car we came across an ambassador. i've seen a couple cities do this and i think it's a pretty good idea all-around, especially when there are big events in town. she suggested a good place to eat and that improved our view of phoenix. there was a lot of construction throughout the city, but especially in downtown and that made for a slightly annoying experience at first. there was a home design expo in town which i wish we had gone to, but we opted to watch some movies instead. i did poke my head into one of the buildings and saw an exhibit on concrete construction for homes. i've seen this before and i don't know that i'm sold on the technology. it essentially employs styrofoam as molds for the concrete which create the walls of the house. you lose a good deal of space, but you gain insulation. my biggest problems with it are that it seems to still be in the experimental stages and i have to wonder what the impact on the other trades is. i.e., how does it affect the installation of wiring and plumbing?

    • downtown phoenix:

    museum in phoenix's heritage square:
  • we watched the descent, which was good and scary, and world trade center, which was trite and crappy. 9/11 really did usher in a new era, an era which apparently cut off oliver stone's balls.
  • after the movies we drove downtown to the bob (bank one ballpark), only it's not called the bob anymore. it's chase field now. i'm freaking tired of this name change crap. it turns every park into a sellout, and i'm not talking sellout in the "capacity crowd" sense of the term. i'm talking oliver stone sellout. anyway, the bob has a retractable roof which allows it to have real grass, but also allows the crowd to beat the heat a bit. the bob is a big place more along the lines of skydome than miller park, both of which are covered, or have the potential to be. i really liked the open concourses and the informational displays that run throughout them. food prices were reasonable and food selection was varied. bob is the only park that has a dirt path from the mound to home plate and i like that feature. they also have a display in the main rotunda which has an illustrated history of sport from ancient greece to the diamondbacks franchise which formed in 1998. outside the park they have a rather elaborate mouse trap style contraption. balls move around a maze of twisted metal and periodically engage various bells and doo-hickeys; there's no real great way of describing it. see the first picture below. there are a few restaurants very close to the park, but none of them seemed all that popular, in spite of location and scantily clad women bartenders. speaking of which, we caught the centerfield cameraman checking out chicks on his camera before the game. the bullpens are unusually positioned right behind the foul poles and lie half in, and half out, of bounds.



    • the display didn't come out at all, but suffice it to say he wasn't filming batting practice.


    8-10-06 (08:56)

  • woke up this morning just a few miles outside of the four corners monument which is run by the navajo nation. we plunked down our $3/person, took a few pictures and left. i can't say that the four corners monument is all that exciting to me. it's sort of novel to think of the different things you could do on the site, but that's about it. most people posed on all fours - each limb falling in a different state. i thought it would be cooler to commit a crime in all four states at once, but that's just me.

  • now we're on our way to the petrified forest national park, but we'll make a detour at the canyon de chelly national monument. not real sure what it is, but it's sort of along the way so we're stopping.
  • meryl observed that we drove past two ladies in zion who had gotten off at the previous stop. the use of the term "gotten off" made me realize that you can get off while getting it on. while i'm on the topic...why is it that things "stick out like a sore thumb," rather than sticking out like, say, a boner in tights? in what way does a sore thumb stick out? if you hammer yourself on the nail then it sticks out because of the bruise underneath nail, but that's all i can think of. speaking of thumbs...i have to applaud sites like factcheck.org and the urban legend debunking site which knock down silly stories like the one behind the "rule of thumb" expression. the myth is that the "rule of thumb" is a reference to the maximum width of stick a man could beat his wife with. turns out that that isn't true at all. i wish news programs would do the same thing when they have so-called "experts" on who spew clear lies about whatever topic is being discussed at the time. unfortunately, reporters seem to think it's their job to merely repeat, and show, whatever they consider news (which, somehow, often includes three-legged dogs saving busloads of mentally retarded homeless children).
  • i plan on creating a directory of all the pictures from the trip when it's complete. but, since the unaltered photos (i currently post pics in 800x600, but the originals are at 2592x1944) are 1-4 megs each, and there are over 3000 of them, it'll be a huge directory. to make it more browseable i'd like to have a page with thumbnail previews that access the fullsize photo. if you have a quick way of making such a page then lemme know. i don't want to have to input each filename individually - i'd prefer a drag and drop format or something that i can automate fairly easily.


    • 8-9-06 (19:44)

  • after sleeping in four corners, ca off highway 395, we bought some water for $2 a gallon and some gas for slightly more. what a fucking backwards world.
  • we made our way to death valley in anticipation of a hot day. we went in through some crazy backroad entrance which was only partially paved. at this point elevation was decent so it wasn't too hot. as we drove east, though, it got hotter and hotter. the last time i went it was 114 in the shade. this time it was 109 in the shade with the forecast indicating temperatures of 114. it's too bad the heat wave had already passed because i was looking forward to temps in the 120s. oh well. that said, i guess when the temp gets that high, a few degrees doesn't make that much of a difference. we drove to dante's view, hiked on some sand dunes and stopped at the visitor center to see a video. we learned about the borax mining that marked the early human history of the area. we learned about the endangered pupfish which live in devil's hole. some of the causes for the intense heat are: the rain shadow caused by the sierras, the wind which blows away the 1.8 inches of rain the area gets a year more quickly than average, the mountains to the east which help keep the heat in the valley at night, and probably something else that i've forgotten.
  • i like death valley more than the average person because i don't mind the heat as much and because it's such a no nonsense place. people, generally, are there for more pure reasons than some other parks. there's not much in the way of recreation and entertainment in death valley. people go there because they're curious or for bragging rights, but they don't go there for a leisurely walk along a lake. there's something wholesome about that. that said, we saw a few test cars out on the roads. over 30 companies from around the world test their new cars in the heat. we saw a trio of them at dante's view. couldn't tell what the manufacturer was, though, because they cover distinguishing marks. we also saw a trio of bmws on the road into the park.


    • here you'll notice the top secret cars and something in my lens which makes a curved ghost shape in the middle of my pictures. lens needs to be dismantled and cleaned, at best, replaced at worst; wonderful.

  • after death valley we hit the road for las vegas. we spent too much time in death valley and couldn't make it to hoover dam so we planned on catching a movie in vegas to kill some time before making our way to zion's doorstep.

    • everyone's two favorite activities:
  • vegas is what it is and you most likely already have an opinion about the place. i see it as pure artifice - a fake statue of liberty, a fake eiffel tower, a fake pyramid, a fake roman palace, even fake rocks and a waterfall in front of the wynn resort and it's all in the middle of a desert. add to that the gambling, a marketing scheme ("what happens here, stays here") which glorifies the dionysian, and the utter unnaturalness of the place and you have a place that i don't like too much. it's a manifestation of so many things within humans that i don't like. i can't deny that they're there and i can't deny that many of them have their place, but i don't have to enjoy a colossal monument to them.



  • we left las vegas after watching a movie and driving the strip. i saw the $2.7 billion wynn resort from the outside and wasn't impressed. i saw an interview with him on charlie rose's show and thought him to be an interesting person with some novel ideas, but the exterior of the resort didn't spark much interest. of course i didn't see the interior so i can't pass full judgment.
  • we slept just outside of zion and i took some night photos while meryl fell asleep.

    • f/3.2, exposure 13 sec., iso 50:
  • zion is an oasis in an area that is generally desert-like. cut by the virgin river, zion canyon is about 4,000 feet deep and was established as a park in 1919. with 2-2.5 million visitors a year, it's the 8th most visited national park in the country. i'd like to get an official top 25, but i'd guess that yellowstone, yosemite, grand canyon, great smoky mountains, mt. rushmore, everglades and olympic would round out the top 8. the canyon took an estimated 16 million years to carve. water which seeps through the navajo sandstone takes approx. 1000 years to get all the way through. in 2000 they went to a shuttle system during the summer months. it runs every 6-8 minutes and is quite efficient. so far as i can figure, the biggest reason that zion is cut so straight, as opposed to the "V" canyons in grand canyon national park, is because the virgin river has one of the fastest declines of any river in the u.s. i think it loses about 2,000 feet in elevation over the course of its 150 mile run. both those figures are from memory, though, so don't quote me there. another cool feature in zion is the visitor center which uses towers with water soaked baffles to cool in the summer, and an angled roof to bring solar energy in during the winter when the sun is lower. it's quite effective and is testament to human ingenuity. i wish more homes were built like this.

    • wading through the virgin river


    i've been getting pretty bored of the usual pictures. nowadays i find myself pointing the camera at less photographed things, taking pictures at night and photographing things from different angles.

    that said, i'm still taking plenty of average pictures:

  • we left zion for bryce canyon n.p. this is as good a time as any to talk about the colorado plateau and why it's so interesting. southern utah and northern arizona are especially beautiful because of the way the area was formed. ancient seas came and retreated over this area several times over the last couple hundred million years and, in the process, deposited all sorts of minerals and salts. rivers like the virgin and colorado made their way through the soft sandstone. freeze/thaw cycles at higher elevations made formations like the hoodoos you see in bryce canyon. i love this area because it seems like the geologic history is manifested in such awe-inspiring and plain-seen ways. at the same time the variety of formations in this relatively small area is quite impressive. the canyons in zion look different than the ones in grand canyon or canyonlands national parks. then there are the natural bridges, formed differently than the similar looking arches. the hanging rocks and hoodoos are also different. somehow these features are more impressive to me than the most beautiful mountains and forests. the appalachians were formed over an equally impressive range of time, yet they just don't speak to me in the same way.
  • we saw bryce canyon, did a couple hikes and moved onto capitol reef national park. capitol reef is a smallish park and we got there late, so we just did the driving tour. there were some nice petroglyphs on some of the wingate sandstone formations that were drawn by hopi indians. we listened to afrika bambaataa while driving through the park, that may have been the first time afrika bambaataa was ever played in that national park, who knows. we thought about sticking around for the late night ranger talk on lizards, but it would have set us back an hour so we opted out. we spent the night at a small motel in green river.

    • bryce canyon


    capitol reef national park:



    ten people lived in this tiny cabin:

    outside of capitol reef:
  • this morning we went to canyonlands national park and then arches. both parks are great and worth the visit. the pictures will give the best explanation. one mystery formation was at canyonlands. it's a crater with a mountain of debris inside it. one theory has it being formed by a meteor, one has it being formed by salt uplift. speaking of salt....salt canyon in arches national park is interestingly formed by a thick salt deposit underneath sand deposits. cracks in the sandstone above the salt allow water to seep in and lessen the salt deposit's strength and size. the salt gives way and a canyon is created. the arches and balanced rocks in the park are formed by weathering and differing rock consistencies/strengths. speaking of weathering...canyonlands gets about 10 inches of rain a year and we ran into a bit of it. luckily it wasn't too heavy. the canyons in canyonlands apparently average a depth of 2,000 feet, thought they looked larger than that to me. the ranger i asked said they guess the canyons were formed over 5-10 million years.

    • canyonlands national park:






    dust is kicked up by the wind while the rain moves in...
  • while at arches i spoke with a young woman about some program through SCA which allows for what boils down to paid internships in the park service or other conservation organizations. she was working as a lowgrade interpretive ranger and had her expenses paid. i'll have to follow up on that.

    • one natural phenomena that will never cease to amaze me:



  • arches had some of the more creative exhibits i've seen recently. canyonlands had examples of flora in ziploc bags mounted to posterboard with info on the species. i've learned a bit about cryptobyotic crust and its role in the desert ecology, but i'd like to learn more.
  • after arches we had a good dinner at moab brewery which has some good bbq sauce.
  • if it wasn't for the rout memorization i might like to become a scientist. i wouldn't mind being a journalist either, but i don't like deadlines and i wouldn't like being censored and told what to write about.
  • i think my "Milken will sell you some junk, Bonds" slogan may be the pinnacle of my creative life.
  • this is an ambitious trip we've undertaken. often it would have been nice to stop and spend a long time in one place or another, but we don't have the time or money. we've chosen to try to see as much as possible in a small time frame. i'd like to make my next trip be a tour of alaska so i can finally get that last state under my belt and so i can visit an even less tainted landscape. after that i would like to make more concentrated visits to the southwest and northeast to get to know certain areas better. of course i'd also like to do a grand tour of canada's wilderness and major cities. then i figure i'll branch out and visit japan, china, italy, australia and others. but that all happens when my non-existent rich godfather dies and leaves me his small fortune.
  • we just got done visiting hovenweep national monument in utah. it was closed and the (native puebloan) ruins are difficult to see in the dark so we experimented with some more night photography instead.

    • f/2.8, 8 sec. exposure, iso 50

    f/2.8, 10 sec. exposure, iso 50

    f/2.8, 10 sec. exposure, iso 50

    f/2.8, 15 sec. exposure, iso 50

    f/2.8, 6 sec. exposure, iso 50

    8-7-06 (21:23)

  • was digging through some old video and found this. i recorded it because some gas station in south dakota was playing a familiar song that i couldn't place at the time. i listened to it again and identified it as a BS2000 song. BS2000 is a side project of adrock, of the beastie boys. not very many people know of it so it's pretty crazy that it was playing at a gas station in south dakota.
  • we just left las vegas and are on the way to zion.
  • the padres game was an interesting one. the padres were one of three teams that gave us free tickets - the reds and mets being the other two. thanks go to them. we parked several blocks from petco park and got free parking. it never ceases to amaze me how many people are willing to pay $20+ to be right across the street from the park. not us. the park is quite different on the outside. it has a different color scheme inside and out, which was refreshing. it's a big park and there was a decent sized crowd in front of all the ticket windows. generally there are immediate ticket window openings, but that wasn't the case at petco. we got into the park and discovered that they were giving away free lunchboxes. we were both pretty psyched so we reached out to accept our gifts, but were told that they were only for guests 14 and under. lame. one girl passed the line and said she didn't want a lunchbox, i approached her and said i'd take her's if she didn't want one. quickly, her mother stepped in and, in annoyed way, said "no, she wants one" and instructed her daughter to ask for a lunchbox. we ended our quest for a lunchbox shortly thereafter.

    • petco's exterior:

    photo taken before the game...take note of the name on the jumbotron, he figures prominently in the story

    notice the park beyond outfield. wonder what that skyline is going to look like in five years...

    notice the metal supply building with bleachers, the tower at the left of the picture, the three major screens in left center (the third is to the left of the budlight sign on the outfield wall), and the lack of people in the rightmost section of the field level seats...

    these guys/girls got a standing ovation in the 4th or 5th inning
  • we settled into our free seats in the upper deck and took stock of the park. it's a fairly large park, but it has a lot of interesting features. there are two towers on the foul lines which house what i assume are luxury boxes of some sort. there's a metal supply building in the left field corner which mimics some of the brick buildings at wrigley which have bleachers on the roof. turns out that they had to build around this building which is over 90 years old. in left field there were two jumbotrons - one with color video, one was a monochromatic display which featured game info. on the outfield walls there were also a couple displays that featured pitch count and type. i like parks that give this info because i have trouble identifying pitches, especially from the third deck in right field.

    • my knee, meryl and two old guys
  • the concourses at petco are mores closed off than i like. the seats are nicely angled throughout the park so looking at the action is fairly effortless. the food looked pretty basic. there were a couple sections worth of military personnel in camo who were being honored. beyond right field there's a park with various activities and a jumbotron so you can catch the game. about half way through the game we were pretty bored so we decided to walk the perimeter. it was a 1-0 game, but it was going very slowly and neither of us were really engaged in the pitching duel aspect so we pounded the pavement. after checking out the various parts of the park we settled into a dining seat and watched about an inning on a tv. the game got a little more interesting when giles hit a 2-run homer and the crowd finally got into the game. we searched around the field level to see if we could find some nice seats. we settled on a section in left field which was strangely barren. after finding a spot i saw that jumbotron viewing was essentially non-existent from these seats and posited that this was the reason for the section being so empty. that said, there's a mini-tron on the centerfield wall which shows the same stuff as the jumbo tron...this is a feature of petco which i appreciated.
  • while we were seated and watching the game i thought about the fact that we were in pretty good foul ball territory. i was still a bit disappointed by the dropped ball fiasco at pacbell so every seat we looked for was rated relative to its potential for foul balls. this one rated pretty high. the game was tied at this point and we were hoping it wouldn't go into extra innings. brian schneider, catcher for the nationals, came to bat. he hit a foul ball towards us and, without thinking, i jumped out of my seat and ran towards it. i knew i wasn't going to be able to get it on the fly, but i also saw that it was pretty close, so i took a step back and waited for the bounce. i think someone got their hands on it because it didn't bounce much, but it did end up on the ground at the feet of a lady in the row ahead of me. i quickly bent down and picked it up before she was able to realize where it was. so, two games after my life-ending mistake, i find redemption at the feet of some middle-aged lady who was too slow on this particular day. i know the feeling, lady, hopefully you'll get a chance at redemption as well.

    • there's the lady, wearing the pink cap
  • other notes about petco: good music choices. they even played funk phenomenon by armand van helden, a relative oldie, but goodie. incorporated different ball park styles well. it has the steel/concrete look, but adds an almost southwestern look because of the colors on the exterior. has a little park beyond outfield, has the aforementioned brick building in left field and it has the unique towers on the foul lines. they played "god bless america" during the seventh inning stretch before "take me out to the ballgame." that's practically blasphemous, which is funny because many wouldn't ever think "god bless america" to be blasphemous. but that's why we have mental institutions. the game ended on an rbi double by giles, who ended up having all three rbi for the padres. the crowd was quite pleased.
  • after the game we caught a movie and drove to escondido where we ate dinner. we ended up sleeping off 395 in some pullout.


    • 8-6-06 (10:05)

  • we're on our way to the padres game right now. the past few days have been more relaxing than the previous 60.
  • after leaving luke's place we drove the 101 freeway all the way to my grandma's place. she made a good dinner for us and we went to sleep. the next morning we drove her to the airport (she's got business in maryland) on our way to the angels game. on the way there we realized that we had tickets for the previous night's game, so that was our first ticket-related mistake of the trip. we weren't too worried about getting tickets for the day game that we had planned on seeing, though, because the angels don't sell out that often and it was a day game. we parked the car and made our way to the ticket booth. there were a few lines and we got into the one that seemed the shortest. it turned out to be the slowest moving line, thanks to the picky fans at the front. it turned out that choosing this line was a good thing, though. after a few people had been helped in the other lines a woman approached us and asked if we wanted free tickets. she worked for a day camp which had purchased an excessive number of tickets and she was looking to give away the extras. we gladly took two adjacent seats and thanked her. it all worked out pretty well.




    • our seats:

  • there were an insane number of day camp groups at the game. all around the stadium there were kids with matching shirts, sack lunches, etc. who were waiting to get into the park. we did a half lap around the park and then made our way inside. the concourses aren't very open, but we were told that the park was originally made as a dual-use facility (the rams played there as well) and was later renovated to a baseball-only facility. our seats turned out to be limited-view seats - the right field bleachers protrude a bit and limit the view of center field from the right field first level seats (which is where we were). it's a pretty nice park overall. they have a nice water/stone feature in centerfield which seems to be fairly common these days. there were a few nice activities for the kids (including a timed homeplate to first base run game), but it wasn't too over-the-top. i had heard that disney made it a quasi-amusement park during the renovation, but that wasn't true at all. the hot dogs were total crap. i thought they were the worst we had, meryl thought the wrigley dogs were worse. my favorite hot dog was actually an apple sausage that i had at the sf park. though i must add that the garlic fries didn't taste as good as they smelled. i like the fact that angels' park is simply called "angels stadium." i get frustrated by all the bank names and shifting park names, like they have in sf, arizona, etc. camp kids "make some noise."
  • after the game we drove back to la and, after a bit of traffic, we made it to my dad's place. we went to todai and had an all you can eat feast. it's the first time i've gotten to see my dad's new place, though i still haven't seen his roommate.
  • the next day, thursday, we went into west la to get some work done on the car. meryl's friend peck picked her up and they went out to lunch. i went to the westside pavillion and watched the new woody allen pic. afterwards i went to border's and spent some of my birthday present (thanks tamara and clarke). later that day we met up with my mom and had dinner with her at some swanky sushi chain. they serve non-traditional sushi dishes which is pretty novel, but i think i prefer the traditional stuff. they had an oddly designed bathroom as well. the sinks were very cool - they were essentially stone slabs with spaces for the water to drain on the sides. there were mirrors from the ceiling to about three feet above the ground, all throughout the bathroom - including the stalls. the urinals didn't have dividers, but did have mirrors, which means easy viewing for passer-bys. apparently people love the place though, because they're expanding to downtown (right next to staples center) and the location we went to got pretty busy.



  • friday was a pretty relaxing day. we stayed at home the first half of the day and didn't do much. in the second half of the day we went to the staples center and watched some of the x-games events. there were four events at staples that night: moto x best trick final, bmx freestyle vert final, bmx freestyle vert best trick final, skateboard vert best trick final. the exciting thing about extreme sports, and new sports in general, is that something new and historic is always happening. it's very rare that you see something new in basketball, baseball, football, etc. you're lucky if you see someone do something that ranks amongst the best - like kobe's 81 points which is second best of all-time or chase utley's 35 game hit streak which is in the top 5 since 1941 when dimaggio hit safely in 73/74 games including 56 straight. on that night, though, we saw many firsts: travis pastrana pulled the first ever double back flip in moto x competition, kevin robinson did the first ever double flair in bmx competition, chad kagy did the first ever flat spin double tailwhip in competition, and simon tabron (or keith mcelhinney) did the first ever front flair in competition. it wasn't a packed house, but it got fairly full for the moto x best trick competition. the rest of the events didn't seem as popular. pastrana's double back was clearly the highlight of the night. our seats were on the upper deck, but weren't awful. the lights were in the way for the moto x events and we had an obstructed view of the big screen, but it wasn't awful. we went down to the first level during some warmups and it was pretty amazing to see those guys do backflips like it was nothing. i remember when mike metzger did the first ever backflip just a couple years ago and how huge that was. now people are doing it during their warmups as if they've been doing it their entire life. so it was nice to be able to squeeze in the x-games while we were in la. that's the great thing about a city like la or ny - there's always something big going on. saturday there was a huge hip-hop concert featuring the talents of aesop rock, mos def, talib kweli, crown city rockers, immortal technique, del tha funkee homosapien, wu-tang clan, and a shitload more. too bad we didn't get to see that one too. some x-games footage:

    • shaun white 1080 attempt.
    chad kagy's flat spin double tail whip.
    travis pastrana's double back flip.

  • saturday was our last full day in la. i watched three movies - the maltese falcon was part of a bogart festival on tcm and robocop and stormship troopers which were part of a verhoeven double feature at the aero in santa monica. we also went to the j. paul getty center; not the one on pch, but the one on the 405 freeway. it's a great place. we drove by it every day of the week and got to see it getting built, slowly. it cost $1 billion and took about 13 years to be developed. it's an impressive complex in so many ways. the gardens are beautiful, the artwork is noteworthy, and richard meier's architecture is enjoyable. the walls are made of either coated aluminum or travertine from a quarry in italy. i like the buildings and the mix of modern and ancient quite a bit. it also offers some great views of the city, mountains and ocean. i'm not a huge fan of cities, but i actually like la. i think the obvious drawback of la is the traffic and what it causes - smog. i've heard that it's gotten better over the years, but it's still not great. if i had a few billion dollars i'd add to the underground metro system and make it truly user-friendly. hopefully that'll happen one day and it'll make la a better place.

    • the getty:

  • speaking of which, we've seen more prius and hybrid cars in la and sf than we have in the rest of the country. california has its shit together. i also like the fact that prius drivers in la (and probably elsewhere) get to drive in the carpool lane.
  • i've seen 93 movies in the theater this year, but 17 of those have been shorts.


    • 8-1-06 (16:11)

  • yesterday was a long day. met my sister in berkeley while meryl stayed at home with her mom. went into sf with sarah and essentially just walked and talked for a few hours until i had to leave for the giants game. met up with meryl and her parents at at&t park and got inside just as the game was starting. we thought it was a 7:35 start and the girls hit traffic so we were slightly later than we would have liked. we had club level seats (thanks tamara and clarke) around third base. you need a ticket to get up there and the food is really good. at the start of the second inning i went down to the first level and met up with jon. he happened to be going to the park with some co-workers so we talked and caught up with each other for a couple innings. the giants were losing pretty badly so a lot of "fans" started leaving around the 7th and 8th innings.
  • in the bottom of the 8th, or the top of the 9th (not really sure) someone hit a foul ball that flew back straight towards us. now, this is something i've thought about in advance before. i had figured that my biggest issue with getting a ball hit towards me would be the fear of a hardball flying at me that quickly. i had predicted that my biggest thing to overcome would be chickening out as the ball got closer and closer. i assumed i'd get a case of alligator arms. as it turns out things happened so quickly that instinct just took over. and, like most well-heeled young men, that means i went for the catch rather than thinking about the possibility of it going through my bare hands and hitting me in the nose, or something like that. as it went further and further back and got closer and closer to me i thought two things: "it's not going to come to me" and "it looks like it's going to come right to me." pessimism mixed with reality. anyway, i stood up and put my hands up without thinking about it. i didn't hear anything around me, i had tunnel vision and time slowed a bit, yet i didn't have time to do any thinking - it was all instinct at this point. it hit me right in the hands with a thud and then smacked out. i reach forward quickly to go for the rebound, but it was in someone else's hands at this point. i don't think i really looked at him or anything around me, i immediately knew that i had missed a golden opportunity and i wallowed in disappointment as quickly as that ball had gone in and out of my hands. i was pretty disappointed with myself for the next couple hours. knowing what to do and doing it under those circumstances are completely different. i know i should have cradled the ball more, i should have accepted it into my hands more gently, but that wasn't part of my instinctual program so i dropped it like most people do. if i had a glove it would be in the car right now, but i didn't, so it's not.





    • our seats
  • pacbell, er sbc, er at&t park is a nice park. it's probably most similar to minute maid in houston, another HOK design. minute maid has the cool roof and train in left field, but it seems to have worse blind spots and it doesn't have mccovey cove. i appreciate how open outfield is at at&t - not just for walking around the park, but also for the view. there's too much advertising at the park for my tastes. there are some activities past the bleachers which i didn't really get a look at, and i don't remember from my first visit. prices are a bit on the silly side - hot dogs, drinks, etc. are generally all $.50 to $1.00 priced above the average. safeco is also expensive. perhaps it's a west coast thing. i guess everything over here is more expensive so it shouldn't surprise me that much. i don't remember dodger stadium being all that expensive, but i'll report on that when i visit it with my dad after the trip. it was also interesting to see so many people cheering for barry bonds. i guess it makes sense that sf would support a drug-user though; and i don't say that disparagingly.
  • we said our good-byes and made haste for santa cruz. luke and vern welcomed us to luke's digs in the hills. he's got a sweet setup - plenty of money, a free place to sleep, a house to work on and five acres of land on which to work. i envy the guy. vern, luke, meryl and i talked until about 3am.
  • luke, meryl and i played a little wiffle ball and talked a bit the next day (today) and then meryl and i had to hit the road for la. we're more or less in santa barbara right now.
  • i've come to the conclusion that i should have been born with more money so i could do more of the things that i'd like to do: relax, travel, more fully pursue hobbies like carpentry, film, and music, etc.
  • i'd rather be an outfielder than an infielder. i've had this discussion with meryl before, but i think it's fitting to bring it up now in light of my botched catch last night. i explained to her that i don't like having to make those split second decisions. in the outfield you have a little more time to gauge things. it's like flying versus driving. if you're in the air and something goes wrong you generally have a decent amount of time before you're in real danger. in a car the hazards are presented to you too quickly to react with anything other than instinct. no one's going to make an illegal left turn in front of you while you're flying. 


    • 7-30-06 (17:06)

  • we're in the bay area now. and by bay area i mean the san francisco bay area, as opposed to the chesapeake or something.
  • on our way from washington to sacramento we stopped by crater lake to check it out. it wasn't a great day for visibility, but we still got a good view of the lake. at 1,943 feet, it's the deepest lake in the u.s. and the 2nd deepest in the western hemisphere, but the 7th in the world. baikal lake in siberia is over 5,000 feet deep. what makes crater lake exceptional is that it's a closed ecosystem - there aren't any rivers leading in or out of crater lake. while there are two species of introduced fish, there isn't much else in the water to muck it up. as a result of it being so pure and deep, the blue color of the lake is amazing. it was caused by what is believed to be the most powerful eruption of the last 10k years. mt. mazama was ten times more powerful than krakatoa which erupted in 1883. we saw quite a bit of ice and snow remaining which made it all the more picturesque. our park ranger talk was given by dave henderson (not the ball player) and he did a good job. the story of crater lake is pretty typical of the cascades, so if you know about subduction then you know all you need to know.
  • after crater lake we made our way to sacramento. we skipped lassen, one of only a couple national parks in california i haven't seen; the channel islands park is the other. i wanted to get to sacramento on the early side, though, so i had forego the opportunity. we stayed with john and emily in sacramento and watched a dvd on the dudesons, who predate the jackass crew. they're crazy.

    • freeway entrance in dunsmuir. this is where vern and i jumped on a train that eventually derailed.

    after the train derailed we begged a nice girl to give us a ride out of this rest area:
  • the next morning we went to davis and visited tower. justin and christo were there, but no one else from my era was around. it was good to see the guys again and visit the old place. after a nostalgic stop at in and out with john, we left for meryl's grandpa's. we chatted a bit and had a great lunch, but had to leave for the game.
  • the coliseum isn't too bad for a dual-use facility. i had been once before (also with meryl, also when they played the bluejays), but this time was very different because of the park experience i have now. the foul territory is one of the more notable attributes of the field. it's the largest foul territory in the league which probably makes it more of a pitcher's park. the bullpens are in the foul territory, the field is symmetrical and well-maintained. there were quite a few giveaways on the day that we were there. they even gave away a new car. the concourses aren't very open and it's not much to look at, but it's not a bad place to watch a game. they've recently closed off the top deck which means fewer seats, but it also means that the worst seats are better than they used to be. strange how that works. one of the less attractive elements of the dual-use design is that many of the seats aren't angled towards the action. ideally you're angled towards the batter/pitcher. we sat in very good seats near first base that were well-angled for football, but were probably 15-20 degrees off for baseball. it's not a big deal, but it's definitely something you notice. one of these days an engineer will come up with a design that allows for easily movable seats and sections. until then the single-use park will remain as the preference of cities looking to build new ones. in the bottom of the 4th the power went out. that was a new experience. i forgot to mention that there were two fights during the game, also firsts for the trip. meryl had all but promised a fight in oakland, and a few hooligans delivered.



    • crazy george:
  • the last day and a half we've basically just stayed at meryl's parents place. yesterday family came over for dinner. today we visited berkeley briefly. tomorrow we have a giants game.
  • brucella abortus is the name of the disease i referenced in my yellowstone section on bison. thanks to my grandma for the follow-up on that one.


    • 7-27-06 (10:44)

  • after jasper and banff we made the long drive to (the much ballyhooed) vancouver. vancouver routinely ranks among the top cities in the world in which to live and, lately, has been ranked above toronto among best canadian cities. by most accounts it's a very fine city, but i didn't feel it was better than toronto. it is probably a bit more picturesque - between the waterfronts and the hills to the north - but i found toronto to be a more down to earth and exciting city. the crime and homelessness seemed to be more prevalent in vancouver as well. we saw one guy getting carted off in the paddy wagon and a few bikers performing wheelies and nose-stops on the streets; posers. i think vancouver is probably a more culturally hip city than toronto, but that has no bearing on my personal ranking. it probably gets plenty of points over toronto in the weather department, but i despise rain more than snow so i'd probably rather live in toronto for that reason as well. although we didn't compare housing costs, i'd guess (based upon the cost of other things) that vancouver is a more expensive place to live than toronto as well. toronto has an nba, nhl and mlb team so it's got that going for it as well. overall, i found vancouver to be nice, but i still think toronto is better. aesthetically, vancouver reminded me of miami a bit.

    • vancouver

  • while in vancouver we went to their fisherman's wharf area which, especially for a monday, was quite active. there are several artisans who have shops in which to peddle their (over-priced) wares. carpenters, glass-blowers, pottery makers, etc. are all represented well. we found some great looking stuff, but most of it would be equal to a month's salary.
  • i find that the wave doesn't go over so well on the lower, field level decks. generally the wave begins in the bleachers or upper decks and the lower level is last to pick up on it. as usual, i see it as a class issue. the working class people start the wave and the upper class people (who are seated in the lower levels) are too good for such commonplace activities as the wave so they forego participation. i think the wave has a stigma attached to it, but i'm not real sure why.
  • most clever motel name so far: Dew Drop Inn
  • so i finally settled on my anti-bonds saying. for a while i was thinking it would be: Milken says: I'll sell you some junk, Bonds. but just the other day i settled on: Milken will sell you some junk, Bonds. i think it incorporates the two meanings of "junk" and "bonds" effectively, while remaining pithy. i'm happy with it. meryl got it printed on a shirt yesterday.
  • we had planned on going from vancouver to victoria, but the exchange rate sucks and the prices are ridiculous with a car. even if you stay in the car you still have to pay for the people so it would have been about $60 to ferry ourselves to victoria. then it would have been about the same amount to go to the u.s.; pretty lame. so we decided to skip victoria (which is home of the best milkshake i've ever had) and go to north cascades national park. it has the greatest number of glaciers in the u.s., outside of alaska. it's a nice enough park. it's actually split into two parks with a riverside highway that cuts east-west between them. along the road/river is a recreation area so technically you have to hike to get onto park property. the staff was helpful and knowledgeable. there was an extremely cheesy video introduction that easily beats out fort mchenry for worst video at a national park. too bad. other than the bad video, i liked the place. there were some nice vistas and waterfalls and the staff was good.

    • north cascades park:

    this tree was creaking quite a bit in the wind. it was rotten inside, looked chewed up and was leaning quite a lot.
  • on our way back west from the park we stopped and watched a movie. afterwards we went to whidbey island to stay with two friends of meryl's mom. whidbey is right next to anacortes, which i commented on in my first trip to washington so it's strange i hadn't heard of it until recently. actually, i may have heard of it and just forgot about it. my memory's crap so it's entirely likely. at any rate, our hosts were very nice and they even gave us a free ferry voucher back to the mainland so that saved us some time/money.
  • we made it to seattle in the afternoon and didn't have much planned. we got meryl's shirt made and went to the pike place market which is famous for the fish throwing antics. we walked around there a bit, but going to those places without being able to buy some of the quality fish and produce is like a castrated guy going to a strip bar, or something. the rest of the day we really didn't do anything. we wandered around a bit and made our way to safeco field, parked the car and wandered around a bit more. the pre-game festivities are basically relegated to stands selling candy, peanuts and hot dogs. we bought some peanuts and went into the park two hours early. we walked around the park a bit and settled down in the "hit it here cafe" which is located in right field. meryl had the $11 chicken sandwich and i had the $13 steak tacos which were small and featured the toughest meat i've ever had. our absent waitress got a $1 tip and i gave the water boy a $2 tip. all in all it was a shit experience. i wish i had lots of money. the kid who came by to fill up our water was nice and seemed to be kicking ass, but i suspect he goes largely unappreciated throughout his day. if i was warren buffet or bill gates i could have rewarded him in a more commensurate fashion.
  • after the "dinner" we found our seats in the left field power alley. we had a blind spot in outfield which ended up not being a factor. the seats were angled in such a way that we were looking at a space between the third baseman and left fielder; it was odd. another odd thing about the park is the retractable roof. it acts more as an umbrella than a roof, which is pretty cool, but it also cost $200 million, this according to our baseball road-trip book. according to them games in boston, baltimore and new york have a greater chance of getting rained out than in seattle. furthermore, if you assume there would have been 20 rainouts a year for the next 30 years the roof essentially cost them $333,333 per rainout. what's more is they installed a drainage system that can hold up to 25 inches of rain in 24 hours. so...seattle seems to have taken it in the rear on that one.
  • the park itself is nice. since i didn't have to foot the bill, i liked the roof. the open concourses open up the park well. the bullpens are essentially open to foot traffic - you're on the same level as the relievers - which is pretty cool. the foul territory seemed pretty large in the infield. there's the usual amount of advertising, field dimensions are relatively standard and center field has a little dead area, sorta like new busch. there were some nice art installations throughout the park, which i appreciated. our game experience was a pretty good one. the game itself had some slow moments, but it looked like the blue jays were going to make a comeback late in the game so that added some drama. the people in front of us were from vancouver and were rooting for the blue jays. we talked a bit with them and they were pleasant. the people to our right were in the military so they were from all over and we chatted with them a bit. the group of kids to our left were speaking french and were funny to watch. they were often far more concerned with their hair and taking pictures of themselves, than the game. the guys behind us were kinda drunk and were laughing at the kids along with us. we talked briefly about lambeau field.

    • license plate/soda can scrap art:

    the safe:

    view from out seats:

    stupid kids posing:
  • after the game meryl drove for about 1.5 hours, then went in the back and slept. then i drove for about 1.5 hours, found a rest stop and also slept. woke up this morning, got some breakfast at a holiday inn and hit the road. we're about 15 minutes from crater lake right now.


    • 7-24-06 (09:43)

  • just 22 more days left, that's depressing.
  • we slept in kamloops, bc last night. this morning we went to a holiday inn and acquired some free continental breakfast. we've done this a few times now. days inn has the best stuff, but they make it difficult to acquire without having a room. they give you breakfast slips that you turn into the chef and he makes breakfast items to order. most other places just have donuts, muffins, toast, cereal etc. out for the taking.
  • we've got about four hours to go before we arrive in vancouver. the "seat belt required" signs in canada are more simple and for a more educated populace. they have picture of a person with a seat belt on and one word underneath: "compulsory." i'd venture a guess that most u.s. high school grads don't know what that means.
  • another linguistically related observation i've made is the (possibly excessive) use of the words "eh' and "right." generally they act as punctuation at the end of the sentence. in many instances the latter makes a statement into a quasi-question. "i went to the store, right?" "and then i bought some cereal, right?" it's like saying "are you with me?" or "you got that?" but it's usually part of a statement so it changes the tone of the sentence at the last possible moment. it adds a layer of deference to statements. you could say "you're a damn asshole," add "right" to the end, and somehow it would make it almost okay. "eh" can be used in a greater range of situations so i'm not going to touch that one.

    • (11:15)
  • I was pretty disapointed by Banff and Jasper National Parks. They were both amazingly beautifully to drive through and explore, but it was pretty sad to see how built up both the towns were inside the park and how little the people seemed to care about actually preserving it. Alix seemed to be the only person we encountered who was concerned with preservation instead of shopping at the Gap. It was pretty pathetic that along the main road in the town of Banff where you could go shopping at Banana Republic, Starbucks and other stores there were more people than within the ACTUAL park. More people went to a National Park to check the price on a pair of khakis than they did to explore, hike, and educate themselves. As Chris and I drove around the park I was really amazed at the fact that park rangers were absent. Even as we were leaving the park and we went to a visitor center to ask questions, the ranger there seemed to think it was weird that I would ask why there were no rangers throughout the park. He seemed frustrated when we asked him about fire management and if they had any informational brochures (all the brochures they had OUT were about white water rafting or helicopter or boat tours). Besides Alix, I was pretty dissapointed in the park staff and thought they could have done a lot more to educate the public, but like Alix said, at this park, people come first. Very sad.
  • Still, although the staff was disapointing, the park was AMAZING. The colors of the lakes and rivers seemed unnatural. The vivid blues and greens were incredible to look at, and the glacier was really cool. The little trek to make it up to the glacier really knocked the wind out of you - it was incredibly steep and about 15-20 degrees cooler once you got to the top with icy wind gusts. The highlight of the visit to the park for me was getting to go on the glacier itself. It amazed me that they didn't have a park ranger there for safety, just a few cones outlining the area you could walk on. Of course, because humans are stupid, they were not staying within the boundaries and instead walking all along the glacier, including by the streams and rivers that were running along side it. I was nervous that someone would slip and fall and no ranger would be there to help. I've got to admit, I was pretty scared to get on the glacier, as much as I liked it, it terrified me. It was really slippery and the streams running along the top of it especially freaked me out. Chris tried to comfort me by telling me that Johnny did it all the time, but when I could see the water running underneath through the ice, it was a bit much for me. Once we got off I was put at ease. As much as I was scared while being on it, I still was excited that I had gotten to walk on a glacier.
  • I've got to say, Canadians seem a lot friendlier. A little while ago while on our way to Vancouver we hit some construction and were stopped for about 15 minutes. People began getting out of their cars and a couple who looked to be in their 50s and were in front of us asked us where we were headed (a California plate in the middle of Canada does stick out). We started chatting with them until the construction was cleared and ran into them again at a gas station down the line about 30 minutes later. The husband talked with Chris while we filled up on gas and told him where nice clean facilities and good ice cream were. He was pretty interested in our trip and seemed to enjoy the curtains we had made that we put down when we sleep at night. He gave Chris a little pat on the back when he left the gas station too, it seems to be a friendly gesture here. I like that. One thing I've noticed in the US is that people are kind of afraid to be close to each other or touch someone. If you ride a bus, people will more often stand up that sit next to someone they don't know. It think that's pretty retarded, so I enjoy the people being friendly and open here. As Chris has recounted numerous times, Jim Gaffigan makes a good observation in relation to encounters with strangers. If an incredibly ugly person smiles at you walking down the street, you think, "ohhh, that guy's a weirdo, creep." However, if an attractive person were to smile at you, you may think, "ohhhh, that's so nice, what a nice person." I really can't say anything because I know if I ran into a man with his pants on backwards, a patch over his eye and a ponytail on top of his head and he smiled at me, I'd get a little freaked out. If I ran into Mos Def and he smiled at me, well, that would be a completely different story. Why is that?


    • 7-23-06 (23:08)

  • glacier is a relatively depressing park, so is everglades. it really seemed like the rangers at glacier were the jv squad and, of course, the realities of global warming are depressing as well. i think one important change i would make to the park service would be a mandatory 5 minute video that all visitors would watch upon entry to the park. this video would go over the basics of park care, maintenance and etiquette. here visitors would learn what they can/cannot do and why. e.g., you can't feed wildlife because habitualizing them to humans is bad for them (they become dependent upon the easy food and die when visitors aren't around) and is bad for visitors (because it leads to more wildlife-human encounters). a simple video outlining these issues would go a long way to preserving the parks for everyone. of course, people wouldn't have to view the video at every park. once you complete etiquette training once you receive a card or sticker or something that would indicate that you've already completed it. logistics might be difficult, especially at high-traffic parks, but i think it would be worth it.

    • ex-glacier park:


  • after glacier we drove to calgary. the calgary area is famous for its cattle industry, but it's also got a healthy presence in technology and oil. open range and unforgiven are two westerns which were shot in calgary. both had very good cinematography. unforgiven is mandatory and open range is pretty good, esp. since it's a costner directed pic. calgary also has the highest number of americans living outside of the u.s. on the way to calgary i noticed a decent sized wind power farm. we drove through calgary a bit looking for a place to eat. finally we settled on some place which happened to have chairs upholstered in an americana motif - stuff like route 66 signs and the hollywood sign. i had a burger which was made from calgary area beef and thought it tasted different, but good. afterwards we drove around the city a bit more and ended up watching a crappy movie that surprisingly had potential.

    • calgary sunset, 9:56pm
  • this morning we drove less than an hour and made it to banff. banff and jasper are two large parks a few hundred miles north of the border. there are four other parks (kootenay, yoho, mount revelstoke and glacier) that are also either attached or near by. somehow, though, jasper and banff are the two most well-known. banff was formed first (1885) and jasper was next. two main highways cut through banff and one through jasper, so i think those two factors are why jasper and banff are the most well known.
  • we went through banff and jasper, but not the other parks in the area. banff and jasper are quite large so they presented us with plenty of driving. banff and jasper town anchor the south and north ends of the parks. both are relatively built up. there's a high school in banff, along with a gap, starbucks, etc. it seems that, with these two parks anyway, the definition of park is more literal than it is at american national parks. recreation rules in these parks and i consider that unfortunate. we went to the visitor center in banff and asked a ranger where we could get information on the park - its history, geology, wildlife, etc. the knowledgeable ranger told us about a few museums and self-guided trails that would be good for getting that kind of information, but, honestly, she seemed surprised by the question. most of the museums cost extra (beyond the park admission) and everyone else who talked with the rangers seemed more concerned with hotel accommodations and places to canoe, hike, bike, camp, etc. we were both a bit disappointed at this point. the lack of exhibits outlining the fire management policy, the wildlife challenges, the global warming issue and how it has affected the glaciers, etc. were all absent. we drove to another part of the town to see a building that was built in 1803 and walked around the premises. a pair of rangers were at a table and had a few pelts and fossils. they greeted us and we talked with a ranger named alix about (er, aboot) our concerns. he echoed the same concerns and listed some others. he said it was frustrating how much of a hold the commerce had on the area. he told us that the speed limit was 90 km/h and the average speed was 117 km/h. he also told us about the high roadkill count and that they built a fence to cut down this. it's helped - a 95% drop since installation - but it's made migration more difficult. they've built underpasses and overpasses to combat this issue. the underpasses didn't work, but the overpasses have seen good success. we talked for a few more minutes before he was relieved of his shift. he patted me on the back and left. turned out that he was the only ranger we encountered who seemed truly concerned with preservation issues. he did tell us that banff and jasper are the exceptions to the canadian park system, so that's good to hear.

    • banff:


    this train transporting sulphur rode through the park disturbing countless wildlife and visitors alike:
  • we got back on the four lane highway that cuts through the park and drove to lake louise. on the edges of the lake there seemed to be some dirty water, but i had no way of telling if it was natural or caused by humans. the color of the lake is stunning and most reminiscent of waikiki. all of jasper and banff is full of great scenery which is hampered a bit by the crowds (though it was a sunday) and the lack of ranger education. throughout the parks there are informational tablets, but rangers are largely absent and ranger-led programs, so far as we could tell, were non-existent. lake louise is beautiful, but it's got a huge hotel on the north (i think) end that sticks out.

    • outside of lake louise, oops:


  • after lake louise we hit the road for peyto lake. peyto lake is an amazing green color that really blew me away. with the glaciers in the background, the thick forests, and the steep mountains it's probably the most picturesque scene in the parks.





  • next we drove to the columbia icefield/athabasca glacier. we hiked up a steep hill to walk on the slippery glacier a bit, which was novel.

    • this glacier-scarred rock would have been a good spot for a ranger to give a lesson on the power of the athabasca glacier:



    standing on the athabasca glacier
  • after the athabasca glacier we drove down river to the athabasca falls


    • with regards to waterfalls, i'm most interested in how the water shapes features like this:

    ...and this, which has a circular shape cut into it from swirling water, as well as a major fracture, likely from the freeze-thaw cycle.

  • canadians use military time and i appreciate that.
  • one thing i read at the jasper info center said that one study found it only takes 60 people a month traveling on a path to scare away some wildlife.


    • 7-22-06 (09:13)

  • after the badlands and pine ridge (the largest (in terms of indian population) of the indian reservations) we made some headway towards yellowstone and slept in the national forest that surrounds the park. it was a winding highway that had very little traffic so it made for some good sleeping.

    • slept here:
  • we left very early the next morning to maximize our two allotted days in grand teton and yellowstone. we drove through cody, wy - home of the everyday rodeo. two days, by the way, is near criminal as the yellowstone area, in my estimation, deserves at least a week. but, we're on a budget and we have mariners tickets for the 26th so we have to make things quick on this leg of the trip. we came in through the east entrance and there was a 10 minute delay due to some road construction. my favorite park in the country is yellowstone and, to this point, meryl's favorite park was the everglades, so i felt bad that this was her first introduction to the crown jewel of national parks. at any rate, it turned out to be the only construction delay while we were there so it wasn't an issue. we drove through the west and south part of the park on our way to grand teton, stopping only to pick up some information at the west thumb visitor's center. we attended a short ranger talk about some of the highlights of grand teton so we knew how to focus the rest of our day. we drove counter-clockwise through the park loop, detouring twice for jenny lake and a lookout opportunity. along the way we gawked at the jagged teton mountain range and saw two moose feeding about 100 yards off the lookout road. after doing the drive we took care of some laundry and went back into yellowstone. we weren't sure where we were going to camp earlier so we weren't able to secure a backcountry permit before they closed, so we were forced to go with the far inferior, paid camping option. not only do you have to pay for the camping areas near the visitor center, you also are packed in with all the lame people who are (generally speaking) too lazy to hike a mile or two into the backcountry campgrounds (which are generally barren because of this). anyway, it was a day with a lot of driving, a new national park for both of us (24th for me, 10th and 11th for her), and we were both tired so we retired on the earlier (for us) side. some tetons footage.

    • tetons

    a poor man's zoom - binoculars in front of a digital camera...moose in grand teton

    visibility wasn't great

  • yellowstone is such a great place. sure, it's the first national park in the world and it has the tallest geyser (giant geyser) in the world, the most well known geyser in the world (old faithful), the largest wild bison herd in the world, the greatest concentration of geothermal features in the world, etc. but it's not any one superlative, or first, that makes it so great. it's that so many things are in one place. and i'm not just talking about geology, biology and other sciences. there are human histories here that are equally fascinating. early in the park's history fishing decimated the cutthroat trout population. this mismanagement and focus on recreation, rather than preservation, led to the decline in the population of 42 species within the park - from pelicans that fly up here from mexico during the summer to bears to otters to osprey and many others. the cutthroat is extremely important to at least 42 species in the area and, thus, many more which are dependant upon those 42. they made changes (eliminating fishing in key spawning areas, restricting the use of barbed hooks, etc.) and the cutthroat (endemic to this area only) made a comeback. until, that is, some moron(s) introduced a non-native species: the lake trout. it has no natural predator (other than man), eats other fish (and the cutthroat is the only other fish in yellowstone), and can consume 1500 fish in its lifetime. that's 1500 cutthroat that won't be able to lay 1000 eggs...you get the picture. again, because of humans, the cutthroat - and dependent species - went on the decline. in the 90s, when the lake trout were found, the park service again took actions to preserve the species. today they catch and kill thousands (40k so far this year) of the invasive, non-native lake trout. pelicans have returned and the cutthroat population is at a healthy level. this sort of story is just as interesting to me as the natural science in the park. but that's the thing - yellowstone seemingly has it all, in spades.
  • i love going to national parks because they're an escape, life is different. life is slower and nicer. people say hi to each other when they pass one another on a trail. traffic jams (almost always caused by animals on the road) don't elicit honking and rage, but picture taking and smiling faces. the rules here are different. the parks are places where people (more often anyway) will pick up after themselves, will appreciate their surroundings, and reflect upon our role in this world. the city environment just isn't conducive to this though process or this frame of mind. the way yellowstone, in particular, is set up indicates all this and more. the animals have the run of the place. geologic features aren't conveniently placed, wildlife isn't penned in, dangerous features aren't sanitized or eliminated, fallen trees aren't picked up to make the terrain look better (though sometimes they may be cleared for fire management reasons)...all these things contribute to the wildness of the experience. we're used to a world where things have their place. animals are in zoos, parks are kept clean - lawns mowed, leaves raked, etc. in other words, we like our nature to be clean and well-kept, but the park service (generally) understands, and fosters, that.
  • quote of the week came while we were walking along a lookout trail in grand teton which is reputedly a good spot to see wildlife: man (to wife): "guess what." wife: "nothing?" man: "yeah. (huff) like i'm looking at a fucking desert." this is what i mean...some people hear that wildlife hangs out in a certain spot and they expect it to be there; they're used to the zoo, not the real world.
  • back to the plot...the next day we woke up early in an effort to see as much of yellowstone in a day as possible. my plan was to go to ranger talks non-stop. i've always liked ranger talks because they're informative, they offer the opportunity to get questions answered and i retain information better when i hear it versus when i read it. our first ranger talk was at 9a so we made our way over to the meeting spot and went on the walk with ranger chris brown (not the singer). it was scheduled to be a 1.5 hour walk and it turned out to be three. he was one of the best rangers/guides i've ever had. he was informed, well-spoken, had a dry sense of humor, mixed cold facts with perspective and anecdotes. i talked with him quite a bit about the park service, the forest service, the current administration, the science of the park, becoming a park ranger, his background, etc. i could go to ranger talks all day, every day, for the rest of my life. like zarathustra, my cup needs filling and park rangers do it well. he told us about a disease some of the bison have called something abortis (forgot the first part) [brucella abortus, 07-30-06]. anyway, they originally got it from cattle, but ranchers are really worried that, when the bison migrate to lower elevations during the winter, they'll pass it on to the cattle. what they started to do was simply shoot the bison on the park border in order to protect their cattle. recently an agreement was reached whereby the park service will try to scare the bison back into the park boundaries and if the bison still go beyond the boundary they'll be tested for the disease. the disease is only communicable via the afterbirth, but males are still tested. any bison carrying the disease is slaughtered. it's a bullshit compromise, if you ask me. last year 1,000 bison were killed as a result. fucking goddamn ranchers. there's an insane amount of poor decisions being made as a result of politics and, specifically, money in politics.

    • meryl asking a question (a noteworthy event)

    chris brown, our first ranger

    some little cowboy-hat-wearing girl made this cross and put it in the ground, much to her mother's delight. then a little boy came by and knocked it down, much to the delight of secularists around the world.
  • apparently the newest assistant to the secretary of the interior (or the asst. to the director of the park service, i can't remember) is the former governor of idaho and his stated policy is anti-wolf in yellowstone and one of more recreation, rather than preservation. from what i understand, many of the upper level people are appointed rather than hired or selected by a board. then again, if the president is going to hand over foreign relations in the form of ambassadorships to his cronies, then he may as well hand over the future of our parks as well...anyway, the yellostone wolf story, in case you hadn't already heard it: wolves were in great supply before white men came around. as an aside, rangers (rightly) make the distinction between whites/native americans when saying "this cave was first discovered in 1881." it's not so much an issue of race, as much as it is giving proper credit. we don't know when the indians discovered yellowstone or wind cave, but we do know when europeans discovered it. while it's notable to say that the cave was discovered by whites in a certain year, it's important to acknowledge that it was discovered by other humans earlier. yellowstone was established as the world's first park in 1872 and the stewards at the time felt people would visit the park to see elk, not bears or wolves, so they actively tried to eliminate the undesirable species. with the wolves gone the elk population soared into the tens of thousands and the land started getting so overgrazed that the park had to start slaughtering elk. many years later (60s/70s) wolves were reintroduced when the park realized its faux pas. turns out (duh) that nature had already struck a balance and things were fine the way they were. as wolves grew in numbers, the elk declined and order was restored. today there are only about 120 wolves in the park. there was a den that was in the area of our hike and he showed us a path that was closed as a result. at first they kept the path open, but insisted that people stay on the path. people started wandering off the path looking for the wolves so they had to shut down the path entirely. i hate people.
  • speaking of which...he also imparted an anecdote about a guy in texas (naturally) who set up a website where users could hunt wildlife online. robotic guns could be remotely controlled by the user and if s/he got a kill they'd get a set of antlers in the mail. i remember jon showing me a site where you could control a robot online several years ago, but i didn't imagine that technology would ever be used like this. the good news is that the site was, according to the ranger "shot down." see? there's his dry sense of humor.
  • he also imparted an anecdote about how smart grizzly bears are (apparently even smarter than dogs). a woman he knows was hiking and was "treed" (chased up a tree) by a bear. the bear left and she came down, but the bear returned, this time with another bear. she waited a long time, they left, she waited some more and came down. this time she gathered herself quickly, looked over the ridge to see the two bears returning. this time, though, they brought a beaver. har har.
  • at the end of the hike we were returning to the parking lot when we saw a few dozen bison on the path ahead. we stopped and waited for them to cross the path and the road which was parallel to us at this point. bison, by the way, can run 35mph, jump 6 feet high and will turn around in a snap. they're generally pretty easy-going, but you don't want to fuck with them. the ranger imparted another anecdote, this one regarding elk, bison and wolves. he saw, through a scope, a pack of wolves go after some elk, but before they could get anything some bison ran through the area and scared off the wolves. the wolves returned and the bison ran them off again. it's a pretty amazing little story.

    • bison road block:
  • we took a bit of a breather and went onto our next ranger talk. this one was a short one about cutthroat trout and was given by laura, who was a ranger at olympic, yosemite and the everglades before coming to yellowstone. she was also very informative.
  • fire management is a big issue in the parks. 90% of the fires in yellowstone are one acre or less and are simply allowed to burn so long as they don't threaten life or property. the 1988 fire was immense. there were actually 11 fires that burned hundreds of thousands of acres. eight were started by lightning and were made worse by the drought. but one that burned over 300,000 acres was started by a cigarette. smartly, fire management these days essentially entails monitoring, occasional clearing of dead wood and not much else. as much as possible, they want to ensure that fires are allowed to burn so that new lodgepole pines (the cones of which require fire to open and release seed) can grow. lodgepoles, by the way, have a shallow root system ideally suited for some of the poor, sandy soil in yellowstone. about 80% of the trees in yellowstone are lodgepole pines.
  • on our first ranger tour there was a family from jersey (why can you say "jersey" for new jersey, but not "york" for new york?) that talked with us a bit. we told them about the trip and commented on the fact that we wanted to see the everglades while they were still there. he said that he went diving on the west coast of florida a long time ago and saw some reefs or other ocean structures which were beautiful, but are essentially gone now. "see it while you can" he said. i have the same advice for you.
  • this brings me to the preservation/recreation debate again. in their charter the national park service states that their goal is preservation and recreation, the national forest service has different goals. to what extent should preservation be sacrificed for recreation? should their be river rafting, unlimited fishing, hiking, off-road driving, hunting, etc. in our national parks? these are forms of recreation and they are all loved by different people in the country. the parks are for us, after all, shouldn't we be allowed to use the resources for recreation as we want? there aren't that many national parks in the country and many of them were formed over the course of hundreds of thousands or millions of years. to me it's a no-brainer - these parks should be preserved and we should take every reasonable precaution to ensure their long-term survival. hunters, snowmobilers, atv-ers, etc. can find other places for recreation. yellowstone, and most of the other parks, are delicately balanced ecosystems which should be preserved in the most natural state that we can manage. this is a major complaint of mine with regards to people, and americans specifically - we value freedom too much. actually, that's not altogether true. we don't mind sacrificing civil liberties in the name of "security," but that's another essay... generally, though, it seems we see limitations on our recreation as impugning upon our god-given freedom to dominate the landscape. there would likely be an uproar if yellowstone limited rv size or restricted fishing, for example. people are too short-sighted, ignorant and selfish to take one for the team. somehow, in this context, these policies would likely be construed as fascist. just as universal health care is somehow communism, rather than caring about your countrymen. why is patriotism supporting our fascist president, but not our natural habitats and the indigent? because too many of us are stupid sheep...which brings this full circle. ranger chris brown imparted an anecdote about a grizzly bear that single-handedly killed 200 sheep in one night. it ran up on a group of sheep and they all ran off a cliff...one after the other. so, let's be smarter than that and preserve a few small pieces of habitat, history and science.
  • speaking of snowmobiles...this is another controversy that has been big in yellowstone for a while (the daily show even did a funny story on the issue). by the way, 3 million people visit yellowstone each year and only 100k come during the winter. the law and policy has changed a couple times, but now there's a new winter use program in place. there's a limit on the number of snowmobiles that can operate in the park (720/day, i think) and they now are required to be guided. what this has done is to bring private enterprises into yellowstone during the winter. private companies rent out the snowmobiles and accompany people while in the park. there are a few issues surrounding the debate. privatization is one. pollution (air and noise) are the other two big ones. since there is a thermal inversion in yellowstone in the winter the polluted air basically stays at ground level, instead of rising and blowing away. the noise pollution probably isn't great for the animals and is annoying for the visitors. i'm sure there are erosion issues as well, but i didn't ask about that one.
  • i asked a ranger what s/he thought was a current mistake the park was making and s/he said that (otr) s/he thought there was too much flip-flopping on policy - from the snowmobile issue on down. i also got the sense that the entire enterprise should be less politicized, less influenced by money (those go together, i suppose) and a greater ability to make decisions.
  • another theme that emerges when you go to a park like yellowstone or glacier or the everglades is the interconnectedness of everything. globalwarming effects glacier, land-used and global water levels affect the everglades and all sorts of things effect yellowstone. for example, those pelicans from mexico might not return to yellowstone if the mexican government didn't work to preserve their winter habitat. i know it's cliche as hell, but nature doesn't know boundaries. another ranger we had later in the day brought to our attention a current resolution to establish a 15 mile buffer zone around yellowstone that would prevent private companies from drilling into areas which are believed to contain the extended pipework which feeds geysers like old faithful. i think it would be a shame if a company drilled a well or something and it happened to damage the underground network of water and gas chambers that is responsible for the geysers in the park.
  • laura, our third ranger (we left the second tour early) who talked about cutthroat trout told us that she's seen people get frustrated by bison caused traffic and bump the bison thinking the bison will move. speaking of which, 100 large animals are killed a year by cars.
  • our last ranger talk of the day took place near old faithful and was guided by mr. watson, a former school principal at american schools abroad. he was very informative and we talked with him quite a bit as well. tectonic hot spots shape the yellowstone landscape and are responsible for the geysers and hot springs as well. johnny will surely set me straight if i'm wrong on any of this... from what i have gathered from reading and talking with people like johnny and mr. watson is that hot spots stay in one place and the plates move over them and affect the landscape above. this is how the islands of hawai'i were formed - the plate moving over a hot spot which deposits volcanic rock which then comprise the islands. at any rate, read a book if you want to know more. we saw old faithful do its thing, but, more impressive than that, we saw grand geyser do its thing. it's the largest predictable geyser in the world. the largest geyser in the world is giant geyser, also in yellowstone, but its eruptions are extremely sporadic. it last erupted one year ago. we also saw a geyser erupt that has erupted for 38 hours straight. so, the geysers here run the gamut in height, type (fountain, cone and a couple others whose names i've forgotten), duration of eruption, and eruption interval. perhaps the most important element of the geysers is their inclusion of cyano bacteria and other thermophiles. cyano bacteria are used in dna indentification. the existence of thermophiles (which i think were first discovered in yellowstone) is key to understanding the possibility of life on other planetary bodies (especially jupiter's moon, europa) as well as the possible origin of life on earth. for a long time it was believed that life without sunlight was impossible. it was also believed that life began in primordial tidal pools on the surface. these thermophiles have proven that life can exist even at temperatures in the high 100s (f) and more recent discoveries of life in the deep sea present the possibility that life began near deep sea thermal vents.


    • grand geyser, bigger than old faithful:

    kid playing gameboy while grand geyser (which has a three hour prediction window) erupts:

    mr. watson


    this one erupted for 38 hours on one occasion
  • nova and national geographic digressions aside...mr. watson also informed us that bison near the geyser-heavy portion of the park have it easy in the winter because grass is easier to find and it's warmer. that said, the calcite (i think it was calcite) in the geyser water (and thus in the grass) are bad for the bison, esp. their teeth, so they generally live 1-2 years less than the other bison. a grizzly, by the way, can do the 100 yard dash in 6.9 seconds. i think that o.j. simpson's time at usc was 9.7. they don't really run the 100 yard dash anymore, but they do run the 100m.

    • should have used the tripod here:
  • at night we drove to mammoth springs to see the falls there, but didn't see much. at this point it was pretty dark. we hit the road for glacier and slept in helena.



    • some podunk town in montana has a bug problem:
  • right now we're about 30 mins from the west entrance of glacier.

    • (16:03)
  • Until this point my favorite national park had been the Everglades, but Yellowstone has it beat now. Chris had told me a lot about Yellowstone in the days leading up to our arrival. I was a little nervous about seeing it myself, after it being built up so much I didn't want to be disapointed, but I don't think there is any way Yellowstone could dissapoint you. It sucked that we could only spend 1 day there, but I think we maximized the time we had. Our three ranger guides were GREAT and the cool thing was we took each one at a different area of the park to get a more rounded view. I wouldn't really be able to say which program was my favorite, but I'd have to say it was between the first and the last. All of our tour guides however were, like Chris said, amazingly well informed and funny as well. I especially found Mr. Watson funny when Chris and I would ask him questions between stops along the tour. I had made a comment about the stupid kid playing gameboy while Grand Geyser was going off and he chuckled and told us about a 6 year old kid who was playing along the boardwalk next to the geyser a few weeks ago. His parents weren't paying attention to him and he slipped and fell into the 1 inch deep 180 degree water and got 1st and 2nd degree burns. The nearest hospital is 130 miles away, so they had to airlift him in a helicopter and his parents had to pay something like $8000.
  • One thing Chris and I observed through our entire day in Yellowstone was kids obsession with "DUNG!," as they would say. Each tour we took the kids kept on pointing out all the animal pooh, it was pretty humorous. It didn't matter that it was all over, kids still felt the need to tug on their parents' or ranger's sleeve and let them know that there was a big pile of shit right next to them. And it didn't matter how many times Chris and I heard it, it still cracked us up.
  • I was pretty sad to leave Yellowstone after our wonderful day there. It's a place I would really like to go back to one day and spend A LOT more time at. We made it to Glacier National Park around 2 or so and took the main road through the park and admired the scenery. It was a shame that we didn't have enough time to get out very much and hike around or participate in a ranger activity. While we were driving up the road through the park the scenery was pretty spectacular. The glaciers varied in size and shape, and the trees around the area were pretty thick. The sad thing is, it's depressing to think of how much damage is being done to this park. We stopped at a visitor center at one point and asked a ranger a few questions and she told us that it's estimated that the glaciers will be gone by 2020, which is COMPLETELY insane. What is even more pathetic is the disrespect for the park, by rangers and patrons alike. I was amazed at how many people were using the lake for water activities. My dad has a boat, I understand that it is a lot of fun to go out on a boat and hang out for the day, however, I don't think a lake in the middle of a national park is the appropriate place to do it. Boats, especially shitty ones, pollute the air A LOT and as we learned from the Everglades, motor boats kill an incredible amount of wildlife each year. It seemed like, on a whole, people were at this park to lay out in the sun and use the parks natural resources for their recreation, which I really think is a shame. Rangers also don't seem to do their part. It was the first time at a park that I didn't really notice very many rangers walking around seeing if you had any questions or needed any help. At one point, Chris and I found 2 rangers standing talking to each other so we walked up to ask them a few questions about the park. Although we were standing right next to them they didn't really acknowledge our presence or ask us if we needed anything. There were a few silent pauses between them when it almost seemed like they were fishing for something to say so they wouldn't have to talk to us. It might sound spoiled to think that a ranger should be aware of someone around them who might ask a question, but to me, that is the POINT of being a ranger. You are there to do your park in educating people, making them aware, and answering their questions. When one of them finally did answer to Chris' "excuse me?" he wasn't too helpful. And in fact, as we were walking away, I heard his little homie say, "Oh, they're dog is off leash, they're not supposed to be, but I'm not going to say anything." I'm really glad the rangers really believe in their park and are passionate about what they do.
  • I've got to say, I love Canada. We just passed the border into Alberta and the border patrol lady was friendly and didn't give us any shit. Our last trip into Canada was easy as well. So far, the one time we've had it rough was coming back into the United States. I might have to get a nerdy shirt with a big Canadian flag on it.


    • 7-19-06 (12:54)

  • yesterday, after several hours of driving, we made it to mt. rushmore. it's an impressive feat from an engineering standpoint, but i have mixed feelings about its being there. on the con side there are the feelings of the native americans who might think it an in your face type of decision, then there's the environmental issue (should we leave the mountain as is or make something else out of it? is this a dangerous precedent?). overall, i don't really have a problem with it, though i do have the aforementioned reservations. i don't think it set much of a precedent since this is clearly an exceptional case.




    • pardon the underexposure on this one:

  • we found a nice little hotel in custer, sd which was far enough from mt. rushmore, wind cave and badlands to not be prohibitively expensive. it turned out to be our best value thus far. it was a small, family-owned place with internet and a mini-fridge. it's the first place we've gone that didn't have something wrong with it, so that was a nice change.
  • early this morning we had breakfast and left for wind cave national park. that was new for me. now i've been to about 23. this cave was different from the one i saw in the mammoth lakes area and the lewis and clark caves and the carlsbad caverns. it doesn't have the usual stalactite and stalagmite formations, instead it has boxwork formations which are quite rare in caves. apparently 95% of the world's boxwork is in the wind cave area. it was the 7th national park (behind yellowstone, yosemite, crater lake, king's canyon and two others that i can't remember) created and it's the 4th largest cave system in the world (behind mammoth caves in kentucky, jewel cave [also in south dakota], and some cave in the ukraine). alvin macdonald was the one responsible for really exploring the cave in the late 19th century. even yesterday they found newly discovered rooms which already had string left by macdonald so he could find his way out. the ranger pointed out that it was first discovered in 1881 by white settlers, which i thought was an important distinction. it's got a lot of popcorn and frost calcite formations, but, because the water seeps, rather than drips, it doesn't have the stalactites/stalagmites that you generally see. it's just south of custer state park, which is full of plains and forest land inhabited by wildlife like prairie dogs, deer, bison and pronghorn.

    • inside custer state park:


  • right now were in the pine ridge reservation. we just drove through oglala. check out "incident at oglala" by michael apted ("up" series) which documents the leonard peltier incident.

    • gps said that the wounded knee massacre site was here:

    (14:03)
  • Like Chris said, right now we're driving through Pine Ridge, and I've got to say, it's the most depressing place I've ever been to in the United States. The landmark for Wounded Knee is mangled metal and garbage (including dirty diapers and broken liquor bottles). Many of the houses through the reservation have graffiti on them, garbage piles in front of them, broken out windows, and broken down cars parked on the lawn. Driving through the area makes me want to cry. I think it's incredibly unfortunate that our school systems don't really do much to educate young children about Native Americans. We all learn about how "great" Christopher Columbus was, however they only touch upon how savagely the Europeans treated the Native Americans. I loved my 8th grade teacher for teaching us as much as he could about Native American cultures and beliefs and how Columbus actually didn't discover America. The fact that that is still being taught in school is pretty ridiculous. I took 2 Native American Studies classes while I was at UCDavis and I remember watching a video about the Pine Ridge Reservation, but it really did nothing to show the true poverty these people live in. The only other area I've ever been in that was worse than this area was a barrio just outside Santiago, Chile where the neighborhood was LITERALLY built from trash. Homes built from cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, you name it. Chris and I worked hard to save our money so that we could take a trip like this, it's amazing to think that sleeping in our car and staying at a hotel every 3 or 4 days is a luxury.

    • (18:58)
  • more driving ahead...we're getting a jump on the 10 hour drive from badlands to yellowstone. hopefully we'll be able to fit in a half day at yellowstone tomorrow. i also really want to be able to see a bit of grand teton. i'm also looking forward to yellowstone, passing through calgary, and finally seeing jasper and banff. wish we had more time for this leg of the trip.
  • if someone could do some research on the differences (legally, politically, and otherwise) between national parks, forests, monuments, preserves, historical parks, etc. then i'd really appreciate it. i'm pretty sure that national parks are run by the national parks service (which is part of the dept. of the interior) and national forests are run by the department of agriculture, but i don't know much beyond that. i'd be interested in knowing how each form of preserved land gets set aside, how each are funded, what the common restrictions are for each, etc. i figure that national parks probably have the greatest funding and that they're also probably the most strictly preserved, while national forests sometimes have private land within them and are more liberal with camping, fossil collection, and other restrictions.
  • anyway, badlands is behind us now. it's a nice park, but can be done well enough in a half day. i'm happy that we got a lot done today.

    • badlands pics:



  • one of the many things i enjoy about my trips is learning about the delicate balance that nature has come to over the years. learning about how prairie dogs and bison in the badlands serve to spread the seeds of wildflowers or dig up the dirt, thus exposing fresh topsoil to grass seeds. they also create burrows which are used by ferrets. of course this isn't anything new, it's something we've heard about since the first time someone told us about honey bees, but it never ceases to amaze me. seemingly insignificant prairie dogs are this important within their ecosystem, yet humans are essentially useless to anything other than themselves; and sometimes not even that. that is, a bison, just through existing might benefit several different significant species (not to mention the bacteria which may live in/on it). when i think about human civilization, though, i'm hard-pressed to see how our existence benefits other species. you might make the argument for a proliferation of the common pigeon in our cities or certain viruses/bacteria which have done well as a result of our existence, but not much else. actually, you could give us "credit" for introducing non-native species of fish and plants to the everglades or other such ecosystems. only problem is, usually those non-native species thrive at the cost of the native species. all this goes without even mentioning the hundreds of species which we have made extinct through no real life benefit to us. even when we do do something to preserve natural habitat or nurse a species to a healthy level (like the bald eagles or bison), it's generally just us undoing something we did earlier. we're like a tapeworm that lives off its host's food, but doesn't know when to stop consuming and eventually kills its host, and itself, in the process.
  • so, st. louis was almost a total bust, but there was one promising museum which we didn't go to for some reason - the CCC museum. some facts from the brochure from the visitor center: "the ccc restored 3,980 historical structures and developed over 800 state parks. there were over 4,500 ccc camps located in every state plus hi, ak, puerto rico, and the virgin islands. through the efforts of the ccc, soil erosion was ultimately arrested on over 20 million acres. they stocked over one billion fish and spent 4,827,426 man days surveying and mapping millions of acres and hundreds of lakes, they built 46,854 bridges and 4,622 fish rearing ponds. the ccc installed approx. 5k miles of water supply. they improved 3,462 beaches, transplanted 45 million trees and shrubs for landscaping and planted over 3 billion trees where forests were logged and burnt off. they spent 2,094,713 man days razing undesirable structures and built 63,256 buildings plus 8,045 wells and pump houses. the ccc spent 6,000,258 man days in the operation of tree nurseries, they built 7,622 impounding and large diversion dams. they erected 405,037 signs, markers, and monuments. they collected 13,632,415 pounds of hardwood tree seeds and 875,970 bushels of cones. they developed 6,966 miles of wildlife steams and built 28,087 miles of foot and horse trails, and 8,304 foot and horse bridges. they built 32,149 wildlife shelters, 1,865 drinking fountains and 204 lodges and museums. they also built 3,116 lookout towers. the ccc built 27,191 miles of fences and 38,550 vehicle bridges. it's a real shame these sorts of projects are farmed out to private interests, if they're done at all. somewhere along the line projects like this being done by the state was construed as communism.
  • that reminds me of an ann coulter moment...coulter and franken were on stage and being interviewed by some guy who asked the following question: "if you could be one person in history, who would you be?" coulter went first and explained that there are two ways of approaching the question: you can be someone awful and make sure they don't do what they did, in which case she said she'd be FDR so she could make sure none of the new deal programs were ever enacted. the other way to approach the question, she said, was to be someone great so you could be a part of a great movement, in which case, she said, she'd be senator joseph mccarthy. franken said he'd rather be hitler so he could avoid the holocaust. i think that's all you really need to know about ann coulter.


    • 7-18-06 (09:34)

  • yesterday in minneapolis turned out to be fairly uneventful. turns out that all the places we wanted to go are closed on mondays, so no art or history museums for us. we saw the sculpture garden and wandered downtown a bit, but spent most of our time in the burbs. we saw a movie, ate lunch and wandered a few stores. not very notable overall, which is unfortunate because minneapolis is kind of a nice city.

    • sign reads: 100s of beautiful girls and 3 ugly ones

    church slogan in minneapolis:
  • some other good ones i've seen:

    • the best vitamin for a christian: B1
    (found near a sonic fast food joint): hungry? we serve food for the soul
  • after killing most of the day we drove downtown and bought some cheap seats (actual section name) for the twins/devil rays game. the best part of the game day experience was outside of the dome, both before and after the game. pre-game festivities included several booths and tents set up outside the park to entertain, feed and sell to the crowd. there was a quiz booth setup where they had four contestants answering sports-related questions (most of which focused on baseball or minnesota). the first group included four really drunk guys who were pretty funny to watch. the second group included some kid, a nerdy older guy, a special guy who apparently had all the questions from previous games memorized, and me. i didn't win and i didn't lose, pretty much the story of my competitive life.
  • the game itself was decent, but wasn't at all engaging. the stadium is a multi-use indoor field which means baseball suffers. many of the seats aren't angled toward the action in a baseball game, though they probably line up just fine for a football game. the turf is ugly and probably makes for some odd bounces, the infield lacks dirt and the echo of the stadium makes the entire affair sound alien. it makes theoretical sense to construct a multi-use stadium like this, but, practically speaking, it just doesn't work. there was far too much advertising (including commercials on the jumbotron in the middle of the innings) and the whole thing felt too manufactured and inorganic. the crowd was pretty engaged which is always a nice thing. i also found it difficult to follow the path of the ball off the bat. some of that can surely be attributed to the white ceiling. apparently this is a problem for fielders as well. overall, the metrodome isn't a good place to catch a baseball game. the ceiling is made of thin fiberglass which is apparently held in place by air pressure, which give the dome its bubble appearance. while inside i didn't sense any change in air pressure, but when you leave you definitely do. there were only a couple doors open at the exit that we took and the air pressure literally pushes you out the door, hard. it's pretty cool to walk through the doors and have a gust of wind, as powerful as you've likely felt outside, push you out.

    • this shot doesn't show the roof which looks like a bloated honeycomb



  • after the game there were a couple drummers putting on a show. they had a good rhythm going and they did a good job of getting the crowd into it; at one point they passed out tambourines to kids who were in the semi-circle watching them. they did a good job overall and it got me thinking a bit (more) about the economics of street performance. they easily made $100 each, they could do that for 81 home games, plus playoff games, plus 8 home football games, plus any other sports events or concerts, etc. then they could do it on friday/saturday night in highly trafficked areas. add a part-time job to the mix and you're living quite well for not very much work, and it's a pretty fun form of work and it's untaxed income. so long as you don't get carpal-tunnel you're pretty well set for your young life. a street performer in boston said that he thinks his show is worth $5 (it was), but that you could give whatever you wanted. he added, "$5 is about how much you paid to park your car, so if this was as entertaining as that then please contribute that amount." the thing about street performers and the scalper escort we encountered in st. louis is that they have to work for their money. generally speaking, the better they do their job, the more they get paid. it's too bad it's not like that in real life. it's also unfortunate that these people, who contribute to society in a less traditional way, don't get the benefits of many jobs - job security, guaranteed hours, 401k, insurance, etc.
  • i've been seeing a proliferation of advertising in general, but one area that really disturbs me is the urinal ad. they do it everywhere, but it's common in places that are having trouble generating revenue - stadiums and movie theaters are the two that come to mind. if i had a stadium or theater, or if i was responsible for the advertising in these arenas, i would advertise something about the team or some bit of movie/sports trivia and have it brought to you by so and so. it's more informative and less obnoxious than the current form. that, of course, assumes you must invade a person's more personal moment with a glossy sign advertising a steakhouse or anti-balding medication.
  • after the game and the drumming circle, we hit the road for pierre, the badlands, mt. rushmore and wind cave n.p. we drove for about an hour and slept at a rest stop. the next morning i talked with a guy from alaska who was going to ohio to visit his family for the first time in 21 years. he mentioned that he had driven through canada most of the way over here and thought it was beautiful. he recommended banff and i told him we were on our way. looking forward to that. right now were about 40 miles from sioux falls, sd.
  • south dakota is a pretty depressing place because the history is so marred with american imperialism and native american slaughter. wounded knee, leonard peltier, etc. aside, it's still sad because the present is so bleak. on the pine ridge reservation, for example, unemployment is 70-80% and life expectancy is 48/52 for men/women - lower than it is in bangladesh. so, this is a scar on the country's present, as well as its past. i doubt gale norton did much to help. it's all pretty fucked up. read al franken's chapter on jack abramoff in "the truth (with jokes)" for more on how some native americans are still getting it in the rear. it documents how bush, abramoff and others screwed the tigua tribe in texas.

    • pierre capitol building:

    (17:37)
  • we gained an hour because of the time change and the next week is going to be packed, so we plan on visiting mt. rushmore tonight (it closes at 10p) and doing the badlands, etc. tomorrow. that way we can get a jump on the long drive to yellowstone.
  • we'll hit the 13k mile mark tomorrow. we originally thought it would be around 16k miles, but we added two ballparks (st. louis and denver) which added about 2k miles because of when we had to fit those in (going from kansas city to denver and then doubling back to milwaukee instead of going to denver while on the way to yellowstone). between here and seattle we're looking at another 2,400+ miles.


    • 7-16-06 (12:55)

  • the new busch stadium is nice enough for people who haven't seen many parks, but since we've seen so many, we viewed it as just another HOK park in a long line of them. they have so many similar characteristics and busch stadium doesn't really separate itself in any meaningful way, so i think we were both disappointed. the experience with the scalper was definitely a fun one and it was interesting to get a blue collar guy's opinion on the stadium and to walk around the area with someone who knows the neighborhood, but isn't a tour guide. i wish i could have given him more money for his time, but our budget is tight.
  • after the 14 inning game we needed to get to chicago asap because the cubs game was at 1:20p the next day. we hit the road and i was only able to drive for about 90 minutes before i got too tired. meryl was in the back sleeping at this point so she definitely couldn't have taken the next shift. we stopped at a rest stop and slept until about 8am. we left for chicago the next morning hoping that we'd be able to get the 3 hours of driving done without hitting chicago traffic. we planned on parking somewhere on the outskirts of town so we could park for cheap and ride to wrigley on the subway. wrigley is on the north side and we were coming from the south so that left us looking for parking on the south side of chicago. you don't need to be a local to know what that means. so, we drove all the way through chicago to the north side and looked for parking around wrigley. like fenway, wrigley was hardly built with cars in mind so the area surrounding the park has random parking lots placed by local businesses. many gas stations even rent out space during the game. the upshot is that it's anywhere from $25-40 to get parking within a few blocks of the park. basically, you're a fool or a rich person if you're driving to wrigley. but we persevered as we did at fenway when we got a spot for only $.75. about 40 minutes before the game we finally found a free, non-permit required spot about 3/4 of a mile from the park. score.
  • we left for the park in a hurry and opted to forego the application of sunscreen. i figured that it was cloudy enough that we wouldn't need it. i also posited that, with our luck, if we didn't wear sunscreen it would mean we'd get sunburned, but that that would necessitate the sun be out which would then eliminate the chance of rain. as it turned out we were under an overhang so it did rain. god loves us that much. i think we've been to 18 games and 7 of them have had some rain, 4 of them have had actual delays. before the trip i had never been to a rain delayed game and i had never locked my keys out of my car and i had never had a flat tire. so, around the 5th inning there was a 45 minute rain delay which was fine by me because it meant that we got more time at wrigley. it's a fun place to watch a game because it's packed, the people know their stuff, they're there to have a good time and you can imagine the thousands of people before you who have enjoyed losing season after losing season of cubs baseball in those very seats. wrigley is one of the top three places in the country to catch a game because of the pre/post game activities and the game time fun. i also have to say that mets fans are easily the best fans we've encountered so far. any time we see a game that they're in (at shea, in toronto, in philly, and in chicago) they bring an uncanny enthusiasm that always livens up the atmosphere.
  • we walked to the park quickly and soaked up a bit of the pre-game crowd before going inside. the blocks around wrigley are teeming with people and bars. so far it's been the most active area surrounding a baseball park that we've seen. fenway is also full of places around the park that cater to baseball game attendees. without context or emotion one might look at wrigley and be unimpressed, but to view it without either of those would be inane. wrigley's got more baseball history and character in its facade than pacbell, busch, or any other new park have on their entire plots of land. wrigley park is strictly business. when you go inside it's clear what the purpose of the place is baseball. when you go into other parks, which are admittedly beautiful and fun, you get a mixed message because the building is about doing more than just providing a place to watch ball. it's nice to have a place like miller or citizen's bank where the entire family can go to have a good time for a few hours. at places like that you can goto a restaurant and then get in some batting practice or read about the history of the franchise or play some mlb 2006 on a game console and head over to the souvenir shop, etc. at wrigley it's just about baseball. sure, they've got small areas to buy concessions and souvenirs, but they don't have credit card signup booths (like at most stadiums), there aren't places where you can signup for at&t long distance (like at busch), they don't have kitschy food stands or any of that other fluff. as far as the field goes: there's the famous ivy on the outfield walls, the bullpens are near the dugouts, and there isn't anything real fancy about it. left and right field are quite long, 355ft, and the power alleys are only a bit further than that, so that's in stark contrast to the short right field of yankee stadium and the 310ft that most stadiums seem to have at their foul poles (which should really be called fair poles). there's no jumbotron, but there are three slender screens that give basic stats on the player at bat. two are in left/right field and the third is under the center field scoreboard which is manually operated. beyond outfield are the infamous rooftop bleachers. various buildings surrounding the stadium have installed actual bleachers so fans can watch the game from afar. there are basically three levels at wrigley and they all extend pretty far back so if you're on the first or second level the overhang is pretty bad. you'll see a pop fly as it comes off the bat and as it comes down, but not while it's in the middle of its flight. we had 500 level seats so we were at the very top, one row from the back, but near home plate. that said, the seats were damn good. the only other complaint one might have about the seats and their sightlines, would be the steel posts that support the upper levels and the overhang.







    • second level, with bad overhang in back:

    shot from our seats, press box is about 40 feet to our left:

    shot taken through my binoculars as well as 3x zoom on camera:

    more rain:


    this guy ran onto the field to provide us some entertainment, but then he had to pay the price:
  • after the game it took us a while to get out of wrigleyville (actual neighborhood name) and to our motel. we spent the rest of the night watching tv and not being productive.

    • drummers outside of wrigley after the game:

    this isn't supposed to be funny:

    expensive gas and cigarettes:
  • the next day we went to a park and ride near o'hare airport which only cost $2 for 12 hours. we took the subway into town and planned on just walking around, catching a movie at the gene siskel theater and checking out millennium park. that's exactly what we did. the gene siskel theater is in downtown and has two screens. we saw a contemporary documentary instead of watching a film by frank tashlin. in retrospect that was the wrong decision. the documentary wasn't bad, but i think watching a tashlin film would have been a better choice. after the film we walked to gino's on rush, as opposed to gino's east. gino's on rush turned out to be closed for remodeling which is too bad because a friend of meryl's said it's the bomb-diggity. so we walked to gino's east and got a deep dish pizza. it was pretty much the same as the deep dish at pizzeria uno that i had when i first went to chicago. i guess i'm not much of a deep dish pizza kind of guy because the deep dish pizza at chains like roundtable and numero uno appeal to me more. the crust at the authentic places is just too crumby, rather than doughy. by this time a lot of the touristy places were closed and we weren't going to return the next day so we hit the road for green bay. i like chicago and wish we had gotten more time there. it's got a lot of culture and i wanted to see the museum of science and industry, but we didn't have time or money so... c'est la vie.

    • theater across the street from the gene siskel cinema:
  • on the way to green bay we stopped in fond du lac, which johnny cash mentions in "i've been everywhere." it's a nice little town with a thriving bar scene and a nice enough downtown. we made it to green bay around bed time so we stopped at a 24 hour market and slept.
  • the next day (sunday, today) we woke up early and drove down the street to lambeau field. since i'm a 49ers fan i'm not really supposed to like the packers, but i really really do. i have nothing but respect for the organization and brett farve in particular. i love the fact that they're the only publicly-owned franchise in the four major north-american pro sports leagues. lambeau is great and the $295 million renovation doesn't seem to have diminished its appeal at all. it's still got 60k+ bleacher seats and it's still, like wrigley, just about the game. there are a few advertisements around the jumbotrons, but that's it. inside there are also a few sponsors like coke and miller, but, again, it's not as imposing as it is at most places.

  • lambeau field is great. we took the tour and it covered the history of the field and the team very well. some tidbits from my notes: packers presidents are required to retire by age 70, 30k people have requested tickets to the recent stockholders meeting which will take them through the locker room (an unusual practice), the original acme packers team outscored their opponents 565-12 in their first season, in 1922 they joined the nfl for $250, the texans joined the nfl a few years ago for $800 million, the year before lombardi was the coach they went 1-10-1 with many of the same players (including starr), in his first year lombardi went 7-5 and never had a losing season, during the $295 million renovation none of the first 60 rows of bleachers were touched, there are over 160 luxury boxes ranging from $66k-130k/year, season tickets are nearly impossible to get - capacity is 72k+ and last year only 30 people gave up their season tickets 7 the year before that and 0 the year before that, scalping is legal, but you can expect to pay $150-300/ticket, during the renovation they increased the number of handicap seats from 56 (worst in the nfl) to 765 (best in the nfl), they use a kentucky bluegrass blend for the field, they repaint the numbers on the field every week and cut the grass every other day, the crown of the field is 10" vs. 17" on the dallas field (which i thought had a roof so i'm not sure why they need such a steep crown...), lambeau was built in 1957.

    • walking out of the packers' tunnel:


    the field is extremely close to the first row of bleacher benches:
  • green bay is a nice enough little city. i was surprised that there weren't more packers flags and bumper stickers, but i think the crowds and paucity of tickets speak for themselves. it's a city of 100k and they sell out the 72k seat stadium on a routine basis.
  • indiana seems to take july 4th seriously. i forgot to mention how many fireworks we saw (and could smell) while on the freeway going back to IL.
  • quote of the week was from me regarding the recent goings on in israel/lebanon: "what the fuck is wrong with these people that they can't just eat a cookie instead of firing rockets at each other?"

    • (21:04)
  • after green bay we went to bloomington which houses the mall of america. it's a behemoth which is probably better forgotten. afterwards we went to st. paul and ate at mickey's a diner that's been around since the 30s. it's got great food and a reasonable cost. the strawberry shake may have been the best strawberry shake i've ever had. after stuffing ourselves we went to the capitol building. we both thought it was a pretty nice one. the old capitol building in baton rouge is nicer and the capitol in harrisburg is also quite nice and unique, but this one's up there. right now we're in minneapolis waiting for a movie to start. it's very hot here (mostly because of the humidity) and we want to be inside. we found a budget theater so it looks like another $2 movie night. sadly, there were only two movies that we've yet to see: RV and into the wild. so we're going to check out RV in the hopes that barry sonnenfeld (cinematographer for many coen brothers projects) elevates the limited looking screenplay.

    • meryl gets annoyed by the heat in front of the capitol building in st. paul:
  • st. paul and minneapolis both look nice enough so far. i remember minneapolis being a better than average city, but we won't fully explore it until tomorrow. then we have a game at 7p.


    • 7-15-06 (20:05)

  • After TGI Fridays we sat in the car for a bit and tried to figure out what to do. We were parked in a lot with a Walgreen's so we decided to go in for some reason I can't remember and waste time. Because we're both idiots (but mostly me because I was the driver at the time) we locked BOTH our sets of keys in the car. After thinking that we had to be one of the dumbest two people we went to the Walgreen's to get a hanger to try and get our keys out ourselves. After trying for about 15 minutes without any luck we realized that against all hopes, we couldn't do it ourselves and we had to call AAA. After waiting for not too long the guy came out and unlocked the car pretty quickly. After the detour it was pretty much time to go to bed so we drove around and found a strip mall that looked like it was okay to sleep in. So far the night in New Orleans and the night in Boston have been the worst, but I think we crowned a new "Most Horrible Night of Sleep." It was WAY too hot and WAY too muggy to sleep at all. Chris was up most of the night and I drifted in and out of sleep. It's weird because I'm much more cranky than Chris if it's hot during the day, but for some reason at night the heat doesn't affect me as much and I'm able to sleep better than he is.
  • We got up in the morning and weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. We felt like it was pretty late in the day because the heat was already unbearable, but it was only 7:45. We dragged ourselves to the Kinko's that was in strip mall we slept at and wasted a good 90 minutes there. We wandered over to the Borders and looked through all the books we wanted to buy. I've started making a list of all the books I need to buy once the trip is over and I have money I can spend again. I headed over to the magazines and Chris wandered off to the reference section and we wasted another 90 minutes or so reading. After, we made our last stop at REI so Chris could get a watch because his broke some time ago and so he's been needing a new one. After finding one that suited him we had no idea what to do with ourselves. We found St. Louis to be a city we didn't really like. It reminded me of Detroit in that so much of it is run down. But, at least Detroit has a reason for being pretty empty, and it's doing a lot to bring itself back. Once outside of the immediate downtown area of St. Louis it seems like every other building is empty. It stunk too which didn't make our unhappiness to be there any better. We came to the sad conclusion that if we wanted to say cool we were going to have to go to a mall. We found a pretty upscale one and wandered around a bit and went to a noon showing of Cars. It was pretty far down on my list of movies I wanted to see, but at this point, there's pretty slim pickings. Before we went to the movie we hung out in the food court for a bit and watched CNN. It was actually a pretty cool area. They had a really nice lounge with couches and nice chairs with a large TV that had CNN on. We watched the unfortunate news about Israel and Lebanon and then went ot the movie. It was actually a decent movie, especially considering it was a children's movie, so i wasn't too dissapointed. After the movie we were getting pretty hungry so we thought it would be in our best interest to not support local business and eat at the chinese stand in the food court. It wasn't too bad, and it was cheap, so that was nice.
  • i have to add that monsanto is based in st. louis which certainly doesn't help. too bad that building isn't empty.


  • After lunch it was time to go over to Busch Stadium to get tickets for the game. We had tried to buy some online about 2 weeks ago and again the day before, but found out that there were only standing room tickets left. We hoped maybe that they had released more tickets that day like most parks do, but they didn't. We decided to try a scalper first and see if we could get upper level seats, and if we couldn't we'd head back to get standing room. Upon crossing the street a man came up to us and asked if we were looking for seats. We said yes and he started taking us down an alley. We were a little hesitant to follow a man we'd never met down some side alley, so we hung back a bit. His friend and he starting walking back towards us with tickets, so we figured it was fine. They didn't have the kind of seats we were looking for so he started taking us around to more people he knew. We told him about our trip and that we were on a fixed budget. He turned out to be an extremely nice guy, and we probably had the best 30 minutes in St. Louis when we were walking around with him trying to find tickets. He asked us about some other places that we'd gone and started talking about the new stadium. Apparently, it was built in only a year. He said pretty much once the last game of last season ended they started working 24/7 to get the new park up. He said he didn't really like the new park because the old one had a lot of character, but the new one looked very manufactured. It was interesting to get local opinions, especially considering that most of the time you hear great things about new parks. He took us around to a bunch of different people all around the stadium area looking for tickets for us that wouldn't bust our bank. One guy tried to sell us standing room seats for $40 each. We told him that we could still get them for face value ($13) at the box office. It kinda sucked that because the games are sold out all the scalped tickets (even so high up) are so expensive. We finally decided it would probably be best just to go get some at the box office and find a seat to sit in later in the game when we had an idea of what sections were empty. We said good bye to our new friend and gave him a tip for helping us out in trying to get tickets. It was actually pretty neat to see how many people tried to give us tickets through him. We figured he must have been a sort of broker or something, getting a portion of the money that a ticket sold for when he brought someone customers. It was interesting to see who he worked with and who he didn't. We would come up to a corner sometimes and every scalper there was someone he knew and he would look through all the tickets for us. And other times he would just walk by people and not even give them a glance. All in all, he was a pretty cool guy. He saw us later on, after we had bought our box office standing room seats, and asked us if we were able to get seats, nice guy.






    • busch, not quite complete:

    old busch stadium:

    another rain-soaked game. at this point i just see it as a good opportunity to move down a few rows...i'm over the whole "trying to stay dry" thing.
  • originally we had secured a metered spot right in front of the park, but when we returned from having purchased our tickets, we saw a sign that said the spot was reserved for a "police emergency." total bullshit.

  • Once we got into the stadium and walked around a while, I came to the conclusion that I didn't really like the park too much. I did like that you could see the Gateway Arch and some of the downtown skyline past the outfield, but that was really the only plus. It was once again an HOK design and certainly fit the mold. I'd have to say, that if I had not see all the other new parks I'd probably like this one, but after seeing 6 or 7 new ball parks that look pretty much exactly the same, I wasn't too impressed. The walking areas around the field were blocked off, so you couldn't see the field from the concourse which was a downer (many of the newer parks have the field visible from the concourse). There was also a LOT of construction still going on. From our standing room seats we could see a lot of construction materials tucked underneath overhangs and other sections that didn't look all the way complete. Later in the game we found 2nd deck bleacher seats in left field and planted ourselves there for a few innings and couldn't see most of left field. They didn't do much to design seating that allowed you to see all of the field, at least from the outfield. Of course, to go along with the theme of our trip, it started raining. We were booted from our first set of seats when the real occupants came back from where ever they were and decided to sit down a little lower and deal with the rain. It wasn't coming down too hard, so we figured it wouldn't be that bad. However, I got a mysterious liquid accidentally spilled on me from the upper deck and my scorebook was getting pretty soggy, so I headed up to the covered concourse for shelter while Chris stayed in his seat. After an inning or so of trying to keep score among the crowd standing around me, I finally said screw it and stopped. I've kept score every single game so far, but between the rain, the crowds, people looking over my shoulder to see what I was doing, and not ever being able to leave my seat I finally couldn't take it anymore. I had not been keeping score for too long when some guy in his late 50s or so started chatting with me. At some point our trip came up and I told him about it and he was quite excited to hear about all the details. We talked about the trip for a while and then he mentioned something about Austin. It turns out he was born in Houston, grew up in Austin, and then moved to Fairfield, CA for work. I thought that was pretty cool that he grew up where I have lived for the past year, and lived right by where Chris and I went to school. Coincidences like that with total strangers are always funny. After chatting for 30 minutes or so it had stopped raining so I went to where Chris had migrated to and watched the game from seats that someone had cleared from. It turns out that St. Louis might have been a city we didn't like too much, but it ended up being probably the best baseball game we've been to so far. It was tied 2-2 into the 9th and went into extra innings. Both teams had done a pretty poor job of driving runners in throughout the game, including into the extra innings. But, finally, in the 14th inning with 1 or 2 outs Albert Pujols came up to bat. I commented on how excited St. Louis fans get whenever he's up and Chris said something like "Well, at any point he has the capability of winning the game for you." Pretty funny he said that because about 2 pitches later he drove a LONG ball into center field and won the game for the Cards. Chris and I had been rooting for the Dodgers (Chris being from LA and me just hating the Giants) so that kinda sucked, but it was an exciting finish. We also saw a great Jim Edmonds catch that was sure to be a Web Gem. An Albert Pujols homer and a great Jim Edmonds catch, you can't define Cardinal's baseball any better that that.


    • 7-14-06 (10:40)

  • after dyersville and the field of dreams movie site we drove to springfield, il; another capital city. springfield smells, st. louis does as well. springfield isn't all that interesting, but we killed some time by looking for a watch for me and watching a movie at a second-run theater. tickets were just $2.50/each so that's a bargain.
  • after the movie we left for st. louis. i don't remember where we slept that night. the next morning we drove into st. louis and went to forest park, which is actually larger than central park by a few hundred acres. i know that philly also has a park that's larger than central park, but somehow central park gets all the glory. forest park is quite nice. it's very accessible by car and has plenty of free parking, unlike central park on both accounts. inside the park there are plenty of the usual park things and open spaces, as well as an art museum, zoo and more. those attractions are free so we figured we'd check them out and kill some time. the last couple days it had been raining and hot so it was pretty miserable outside. meryl's knee wasn't feeling good and she was in a shitty mood so we did the quick tour of the art museum and read in the parking lot afterwards.

  • after forest park we went downtown to find a wi-fi spot to upload the page, check e-mail and be inside. we ended up going to the visitor's center first and didn't get much information. afterwards we went into the grand hotel and used their wi-fi. after going to the visitor's center and looking through our guide book we decided that st. louis was fairly boring. it continued to rain on and off throughout day so we basically resolved to just waste time as cheaply as possible. we originally had planned on watching the new pirates movie and then grabbing some dinner. the movie part went well, but finding a good bbq place proved difficult. when we asked the people at the visitor's center about a good bbq place earlier they only knew of one place and they had to look in their guide for that. i'd think that, for a place known for its bbq and ribs, the visitor's center staff would have that answer more readily available. the place they recommended was far from where we had seen the (crappy) movie so we decided to use the gps to see what bbq places it had. the first place we went wasn't a bbq place anymore and the second place we went was a $25/plate kinda place so, after being seated and looking at the menu, we left with our tail between our legs. we were both hungry and i was starting to get delirious, so we high-tailed it to the most reliable place we found on the gps: t.g.i. friday's. in the end we didn't mind missing out on st. louis' local flavor.


    • 7-11-06 (12:25)

  • So far the theme of our trip has been rain and never believe doctors (more on that later). It seems like nearly 1 out of every 3 days of our trip we have seen rain, which I've got to say for a BASEBALL trip, totally blows. After getting to Dyersville last night we drove to the Field of Dreams movie site just to see where it was. It was about 9:15 and we didn't really have anything to do, so we drove around looking for a place to park for the night. Dyersville has 2 main streets that are each about 5 or 6 blocks long, that said, it wasn't too difficult to find a place to sleep for the night, we settled on the National Farm Toy Museum. Because it was so early we set up the laptop and watched a couple episodes of the Office (both the British and American versions). We both decided that the British version was far superior.
  • We woke up this morning at about 6 am because of a HUGE storm. It had gotten pretty cold (which was actually nice because we're both pretty tired of being extremely hot when we sleep). What sucked though was that LOTS of our stuff had gotten wet because we had the windows opened a crack. We rolled up all the windows, but everything still got wet because of the moisture in the air. I couldn't fall back asleep for another hour and a half or so, mostly just because I was too stressed out about whether or not we were going to get to go to the Field of Dreams movie site or not (yes, I AM that big of a loser). After I finally fell back asleep we woke up around 9 to no rain. I was QUITE excited. Chris started driving while I sat in the back and moved everything from the passenger seat to the back because we didn't want to waste anytime in case it started raining again. When we got there we pulled into one of two parking lots (we later learned the lot we pulled into is owned by some private investor in Milwaukee). We walked over to the field and read all the billboards they had about the location. It turns out the family that owned the house when it was chosen for filming (the Lansings) have lived on the property since 1906 and still live in the house that was featured in the movie. They own most of the farm land that the field is on except left field and a portion of center (this is the area the private investors purchased from their neighbors). Both sets of field owners have souvenir stands and info on the movie, but we decided to stick to the Lansing's side of the field as they pay out of pocket for the upkeep of their side of the field. The house still looks almost completely the same, although the field is a little run down. Chris and I walked around the field a bit and made our way to the Lansing's souvenir stand and bought a shirt for me and some post cards. Near the stand they had some cool facts about the field, the only one I unfortunately remember is that they get about 55,000 visitors every year from April-November while they are open. After we bought our souvenirs we headed back to the car to do the cliche thing and get our gloves. Like the Field of Dreams fan I am I was pretty happy getting to play catch with Christopher on the field, however we only got to play for about 10 minutes before it started raining again. Chris grabbed the camera and we took a picture of me coming out of the corn because I'm that corny (pun intended). After getting soaked by the rain we ran back to the car for safety.



  • After about 45 minutes at the field we headed back to town to find a place for breakfast. We drove down 1st Street and found the Dyersville Family Restaurant and went in for breakfast. The food was good and it was CHEAP, which was nice considering we went about $65 over budget last week because of all the driving we did. Right now we're on the road to Rockford, Illinois and then down to St. Louis. We've tooled around this area quite a bit going back and forth so we're taking a little longer way just to go on a different road. By the end of today we should be in St Louis and then we'll stay there for the next 2 days (we have a game Thursday night) and then drive up to Chicago for the Cubs game on Friday and spend another 2 days there. After that it's off to the Twin Cities for the Twins, and then about 2 weeks touring around Yellowstone, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and Canada.
  • It's pretty amazing to me that I get the chance to visit all these great places and see all the ball parks in the majors. The trip is pretty tiring and at some points stressful, but I've got to say I'm having an fabulous time and am pretty sad thinking about when it will all be over. I've been trying to think of all the art projects I can do once the trip is over which is getting me pretty excited too. I've been collecting all the tickets (games, museums, movies, etc) and brochures we've gotten to include in it. I think once it's finished it will break the world record for the largest scrapbook of all time. I've also been recording the path we've taken all around the country and I want to make a painting of the US and draw our path on the painting including the cities we stop in for games, national parks, etc. I think with all my art projects I'll be extending the trip another year and half.
  • One thing that's not so exciting is my knee. I've always been one to not trust doctors after my stupid orthodontist told me I'd only have to wear my retainer for 12-18 months. My parents would argue I never wore it to begin with, however I assure you I wore it up to the 18 month mark. after that point, i felt he was a quack and I refused to wear it anymore. Afterwards he told me I needed braces, I told my parents he could shove it, I wasn't getting braces. My brother was only supposed to have retainers for 2 years or something and the orthodontist made him have retainers, braces, and then retainers again. So, word to the wise, if you need braces or retainers, DON'T go to Dr. Brennen. Anyway, I've been in a pretty depressed state about my knee lately. Of course, sitting in the car for 3 days would make anyone feel cramped up, but when we went to the museum a few days ago (the first time we really walked around in a while) it was hurting pretty badly. At this point I'm more uncomfortable than I was before surgery and am thinking it wasn't really worth it. According to my doctor and physical therapist I made a quick recovery at first (even being told I wouldn't have to be in physical therapy for the full 3 weeks), but then I seem to have hit a plateau, and have even gone backwards now. It blows and makes me hate doctors even more.

    • (15:35)
  • funny how "blows" and "sucks" mean the same thing. same goes for "hot" and "cool" and "bad" and "cool."
  • i'm all for self-sufficiency - i avoid asking for help as much, if not more, than the next fellow. and generally, i'd rather suffer through things on my own than ask someone for the easy answer. that said, i think technology is making this too easy these days. whereas twenty years ago i might call a friend or family member about a question, nowadays i can just get that information online. we all know this is valuable because it levels the informational playing field for those who previously found getting certain information difficult. for example, we can easily do research on home/car maintenance/purchasing so that mechanics, dealers and real estate agents can no longer hold their informational advantage over our heads. sure, we still enlist their services, but they can't as easily lie to you about the cost of products/services, and this information lowers prices for the consumers. but it also has the aforementioned disadvantage which ultimately limits our human contact. we don't need each other as much which feeds the already bloated idea of individualism which in turn, i think, detracts from our compassion for our fellow wo/man. in other words, technology has the effect of making us less dependant upon each other, which, in turn, isolates individuals more. ideas like universal health care and loving thy neighbor become less accepted because we're more focused on ourselves. talking with people to find out information is one way we connect with our family, friends and community members. if we eliminate that then we're one step closer to isolationism. i'm not saying we'll one day all live in pods and inter-personal communication will be a thing of the past, but we shouldn't become islands either. ironically, the internet is something that brings all our ideas together, yet it could have the effect of separating us in the real realm. then again, that brings up the issue of planes of existence and the relative nature of reality. for example, we could all create personalities online and exist within the online world and who's to say that our interaction online isn't as real as the fake friends we make at work, or in the neighborhood, out of convenience? anyway, i'm sure this is mostly a bunch of crap so onto more important topics like: is ken lay really dead? no. did tom and katie actually have a child? yes, watch rosemary's baby or the omen for the full story.
  • i've always used Dubuque, IA as an example of a town in the middle of nowhere e.g., "that band sucks so bad they've only been able to get gigs in places like dubuque." so it was nice to finally go there and see it. it's not much of a town and i feel justified in continuing to use it in this context.
  • correction: i stated earlier that coors field has a capacity of 52k, in actuality capacity is only 50k. these figures, by the way, are always according to "the ultimate baseball road-trip" dist. by lyons press, so it's not a primary source, but the figures are as accurate as we can get while in the car. report errors to me asap.
  • the car got relatively damp last night because of the "driving rain" (good song by beta band, by the way). both our seats were damp so now i have a soggy bottom, too bad i'm about 15 years too old to be a soggy bottom boy (from "o brother where art thou"); i'm also not quite a man of constant sorrow. i feel compelled to write that i realized the coen brothers' reference in the title to their film before my dad did. "o brother where art thou" is the title of the film within the film "sullivan's travels" - one of my dad's top ten of all-time.
  • i think more filmmakers should remake crappy or middling films and books instead of good ones. ideally you take a book or film that was originally poorly conceived, but had a few redeeming qualities - a great character, plot, theme, etc. and then you do it well. unfortunately, people tend to take really good work and make a middling version of it. this is not only lazy (because anyone can see a polished diamond), but also self-defeating (because, chances are, you're not going to make a great film even better). i think it's more impressive, and more to your advantage (because you're not setting yourself up for failure), to take a diamond in the rough and polish it up. naturally there are exceptions, i'm speaking in generalities. i'm also speaking about things from an artistic and entertainment perspective, rather than a fiscal one. economically it makes perfect sense to take a successful and well done picture like the poseidon adventure and simply swap out the stars, repackage it, and sell it again.
  • last week marked the first week that we went over budget. that 1,000 mile drive a few days ago likely had something to do with it. this week we've resolved to be under budget by a couple hundred bucks. so, this week we'll be boiling our boots for protein soup and adding ketchup packets to boiling water for tomato soup.
  • i'm not sure why dane cook is considered so funny. daniel tosh and jim gaffigan are both ten times as funny.
  • we've taken approx. 1600 pictures on the trip so far, it's pretty crazy. big thanks to my mom for the camera for my birthday, it's certainly getting used to the fullest.
  • yesterday i had one of the best burgers i've ever had. it was from a place called the old-fashioned in madison, wi. they had a two for one deal so we both got burgers and shared an order of fries. they had a really good garlic sauce spread that they put on the it and the burger was well-seasoned and the bun was buttered and perfectly toasted. we're working on a "best of the trip" list which will have meal highlights as well as a plethora of baseball stadium-related awards. anytime i hyphenate "related" i think of bush's silly "weapons of mass destruction program-related activities" which he referenced in his state of the union address a couple years ago. what a doofus.


    • 7-10-06 (13:59)

  • this morning we left our motel 6 (the first in five days) and went to the milwaukee museum of art. they have a nice, but not stellar collection with a decent range. the most impressive part of the place is the main entrance which is an unusual piece of architecture which seems very nautical to me. it fits, though, since the museum is on the lake. they had a special exhibit on comic book art, but it would have set us back another $12 so we didn't check that out. not being rich apparently has its drawbacks.


    • not a very good picture, wish i had more lenses for this camera.

  • right now we're on our way to madison. one of these days i'll visit green bay, but it doesn't look like today's going to be the day. we have to upload the page and do some laundry. sometime tonight we plan on driving to dyersville so we can take care of the field of dreams thing in the morning.
  • i'd like to go on more factory tours. so far we've only gone to the mint and the jacksonville budwieser brewery.
  • i'm not looking forward to finding a job after all this is done.
  • last night there was an epic storm that swept in shortly after we got to the motel after the game. that was one bit of luck that we've had. not only had we schedule to stay at a motel last night, but we got inside before the rain started.


    • 7-9-06 (21:10)

  • we drove about 14 hours yesterday and another 1-2 hours today. the route from denver to milwaukee isn't all that notable. there are some cities in between the two, but nothing really that wonderful. we drove through madison, but didn't get to visit. i've been there before and i thought it was pretty nice. we have a few days off now because of the all-star break so we might be able to visit milwaukee and madison more extensively. we also have dyersville, ia on the list because field of dreams was filmed there and meryl loves that movie. we'd also like to spend more time in chicago. the next few days are subject to change.
  • today was all about the milwaukee game. it was a day game, but we got there really early because we didn't have tickets and heard good things about the tailgate scene. we were there about three hours early and there were still plenty of people in the parking lot firing up the grills and getting an early jump on the excessive drinking. it was definitely a good scene and it really is infectious and conducive to the game day experience. in other places the atmosphere is so much more family oriented and as such there isn't much of a tailgating scene. there were a lot more cubs fans than brewers fans, which was a bit of a surprise, and the game ended up being sold out - except for the standing room seats. we looked around for an atm hoping that we'd come across a scalper, but the only atm in the vicinity was in the park and you need a ticket to get in. so we went to a different box office window and asked again if there were any seats. while she looked i explained that we just wanted to get into the park and that we were on a cross-country trip, etc. long story short she sold us a couple tickets which were previously reserved for handicapped people. they turned out to be pretty good seats so we were happy that the 16 hour drive wasn't for naught.
  • we both really liked miller park. it's got a retractable roof that closes in two parts. inside it's full of activities like a skeeball game, a basketball game, a giant inflatable slide and a couple baseball games on xbox. everything was free, unlike coors field. they also have various drinking related areas and services. they offer a taxi service after the game, they have margarita bars, they don't seem to mind tailgating, their mascot is some drunken brewer and, of course, it's sponsored by an alcohol manufacturer. it's a big field, like coors, but it feels smaller because the roof makes the whole park seem more enclosed. the game itself wasn't anything special. that said, the best play of the game was a suicide squeeze which came (i think) in the fourth inning. those are always exciting. during the seventh inning i ran down to the restaurant bar that they have in left field and watched the end of the world cup game. it was disappointing and this world cup didn't do much to increase the interest of the american audience. there wasn't much parity, too many games were decided with penalty kicks and there was a definite lack of scoring (which americans, for better or worse, tend to like). i can't claim to be a soccer fan, but i'm a sports fan so i watch anything that's big or on while i'm flipping around, but i don't think most americans who gave this world cup a chance would have been won over.



    • me watching some kids play mlb 2006. later i played one of them (i was the dodgers, he was the brewers). we played three innings (because his damn mom told him to go) and we tied 1-1.




    murals like this one were all around the park concourses:
  • leaving the stadium turned out to be more of a pain than it should have been. there were signs directing traffic to the major nearby freeway, but the signs guided everyone on an excessively long path to the freeway entrance. the freeway itself is a mere quarter mile from the park, the entrance that we were guided to was a couple miles from the park. since everyone was taking the same path the traffic was ridiculous.
  • i think there was a bunch more stuff to address, but i've forgotten it all.


    • 7-8-06 (16:54)

  • after several hours of driving yesterday we arrived in colorado springs where we got a much needed oil change. while waiting in the pricey (and slow) jiffy lube we read magazines. after a couple minutes a woman customer walked into the waiting room and saw something on the television (which was playing fox news) and started talking about how we should bomb the hell out of north korea because they "don't get it." the other two guys in the room were two plumbers who were having their truck serviced and one of them joined in on the conversation. the two of them went back and forth about how america hasn't made it clear enough to the world that we're in charge and missile testing won't be tolerated. fragments like "we should just bomb the hell out of them" and "we should turn them into a desert" were highlights. the woman was particularly vocal and went on to proclaim that we'd have done it already if it weren't for the democrats making bush jump through so many hoops before he went to war. she also mentioned that there were indeed weapons of mass destruction in iraq, but the liberal media wasn't reporting on it. she added: "fox is the only one that's about half way decent, the rest are crap." she's one of the more vile, pathetic, ignorant and stupid people i've had the displeasure of listening to recently. if i thought it would help i might have piped up with a bit of wisdom, but it would have fallen on deaf ears, so i didn't. what do you say to someone that blinded with hate and with that level of disregard for humanity?
  • after the oil change we went to a place called conway's red top which is a local burger chain that was mentioned as a model chain in fast food nation. i had made note of it some time ago when i read the book and finally got a chance to go there. they're famous for making large quality burgers with ethics. it was more of a good food, fast type of place than a fast food place. if you ever find yourself in the area check them out. the nevada street location was the first.
  • it took us about 90 minutes to get to coors field because of some traffic, but we got there with time to spare and found a cheap parking spot. the tickets were pricey, but we drove about nine hours to get there so we weren't going to be denied. we bought some upper level tickets which were basically in the same location as the blue jays game (third deck, behind home plate), but were more than twice as much ($24 vs. $11 canadian). after 3-4 innings it started raining, then it started pouring, then the wind started blowing and then the game was postponed. we sat around getting wet (despite being under the overhang) and contemplating our options (and our shitty luck) for a while. then the wind died down a bit so we weren't getting wet from the horizontal rain anymore, but the field was getting plenty drenched still. all told we waited about 75 minutes hoping that the rain would subside so we could watch the rest of the game, but it didn't so we left. we hit the road and it rained pretty much the entire two hours that we drove. we spent the night in a flying j truck stop.
  • the next morning we learned that the game did continue, after a three hour delay, and ended with the same score (4-3). we had mixed feelings about that. if we didn't have over 1000 miles to drive before the game at 1pm tomorrow (plus the hour lost to the time zone change) then we would have been two of 2,000 fans to stay for the end of the game. anyway, the schedule called so we had to do what we had to do. our luck has been fairly shitty in the weather department.
  • coors field is pretty nice. it's supposed to have a great view, but i think you have to be in right field to really see the rockies. plus, the visibility wasn't very good because the smog or haze or something was thick. so, from our seats, with the visibility as it was, the view was nice, but not spectacular. the park itself is very nice, but too large. there's a second and third deck in right/center field and it just makes the place look too big. it's especially bad considering it's a baseball-only facility. rfk has a third deck in outfield, but it's a dual-use facility so it's expected. i would have though HOK would have urged denver away from this attribute. apparently the high attendance while the rockies played at mile high was a factor in expanding their original design (which called for a capacity of 43k instead of 50k). they sold out a bunch of games for the first few years, but not anymore. this is the typical story. it seems that cities should go the way of pittsburgh and build a smaller stadium. it's more intimate, builds demand and excitement. of course this only works when you have a team worth watching so i guess the pirates are half way there...anyway, coors field has a lot of activities on the main concourse - stuff like a pitch speed game and a couple batting cages, the usual stuff, but more of it. the food looked pretty good and they seemed to have a good range of it. on the upper deck they have a row around the entire stadium which indicates the mile high marker with purple seats. beyond the outfield wall they have a waterfall feature with some trees. this is right next to the bullpens. overall i liked the place, but thought it was too big and too expensive.






    • rain delay didn't phase these three:
  • today we're just driving so there's nothing to report. we've gone through cheyenne, lincoln, omaha and des moines so that's three more capital cities that we've been to. i finished the al franken book this morning so we're running low on reading material. that's all.


    • 7-7-6 (11:33)

  • last night (thursday) we went to kansas city to see the royals beat the blue jays; a rare occurrence. the royals have a pretty unique little park, which actually seats over 40k. they're a small market team and the park is separate from the rest of the city (think arco arena). the most notable features are the vertically curved exterior wall and the fountains (which spray in many different configurations) beyond outfield. the latter was not liked by meryl. i would have liked it more if they had some seating beyond the outfield wall, but didn't feel it was enough to keep me from liking the park. i liked that it was a unique looking park, i liked the fountain (even though it means a lack of outfield seats), and i like small market teams like the royals. the fans were generally pretty laid back and didn't offer much entertainment as a result. they reminded me most of the tampa bay fans who will get into the game at critical points and generally seem to know baseball, but aren't as animated as, say, mets fans.


    • curved upper deck makes the park look smaller and more open.

    interesting design around home plate:
  • we got there about an hour before the game and the place was more empty than i have ever seen at a sports venue. by game time the lower level looked semi-crowded, but was still depressingly empty. attendance was a paltry 10,848. more than anything i felt sorry for the royals organization. the field was pockmarked with spots of brownish grass and the entire affair just felt like a minor league game. i liked it, but i felt bad for them. the pregame festivities were pretty limited. we saw some people tailgating and playing washers, but it was pretty dead other than that. a lot of the concession stands were closed and there just wasn't much going on. it was eerily quiet for a ballgame. there weren't many vendors yelling "programs here" or "get your peanuts here." those things are an essential part of the ballgame experience and they were basically absent. one really cool thing they did before the game was have two groups of parachuters land on the field. the first group were two canadian guys and the second group were seven american guys. afterwards the plane that dropped them did a fly by and that was impressive as well. the second canadian guy who landed had a pretty rough landing. there were two americans who came in on top of each other - one guy standing on the other's shoulders. i also liked the fact that they had a real organ and organ player at the stadium.


  • the game itself was fun enough. redman had a nice outing - he went 8 1/3 and only allowed two runs. there was some drama in the 8th inning when a man apparently fell down near an tunnel a couple sections over from us. paramedics were on the scene and were relatively calm for a while, but then i saw them start cpr and clear the area of onlookers. after a couple minutes of cpr i saw them bring a portable defibulator and then they hurried to put the man on a stretcher and carry him out. around this time i saw an ambulance arrive from the road past center field. over the course of the next inning another ambulance and two fire trucks arrived on the scene. it seemed odd that they would need so many emergency response vehicles. if he was dead then there wouldn't be a rush, if he was alive i'd think they'd just use one vehicle and rush him to the hospital. perhaps monique can illuminate the situation for me. after the game meryl asked about the incident and an usher said that, last he heard, the man was alive and breathing.
  • after the game we drove for a couple hours to get a jump on today's long drive to denver.
  • i've been seeing a lot of casinos around the country. it's a pretty disturbing trend. i generally don't hold casinos in high regard. i think they're a blight on the community in spite of the revenue and jobs they produce. i see them primarily as a quick fix.
  • when we went to the reds game we got free barry larkin bobble heads. he won mvp in 1995 while batting .319 and hitting only 15 hr, 66 rbi, and recording 36 steals. it's amazing that you could be mvp with those stats back then. in 1996 he became the first 30/30 shortstop.
  • kansas is reputed to be an extremely flat state, but we've encountered a rolling landscape. our drive through iowa was just as flat as kansas. kansas has a bevy of kitschy attractions like the dorothy (of the wizard of oz) museum or the site that features a 36 inch donkey, a six-legged steer, and the largest prairie dog in the world (8,000 lbs, supposedly). some town along the way even tried to attract tourists by proclaiming itself as the birthplace of arlen specter and bob dole. that's like trying to pick up chicks by telling them you have a raging case of hemorrhoids. sexy.


    • 7-6-06 (14:45)

  • birthday was pretty uneventful, which was a nice change. it basically played out as a day off before the stretch of non-stop driving. we're in iowa right now. iowa is home of slipknot which kinda makes sense since only a state as boring as this could produce a band like that. well, not really, but iowa's fairly mundane. i'd like to talk with some of the farmers because i agree with jefferson on the issue of farmers.
  • south bend was a disappointment because we didn't really get to see the entire campus.
  • chicago is pretty great. somehow i didn't really realize that the first time i went there. it's noisy and the traffic is obnoxious, but the great skyscrapers (which create one of the best skylines i've seen) aren't as imposing as they are in nyc and there seem to be a greater distribution of parks around the city. like nyc or la, it's got a great arts and culture scene with museums, film, music and theater covering something for everyone.
  • some tidbits from the tour and other sources: first hilton hotel is in chicago. 12 million people live on the coast of lake michigan. chicago gets its drinking water from lake michigan. the chicago river flows backwards, thanks to a project from the army corps of engineers to better the quality of the water. there are a crap load of condos near the lake, many of which have gone up relatively recently. richard daley jr. is mayor and has been since 1989; his father was mayor for the previous 21 years. the navy pier is the #1 tourist attraction in illinois. chicago is home of the first ferris wheel. george ferris built it to compete with the popularity of the eiffel tower. "devil and the white city" was a book that was recommended by one of the guides as a great history of chicago. north michigan ave during the "magnificent mile" stretch is the equivalent to nyc's 5th avenue. no zoning laws in the city. house of blues first founded in chicago. there was a story about a guy who built the civic opera house to support his wife's amateur opera career. didn't catch the guy's name, but clearly this is reminiscent of citizen kane. the "el" went up in 1892 in anticipation of the world's fair. apparently the sears tower is the largest occupied office building in the world. there are the petronas towers and the taipei 101 which i thought were office buildings, but maybe the guide's information was dated, or perhaps those buildings aren't considered office buildings because they're dual-use or something. whatever, i've seen the largest free-standing building in the world already so i refuse to be impressed. oh, one reason the skyline in chicago is less obscured than it is in nyc is because of a measure they passed which required buildings to cut in "y" number of feet for every "x" number of feet high they are; thus the sears tower doesn't seem as impressive as the wtc, yet it's taller. la salle blvd. is equivalent to nyc's wall street; it's also where many films in chicago have been shot. home of the largest public library in the u.s, named after their first black mayor.
  • some of the more interesting pieces of architecture: the chicago tribune building (1925), hancock tower and sears tower (designed by same person), house of blues and its hotel, millennium park building designed by frank o. gehry, 94 story trump tower (in construction), federal reserve building, mcdonald's replica - four times as large as the original - built to celebrate the 50th anniversary, thompson center, and many more.



    • trump tower in the foreground is currently under construction. in the background are two honeycomb style parking structures which i like.

    the building on the right is the chicago tribune office building, in the center is a bit of a bridge that crosses the chicago river, not sure about the building on the left, but i like it.

    john hancock building:

    me looking at the art institute of chicago

    soldier field, aka the mistake on the lake:
  • greatest human advances, according to chris (in no order): wheel, electricity, film, steel, antibiotics, agriculture, written language, internet, seinfeld, printing press.
  • why do you always see places that serve breakfast all day, but not dinner? there are lots of people who want steak at 7am, we call them brits. seriously though, i think restaurateurs are a bunch of mealists.
  • forgot to mention that we went to white castle on my birthday because i'd never been there and the beastie boys reference them in at least two of their songs: "from white castle to the nile" and "white castle burgers only come in one size" anyway, white castle burgers suck so i don't know why harold and (mostly) kumar were so intent on going there.
  • meryl pretty much covered the game below. the seats were great and the game was pretty good. the fans around us weren't all that exciting, but that probably had more to do with the seats than white sox fans in general.


    • "hey dipshit, look over here"

    i've been shooting in manual mode more lately so some of the pictures are a bit unbalanced. any tips, johnny?


  • right now we're about 2.5 hours from kansas city and we have a game scheduled pretty quickly after we arrive.

    • 7-5-06 (23:36)

  • The night we parked in the high school parking lot was NOT fun. We fell asleep around 12:30 or so but were woken up around 2:15 by a HUGE thunderstorm. When I was little I used to sleep through thunderstorms a lot, and sometimes I still do, however this time I was not as fortunate. I've experienced some big thunderstorms living in Texas for a year, but I've got to say this one was pretty impressive. It rained extremely hard and the thunder was so powerful it shook the car every once in a while. I finally managed to fall asleep blocking out the noise, but I woke up pretty frequently the rest of the night, so that kinda sucked.
  • We woke up in the morning and headed for Chicago. It was Chris' birthday, but I had attempted to give him one present that didn't work out and given him his other one the day before, so I didn't have anything else to give. I figured his present for the day would be me driving the 6 or 7 hours. We drove for pretty much the entire day besides a little detour to South Bend in order to see the Notre Dame campus. It looked pretty impressive, but cars weren't really allowed anywhere near the campus, so we didn't get that great of a tour. We got back on the road and continued on to Chicago. We hadn't stayed in a hotel for a while so we found a Super 8 motel about 30 miles outside of Chicago around 3:45 or so and decided to stay there. We watched the end of the Italy/Germany game which was pretty dissapointing because I was REALLY going for Germany. They played really well, but seemed to be on the defensive most of the game, so it was really only a matter of time before Italy scored. It kinda sucked because I REALLY didn't want Italy to win. At the same time, I wouldn't have wanted a semifinal match to end in penalty kicks, so I guess seeing it end in OT was better than seeing it end in PKs. After the game was over we hung out around the hotel room trying to figure out what to do. It was too late to go into Chicago because everything would probably be closed, not to mention it was the fourth. We looked online (we were high rollers this time, our hotel had wireless internet) to see what movies were playing. Chris and I have seen nearly every movie out (with the exception of Cars and Prairie Home Companion) so it was a little difficult trying to find a movie. We found a second run theater that was playing The Sentinel and neither of us had seen it so we decided it would be better to drive the 30 minutes than stay in the hotel all night. I've heard mixed reviews on the movie, but I was entertained enough for the $5 we each paid.
  • We woke up this morning and got a later start on the day than we anticipated (mostly because I take too long to get ready, oh well dammit I enjoy my shower every three days). When we got into Chicago I was in a serious state of crankiness and so it took us a while to figure out what to do. We finally decided on a $20 double decker guided tour because my knee was really bothering me. It turns out for the amount of time we had we made a pretty good choice. The tour took us around the downtown area and some of the surrounding neighborhoods (Chris took lots of notes on the tour, so I'll leave it to him to fill you in on the details). After the tour we headed back to the car to eat a little snack, have some water, change, etc. before the game. We found the Metra with relative ease and arrived at US Cellular field around 6:15. We walked around the field a bit, but were pretty unimpressed. It's not like the field sucks, it's just really not anything special. After seeing great classic ball parks (Fenway) and great new ones (Citizens Bank) it's starting to take more and more to impress. We walked around a bit more and then found our seats. Now, until this point our best seats have been the ones the Mets gave us (directly behind homeplate about 20 rows back) but this game has that beat. My dad was able to snag us seats from a friend of his in Chicago and they were AMAZING. We were about one section over from homeplate and 5 rows back. It was QUITE a good view, and excellent distance for me to boo AJ Pierzynski when he was in the on deck circle, so I was a happy camper. The White Sox scored 4 runs in the first inning, but didn't produce the rest of the game. The Orioles scored 1 in the 3rd and 1 in the 9th, so they sadly lost. I was pretty dissapointed, something about the White Sox fans rubbed me the wrong way, so I was rooting for the Orioles. SPEAKING of White Sox "fans," there was an AWFUL excuse for a female at the game. Sometimes I really am ashamed to be a woman, and the sight of this chick was one of those times. Right before the start of the game a stripper and her pimp walked down the aisle and sat in seats about 4 rows ahead of us. The stripper (I'll call her Candi) and her pimp (I'll call him Jeffrey) giggled and pointed in the White Sox dug out while they drank beers for a few innings. Even though everyone had SWEATSHIRTS on, Candi was dressed in pants that revealed her panties, a shirt that was tied behind her so that it showed her entire stomach from her bra line down, had a slit cut down the front of her shirt so you could see her leather cleavage, and to top it off, she was wearing a hat that said "Poll Katz." I was COMPLETELY disgusted. After about the 3rd inning an usher came over and asked for Candi and Jeffrey's tickets and told them to leave when they.....SHOCKER......were not sitting the right seats. She claimed she "didn't know" where her seats were. I saw the two later on in the game, they had moved down to close seats again, but this time she had a baseball with her, no doubt she prostituted herself for a foul ball. But back to baseball.....although I was sad the Orioles lost, it was one of the better games we've seen, so that made it fun, and our seats were fabulous, so there's no way you could have a bad time with seats like that.
  • After the game we drove to a place Chris had heard about called "Wiener's Circle" for a snack before we got back on the road. It was pretty tasty and the wait staff was humorous. i had seen this place on the insomniac show on comedy central and heard of its reputation for curt, curse-laden service. e.g., "what you want mutha fucka?" "gimme some fries and burger and make it quick, bitch" "a'ight, that'll be five bucks you asshole..." i guess it was hammed up a bit for the television show, and it probably wasn't late enough for the bar crowds. the two ladies who helped me were certainly unprofessional (one was on her cellphone) and both were gossiping about something while slinging profanities. that said, they weren't unprofessional enough for me. i would have liked a bit more cussing and rudeness, oh well. Right now we're on the road headed for Kansas City. The next few days will be FULL of driving. I'm a little nervous how my knee will hold up because after yesterday's day full of driving I was pretty uncomfortable today. Hopefully a little ice and cruise control will be enough to not bother it too much. Darryn (at work) will be proud of us as we've fit in a Cardinals game (sometime next week, I think next Wednesday), and we've also moved stuff around to fit in a Rockies game as well. While the next 2 weeks will be full of driving, we'll also be seeing a TON of games, so that will be quite fabulous.


    • 7-3-06 (22:46)

  • went to the rock and roll hall of fame this morning after a cheap, but good breakfast at some place that took forever to find. cleveland is short on quality dining, but not potholes.
  • the rock and roll hall of fame is housed in a very nice structure designed by i.m. pei, which makes sense since it is similar to the louvre (sp?) addition he did. i like his work. architecture is interesting because it's an interactive and ever-changing artform. as you move through a building you can experience it in different ways. as winter comes and the light changes you experience the building in a new way. as it gets older you experience it in a different way. so, for all these reasons, great buildings are pieces of artwork which you can enjoy for a long time. plus, i'm someone who values utility so buildings have the advantage of not only having potential as art, but also as useful places in which to conduct business or live or visit.
  • the rock and roll hall of fame is great, but also manages to be a let down at the same time. it's six floors worth of exhibits and they generally focus on movements, artists and places. we started with two short films which i thought were well done and provided a good introduction to the hall. the first film is a montage of roots type music being performed along with shots of typical rootsy environs: mountains, railroads, etc. this film serves to lay the groundwork for the next film which will introduce rock and roll. both films are shown on three panels with the center panel differing from the other two. the second film did the same thing as the first, but with rock and with some interview footage from rock icons like bono and neil young. these sorts of montages always make me want to rush to my cd collection and start pouring through all the music that i love.
  • after the films we worked our way around the large circular room which featured exhibits on: the roots of rock from r&b to gospel and blues, different regional sounds from liverpool and detroit to SF and LA, the 500 songs most influential to rock, and select rock icons from tom petty and the rolling stones to jimi hendrix and neil young.
  • there's a lot to synthesize and the place is apparently always packed so it's tough to really stay still and read everything they present. admission is $20 and there were easily a thousand people in and out of the place in the five hours that we were there. i found myself wondering quite a bit about where all the money goes. they have a sizable gift shop that sells cds as well as shirts, shot glasses, memorabilia, posters and more. clearly this place is pulling in tens of thousands of dollars a day and i can't imagine they have much overhead. add to that the fact they probably get a majority of their stuff donated and it begs the question: where's the money going? oh, they don't allow photography inside either so that sucked. apparently, though, that's because several artists would only donate items with that stipulation. oh well.
  • floors two through six were smaller than the first floor, you'll understand why when you see the pictures. the other floors had exhibits on the evolution of the radio and audio equipment which i thought was a good idea. they lauded innovators such as les paul, sam phillips and alan freed. they also have a nice video exhibit dedicated to mtv and a two wall exhibit on rolling stone magazine (including a snotty letter from a member of the rolling stones complaining about the name of their magazine).
  • the top two floors were dedicated to an exhibit on bob dylan which i'm sure john would have loved. they went over the importance of each of his first eight or so albums and had listening stations as well. of course they talked about his roots, his evolution, his choice to go electric, etc. perhaps most impressive was their inclusion of an extremely rare stereo copy of the freewheelin' bob dylan on vinyl. if memory serves this record is worth $30k, though they didn't mention this fact. i guess i should mention that...all the exhibits were packed with guitars, clothing, records, contracts, etc. that were signed or used by the people being honored. they even had childhood drawings from hendrix and a report card of jim morrison. as many bands and artists as they singled out, there were numerous deserving bands/artists they didn't mention or have exhibits for. perhaps this is a result of band non-participation, but they had exhibits on bob seger, tom petty and a couple other second tier artists, but they didn't have anything for led zeppelin or black sabbath which i consider pantheon rock groups. all in all it was a great place, but it barely scratched the surface. it would have been nice to see some more discussion of various genres like metal or punk and new wave, but there's just so much to cover.

  • after the HOF we wasted two hours driving around looking for a place to get the oil changed. then we went to the indians game.
  • jacobs field was funded in part by some guy named jacobs and the other 48% by a sin tax - a 15 year tax increase on alcohol and tobacco. it has nothing to do with the park, but it's a quick way of raising $100 million bucks. jacobs field is one of the nicer parks we've seen. it's bigger than pnc park, but it's not as huge as skydome - jacobs seats about 42k. we sat in the right field upper deck and the seats were a bit far, but they weren't awful at all. when we got there we walked around the park to see it from as many different views as possible. one thing i definitely appreciated about the park were the wide concourses. they're so wide, in fact, that there's enough room for picnic tables and two sets of walkways divided by concession stands. according to our book, the bleacher area is cordoned off from the rest of the park, but we were able to walk through that area without any problem so maybe things have changed. i think they also have the second largest jumbotron in the league - toronto's looked bigger, but our book said the indians one was the largest. the book has been wrong in the past though. the park looks like an HOK design, but it's not as obvious as minute maid or pnc. the left field wall has a "mini green monster" which is sorta nice. other than that jacobs field was pretty similar to most of the other modern day parks.






    • view from our seat:

    he bounced it to the plate and looked like a fool in the process...
  • we went to our section and the usher asked for our tickets, which i thought was odd since we were so far up that i doubt anyone would want to sneak into that section. we were seated in row s, but decided to sit much further down, hoping that not many people would show up to a monday night game. by the end of the first half inning, though, we had been moved a couple times and we retreated up to our actual seats. it was pretty obnoxious and both of us were annoyed already because of the two hours we had wasted earlier looking for a jiffy lube type place. the people next to us seemed pretty drunk and started asking meryl what had just happened because they weren't paying attention. i got pretty annoyed, but they asked a bunch of questions about the trip so that put them in meryl's good graces. sometime in the 3rd inning meryl told me to look at the jumbotron, which was divided into left and right sections. i looked up and saw something moving on the right so my eyes gravitated there. it was some stat thing so i turned back to her and asked why she wanted me to look. by then the reason she had asked me to look was gone. she had coordinated with the indians to get them to put a message on the board wishing me a happy birthday, and i missed it. so that put a damper on things. apparently they told her it was coming in the 4th inning, and those things come up with out warning and are only up for a few seconds so i missed it. it really sucked. we sat around for another couple innings and left because we didn't feel like watching the game anymore.
  • we headed out for chicago and watched the fireworks show after the game while we were driving away. tonight we're going to stay in some high school parking lot in between cleveland and chicago.


    • 7-2-06 (15:28)

  • we're in cleveland right now. lots of stuff coming up, should be hectic.
  • we left cincinnati after the game and stayed at a rest stop about 30 miles outside of columbus. the next day we drove through columbus, ate brunch and hit the road again. columbus is home of OSU, but isn't all that notable otherwise. we wanted to see frank lloyd wright's "falling water" before the end of the day so we hit the road for western pennsylvania. ohio has some lush forested scenery so it definitely has that going for it. one thing i don't like about ohio, though, is that they allows smoking in restaurants. eventually they'll join the rest of civilization, but in the meantime it's an annoyance with which you have to deal.
  • it took a little longer than expected to get to falling water because the roads there are smaller highways that stop through towns and have sections that are more winding than normal. we got there just as the last tour was starting so we hurried down the hill (after paying the excessive $16 fee per person) and joined the tour which was just getting underway. in addition to the high fee, the stewards of the property insist that no photography be taken during the tour. in fact, you can only take outside photos of the property (before/after the tour) unless you pay $50 for an all-access tour in the morning. i found their restrictions to be excessive, but i think it was worth it in the end. it's considered one of the finest pieces of american architecture and it's a one-of-a-kind building so it was worth $16 to see it. i didn't necessarily love the space, but i love his vision. for example, i could have done without the stone floors which i found to work well in theory, but practical application. they're uneven, cold and hard so they're not for me. these days it's easy to go with a stone tile and radiant floor heating, which would eliminate the temperature problem, but that wasn't an option at the time. i would have preferred some nice quartersawn oak. as distinct a house as it is, it's still very much a wright design. he uses radiant heat in the walls, along with built-in furniture along the walls, the fireplace is large and dominating, the exterior has a very modern look, and the entire house works about as well with its surroundings as anything i've ever seen. i've seen homes that build around pre-existing trees and boulders and the like, but this one stands in its own class. the home was built for the kaufmann's, who own a chain of dept. stores in pittsburgh and used the house as a getaway. it was originally slated to have a $40k budget, but wright swept that aside. total cost: $155k, which equates to about $4.5 million today. i'll post some pictures soon, including some interior shots which i took without permission, but you can probably find better exterior shots on the internet. it was raining (water was falling at falling water, har har) while i was taking the pictures so they're underexposed.

    • fuzzy interior shots, couldn't use the flash because the photo nazi (tour guide) was watching me:



  • after rain drove us away from falling water we went to the ohiopyle falls. i think both the falling water house and the ohiopyle falls are on the same river (youghiogheny), but i'm not certain. the falls are nice enough little things, but they're not amazing. it started to rain again so we fled for the shelter of the car.

  • we left the falling water region and headed over to pittsburgh. about an hour later we were in pittsburgh with nothing to do. we find ourselves on the south side and decide to catch a movie. before the movie we walked down a strip of shops and eateries and had some ice cream. after the movie we drove to a nearby parking lot and slept. neither of us can remember anything about where we slept. living on the road is such a blur sometimes....just remembered - we slept outside of a lowe's hardware store.

  • the next day we went to the carnegie museum of art and carnegie museum of natural history. they're both located in one rather large building. they've got a good range of exhibits and we enjoyed our time there. they had exhibits on dinosaurs, birds, architecture (for a buck more), ancient egypt, insects, modern art, and plenty more. while there meryl and i argued about the merits of modern art. below is my contribution to the art form.


    • "meryl, overexposed" this is a meditation on the nature of light and how it can both make and break a piece of art. when i took this picture i was thinking about how wonderful an artist i am and how my crappy pictures are going to change the world.

    a work by mark tansey, whose work i thoroughly enjoy. check out "derrida queries deman"

    meryl likes this one:

  • after the museum we went to the outskirts of town to get a hotel room and watch the ukraine get destroyed by italy. afterwards we went downtown to watch the pirates game. pittsburgh is a pretty cool city in that it is large enough to have the benefits of a large city (from cultural venues to sports teams), but it never really feels overwhelming because it's so well tucked into the hills and three rivers on which it's built. additionally, there didn't seem to be many bad neighborhoods - and we got plenty lost to find 'em, but seldom did. that's one drawback about the city - it's difficult to navigate, esp. to newcomers. there are a lot of winding, small roads that lead to small neighborhoods. many of the roads are dead ends and only a few are long enough to really get you somewhere. gps definitely came in handy.
  • meryl mentioned that comerica was probably an HOK design, but i looked it up today and found that it wasn't. just a bit of fact-checking for you. that said, it is very reminiscent of their style. it has the same tall, slender style lights that they used at great american ballpark (which is HOK designed) in cincinnati and it had the same green steel and gray concrete look that they use in camden (also designed by HOK). so, while comerica isn't an HOK design, it sure does look it. anyway, i've downloaded their portfolio onto the computer so we can look it up whenever we want. pnc park in pittsburgh IS an HOK design and it shows. if you look at their portfolio you see just how many parks and stadiums they have designed, so it's not just our obsession - they're truly influential in the field of fields, har har. anyway, i like their designs, but i feel like their style is a little too easily recognizable. pnc is a nice park with an intimate feel. it's got a good view of the river (allegheny, i think) as well as the downtown skyline. it has the word "pirates" cut into shrubs in center field and the bleachers (where we were) were general admission. it's got only two levels and the press box is behind home plate as usual, but higher than the other top tier seats, which i thought was pretty nifty. generally the press are located between the first and second levels, and most parks have a third level.
  • the crowd was into the game, but not amazingly so. the pirates are called the "bucs" for cheer purposes and many of the fans seemed understandably upset with pirates management. the team sucks (although they had just broken a 13(?) game losing streak in yesterday's game) and they don't show signs of getting any better. one drunk guy next to me was ranting about these facts and said something about not being able to stand the "millionaire humanoids" at the game. he also said the "PNC" in PNC park stood for "Public Not Considered." he was a bit annoying, but you get good info from drunk fans sometimes. after the pirates lost, despite showing signs of life late in the game, we walked across the 6th street bridge and drove back to the motel. traffic getting out of area wasn't too bad at all, then again, there were only about 28k people there. oh, during the game they allow the crowd to vote on which form of entertainment they want in the next inning. they offered two songs: one by jimmy buffett and one by gnarls barkley and one video of a squirrel on waterskis. the squirrel won by a landslide. people are such monkeys sometimes.


    • view from just beyond the center field wall, basically the same view as you get from behind the plate:

    view from our seat in the left field bleachers:
  • pittsburgh is in full swing for the all-star game. those kinds of things are really big for cities. the next day we had plans on walking around various parts of pittsburgh - south side, lawrenceville and mt. washington, but drove through instead. south side has a strip of shops and the like and mt. washington is situated on a hill which is good for getting a good shot of pittsburgh. lawrenceville is the up and coming interior design district. it was replete with street vendors of all kinds and some studios. having completed the two cent tour, we hit the road for central ohio; this was yesterday, saturday.
  • we drove to canton and visited the football hall of fame. in ohio football is king so it makes sense that the hall of fame be located somewhere in the area. i had previously thought that football, in its modern day incarnation was more or less invented in massillon ohio, but i was wrong. apparently it made its first big impression here and the first really successful team (with jim thorpe) was in canton so that's why the hall of fame is where it is. i also found out that the oldest pro football organization is actually the arizona cardinals. naturally they've moved, but they're even older than the bears. the football hall of fame is the least impressive of the halls that we've seen...now i really wish i had seen the hockey hall of fame in toronto, maybe there will be another somewhere in the u.s. that said, it's still a good place to visit if you're a football fan. they have: an exhibit on the evolution of the nfl, an exhibit on all the teams along with major dates in their history, etc., video of all the inductees (though they didn't have interactive stats like the other two halls had), a theater that rotates 180 degrees and shows some gameday and training camp footage, an exhibit on superbowls (including the pertinent stats and plays of all 40), an exhibit on nfl players in uniform which was pretty extensive, and a bunch of interactive stuff downstairs including: trivia games, madden on PS2, an exhibit on how the balls are made and a football toss. one room was pretty outdated and could have used some freshening up, but the rest seemed recent and useful. i was very disappointed by the lack of two subjects: the evolution of the rules and strategies. i think that football is the most strategic of the four major sports and the evolution of the rules played a critical role in the emergence of different strategies and importance of different positions at different times. my football encyclopedia does a great job of outlining how different coaches and players influenced the evolution of different defensive and offensive formations, from the wishbone to the cover 2 to the nickel, dime, quarter, 3-4, 4-3, etc. a discussion of this should have been included.


    • we stayed in detroit with this guy:

  • massillon, by the way, is the subject of a good documentary called "go tigers!" about the high school football team. check it out. the hall of fame area isn't as littered with sport-related cafes and shops as cooperstown is. after visiting the hall we drove through akron and stopped outside of town to eat, watch a movie and sleep.
  • this morning we drove a short distance to cleveland. so far all we've done is upload the page, eat and take care of the laundry. later tonight we'll catch a movie and find a place to sleep. tomorrow we have a game and the rock and roll hall of fame. i think the building was designed by either i.m. pei or louis kahn, but i'm not sure. will find out tomorrow. 


    • 6-28-06 (22:14)

  • upon leaving detroit and the automotive hall of fame we looked for stuff to do while in cincinnati. while perusing our book we found a diary farm (young's jersey dairy) that was supposed to have the best milkshakes in ohio. we went there and ate an earlish dinner which was fairly decent. the milkshake was good, but not amazing and meryl's ice cream was also decent. after the detour outside of dayton we hit the road for cincinnati. cincinnati is a pretty nice small city so it was surprising to hear that it displaced detroit for the largest population loss (2000-5) in the country amongst cities over 100k. in fact, five of the worst 30 cities were in ohio. driving through the city for the past day i couldn't honestly figure out what the problem was. it didn't seem too seedy, dirty, crime-ridden, sprawling, etc. they don't have excessive traffic and housing and general cost of living seemed fairly low. when i read the local weekly paper they mentioned the following as some suggestions: decrease crime, new form of city gov't (?), keep open mind about new public transportation ideas, better education, and some others i've forgotten. i found cincinnati to be a fine city by outward appearances, but we weren't there long enough to really soak up the culture or get a great picture of the social, economic, and politcal climates.
  • we slept in a parking lot last night and got a jump on the morning today by going to the krohn conservatory and the cincinnati art museum. both were worthwhile. the krohn conservatory would be best appreciated by my grandma and mom since they like plants so much. the conservatory had different rooms showcasing different plant habitats. there was a room for rainforest plants, a cactus room, a bonzai room, a room with flowers (which was closed for maintenance), and a room with orchids and carnivore plant species. the cincinnati art museum had a good range of work - from early middle eastern to contemporary paintings and photography as well as plenty of local works. they had the big names like manet, van gogh, miro, and picasso, but they also had woodcarvings, musical instruments, rifles, and pottery by relative unknowns. they had an effective range of work from 4500 b.c. to 2005 a.d., so that's damn impressive. to top it off both the conservatory and the museum were free, so that can't be beat. well, actually it can - the getty in l.a. is more impressive and is also free, but you get the point.






  • after the museum stuff we got lunch at a local bistro and wasted time downtown before the game. our game tonight featured the reds and the fairly pathetic kansas city royals. it's the first time i've seen ken griffey jr. play (so far as i know) so that was notable, oh, and he hit a homerun as well. so i'm probably one of only a million who has gotten to see him do that. great american park is designed by HOK, the firm that seems to do all the post-camden baseball parks. it had the same style lights (tall and skinny) as featured in comerica park. it wasn't a dark green color, but it is steel and concrete construction. it's got a little homerun structure in the outfield. the outfield wall is more angular, rather than being a perfect arc, but it doesn't have the relatively radical pockets that pacbell or minute maid have. it's a nice park with a good view of the river dividing kentucky and ohio, but it wasn't amazing. the fans were pretty uninspired. all that said, we got the tickets for free so that made for a good experience.






    • 6-27-06 (15:00)

  • I was a pretty happy camper going to the Zoo, I had been wanting to throughout the trip so far, so when we went to the one in Detroit, it was pretty sweet. After the Zoo we drove back to downtown Detroit (the Zoo is actually in the 'burbs) and hunted around for a place to eat. There were a couple sports bars across the street from Comerica Park, so we settled on Hockeytown Cafe. Chris and I both got salads (BBQ and Taco) that were both tasty. My taco salad was a tasty treat because I could actually taste all the ingredients - tomato, lettuce, olives, beef, beans, etc. - and Chris said his BBQ Chicken salad was good too. After dinner we weren't really sure what to do seeing as it was around 6:30 or so and all the museums and stuff were closed. We decided to make it another movie night and headed back to the same theater we had been the night before. After nearly an hour of driving (the theater is a ways away) we arrived. This last weekend nothing really came out besides Click, and we'd already seen that (and just about everything else) so we had to see Nacho Libre, which I've got to say blew pretty bad, I guess I'm just not a fan of Jack Black. After the movie we decided to try and make it an early night. We parked in the same parking lot and got ready for bed and fell asleep around 10:45 or so. Later, at 4:15 in the morning, some cops came by and banged on the window with their flashlights to wake us up. Chris woke up and started talking to them but I didn't wake up till he bonked my leg to have me get my driver's license. It turns out we were parked in a private parking lot and you aren't allowed to stay overnight. The cop was pretty nice though and let us go and even gave us directions to a cheap motel. It didn't really make sense for us to check into a motel for 4 hours though, so we drove around a bit and parked in a residential neighborhood to sleep for the rest of the night.
  • We woke up in the morning and headed to the Motown Museum. It was in a crappy area and didn't look too impressive, so we decided it wasn't worth the $16 for the two of us. we found out later that it was closed anyway. We drove to the Detroit Institute of Art, which was pretty close, and tried to go there instead. Sadly, we didn't plan very well - it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Chris was pretty disappointed because he had been there before and really enjoyed the Diego Rivera murals and the architecture inside the museum. We walked around a bit to try and find something to occupy our time before meeting Mike (the brother of a friend of Chris') later in the afternoon. We found the Detroit Science Center and spent the next few hours inside. They had a cool space exhibit there as well as a floor that reminded me of the Exploratorium in SF. The entire floor is made up of hands-on exhibits showing you how the science behind electricity, wind currents, refracting telescopes, etc. It was pretty cool, but I've got to say the Exploratorium in SF is far superior. I remember going on TONS of field trips there when I was little. It's a HUGE museum that's made up entirely of hands on exhibits, and it has the Tact Tile Dome too, which is a jungle gym type dome that is made up of a bunch of different rooms that are completely dark and you have to figure out how to get out by feeling around. Field trips there were always the best, and visiting the Detroit Science Center made me excited for when our trip finds us in the Bay Area and we can go to the exploratorium.
  • After our visit we went to a Kinko's to upload the web page and wait for Mike. While we were sitting in the car waiting a homeless man started yelling at us about buying water, while asking for money, and something about the auto industry, and anything else he could think of. He started getting more and more belligerent, but at the perfect moment Mike came up and rescued us, so that was pretty sweet. We got in the car and he took us to a parking garage down the street where we could get free parking, which was nice because we've actually been spending A LOT on parking the last couple of weeks. We walked over to the hotel that he stays at and got changed for the game and headed out to buy tickets and go to dinner. We got to the park and decided on left field bleacher seats that were only five rows back. Mike was really nice and bought Chris and me tickets. We walked around the ball park area for a while which was nice because we hadn't toured around the downtown area too much. We settled on a small diner type place across the street from the outfield entrance to Comerica Park for dinner. Mike and Chris got burgers and I got 2 hot dogs and fries. The food and atmosphere were good and it ended up being pretty crowded with Tigers fans by the time we ended up leaving. Mike was incredibly nice again and paid for our dinner, which was pretty cool of him I have to say.
  • We walked over to the Stadium and walked around inside for a while. Upon entering Chris and I could immediately tell that it was another HOK design (unconfirmed, but likely) - there was the dark green steel detailing and incredibly steep upper levels. Like other HOK designs, there were numerous "courtyard" type gathering areas with games and concessions. In fact, one really cool detail is the Merry-go-Round they have in the stadium. What's even cooler is that instead of horses to ride, they have tigers. The game ended up being a slaughter. The Tigers beat the Astros 10-4, which actually makes them only the third home team to win out of the 11 games we've seen so far. I was happy though, after, so many years of the Tigers sucking, they're the best team in baseball. It's good to see come back stories, and it helps Detroit even more because all the fans walking around before and after the game bring a lot of money back into the city. One thing we noticed was that there wasn't a lot of advertising at the park. I figured that GM must have put a TON of money into the field because there's a giant GM fountain in center field that goes off whenever a the Tigers score and they're pretty much the face of Detroit at this point.

    • shot from our seats:

  • After the game we walked through Greektown where we found out that gambling was legal in Detroit and continued down to the (detroit) river bank where we could look across the water to Canada. As it turns out, Detroit is one of the few places in the US that looks SOUTH to Canada. Along the river we came across TONS of bugs called fish flies. They kinda resemble a mix of a fly and a dragon fly. They were EVERYWHERE. When you walked or drove over them they made a weird cracking sound and Mike told us that one time when he was driving they were so thick he had to put his SUV in 4 wheel drive! It was pretty comical. We headed back to the hotel and chit chatted for a bit and fell asleep. Mike left early this morning for work and Chris and I woke up by the alarm clock around 9 to make sure we made it downstairs in time for the continental breakfast. Compared to the hotels we have been staying at, this hotel was a palace. Free breakfast, Chris and I were all over that. We called Mike to let him know that we were leaving and to say thanks. Buying our tickets, our dinner and letting us crash in his hotel room (even letting us take the bed while he slept on the couch) - I've got to say he was a pretty fantastic host.
  • We drove a little outside of Detroit to go to the Automotive Hall of Fame. When we got there one of the ushers walked around with us a bit and talked with us about how high the unemployment rate is the area. We commented about the fact that we had read in the paper this morning that GM just paid off 47,000 employees to leave and he said that he was bought out a long time ago to leave also. He said that it has been really bad lately. It was pretty sad to hear.
  • I'm not a big car person or anything, and my knee was feeling a little sore from all the walking the last couple of days, but I thought the Hall of Fame was pretty cool. And, as far as I was concerned, it did a good job of describing the evolution of the automotive industry. We spent 2 or so hours wandering around before we left. One thing I noticed was the entire time we were there, there were only 2 other sets of guests - a family leaving when we came in, and a couple that left a little before we did. It sucked that the area is doing so bad, and tourists aren't helping out by visiting the museum. Another thing we noticed was the amount of American made cars in the area. At one point we were at a stop light and we were the only car waiting that wasn't a Ford. As we drove along to the freeway we lost count of all the Fords and GMs. I know that GM is headquartered in Detroit, and Ford somewhat still is, but I couldn't believe with the dwindling industry and all the layoffs that everyone in the area is still driving Fords and GMs. I mean, you've got to think that most of those people used to work for one of the two and got paid to leave. It was pretty interesting to see.

  • Right now we're heading down I-75 to Dayton where we'll have dinner at a place that boasts the best milkshakes in Ohio and then make our way to Cincinnati. We have a game there tomorrow night, Pittsburgh Friday, Cleveland Monday, and then Chris' birthday is Tuesday. Hmmmmmm Christopher, I wonder what I'll be doing for your birthday........
  • speaking of milkshakes, i neglected to mention that the best milkshake i ever had was some place in victoria. while we were in toronto, though, i had another excellent milkshake at a long standing diner in the area called fran's. the chocolate in the shake was unique and quite tasty. so, two of the best shakes i've ever had have come from canada. i also forgot to mention that the economist magazine named toronto the most livable city in 1994. the most recent winner is apparently vancouver so we'll see how it stacks up in the next month or so.
  • i think meryl covered most of the last few days pretty well. we altered our itinerary a bit so we could see the cardinals play a game in their new park, check that out if you wish.
  • quite a bit of the detroit cultural venues seem to be closed on monday and tuesday. the lonely planet guide actually makes specific mention of this fact. when i was in detroit in 2001 i remember liking the place, but only being there for part of a day. this time i was able to soak up the city quite a bit more. mike was a very good guide. he's well-traveled and knowledgeable, so he was able to give us plenty of info and provide some comical anecdotes. as mentioned, he was also extremely generous so my first born child will go to him.
  • detroit is as much a story as it is a city; a story about the american automotive industry and suburbanization and other elements of which i'm not aware. from what mike told us, detroit is coming back. the basketball all-star game and the superbowl came to detroit in the last couple years and that's helped. the waiter at the hockeytown cafe talked with us about how the tigers' success has benefited their business immensely. so, we talked with three locals and all of them mentioned the job market and the economy without our provocation. it seemed to me that the current mayor and gm/ford were actively trying to turn things around so that's encouraging. urban revitalization has become a fascination of mine during this trip.


    • 6-25-06 (16:04)

  • on the road from london to detroit meryl was driving and we got a sidewall flat so she pulled over quickly and we changed the tire on the side of the highway. it was faster than if we had AAA do it and she doesn't get cell service in canada so we had to do it ourselves; what a concept. i could digress here and mention the atrophy of our culture in these arenas as a result of our service economy and technology like cell phones, but i won't.

  • so we rode the gimp wheel to windsor (the "automotive capital of canada"), just outside of detroit, but still in canada, and went to a costco to get our tire changed. technically we needed a membership card to get service, but the guy was cool so he let us slide. technically my mom's a member an i could have found a pay phone or something to get the number, but, like i said, he let us go. so after a slight detour/delay we hit the road for detroit.
  • we got to the border and went up to the window and right away the guy gave us attitude. he told me to take off my sunglasses, i apologized and complied. then he asked us for documentation and we gave our driver's licenses (which is all that is required until november, i believe). he asked for birth certificates and passports and we said we didn't have them. he asked if we had any way of proving that we were citizens and we said "no." he asked where we had been, how we knew each other and all sorts of stuff. he was very accusatory and obnoxious the entire time. then he launched into a semi-rant about how we couldn't prove that we were citizens and how driver's licenses don't prove anything - they can be made illegally - etc. it was funny to hear a lecture from this guy about the relative nature of citizenship and what amounted to an epistemological discussion. i felt like debating him about the ability to counterfeit a ca driver's license versus a birth certificate and various forms of identification and what they actually indicate (nothing), but i didn't. obviously he's got to be somewhat difficult to make sure certain people don't make it inside the border, but i really didn't understand why he was being such a dick about it and why he was going about it the way he was. also, if they're going to require a passport to cross the canadian/u.s. border why don't they just say so. the law requiring that doesn't go into affect until late this year so enforce the law or change it. anyway, after putting us through the wringer and trying to make us slip up with our stories, he let us in. the only other thing we gave him were receipts for things we did in toronto, which, apparently, proves that we're american citizens. fuck that guy.
  • we drove around detroit, which is basically a shell of what it was 40 years ago. buildings are hollow and streets are empty. i suspect flint is even worse. both have been screwed by globalization, the weakening of unions, suburbanization and the exodus of american car companies. it's pretty sad, but it's also a good reminder of what once was and a warning of what could happen.
  • we ate at a burger/hot dog place called american coney island which has been around since 1917. there are quite a few coney island eateries around here. they're cheap and offer greasy, chili topped american food. it was good.

  • after the cheap dinner we watched the omen at a theater way north of downtown. we ended up sleeping in the same parking lot as the theater. the next morning (today) we went to the detroit zoo and walked through the entire grounds. they have an arctic exhibit that's very cool, though not litterally. the pinnacle of the exhibit is about 2/3 of the way through when you get to walk through an acrylic-lined tunnel with water surrounding you. polar bears and seals swim next to and over you as you walk through and take pictures. the detroit zoo also has the usual african animals like zebras, lions, rhinos, giraffes, etc. they don't have elephants. we also saw the reptile and bird exhibits. pictures are forth-coming.











    • 6-24-06 (9:42)

  • Phew, LOTS has happened in the last couple of days and we have been QUITE busy. Last Tuesday we went to Cooperstown and I LOVED it. It's true, like Chris said some stuff was left out that could have made it even better, but all in all it was a pretty fabulous place. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It kinda sucks that it's so far away from where I live, I don't really see myself going into the buttcrack of New York anytime soon, so maybe I'll never get to go again. But if I don't, at least I got to go this once.
  • So blah ba di blah blah blah, we stayed in Syracuse that same night like Chris said and got woken up by VERY loud thumping and crashing from upstairs and we called the front desk after they busted a hole in the ceiling and found out they were repairing the sprinkler system in case of a fire. You can't really get mad at that, but it sucked because the really nice thing about staying at hotels is that we get better sleep and we can sleep for longer, but they woke us up a bit early, oh well. After that we headed out for Utica, NY for brunch. It turns out we passed it without knowing, I guess it was so small we couldn't see it from the freeway, whoops. So we continued on to Buffalo and ended up eating at a place that used to be a Masonic Temple. It's now a bar and grill, that turned out wasn't too good - my pasta primavera made me feel sick. One thing that was weird, on their TVs they were playing PBA competitions, I've got to say that was my first time being at a bar and grill that was showing bowling. It seemed weird, the World Cup was on and they had bowling on every TV but one. After lunch we continued on to Niagara Falls, which I was pretty excited about. Chris, of course, had been there before, but I hadn't so I was looking forward to it. When we got to the border the border patrol lady asked us quite a lot of questions. I've never been to Canada, and the only other times I left the country were to go to Mexico walking across the border where they're really not going to tell you anything, or I was with parents, whether it was my own or someone else's, so I didn't pay as much attention to what they asked. I asked Chris if last time he went to Canada they asked him that many questions and he said no. I figured it must be related to the post-9/11 world, or the fact that we didn't really know our details - "how long are you staying?","uh, three or four days." "Where are you staying?","we're not sure".....you get the idea. Once we got to the Falls I was blown away. I've seen pictures and everything, but not to sound cliche or anything, but pictures don't do it any justice. It was pretty amazing. I'm kinda afraid of large natural bodies of water (I'm weird like that) and so the incredible force that the water created and how AMAZINGLY fast it goes rushing up to the fall kinda freaked me out a bit. There are a bunch of baby falls leading up to the big one, and after each fall the water gets faster and faster and faster. It was pretty fucking amazing, I think it was my favorite nature site we've seen so far...wellllll.....maybe the Everglades, but this is a VERY close second.

    • syracuse:


    niagara falls:

    toronto skyline:
  • After that we headed up to Toronto. We got there around 7 or so I think and drove around a bit before parking and deciding what to do. I've got to say, I LOVE Toronto. For the last 4 or 5 years my favorite city has been NYC, but I think Toronto may have it beat. It's got all the same great things as NYC - art, culture, diversity, mass transit, cool neighborhoods, great parks, and interesting people, but it's also so much CLEANER. It was amazing to be in a big city (4.5 million) that didn't smell like urine. Not only that, but on all the corners where trash cans are, there are also recycling containers. The city provides garbage bags to businesses that waste is put in, and then along side all of the waste you see all of the recycling that the company puts out as well - empty folded up boxes with all their paper recycling in it. Most cities just dump all of their waste into one container - things that can be recycled and all - and this creates A LOT of waste because cities use a lot of resources. So it was really cool that the ENTIRE city participates in recycling so extensively. Toronto also has got to be the most ethnically diverse area I have ever been to in my entire life, so that was pretty cool. The area that we hung out in most of the time had a lot of cool different kinds of shops, LOTS of restaurants, and a bunch of movie theaters. One thing that Chris pointed out to me that I didn't see at first, was on our second day we were walking around and a homeless man had a cast on his foot with a walking boot. Canada has government funded health care, so it was really cool to see that a homeless person was supported by this as well. Toronto gets an A+++++++. We drove around for a bit and decided to see a movie. It was a little after 10 when we got to the theater so we were limited to Nacho Libre and the Lake House, we saw the Lake House. I had pretty low expectations and they were right, I did not enjoy the movie and a lot of the time Chris and I kinda laughed at it. A lot of couples were there and I couldn't help to think how many of the girlfriends made their boyfriends see it with them - I'm sorry boyfriends. After the movie we drove back to a ritzy neighborhood we had seen before and parked the car across from a park and went to bed.
  • When we woke up in the morning we found a place to watch the US/Ghana World Cup game. I wasn't surprised to see how many people were at the pub so early in the moring to see the game. When we were in NYC we saw a game in the middle of the afternoon and only one other person was there to watch it. At this pub, the place was completely full for a 9:30 game. They had the Italy/Czech game on the big TV and the US/Ghana game on the small TV. I of course was not surprised that the US lost and in fact didn't really watch the game and instead watched the Italy game which made me hate the Italian team because they flopped all over and cried like babies whenever they got "fouled." I wanted the Czech team to win SO bad because they seemed pretty tough and had good sportsmanship, but sadly they didn't. In the US/Ghana game, I was surprised to find out that about 80% of the fans there were cheering for Ghana and erupted into applause when Ghana scored. Later throughout the trip when we drove around we saw TONS of Ghana flags, so it seems like there is a large Ghanian population in Toronto. After the US lost, I've got to say I TECHINICALLY won the bet I made with Chris. I agreed that he shouldn't pay my $5 because the US did TIE a game, but you know, they never WON. And they only scored one goal again (I don't count the one against Italy because that was an own goal, they didn't score it). And actually, I think the US guy who scored danced around a little cockily, if my team had had that disgusting of a showing in the World Cup after I bragged about myself so much and just bitched and bitched and bitched in all the interviews I had, he had some serious balls - at least I think - to celebrate that much. To sum it up, I think the US sucked this World Cup, AGAIN, but it wasn't a surprise, I expected it.
  • meryl's such a negative nancy (that's a cartman reference) sometimes. after the game we went to a starbucks and took care of some business there. we also did some laundry at a coin-op place and read while we waited. we went to the bata shoe museum and saw the evolution of footwear and some good exhibits on the importance of shoes in different cultures. it was a pretty interesting museum and we figured we may as well go to a few wacky museums because there's only so much cezanne and manet you can take on one trip. we left the museum and didn't have anything planned for the night so we went out for a quick dinner and then saw "wordplay." (meryl wants erik to see it) my reviews are in the usual place.
  • to skip back a bit...on wednesday when we left syracuse we stopped in rochester and buffalo on our way to niagara falls and toronto. rochester was pretty much a dump and it seems like we've come across a lot of dumpy cities in our travels. it could be any number of factors working independently or in tandem, but i think one element is that we're generally visiting the downtown area. i think there's an element of suburbanization that has been occurring for a long time which has depressed the downtown area of a lot of mid-sized cities. downtown is for going to work and not much else, so it seems to me. i only have theories as to why this is happening, but i think it's an important factor to the depressed nature of many downtown areas.
  • regarding toronto: i'm not a city guy. i was born and raised in the second largest city in the country and i like it there, but somewhere within me i just wasn't meant to be in large cities. i hate the dirt, the lawlessness, the busyness, the noise, the smell, etc. i like that you can do anything in a city and i sometimes like that you can blend in without being bothered, but that's generally derives from the fact that people are too concerned with themselves than from some sense of wanting to allow people their space; at least that's my take. i can look at a city and enjoy the architecture and appreciate the great cultural venues and frequent the theaters and restaurants, but ultimately i'm not a city guy. all that said, toronto is great. i've been to dozens of cities in america and a few in canada/mexico, and toronto probably sits atop the heap. it's a little more expensive than some cities, but overall it's not as pricey as san francisco, chicago or nyc and it's got some car traffic at certain times in certain areas, but it's otherwise a fantastic city. it's bustling with activity from lots of different kinds of people and everyone seems to get along. people are nice, there's not much honking or trash. it's active, but it's not the kind of city where people would step over you if you fell down. for being a city of 4.5 million it's amazing how many people rollerblade, skateboard and (especially) bike around town. the public transit system is easy to understand and only a bit more expensive than nyc's (which is probably one of the top three in the world behind tokyo and london). it's home of a really great and up-and-coming film festival. while we were there it was (gay) pride week and there was a jazz festival going on as well. it's got some great architecture and cultural/sport venues. the skydome is right next to the cn tower (the tallest free-standing structure in the world, as of 2005) and both are impressive, but not as forbidding and dominating as the skyscrapers in new york. i've seen the sears tower, the wtc buildings and the cn tower up close and the wtc buildings seemed the tallest because they were so monolithic. the sears tower steps in to preserve the skyline and the cn tower (though impressive up close) doesn't have the same dominating presence as the other structures do/did. toronto is also, so far as i can tell, a fairly green and blue city. "green" socially and "blue" politically. a lot of their power derives from hydo-electric and wind. they are committed to recycling and public transit and conservation programs. there are ads alongside the major highway and rather annoying billboards which dominate the view, they have ads which are made along the grass shoulder. bushes and flowers comprise the logos of different companies in a pretty, but still effective, manner. one thing i noticed, which i read later in our travel book, was that toronto residents are in pretty good shape for city dwellers. not only is there a definite presence of people who are working out, biking around the city, and looking good, but there is also a lack of obesity which is more prevalent in the states. other random notes: even the churches seemed more inclusive and laid back - one church had a rainbow flag on the front door. i'm pretty sure medicinal pot is legal here and we saw two women walking down the street puffing away in a nice part of town. the us dollar sucks these days and the exchange rate wasn't as kind as it was the last time i was here. for me, the winters are probably the worst thing about toronto.

    • toronto:

    bata shoe museum exhibits:


    more images from toronto, vern might like the nosferatu to radiohead flyer, we once watched metropolis to black sabbath's self-titled album:


  • i've seen a lot of General Hospitals in my day, just once i'd like to see a Specific Hosptial.
  • friday we woke up with a ticket on our windshield and that was unfortunate. we had planned on parking at the same park and sleeping there, but some van showed up and parked kinda close so we drove somewhere else and didn't see the no parking between 2-11am sign. paid that online later that day. we went to the textile museum and learned about the different kinds of weaves and stitches that have developed for different uses. it had some good exhibits on how different cultures have used different textiles for different purposes. it also showed some of the different styles and symbols/motifs that those cultures have developed. i think my grandmother would have liked it. later in the day we caught another movie before going to the ballgame.

    • me at a computer in the textile museum. the computer program was a visual display of the paterns in music, pretty nifty.
  • we used the subway to get to the sky dome (rogers centre). there's a good amount of activity outside of the park - some people selling souvenirs and food and tickets, but also a guy playing drums and a lot of people just hanging around before the game; almost like a standing tailgating scene. we bought our upper level tickets behind homeplate without any trouble. the tickets were reasonable at $9 (CAD) each with a $2 fee, but the other price levels are pretty silly. the next cheapest seats are $24 and it goes up from there. capacity is a bit over 50k, so it's a big place, but i didn't find the upper level seats to be all that bad. the bottom level goes back far and doesn't go up much, like fenway, and the upper level goes up a lot, but doesn't go that far back so the seats are pretty decent. the jumbotron is great looking and really big, i think the biggest in the majors. consequently it has plenty of good information about the pitch count, some key stats, the lineup and some general information about the man at bat. they also have screens in the outfield for other baseball game scores, pitch speed and type, and other info. the retractable roof was also pretty cool. other than the outfield wall, which is perfectly round and symetrical, there is very little advertising inside. this may explain the ticket prices a bit. one cool promotion they had was for some pizza chain that gives free slices of pizza for ticket holders if the jays strikeout seven or more batters. after six strikeouts, with the jays losing by 5 runs in the top of the ninth, everyone in the stadium was chanting "pizza, pizza, pizza," even the rowdy mets fans cheered after their own player struck out, thus securing the free pizza for all. "hey, we like pizza too!" a few of the mets fans said while cheering and giving high fives. it was great. the whole game was great, even better than the phillies/mets game. in fact both of those games were made better by the presence of annoying mets fans riling up the opposing fans. at both games the mets ended up winning and the mets fans would cheer throughout. "let's go mets" was the most popular, but they also cheer for jose reyes with the "ole, ole ole ole" soccer cheer, only they change it to "jose, jose jose jose." i've mentioned before that i like jose reyes so i enjoy this cheer, but i also enjoyed it when he missed a ball and the jays fans used the same cheer to mock him. a few jays fans even used this cheer melody to call for the beer guy: "more beer, more beer more beer more beer." there was a great dynamic between the loud, outspoken mets fans who wouldn't shut up and the few jays fans who would talk shit back. it's not the kind of thing i can really describe, but suffice it to say that it was great fun and i wish every game was a mets game because their fans seem to really bring it. after the game they were at the end of the tunnel high-fiving everyone as we came from the seats and were saying "good game good game, we all got pizza" and stuff like that. another great moment came in the 8th inning, or thereabouts, when two fans ran onto the field and the game stopped. security officials rushed the field and tackled both fans while everyone else cheered. i remember the days before 9/11 and the time when that father and son attacked the first base coach, when running onto the field was fun and not seen as such a threat. nowadays they take it so damn seriously because a few stupid people have done stupid things and we live in a culture of fear. anyway, people at the game loved it and i thought it was great. they weren't running on the field to hurt anyone, they were just being dumb (probably) drunk guys and it entertained everyone so i don't really see the harm. hopefully they didn't get in too much story. this game was easily the most fun one that i've been to. there have been great moments at other games - the phillies/mets game was great fun, the time bonds his 7 rbi at dodger stadium and even the dodger fans were rooting for him, the time the dodgers had like 6 errors and the dodger fans were getting irate was also memorable, but this game had it all. here's one of the more funny fans we sat next to. there's a decent amount of provided entertainment between the innings as well.

    • skydome pics:





    big, high quality jumobtron:

    with the digital zoom and the shaky seats i couldn't get a great shot of this guy getting taken off the field.


  • after the game we left the skydome and headed toward the subway. the drummer guy was still outside and he had quite a big crowd around him so we watched that for a bit. everyone seemed to be enjoyed themselves quite a bit and they started chanting m-v-p for him after he did his show. toronto is great. we eventually got back on the subway and back to the car. considering there were about 25k people at the game the transit system worked pretty damn efficiently. getting out of the area is a lot easier here than it is at shea or yankee stadium.
  • we drove to missisauga and slept at a motel 6. woke up the next morning and hit the road, which is where we are now. we stopped in london to drop off some mail and see if we could get the car worked on, but the place we went to was busy so we're heading to detroit.


    • 6-20-06 (12:16)

  • slept at a motel 6 in syracuse last night. at motel six you can count on two things: low prices and there will always be something that you won't like about the room. sometimes it's a dank smell or a lack of towels or bad tv reception. this morning it was being woken up to loud banging on the ceiling. apparently they were repairing something with the sprinkler system, but they were banging so hard that the drywall in the ceiling above us actually broke between the joists. i thought someone, or something, was going to come crashing down on us, but that never happened.
  • it's interesting to see how each state's license plates work. some have the name of the county, others do not. california doesn't do that and they have two number/digit systems for trucks/cars. trucks are NLNNNNN and cars are NLLLNNN. back in the day ca used to be only six characters NNN LLL. my favorite is still washington d.c. because they have "taxation without representation" printed on the bottom edge. it's pretty pathetic that the nation's capital has the same problem that we cited when separating from england. they have electoral votes, but no representation in congress.
  • there are a shit load of dunkin' donuts in boston.
  • we saw the baseball hall of fame in cooperstown yesterday. it's bigger and better than the basketball hall of fame, but still has some gaps as far as i'm concerned. it would have been cool to have an outline of some of the major debates in baseball - from the dh to the "greatest player of all-time" debate. there was a hall of major stats, but it would have been cool if they had some obscure single game records like most steals in a game or most homeruns in a row, fun stuff like that. i think this is especially true for baseball since stats are such a large part of the enjoyment of the game. they didn't have any discussion of strategies either. there was some coverage of the game's evolution, but not much. all that said, it was a pretty great place. they had an overview of the different kinds of parks and the evolution of park design from the wooden structures to the concrete and steel structures to the dual use stadiums like shea to the retro look in urban areas like camden. they had plethora of memorbilia - from game bats and balls to jerseys, championship rings, luggage tags and everything in between. generally, that stuff isn't all that interesting to me, but i appreciate that so much of it is where it belongs. they also had a section dedicated to baseball art and movies. both were small, but it gives you an idea of the kind of impact the sport has had on american culture. there were a couple of norman rockwell pieces that i enjoyed and there were a few by vincent civileti and stevan dohanos which were very much like rockwell's style. they had a trivia challenge which we didn't see, but i thought it was cool that they had that. they also had a short video which was kinda crappy. they had another art section dedicated just to negro league related art. there's a wealth of information there and you could easily spend an entire day there if you're a hardcore baseball fan.

    • rockwell sketch:



    two of the more impressive stats:

  • in the couple games i've seen i'm really liking reyes, who leads off for the mets. he's quick, plays good small ball, and is a solid infielder. it was pretty cool because last night peter gammons listed him as an up and coming shortstop on baseball tonight.
  • the nba game last night was a disappointment. it was a fine game, but i didn't like the outcome. the nba seems to have turned into a bit of a fascist regime lately. they fined mark cuban 250k the other day for something (i'm not sure what because they didn't show a replay) he did after game five. then there's all the b.s. suspensions during the playoffs this year and a few suspect changes in wardrobe rules. i don't know what they're trying to do, but it's getting obnoxious. the other thing that annoys me is the lack of players who are willing to commit fully to defense. in the last 10 years i can think of only a few players who really play defense. rodman, artest and wallace (in that order) are the most obvious. why isn't there a player who is willing to face guard a guy like wade in order to deny him the ball (the most effective defense there is for a player like that)? i'm also annoyed by the nba's new "video game" camera angle. the wire camera thing may work in video games, but it just doesn't cover enough of the court to be effective in real life. the camera operators aren't up to snuff with yet either. it's fine for replays, but not for live action - there were several times when they'd switch to that angle and miss a 3 point shot as a result.


    • 6-20-06 (10:49)

  • forgot to mention that i added some images in a few of the previous entries, so there might be something new that wasn't there the first time you looked at it.
  • while in atlantic city i saw a funny/sad image. a lady sitting at a slot machine with her player card inside while she was playing. her player card was attached to a long elastic lanyard which was around her neck. i wish i had taken a picture. i would have captioned it: who's playing whom? or something to that effect. it really looked like she was on a leash. i hated atlantic city, just like i hate las vegas. nothing good happens in those places, but meryl rightly made the following observation when talking about las vegas vs. atlantic city: "yeah, but at least las vegas is clean and the people there have teeth."
  • when we're traveling and looking for good places to sleep for the night there are a few reliable business indicators. bad: pawn shops, check cashing locations, gun shops, and liquor stores. good: starbucks and whole foods markets.
  • while in baltimore we were walking downtown and there was a trafic officer at a four way intersection efficiently directing traffic. he was in the middle of the intersection, but in the right most lane, which was a turn only lane. some woman in the right lane was slowly driving into the intersection right towards the officer, he held up his hand and strongly gestured for her to take a right turn because it was a turn only lane. she kept creeping forward towards him as he did this, then he reached into his back pocket and took out his ticket book, held it up for her to see and repeated the right turn gesture. she continued forward very close to him and he stepped aside and she started talking to him, and i couldn't hear what either party was saying, but he seemed upset and she just seemed retarded. finally he gestured for her to turn and park so he could give her a ticket. as we walked by she continued to talk with him, presumably to try to explain herself or get out of the ticket, but he had none of it and just wrote her a ticket. it was pretty great.
  • another funny story which i neglected to impart came in atlanta. it was after the game and we were walking with the usual crowd of fans trying to get to their cars. it had started to drizzle a bit and we reached a parking lot exit where there were a few traffic cops directing the flows of pedestrians and cars. they signaled for us to stop and for the cars to go. the steady stream of cars continued for a few minutes and the pedestrians (including us) started commenting on the poor strategy of the traffic cops as well as some of the silly drivers who were confused by the traffic cops' directions. after several minutes of waiting the pedestrians around us started to grumble about not being allowed to go and they started booing the traffic cops; that was a first. the booing got louder and then we all just sort of took it upon ourselves to start walking through parking lot exit, at which point the traffic cops had no choice but to stop car traffic.
  • fenway is a pretty great place to watch a game. it's the only time i've gone to a park and gotten goosebumps. coming out of the walkways and into the light and seeing the field right there was a pretty great experience. it's not just that the field is so close, it's that you're on the same level as the field, and that makes all the difference. as meryl writes below, i went down to the second row of seats and took pictures, and some video, during batting practice. we were in basically the last row of the bleachers, which are oddly angled, so we were probably as far from the action as you can get, but it really wasn't all that bad. i really liked being amongst the people and hearing their conversations. it didn't feel as distant or cramped as it is in yankee stadium and the bleachers bums aren't second class citizens who are kept separate from the rest of the action. it's definitely an old ball park - it doesn't have the crisp look of a pacbell, minute maid or citizen's bank park, but it's so much more tied to the historic baseball experience that what it lacks in bells and whistles is forgotten. capacity is only like 35k which is paltry, esp. considering how big baseball is in boston. speaking of which, judging by conversations, the souvenir shop and the surrounding area, the red sox seem to be something of a religion here. the ruth curse is about as easy to believe as the idea that jesus is his own father, but i digress. fenway is well maintained, the field has as much character as any other i've seen - there are a couple odd angles and, of course, the green monster. the fans around us got out of their seats too often for my taste, but that was my only real complaint. here's a video i took of terry francona signing stuff for kids. at one point a kid threw a baseball card and it hit terry in the face and he gave a real annoyed look, then he told the kid to gently throw the pen and it was way short so terry looked more annoyed and reached across the dugout to get the pen and sign the card. it was funny.





  • i disagree with meryl about bostonians feeling superior to tourists, we've talked about it and i don't really see her examples as any different from the new york experience. i guess it just comes down to a matter of opinion. as for the driving situation - i think that if i grew up in boston i'd be completely used to it and wouldn't even consider the lack of lane dividers an issue. i think it's just a regional thing, one that we're not used to.
  • right now we're in albany. it's a nicer town than i envisioned and the buildings in the gov't center are quite nice. hopefully some of the pictures will be worth posting.


  • the biggest annoyances in the northeast are parking and toll roads.
  • so far we've been to the following states: texas, louisiana, mississippi, alabama, georgia, florida, south carolina, north carolina, virginia, maryland, delaware, connecticut, pennsylvania, new york, new jersey, massachusetts. of those sixteen states we've been to the following capitals: austin, baton rouge, montgomery, atlanta, raleigh, richmond, boston, albany, trenton, and harrisburg. 10/16.


    • 6-19-06 (23:21)

  • We've spent the last two days in Boston, and I've got to say I'm pretty split on the city - I'm still not quite sure what I think of it. Yesterday we attempted to walk the Freedom Trail with a National Park Ranger - that DID NOT work out. We waited in the lobby of the National Park Visitor Center and when she arrived she started out the tour running circles through the lobby waving American and British flags screaming something I can't quite remember. I gave a look to Chris, and he of course told me I shouldn't judge too early, he knew I thought she was INSANE. It turned out I judged early, but I was definitely right. She was CRAZY and pretty soon into the tour, we turned around and started walking the other way and took the walk on ourselves. We managed to hit a lot of the sites, but as the day went on my knee got more and more tired and it got hotter and hotter so we decided to stop and hang out in Harvard Square. Later we went to a Bar & Grill to watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals. We had a pretty good dinner and were able to watch only the first half because the restaurant was shutting down. We were pretty pooped though, so it was okay. We drove around for a while and decided to park outside the Harvard Football Stadium for the night to sleep. The day was hot and the night was hot as well. Besides our first night in New Orleans, last night was probably one of the more difficult nights to sleep through. It never seemed to go below about 85, and in the car with the windows rolled down only a bit we weren't getting a lot of air. I was able to sleep on and off, waking up about every hour, but Chris had a really hard time, and at some points he just sat up and stayed awake for a while before he could go back to sleep.
  • We woke up this morning not well rested, VERY hot and pretty cranky. By 8:30 it seemed like it was already 90. We drove to find a Starbucks to check email, upload the web page and all that good stuff. After that we drove around for about an hour trying to find a place to eat breakfast, and then find a parking space. We found a cool Irish pub that had World Cup coverage and ended up staying there for about 2 1/2 hours eating lunch and watching the Ukraine/Saudi Arabia game. I have to say I'm pretty uniterested in the World Cup considering I was a soccer player for so long. I've never really liked the men's USA team, for as hot shit as they think they are, I don't think they're very good at all. I think a lot of them think they're God's gift to the country and they really haven't lived up to the hype they've created for themselves. Last World Cup they only scored one goal, and so far they've only scored one goal - and the Italians scored it for them. I feel like whenver I watch coverage of them, they're all making excuses about how it's not their fault and blah blah blah. I even bet Chris $5 that they wouldn't win a game, yeah sure I'm going to hell, but I don't really care. I really have started to dislike the Brazilian and English teams as well. I understand and know that they are very talented teams, but I think they're a pretty stuck up bunch too. I really have no respect for asshole athletes, it just makes me want to vomit. I really hope a team that NO ONE would expect to win ends up winning. I would LOVE it if Trinidad and Tobago won, or some other underdog, I think it would be pretty great.
  • After lunch we went to see X-Men: The Last Stand. I felt kinda bad about not touring around Boston a bit more, but my knee really couldn't handle it today and touring the city by car is a no no. I expected the movie to be disgustingly horrible, and although it was horrible, it wasn't disgusting, so that was good.
  • Once the movie was over we headed over to Fenway. It was only about 4:30 or so and the game started at 7, but after all the crap that happened at Shea, neither Chris or I wanted to take the chance that we would miss ANY of the game or the chance to walk around Fenway. I think we finally got there around 5:30 or so. The book we have says that unless you're willing to pay at least $25 for parking around the park you have to take a train that costs $1.25 per person each way. Chris and I figured we could find better. It turns out, we were right. We only had to pay 75 cents for the meter until 6 when it was done, and walk maybe 10 minutes till we got to the field. I thought we did a pretty good job. Fenway was GREAT. I loved Yawkey way - the street running along one side of Fenway and all the stuff they've got going on. There are tons of sports bars and pubs and restaurants and souvener stands, it's CRAZY. I saw lots of Boston gear, but I don't think they beat the Yankees as far as wearing team gear goes. One thing in particular Chris and I liked was the Boston Souvener Shop. It was the BIGGEST store dedicated to one team I have EVER seen. There was literally every piece of fan merchandise there you could think of. They had every Red Sox hat I had ever seen and then 20 others, women's bathing suits, pool floaties, pajamas, memorabilia, jerseys, jackets, running shorts.......and the list goes on. One thing I REALLY liked about the store is, as a female who is a fan of baseball I have a hard time getting jackets and sweatshirts that actually fit me. I either have to get X-Small or Small men's things or large kid's stuff, and it still never fits right because it's cut for a boy and not a girl. But they had TONS of women's stuff, down to the team fleeces, it was great. We walked around Yawkey way a bit more and then entered the ball park. We hung out in the field level seats for a bit and watched batting practice. I was tired so I stayed in my seat, but Chris walked down right to field level and saw Terry Francona signing autographs and posing for pictures. That was pretty cool considering he used to be the A's bench coach, gotta like that. After we hung out down there we headed out to our seats in the bleachers. They were pretty good, so we were satisfied. I've got to say, Fenway is a GORGEOUS park. I like the fact that you are so close to the field of play practically everywhere, and the park itself is pretty small (originally designed to fit within a city block, thus the weird field dimensions). These factors really give you a sense of intimacy and make the game a lot more exciting. Our book told us that bleacher fans are pretty rowdy and drunk (reminds me of the A's....sigh.....) but we didn't encounter any sort of rowdiness until the end of the game when a reliever with the first name "Rudy" came in and everyone started chanting his name (like the movie) and started screaming insults at him when he wasn't doing so hot. Another thing I liked was a little girl who was about 12 was sitting next to Chris and she was keeping score and was really into the game and seemed to know her baseball stuff. It made me smile. She was keeping score with a regular pen and kept scribbling stuff out, so I passed along one of my erasable pens to her. I love girls who are into baseball and know their stuff. I remember being little and playing Little League and not having really any other girls around me. For a couple seasons there was one other girl in my league, but other than that, girls were pretty absent. I don't know if she played Little League or not, but it was nice seeing another young girl into baseball and not afraid to show it. I feel like a lot of times young girls are encouraged to play or like sports that are "woman friendly," and not play sports with boys. I remember being called a lesbian by 10 year old boys or asked if I was even a girl because I played baseball and not softball. It's sad that so many kids aren't able to deal with things that are different, and that a lot of parents didn't seem to be bothered by their sons treating me so bad. So all in all, blah blah blah, seeing little girls who are baseball fans always make me smile. The Sox ended up winning 6-3 and all the fans were in a good mood at the end of the game. We were a little discombobulated when we came out of the ball park and it took us a little bit to figure out which way to go to get to our car, but we eventually figured it out.
  • We hit the road and headed to Cooperstown, or Mecca, whatever you want to call it. We're stopped at a rest stop for the night about 125 miles away. Hopefully we'll be able to make good time tomorrow morning and hit Cooperstown by late morning or early afternoon. After that it's off to the Niagara Falls and Canada. I'm not sure how I feel about our visit in Boston. I kinda got the sense that locals thought they were a lot better than tourists, and I can understand that feeling, but it also kinda bothered me. Also, like Philly, the driving was NOT good. There were no lane markings very frequently and it seemed like people drove where ever they felt they wanted to right then. Pedestrians were also all over the place. Even when cars had the green light they would just march out into the street and figure that SOMEONE would stop for them. Two ladies were walking in the middle of the street at one point and we honked at them so we could go by because they were blocking the road and we had the green light and they turned around and gave us dirty looks. I was not too fond of the driving and a lot of the locals kinda rubbed me the wrong way, but all in all, I think Boston is alright, so long as I don't have to drive.


    • 6-18-06 (17:45)

  • we woke up yesterday morning in ct and headed over to springfield, ma. the basketball hall of fame is there so we got tickets and ended up spending a few hours looking through the museum. it's a pretty great place. it goes over the entire life of basketball since its inception, as well as documenting the major players, coaches, refs, and contributors to the sport. it outlines all the leagues and major teams - from barnstorming teams and touring teams like the "rens" and the globetrotters to nba teams like the 60s celtics. it does a very good job covering a wide range of topics as well; my favorite themes include the rules changes and the strategies that different coaches have developed. there are interactive exhibits from mainstream video games to skills tests to touchscreens with lots of stats and videos. there's also a basketball court on the first floor and dozens of balls on racks so you can shoot hoops any time you want. on the court they even have several different baskets and backboards to show the evolution from peach basket to clear glass backboard with twine netting.
  • the basketball hall of fame took a good chunk of the day and we had been fatigued by the nonstop walking from d.c. to philly to nyc, so we decided to get a motel early and rest. i was able to fiddle with some of the photos and write and meryl watched tv. we watched a bit of the hockey game and i was happy to see that edmonton tied the series up. i also watched the taylor/wright boxing match while meryl slept and thought that the draw was a fair decision. taylor seemed like the classier guy and wright seemed like a better boxer, but he got cocky in the last couple rounds.
  • we woke up late this morning and left for boston. right now we're in jfk park near harvard university. we did some of the freedom trail things, but broke it off early because meryl's knee is bothering her and it's over 90 degrees right now. the plan for the rest of the night is to take it easy, catch some dinner and watch the basketball game.
  • i was happy to see the us eke out a tie despite being two men down. the replays didn't look that bad so i agree that the ref made some bad calls. it sucks that it's going to affect them in the next game as well. speaking of bad calls - the nba has been full of bad overreactions to fouls during the playoffs this year. i really don't like the way they're suspending players so frequently for relatively small infractions. the only one i really agree with was the raja bell clothesline on kobe, because it was deliberate and malicious; though i commend him for doing it. the others have been crap.
  • i like boston. it seems more laid back and easy going than philly, nyc or chicago, but has many of the same perks and a shitload of history. it's got great scenery and the buildings, though not as impressive in size, are just as good looking as anything else you'll see. of course it's got its head on straight when it comes to political and social issues as well so that's not an issue. plus, it's got good transportation. i'm not a big fan of the cold, so that's really the drawback with any cities in the northeast. the people here are also pretty nice and helpful. there's a certain gruffness that most people acquire living in a very large city which seems to be less present here. sure, there's a certain boston attitude, but it's more humorous than forbidding. i'll have to remember to look up tom silva before i leave.
  • so the first thing we did, as i mentioned, was the freedom trail. but we actually were distracted a bit beforehand by a protest that was taking place at city hall. there was some jewish/pro-israel celebration taking place at city hall so some pro-palestine people came out to protest israel and zionism. here's the video meryl took.
  • while in the quincy market area we saw a couple street performers. personally i prefer watching street performers to going to a bar, or whatever it is kids do these days.

    • forgot to mention this in the philly section...this is a monument to the irish food (potato) famine of the 1840s (correct me if i'm wrong on that time frame). it's a great monument with six acid-etched stone exhibits explaining the history of the famine. well worth a visit.

    basketball hall of fame:


    shots in boston:


    not sure if this is an homage to the car guys, or if they took it from this, or if they both got the idea from somewhere else. my personal favorite of their credits is their chaufers: Pickov and Dropov. ha, great.

    6-17-06 (19:07)

  • the places that we went to in new jersey had to have been the worst places in the state because we drove for hours through the state and it felt as though we never really left the ghetto. the last time i went to new jersey i liked it so i guess it just comes down to where you happen to be. we ended up going to connecticut to find a place to sleep for the night.
  • nba finals are turning out to be fairly uninteresting. i've seen two games so far and both were blowouts.
  • the next morning we left ct and went into nyc. we parked in queens and took a bus and train into manhattan. first thing we did was go to the american museum of natural history. my opinion is that it's the best museum of science in the country. of course, i haven't been to all of them, but i've been to a good sampling and this is the one that always blows me away. the exhibits are incredibly detailed and good looking. it doesn't cover all aspects of science by any stretch, but it covers the human impact on the globe, space, major mammals of africa and asia as well as areas dedicated to human history. it's impossible to cover it all in a day so we set aside about four hours for a few of our favorite exhibits. one fact that i found interesting: the average mussel filters one liter of water every 42 minutes. i wonder how well a mussel is able to filter salt water. could we use this to our advantage - a pre-filter to salinzation plants or something? nature holds so many answers.
  • we went downtown to see the wtc site afterwards. at this point it basically looks like a downtown construction site, not much more. there's some information set aside for people to look at and read while they're at the site, but it's mostly just a screened off construction site. there was no overwhelming sense of tragedy or emotion while i was there. my personal opinion is that places like this don't have an aura or metaphysical attachment to the events which took place there, rather they have meaning because we give them meaning. since i had been to the wtc only once before that space didn't hold much meaning for me. of course, thinking about what it represents gave the visit meaning.
  • later we walked around union square and did some people watching. then we went to the place we were staying (meryl's co-worker's sister's place). both barbara and hector were amazingly nice for letting us stay with them. they were great hosts and good to talk with about nyc, etc.
  • the next morning we went downtown and walked around times square a bit. meryl's knee was hurting so we didn't walk around too much. meryl went to lunch with an old friend and i did the moma thing. moma is like nyc. i like the idea, i like that it exists, but i'm not a huge fan. i like that nyc is there, but i wouldn't want to live there - it's just not my kind of place. other than the van gogh, hopper, dali, and picasso ny moma isn't really my style either.
  • we went back to union square to watch the end of the angola/mexico game and eat before the mets game. after the soccer match we left for queens, but the bus was delayed and we ended up missing the first inning and a half. this was the first game that we saw for free and the tickets were great. we got seats on the loge level, which is just above the field, and almost dead center behind the plate. they were the best seats we've had so far and they were comped courtesy of the mets so that made it even better. sadly, the mets lost the game because of heilman's bad inning of pitching, but we saw them beat the phillies so i guess it's okay.
  • shea stadium isn't all that special of a park. it was designed as a dual-use stadium and there are some blind spots. i didn't find the food selection to be all that amazing, but, according to our book, there's a pretty good selection. it's not a bad ballpark, but it's not special either. all that said, the mets are cool because they comped us tickets, and really good tickets at that.
  • after the game was a mess. some people drive, but most of the 45,000+ people there took the train and that caused quite the cluster fuck. there's only one exit to the #7 train so a lot of people started jumping the fence and that provided some entertainment while we waited for the bus. we took the bus, which was late and full, but not too bad. we drove for a couple hours and ended up sleeping outside of new haven, ct.

    • sequoia cross-section. this one was from a tree that was about 1500 years old. not sure if general sherman is older or not.


    shea stadium, from our awesome, comped seats:


    6-14-06 (19:22)

  • Chris summed up Philly pretty well. I've got to say Philly and Baltimore have been my favorites so far as cities go. Both have hold a lot of early American history (Philly winning) and both are pretty diverse with a lot of stuff going on and cool cultural neighborhoods. I however had a bad first impression of Philly because I was driving and I've got to say the craziest drivers are here. Forget NYC, that was easy. It seems like people don't pay attention to traffic rules at all in Philly. Stop signs are disregarded, 2 lanes become 1lane and become 2 lanes again. It's crazy. It made me pretty frustrated so Chris drove while we were there. Without needing to be the driver I enjoyed my time there very much. I liked looking around Independence Mall (Liberty Bell/Independence Hall area) and walking around South Street at night too. The Philly's game was especially fun too. There was a Met "fan" ahead of us who was kinda annoying. He wasn't cheering for the Mets until it was a close game, in fact he was cheering for Philly while the Mets were winning by 5 runs. When Philly came back to within 2 he started getting crazy. I found it pretty annoying as a baseball fan, like you only want your team to win if it's close? He in fact said "Come on, let's get some insurance runs," in the top of the 9th when the Mets were only up by 2 which I thought was laughable because 2 innings earlier when they were up by 5 he was cheering for the Phillies. Oh well. Like Chris said, there were lots of Mets fans on a whole at the game, which made it a lot of fun because they would yell back and forth at each other, it was pretty fun to watch. Chad Bradford came in for relief for the Mets and kicked ass which was a nice thing to see because he used to be a reliever for the A's. He's a submarine pitcher who I later read has only let 1 of 23 inherited runs score so far this year in relief. He's kicking some serious ass. Go Bradford. Another great thing we saw was on the big video screen - during usual birthday greetings - they had a camera on a guy proposing to his girlfriend, who thank goodness said yes. I, of course, pathetically thought it was fabulous. Another thing that was pretty comical was during the 7th inning stretch a really bad local boy band "sang" Take Me Out to the Ball Game. I learned to play it on the piano when I was little and I'm sure my rendition of it was awful, but this had to have been the WORST singing of it I have EVER heard. They BUTCHERED it by singing it doing vocal gymnastics. An example: "Take.....me out to the......ball g-AME." It was really funny though because NO ONE appreciated their version and booed them like CRAZY. I know they have different people sing it at Wrigley and I've heard of pretty bad singings of it, but this was AWFUL, the fans booing wildly though made it wonderful.
  • We had a day to kill before we went back to NYC so we thought it might be fun to travel down to Atlantic City. We started yesterday night after the game, slept at a rest stop along the way and finished the drive this morning. What a mistake that was. I honestly have NO IDEA why people want to go to Atlantic City. I understand the whole gambling thing, but it was SO DEPRESSING. I think Atlantic City is my least favorite stop so far along the trip. I mean, it has potential and it still sucks. We tried to go to a silly little rainforest restaurant, but when we saw how AMAZINGLY expensive their prices were, we walked out and went to a Johnny Rockets. Johnny Rockets is normally pretty dependable, but the food gave both me and Chris stomach aches and we left Atlantic City around noon pretty dissapointed.
  • After AC we left for Trenton, NJ. Dissapointing as well. In AC we saw about 5 blocks of good area, the rest looked pretty seedy, I don't think Trenton even had 5 blocks, at least not that we could find and we drove around for a while. Dissapointed again, we left for Newark. One of my favorite books, The Pact takes place there and is about three young guys who make a pact when they are young to not succumb to street life and become doctors. I love the book, but from that story and from what my friends at New School in NYC say, I had the impression that Newark wasn't going to be a very good area either. I don't know if we just weren't driving in the right area - although once again we drove around for a while - but once again we couldn't find an area that looked like it was even decent. While we were in Trenton we saw two groups of about 5-10 teenagers that were getting arrested and Newark didn't seem too much better. It was pretty depressing to drive the whole day throughout New Jersey and not get the greatest impression. I know there are really nice areas of New Jersey, it just kinda sucked that we didn't get to see them. Oh well.
  • Right now we're on our way to White Plains, NY for the night. We'll hopefully get to see a movie and hang out for a bit and then head into NYC tomorrow morning, spend the night at Barbara's again, stay in NYC for the Mets game Friday and then head off to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Red Sox game in MA for a couple of days. I love NYC, so I'm looking forward to the next 2 days.

    • citizen's bank park in philadelphia:


    from our awesome seats in left field:

    one of the pregame attractions was this giant baseball pinball game:

    this sums up atlantic city fairly well: notice that the facade of this building is just that -a facade, and nothing more. it has not structural purpose - it's there simply to give the impression of old buildings.

    6-14-06 (09:35)

  • after nyc we drove to philly. we got a philly cheesesteak sandwich from pat's, which is across the street from geno's, and i thought it was pretty decent, but not spectacular; it's definitely authentic philly though - they've been around since 1930. geno's has only been around since 1966 and they seem like rednecks to me. they have a sign that reads "this is america so order in english" and they have a bunch of pro-police and pro-america stuff on the walls. it's not that there's really anything wrong with being pro-police or pro-america, but in this case it smacked of jingoism.
  • philly has some nice areas (south street, old town, independence square) and some not so nice parts (south and west philly). the seedy parts are pretty dirty and don't seem to get street cleaning. we walked around south street at night and it's got some good record stores and clothing stores. we also did the liberty bell thing. i think the liberty bell is pretty overrated - they just make too much out of it as a symbol. the next morning we saw independence hall where the declaration of independence, the articles of confederation and the constitution were all written. philly very well may have more important early american history than any city in the country. afterwards we saw the u.s. mint and a temporary exhibit on sports. both were pretty decent.
  • it was getting close to game time so we looked around downtown, including an indoor farmer's market kind of place, to kill 45 minutes before heading over to the game. citizen's bank park is pretty great. it's got some good character in outfield, a good amount of seating, plenty to do before the game and it looks nice. there were about 38k people there which i think is pretty damn good for a tuesday night. the crowd was into the game most of the time and it was made even more fun by the fact that so many mets fans were there. there was some good back and forth between fans throughout the game. there were also 7 or more homeruns hit throughout the game and four of them were fairly close to us (in left field). i think it's my favorite park so far. i like that it's intimate, has good character and that the fans are entertaining.



    • this is where the aforementioned documents were ratified, independence hall, philadelphia (the capital at the time):

    the senate met in this room. the ranger who gave us a talk in this building was quite a character. he called on people from the (small) crowd and was a dynamic speaker, i enjoyed it.

    one of the nicer buildings in downtown philly:

    6-12-06 (9:22)

  • I haven't written in a LONG time and we have been VERY busy. I'm not sure where to start, seeing as we've been so many places the last couple of days. I guess Chris covered most of Baltimore and DC, so I'll start from there. We left DC Saturday morning after staying at a friend of a friend's house. Sarah (at work) has a good friend who moved there after college, so she hooked us up with her so we would have a bed to sleep in and a shower to take :). Jill was very nice and very hospitable. She had a cute little apartment outside of DC in Alexandria, and it was really nice to have a bed to sleep in because we had slept in the car the last couple of nights. We left DC well rested and headed off to Gettysburg. Chris had been there previously, but I had never been, so I was pretty excited. I was amazed at how big the park is, and how within the park there is a town. We took a park ranger guided tour for 45 minutes, but it was cold and very windy and we were both tired, so we decided to take a self guided tour in the car after our first tour ended. We went to the bookstore and bought a 2-hour CD that guided us through the park and explained certain significant locations. Throughout the tour there are monuments and statues everywhere. It was pretty cool to see all of the landmarks that had been erected in honor of the battle. We took the tour for about an hour before we accidently got lost and wound up back in the parking lot. Chris was very tired and I was pretty tired myself, so we decided that it was nap time. For about a 45 minutes Chris slept and I read. After nap time were were fully rested and ready to go.
  • After our nap time we set out for New York. We were pretty hungry so we drove for a little under an hour before we stopped at Harrisburg (the capital of Pennsylvania) to stop for dinner. Our Lonely Planet guide said the capital building was pretty interesting so we made sure to make a stop to check it out before dinner. We wound up eating at a local Bar and Grill that had TVs at every table and a bunch hanging from the ceiling. It was cool because you were able to watch any sports game you wanted while you ate. I was a fan. Dinner was tasty and we set out again for New York after our tummies were full. New York City it turned out wasn't as far away as we thought, so we didn't have to drive too long into the night before we found a rest stop outside of Newark in Clinton to sleep for the night. The past few nights before that had been pretty chilly, but this night was COLD. Not only was it cold, but the people around the rest stop were pretty interesting. Normally it takes me a little while to get comfortable in our surroundings before I fall asleep in the car, but this time it took a little longer. I lifted up the curtains to check people out for a while before I decided I could fall asleep. Throughout the night I woke up periodicallly because it was so cold, even sleeping next to Chris with the blanket didn't keep me warm enough. However, it was a nice change after being WAY too hot in the south each night to sleep.
  • We woke up a little later than we normally do when we sleep in the car. Normally the heat and sun wake us up pretty early, but it was neither hot or sunny, so we were able to sleep a little longer, which was nice. After washing up in the bathrooms we headed out to the Bronx for our A's/Yankees game at 1:20. We got to the Yankee Stadium around 12 or so, which was nice because the game started at 1, so we had a bit of time to walk around. It seemed like all the parking lots charged the same amount, so we parked in one that was close to the Stadium. I've been to Yankee Stadium once before when my friend Carlos took me when I was at Parson's, and I had a pretty good experience. I have to say this time I did not. Our seats were bleacher seats, which apparently means there is only one entrance for you in the whole park. Each time we went to a gate to try and get in, the attendant would say "Oh, you have bleacher seats, the entrance is around the corner." We would go around the corner and try again, only to be told the same thing. I think it was about the 4th gate we went to before we finally got to the entrance. As it turns out, the bleacher entrance has a sign that is about 10 feet off the ground and about 2 feet wide, pretty difficult to find if you don't know where to look for it, which of course we didn't. We finally got in and walked to our section and discovered we had probably the crappiest seats in the ballpark. I don't really get why people like to seat in the bleachers at Yankees games because you're about 475 feet from home plate. We watched the A's batting practice for a while and then found our seats. The overcast sky and wind that we had encountered in the morning soon dissapeared as the afternoon went on. Throughout the game it got hotter and hotter and sunnier and sunnier. I stupidly hadn't put sun screen on and my arms got pretty burned. The game was on a whole pretty uncomfortable. It was too hot, the sun was beating down too much, our bench seats didn't have backs, the benches were WAY to close together (I don't have long legs at all and I kept accidently hitting the guy in front of me) and the people around us were pretty annoying. I've got to say, I know plenty of people who are Yankees fans, and they've never bothered me with their cheering, but the fans at the Stadium really pissed me off. Yankees fans have got to be the most self-hating fans I've ever encountered. In the 3rd innning Nick Swisher hit a deep fly ball to center and Johnny Damon and what ever Yankee was playing left (both team's line-ups were all switched around for some reason this game) collided and Swisher was able to get an in the park home run (pretty cool because I've never seen one). After the play a lot of the fans were screaming at Damon calling him a bum and cussing at him and blah blah blah. Later on in the game he miss-played a fly ball and they yelled at him again. I was curious if he was another A-Rod and everyone just hated him, but I was worng. Late in the game he had caught a ball that would have been a homerun and they all cheered and praised how good he is. I thought it was pretty ridiculous because 4 innings ago they were calling him a bum. It really bothered me for a couple of reasons. 1) Damon is a great player, he may have misjudged a play, but on a whole he is really good, I loved him when he was on the A's and was dissapointed when he went to the Red Sox. 2) The Yankees have a manufactured team and money just gets thrown all around, so their fans are pretty spoiled because they always have top players on their team. I've grown up watching the A's, a team that rellies on chemistry to win and seems to really enjoy being a TEAM. I've really got to say after this game I hate the Yankees even more than I did before. I can't generalize, but where we were sitting, the fans were spoiled brats. A woman sitting ahead of us said she wanted to leave after the Swisher homerun, that that "was the last thing" she wanted to see, and sure enough when the Yankees were coming back, she was screaming for them and saying how much fun she was having. I was doubly happy that the A's ended up winning, because they're my favorite team and because they beat the Yankees. Fuck the Yankees.
  • After the game we had a miserable time getting away from the park. For some reason the NYPD closed off a section of the sidewalk and we had to walk through some random parks in an attempt to find the parking lot where our car was. I've decided that the NYPD is the most worthless Police Force I have ever encountered. They weren't directing traffic, they weren't helping people find their way to their cars......they were just standing in groups together talking, which seemed to be standard throughout our one day visit in the city. When we finally got to our car it took us 20 minutes to get out of the parking garage and another 30 to get on a road. One hour after the game ended we were probably 300 feet away from the Stadium. Having a car in New York sucks. By the time we finally got to Manhatten it was nearly dinner time. It sucked. Because of traffic the only thing we did the whole day was go to the game, a 1:05 game. Lynn (at work) hooked us up with her sister who lives by the UN on the east side of the island (basically straight across from Times Square), so that was really nice because I'm not sure I'd want to sleep anywhere in New York in the car, I mean I LOVE New York City (without cars) but I'm not sure sleeping in the car is the safest thing to do there. After parking we walked to Times Square to the ESPN Zone restaurant to watch Game 2 of the NBA finals. We waited for about 45 minutes and had a pretty good time during the wait. On the 3rd floor of the restaurant is a video game arcade and we walked around and watched people play (it was REALLY expensive). The people competing in the basketball games were particularly funny, so we stayed there for a while. When we got our seats we were able to watch a whole bunch of sports games on all the TVs that were up throughout the 2nd floor dining area. Our waiter was really nice and dinner was good. The game should have started at 8:30, but it didn't start until 9:15 which sucked because we had to leave at 9:30 to get back to Barbara's apartment. We watched the 1st quarter and then headed off to Barbara's. Lynn's sister and husband were REALLY nice and funny. We stayed up a little bit talking, and then she showed us around the apartment and went to bed. We finished watching the basketball game low so as not to wake up her and her husband, and then went to bed. I woke up at about 6:45 to move the car (they have really strict parking around their apartment because it's by the UN). I drove around for an hour but could only find a one hour meter spot which sucked. I walked back and Chris and I took showers, packed up, and headed out. It was really nice to get a shower because the game was pretty hot the day before, so we were pretty sweaty.
  • Right now we're probably 30 minutes outside of Philly where we'll be for the next 2 days (game tomorrow night). After that we'll head back to NYC for a few days and then we're off to Boston. I'm excited to visit Philly because I've never been there and I hear it's a pretty cool city. I've also heard Phillies fans are crazy, so that should be fun too. Hopefully our Phillies experience is better than our Yankee experience.....
  • (12:50) we're doing laundry right now so i have time to write. i tried changing the air filter on the car, but the screw is stripped and i don't have my socket wrenches with me. when i asked the guys at pep boys if i could borrow a socket wrench for a minute i got the run around from six (i counted) different people and it led to a dead end. so, i returned the filter and maybe i'll just have them do it at an oil change place. it's not a huge deal, but the last time it was changed was a year ago and there have been a lot of miles since then so it's probably time.
  • yankee stadium is a so-so stadium from most perspectives. the bleachers are clearly not the way to go - you're separated from the rest of the stadium and unable to walk around, you're further from the field (esp. in the left field bleachers), and the seats are pitched too gently. overall i suppose i agree with meryl regarding the fans, but i think the truth is more that there are a lot of differing opinions being voiced in the bleachers and when taken together they conflict, but they may not individually. that said, they are pretty spoiled. the yankees do the least of the ballclubs we've seen so far to entertain the crowd between innings. generally, i think the crowd entertains itself with conversation and griping and bragging. all that said, it is yankee stadium and a lot has happened there so going there is sort of a rite of passage for a baseball fan.
  • i can't understand how so many people can choose to live in new york city, or why so many like it, with or without a car. if you drive in manhattan you're either rich, a masochist or you do it as part of your job. but cars aside, manhattan is just ridiculous. there are far too many people, you can't see the sky, there's no nature, everyone is loud auditorily, visually and olfactorily (?). i like that you can do anything there, but most cities have plenty to do so long as you're reasonably creative and your interests are varied. i guess i just don't like people enough to be surrounded by 10+ million of them. travis bickle and i are in agreement on this issue.

    • pennsylvania capitol building:

    yankee stadium:

    6-10-06 (21:19)

  • been busy driving and navigating.
  • after sleeping outside of charleston on tuesday the 6th we headed towards the research triangle - raleigh, durham and chapel hill. raleigh is the capital of north carolina so we parked downtown, looked at some of the buildings and went to the museum of natural science. it's a four floor museum with some great exhibits and well-laid out info. we didn't have much time because of parking and what we had planned to do for the rest of the day so we were in and out in about 45 minutes, which was about three hours too short. while in raleigh we also saw the nc state campus which was fairly nice. overall raleigh looks like a nice enough city with some notable downtown attractions.

    • me, thrilled:

    only dinosaur fossil ever found with its heart intact:
  • after raleigh we went to nearby durham, most notable for being home to duke university. duke has one of the most beautiful campuses i've ever seen. harvard is also nice. we didn't drive around durham too much because we still had to see chapel hill and get to richmond. chapel hill is a relatively short drive away from durham and it made me think about what march must be like in these three cities. all three schools have great men's basketball teams which are capable of making a big run in the tournament. duke/unc is one of the best rivalries in college sports and i'm sure it helps that the two cities are so close. throw nc state into the mix and you've got the vertible epicenter of college basketball.

    • a bit of duke:
  • chapel hill is a nicer town than durham and it seems a bit more laid back and college-oriented than raleigh. there are a good number of small shops and it had a progressive, athens, georgia kind of look to it. the campus is also nice, but not as nice as duke's. we drove by the dean smith center, other parts of the campus and the town in general and then left for richmond.
  • richmond's a pretty crappy city from what we saw. the tourism industry has a lot of potential, but they don't do a good job of coordination and beautification. contrast this with baltimore's efforts and you begin to understand how important it is to have good local leadership. the right mayor making the right efforts in this arena can increase sales tax revenues and local business incomes by an immeasurable amount. richmond doesn't have it and baltimore does. charleston did a good job with their history, savannah did not.

    • richmond's capitol building, under construction:
  • we slept in a nice part of richmond and got up early the next morning. i really liked the old buildings in richmond, but much of the town is run down or dirty so it doesn't make for a great visit. we drove to the third street diner downtown and had some homestyle breakfast. it's a 24 hour place that looks like a diner and serves omelettes and the usual diner style fare, but they also have a bar and a vending machine that vends cigarettes (i thought that this was illegal, but i guess not). about half the people were smoking and it had a dingey feel to it. richmond is home of philip-morris so cigarettes were a prominent theme during our visit. we had planned on doing the canal walk and visiting a museum or something, but quickly discovered that richmond is a business-oriented city and we felt our time, energy and money would be better spent in baltimore.
  • unlike richmond, baltimore is a great city. it seems like a good place to live, visit and do business. it was the first time we really wished we had more time. we went to the visitors' center near the bay and saw a fairly well done video about the area. the people working there were all older people who were very helpful and friendly. baltimore has one of the better downtown areas i've seen. it's clean, relatively easy to navigate and it's packed with good activities from sports (m&t stadium and camden yard) to shopping and everything in between. at night, after the orioles game, i felt completely safe walking back to the car. that said, one person who parked in the same complex as us reported having their car window broken. unfortunately, while in baltimore, we squandered our time a bit. we did the water taxi thing and saw little italy and fort mchenry (the battle here inspired key to write the star spangled banner). i looked at a copy of the original four versions of the star spangled banner and noticed that the final line "home of the brave" has three different punctuations. two with a period, one with a question mark and one with an exclamation mark. the one we use now has a question mark so the astros' punctuation on that was actually correct. all the other stadiums and reprints of it that i've seen so far use a period or an exclamation mark, but that, apparently, is incorrect. speaking of the star spangled banner - at camden yard the orioles fans accentuate the "o" in "o say does that star spangled banner..." i thought that was somewhat funny.

    • baltimore:

    me messing with the camera settings. the kid was on the water taxi with us and he was a local who knew a lot about the area.
  • i'd like to visit kentucky a bit more fully in the future. i don't think this trip is going to take us there, but a lot of pretty interesting people were born there (lincoln and jefferson davis, muhammad ali, diane sawyer, hunter s. thompson, loretta lynn, bill monroe, and more), it has an interesting history, and the terrain is supposed to be pretty fantastic.
  • camden yard is a very good place to see a game. apparently the building of the field made a big impact on the way ballparks were constructed. it came during a time when more and more domes were being built and it was built in the middle of a city so it changed the perception that a baseball park needed to be built indoors or on the outskirts of a city. HOK designed it (they also designed minute maid park and pac bell park) and it's well-placed in downtown. we were behind the plate and got a good look at the downtown buildings including a tall clock tower which features a face larger than big ben's. above the outfield screen there's a sign that reads "the sun" and when there's a close scoring call the official scoring (hit/error) will be indicated by the "h" or "e" blinking. we had a bit of rain at the end of the braves game and we had some more before this game started. it was the first time i had ever been to a delayed game; it ended up being a 40 minute delay. philip showed us to our seats and even cleaned them for us before we sat down. that was another first. the music that they play at camden is well chosen. during the rain they played rain themed songs, during a mound meeting they played "should i stay or should i go" by the clash, etc. subtle, but appreciated. the crowd wasn't as into this game as they have been at the other games. steve mcnair, now of the baltimore ravens, threw out the first pitch. they also had a video, during the rain delay, about ernie tyler who is responsible for rubbing up the balls before the game and giving them to the homeplate umpire. presumably he does other stuff, but that's what they focused on. he's worked more than 3,000 games without missing a day and he's like 82 years old. i thought it was good of them to do a feature on a little guy just doing his job.

    • me messing with the camera settings again. this is the b&o building that is over the right field fence.



    mr. tyler:
  • after the game we found a rest stop in between d.c. and baltimore and slept.
  • the next day we went to d.c. and did all the typical tourist crap. we saw the capitol building from afar and most everything else up close. the white house, vietnam memorial, wwII memorial, jefferson, lincoln, and fdr memorials, etc. we got really tired of walking. the buildings in d.c. are just amazing. they're all so well-maintained and good looking and ornate. the row houses are also beautiful. after doing the touristy stuff we went to see the nationals play. there was a dealy of 102 minutes and we ended up having to leave after the 5th inning because we were staying with a friend of meryl's co-worker and we didn't want to leave her hanging. the game ended up going 12 innings and i'm pretty disappointed that we didn't stay to see it all. the employees at rfk stadium were all very good. the stadium itself is pretty old, but the field looked fine. you can see the lines on the field from the soccer games, but it's otherwise fine. for being a dual-use facility i found the grounds to be in good shape. the ground crew at rfk is slower than the crew at camden and this turned out to be important because the rain kept coming, stopping, coming again, etc. sadly, michael milken threw out the first pitch. they billed him as founder of some prostate cancer society, but we know who he really is. screw that guy.

    • my favorite president and my favorite memorial:


    rfk stadium

  • after the game we stayed with jill, meryl's co-worker's friend, and got a good night's rest inside for the first time in a few days.
  • this morning we left d.c. and headed on over to gettysburg. while in gettysburg we went on one of the ranger talks. he talked mostly about the third day of the battle, but he put it in context fairly well. he covered it in great detail and i appreciated that. he fumbled for words a bit here and there, but was extremely knowledgeable. you could tell that he read a lot of first hand accounts of the battle, rather than mere summarizations of the battle. it made me want to watch the film again. war strategy is pretty interesting stuff in spite of the fact that i think war in general is pretty lame. anyway, after the ranger tour we did an audio tour by car that got cut short because we took a wrong turn and got tired. after a nap we left for harrisburg.
  • harrisburg is yet another capital (started in austin then to: baton rouge, montgomery, atlanta, raleigh, d.c., and richmond) that we've visited on the trip. pretty good without even trying. harrisburg is a pretty nice little city. the architecture is much along the same lines that we've seen elsewhere on the atlantic coast. it's got a lot of pubs and bars downtown and seems to have a good sized irish population. the capitol building itself is pretty unique, i'll post the picture with the next update. now we're on our way to nyc.


    • 6-7-06 (09:58)

  • i think graffiti in bathrooms should be allowed. it's a creative outlet and it occupies an otherwise boring time. it has the potential to be a public forum. i'm not advocating graffiti on buildings or elsewhere, but graffiti on stall walls and above urinals is fine by me.
  • we saw charleston last night and it was everything i thought savannah was going to be. both cities were adversely affected by the drop of their cheif crop - rice for charleston and cotton for savannah, both cities are on the atlantic coast, both have a varied and deep history, and both have some great buildings. it would be interesting to compare the histories of the two cities since they seem similar, yet charleston seems to be much better off than savannah. is it because savannah is on a river 18 miles from the ocean while charleson has a proper port and, thus, better access to commerce? charleston was badly damaged by hurricane hugo in 1989, yet it seems to have recovered just fine. both cities have plenty of pull for tourism, yet charleston seems to maximize it better. anyway, charleston is worth visiting and savannah is probably better passed up.
  • after savannah and charleston we drove up the coast towards myrtle beach. we pulled off the road and slept at a cvs pharmacy. this morning we got an oil change and we're on our way to baltimore. our next game is tomorrow night. it's a lot cooler as we've gone further north. it didn't rain last night so that was also a bonus.
  • so far south carolina doesn't appear to be as conservative as it actually is. i've seen only a couple "bush 2004" stickers and the like. of course that doesn't mean much since it's perfectly possible that the people are conservative, but don't think politics should be advertised on one's bumper. i think the votes speak for themselves, but it's still interesting that i've yet to see obvious signs of the prevailing socio-political opinion.
  • one of the surprising things about being in the south is how many adult superstore type places there are on the highways and interstates. i assume these are generally trying to appeal to truck drivers, which makes sense, but it's still funny to see so many in the part of the nation that's supposed to be so moral. in fact, just a moment ago i saw a "4:20" store which specialized in marijuana related products. on the inverse is the absence of starbucks and coffee bean locations. i'd usually be happy about this, but we actually use starbucks for wi-fi so i find myself, for the first time in my life, looking for a starbucks. another oddity is that, around myrtle beach, there seem to be dozens of mini, and regular, golf courses; it's uncanny.
  • something that i think demonstrates the greed of the oil companies better than any $400 million severance package or performance bonus is the fact that the price of a gallon of gas isn't $2.87 it's $2.87 and nine tenths. it's the only industry that i know of that does that to its customers. when you buy produce by the pound you don't ever see bananas listed at $.39 and nine tenths.


    • 6-6-06 (16:43)

  • stayed just outside of jacksonsville last night. jacksonville's 840 sq. miles is second only to anchoridge alaska in square mileage. pretty cool fact that i never would have guessed and was wondering about earlier in the trip. while in jacksonville we stopped at the budweiser brewery and took the 30 minute tour. it wasn't very informative and mostly came off as a commercial. i didn't learn anything new about making beer. it did make me interested in going to a sam adams, or another higher quality, brewery to see how their tour differs. budweiser mostly highlighted their size, success and history. there wasn't much information on what they do to ensure quality. there wasn't any discussion about their packaging or distribution process either. at the end of the tour they did offer free samples, but neither of us partook. our tour guide mentioned several times that "real alcohol abuse" is when budweiser has to dispose of old or imperfect beer. she seemed to take her job home with her a bit too much, if you ask me. there were only two other people on the tour with us and they were an older couple from sacramento. small world.

    • each one of these contains 67,000 six-packs worth of beer.

    saw this car outside of the budweiser brewery. the window reads: "happy 21st birthday! yeah! buy me a drink or two!"

  • after jacksonville we went to savannah georgia. it's notable for being the first english settlement in the state, but is basically just a tourist place now. it has some local businesses, but it also has its fair share of places like blimpie, gap, etc. i liked the buildings, but new england is better.

    • savannah georgia:

    6-5-06 (17:50)

  • So after my bad day in Florida on Saturday, we made our way to Tropicana Field. Our baseball book said that there were lots of fun things to see at the stadium, so we made sure to get there early so we could see as much as possible before the game started. From the outside the stadium seemed pretty plain, except for the fact that the top of the dome is built on a severe slant (Chris said he read that it was so they didn't have to air condition the inside so much). After finding out we couldn't bring a Nalgene water bottle in the stadium (very lame) we got our tickets from Will Call and went inside. I have to say I was pretty impressed, it blew the rest of the Tampa/St Pete area out of the water. There were tons of places to eat, there was an interesting sort of Hall of Fame exhibit on Ted Williams, which was weird because he isn't from Florida and he obviously didn't ever play for them because they're an expansion team. We later read that he came down for Spring training while he was a ball player and liked the area so he would fish down there when it wasn't baseball season. They had a cool batting cage area where kids could play, a video game area where people could play baseball video games (even ones on Nintendo), a trivia booth, some guy on a microphone giving people a hard time as they walked by (he commented on the fact that I was wearing an A's hat and Chris was wearing a Braves hat, but who likes the Devil Rays?). It was pretty cool to walk around the border of the stadium and see all the features they had. We got to our seats in the third deck and watched most of the game from there until we decided to try and move down to field level. We sat for 2 innings about 20 rows back from the field when an usher discovered we weren't sitting in the right seats. He was nice though and let us stay the rest of the inning before he said we needed to go back to our original seats. A 2 inning break from nose bleeds was nice though. One thing I've noticed....we've been to 3 games so far (Astros, Braves and Devil Rays) and so far a home team has not won yet. I wonder how long this will last.
  • After the game we drove to Sarasota and camped in a museum parking lot. We woke up and drove around a bit and decided to try to go to the classic car museum. It was $8.50 and pretty rink-y-dink and we figured that Detroit would have a better museum for probably not that much more. We headed on down the road and stopped in Ft Myers in an attempt to find a place to eat. It didn't really work, the only place we could find only took cash, and there was a 30 minute wait (it seemed like the whole town was there) so we drove a bit more on the freeway and stopped at a Bob Evan's restaurant which seem to be everywhere down here. It wasn't too bad. After that we were on our way down to the Everglades but got royally screwed but our map/road signs and went about 30 minutes out of the way and missed the last tram tour at the park. We went to the visitor center and asked the ranger what he suggested we see. After our visit with the ranger we took a self-guided tour down an asphalt trail. I haven't been to that many National Parks, but I have to say I LOVE the Everglades. While walking around for only an hour or so (it was TOO TOO TOO TOO hot) we saw about 6 alligators, even a little baby one that was walking on the trail. There were also HUGE orange and yellow grasshoppers that were all over the trail and pretty funny to watch. The animal life there is just amazing, which makes it so sad because of all the environmental problems in Florida that are destroying the Everglades.

    • on the road to the everglades:
  • After the Everglades we drove through one of the shittiest towns I've ever seen on our way to find a movie theater. At that point it had been almost 3 days since I had seen the last movie theater. We finally found one that was 11 miles away from the town we drove to. It amazed me. In the Bay Area, LA, New York, Chicago or any other city you can barely go 2 blocks without seeing at least one movie theater. The crazy thing is, near the Everglades it's not like there are no towns or anything, it's just towns of NOTHING. On every block there's at least 1 business that has been shut down, there are empty fields with crap covering them, and people just roaming around. It seems like Florida has never recovered after the Civil War or something, or Jeb Bush just doesn't care about his state. Anyway......we decided the watch "The Break Up" and I was actually pleasantly surprised. I didn't have very high expectations, but it was laugh out loud funny at many parts and I liked the ending. After the movie we camped out at a K-mart parking lot for the night and fell asleep.
  • Today was a VERY busy day. We went to another area of the Everglades and looked around for a bit and then headed to Biscayne National Park. Sadly, at this park you can't really experience anything unless you take a boat out to some islands and go snorkeling or scuba diving. Our budget didn't really give us that option, so we looked around at the exhibits in the visitor center and walked around outside for a bit and then headed for Miami. Surprisingly I didn't hate Miami. I thought it was going to be full of fake blondes, fake boobs, and fake tans, but it wasn't too bad. We walked around on South Beach for a bit and went on to the beach (which was BEAUTIFUL). I really liked the architecture of South Beach and enjoyed walking around, although it was AMAZINGLY hot and DEATHLY humid. We could only last a little over an hour before we dragged our melting bodies back to the car. I guess the locals have it right when they walk around in their bathing suits because MAN is it hot. After we got back to the car we drove to Pro Player Stadium where the Marlins play. This was our first baseball stop where we weren't going to see a game. We tried to drive into the park and look around, but the security guard said we weren't allowed to, so we took a couple of pictures from the road surrounding the park as best we could. One thing I noticed was that baseball calls the park Pro Player Stadium, but there were no signs that say that. Miami is another place like Oakland where the baseball and football teams share the field, and Dolphin Stadium was written everywhere, but no where did it really say anything about the Marlins or Pro Player. Weird. After that we got back on the road, which is where we are now. Our next scheduled stop is Baltimore on Thursday, but until then it's just a drive up the east coast. Our plan (if we can stay up) is to drive all the way to Jacksonville and stay at a hotel there tonight. My mom got us a Best Western hotel book and we picked up a Motel 6 one too, and according to both of those books, hotels are WAY cheaper in the Jacksonville areas than the rest of the Florida east coast. According to the map though, it takes a little over 6 hours. So, if we can do it, we'll make our way into Jacksonville tonight sometime around midnight. Here's to hoping....
  • (19:25) meryl's driving now. i think she covered most of the facts of the last day or two.

    • this pretty much sums up ft. myers, and florida in general:
  • the everglades are teeming with wildlife, but the real story is in what it once was, what it may become and why. it's about a fifth of its original size because of human development - whether it be housing or sugar plantations or roads or flood controls as a result of all of the above. in 2000 congress approved over $10 billion for projects to improve water quality, quantity and timely delivery, but that money hasn't had any positive impact yet. as an aside, i read that secretary of the interior gale norton proclaimed within the last couple years that wetlands acreage was at an all-time high under the bush administration. turns out that this was courtesy of a redefining of "wetlands" that included man-made ponds, etc. pretty ridiculous, but typical of politicians and the bush administration in particular. anyway, it was nice to see the everglades before they wither further.
  • anyway, the everglades had wildlife that rivals yellowstone. here's some of it:





    • tougher to see, but a cool looking bird nonetheless




  • we didn't see a manatee and there were a couple birds of which i couldn't get pictures.
  • there's another nat'l park in south florida called tortugas national park. it's a few dozen miles off the coast of key west (which is the key furthest from the mainland) and it was once used as a fort and later as a prison. its most famous inmate was the doctor who treat john wilkes booth after he shot lincoln. speaking of which, being at the carter museum made me think about how unfortunate it was that neither lincoln nor fdr got to guide the country out of their respective wars. i don't think anyone claims johnson or truman were as capable as lincoln or fdr.
  • i've been to a good number of national parks, including most of the big ones in the lower 48, and i've never been to a park that has actually encouraged visitors to do off-trail exploring; until the everglades, that is. at the everglades you are encouraged to wade in the alligator pools and touch plants. generally this sort of thing is frowned upon and i'm not sure they should be so lax about it in an ecosystem as delicate and damaged as the everglades. tidbit: florida has the most lightning of any state in the country.
  • on our way to miami beach and downtown miami we passed through little havana. let's just say it's only a minor step up from the real havana. i noticed that they have a park named maximo park, i wonder if that's where the band gets the name. for some reason i thought they were from overseas, but maybe not.
  • downtown miami had a shitload of construction in the downtown area. surprisingly there wasn't much nba fever downtown; i guess miami has other things to worry about. we went to miami beach which is really an island in biscayne bay next to miami proper. it's been raining quite a bit during the trip and it didn't stop for our visit to south beach. surprisingly, there were still a good number of people out on the streets and on the beach itself. the rain was sporadic and generally not too heavy, plus it was hot outside so the rain was actually a nice respite from the blazing sun. the beach's water was surprisingly beautiful. not was good as waikiki, but it still has some nice green/blue hues and looks relatively unspoiled. it's especially surprising considering the cruise and cargo ships that go through the bay.




    • one of best things i saw in miami was this stretch of graffiti.

  • we didn't get any great shots of pro player stadium and we weren't allowed to visit so that sucked. we got as far as the parking lot and had to turn around. from what i read it's a shitty stadium for baseball and the food sucks, so i'm not too broken up about it. i'm just happy to be leaving bush country.
  • now we're on I-95N heading towards jacksonville, then to savannah and on from there. we'll probably stay outside of jacksonville as they seem to have cheap motels and we have money in the budget for a motel this week. truckers on I-95 are much more aggressive and reckless than on I-5.
  • one good thing about visiting florida is that i've been to three more cities that johnny cash lists in his "i've been everywhere" song. i've been to a measly 26 of the 80+ places so far.
  • sports haven't been too good to me lately. the nba finals is another in an increasingly long line of TX/FL teams that are beating my favorite teams. it's depressing. i guess i'll root for the mavericks in the nba finals because i like avery johnson and hate shaq and pat "i copyrighted 'three-peat'" riley. bastard.


    • 6-4-06 (19:07)

  • i don't say this to be cruel or hurtful, but florida fucking sucks. i'm pretty sure it's the worst state i've ever been to and that's saying a lot since i've been to all of them (except alaska). it's pretty safe to say that florida is about 75-100 years behind most of the rest of the country in more ways than i can list here. that said, the everglades are beautiful and interesting, i wish they weren't littered with people fishing and parking in the middle of the road, etc. tomorrow we plan on visiting the lower part of the everglades in addition to biscayne national park. earlier today we saw key largo, but not the rest of the florida keys. key largo is important because of the 1948 bogey and bacall (and robinson) classic, but isn't notable for any other reason; it's basically a tourist trap. i'm told that key west has plenty of partying, etc., but that isn't a good enough reason to drive 120 miles off the mainland.

    • 6-4-06 (09:17)

  • being on the road and getting so much done in a day certainly makes the days seem long. we've been gone for only 5 days and it seems like a couple weeks; think of 1979's "The Jerk."
  • last night's game was between the devil rays of tampa bay (even though the stadium is actually in st. petersburg) and the blue jays (who we're going to see like six times on this trip). the devil rays stadium is nice, but nothing too spectacular. it's the first indoor baseball field i've been to. because it's inside the field seems smaller even though it's the same size as an average field - 404 to center, 370 in left/right field. the bullpens are in foul territory, which i've never liked, but meryl likes because that's how the a's field is. last night was "golf day" and they were giving out golf club warmers with the devil rays logo on it. i thought about holding them for my dad or luke, but neither are big devil rays fans so we just left them at the stadium. before the game they had a guy who hit 111 golf balls in 85 seconds, which was unusual, but still impressive. the entire time i was there i felt as though i was at an amateur game. perhaps because the field felt small or because of the kitsch factor involved in the cheesy "golf day" activities and give aways. the level of game play was good, so it wasn't that, but the feeling was there nonetheless.
  • tropicana field has a good number of vendors and pre-game activities in the non-field portion of the building. since it's an indoor field it feels a lot more like a basketball stadium than a baseball field. as such, when you're out getting something to eat you're more separated from the game than you would be at your standard stadium. on the first level they have an endless supply of different food vendors and the activities range from a stand-up comic to baseball quiz competitions. the outside of the stadium looks strange because the roof is slanted to reduce the volume of air that they need to air-condition, this according to our baseball road-trip guide. there are three catwalks that encircle the entire stadium and one of them comes down pretty far in the outfield. they have a set of rules for what to do if the ball hits the catwalk, but they didn't come into play during our game. another thing i noticed about the place was how well sound carries - you could hear small groups cheering from across the stadium. when the p.a. comes on there's a noticeable echo as well. of course part of the problem is that there weren't very many people there making noise to overwhelm the noise of others. it's also got a full dirt infield, which unusual for an indoor park. the synthetic field grass is softer and longer than usual so, apparently, it makes for a pretty realistic field. walk around vendors were less prevalent than in other parks. minute maid park actually had walk around vendors camped out at each gate, which i thought was a smart way of doing it.


    • our first seat:

    our second seat:

    our third seat:
  • right now we're in sarasota which is so-so. it's on johnny cash's "i've been everywhere" song so check one more off for me.

    • we slept in the parking lot in front of this building in sarasota:
  • i've seen one or two theaters the entire time i've been in florida.


    • 6-3-06 (17:18)

  • we're in florida now and i'm not too impressed. the terrain is flat and the foilage isn't anything special. there are a shitload of "jesus saves" type billboards on the highway. yesterday we saw a sign warning visitors to florida that florida residents are allowed to use deadly force to protect themselves; the sign featured a picture of a large handgun as well.

    • florida:
  • yesterday we went to gainesville and saw a bit of the u of fl campus and had a pizza at a local place call the mellow mushroom. gainsville, like much of flordia thus far, is pretty scummy and rundown. lots of storefronts are ugly and abandoned. there's an amazing number of businesses in this state that are out of business. reminds me of yojimbo, wherein the big businessman in town was the coffin maker. the pizza was good. in the bathroom the handicap stall had its own sink, that's a first.
  • we hit a shitload of traffic on I-75S, but took a detour around it so we didn't get to see what the problem was.
  • today we left the shitty hotel we stayed at in lakeland and hit the road for tampa bay and st. petersburg. we went to tampa bay, but basically just drove through since it looked so rundown and pathetic. it's pretty sad, too, because between tampa and st. petersburg there's a really nice community so it's clearly an economic problem, rather than a geographic one.
  • now we're in st. petersburg at the only wi-fi place we could find after an hour's worth of driving on main streets. the touristy part of st. petersburg is near the beach and there's a couple museums, etc., the only place worth really mentioning is the salvador dali museum which features the largest collection of his work outside of spain. he was a great artist who developed a truly unique, identifiable style. great stuff.
  • we're going to watch the devil rays/blue jays game in about 1.5 hours.
  • In the words of Seinfeld......"Me and Chris started our baseball trip in the South, and yada yada yada we liked the rest of the country a lot more." I've got to say that after driving around the south for the last couple of days I'm not in the greatest mood. Images of the confederate flag, unobservant people, signs promoting gun violence, smoking inside restaurants, among other things have put me in a pretty foul mood. I know that I should stay positive and really think about the fact that I am never going to be in most of these places ever again, but I've got to say, in all honesty, I'm not too sad about that. For instance, we're in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, we finally got out of the hotel ready to go today at 11 am, and we ran out of stuff to do at about 3:30. Boston, DC, New York, Yellowstone, Seattle, Philadephia....the list goes on of places we'll only be in for a day, and sadly we could find amazing things to do there for MANY days. At this point I'm pretty excited that we'll be visiting the Everglades soon, because at this point Florida is pretty forgettable.


    • 6-2-06 (10:26)

  • Driving has been the theme of our trip so far. We estimated that the entire trip would take 16,000 miles, and already we have driven about 1,400 miles, and it's only four days into the trip. Right now we're in Vienna, Georgia (about 70 miles or so from the Georgia/Florida border) on our way to the Tampa/St Petersburg area, tomorrow will be our second game - Devil Rays vs. Blue Jays.
  • The Braves game last night was pretty fun. We got there early to buy tickets (they are one of the few we don't already have), and Chris picked some up for $5 each, so that was pretty sweet. Turner Field is pretty nice. Once you walk in from the main entrance behind center field there's a big open area where they've got all sorts of food stands and activities for kids. There was even a little country band playing, so it was a nice little welcome to the park. Chris and I walked around for about 30 minutes or so looking around the park. Besides the courtyard thing behind the outfield when you walk in, the park seemed pretty standard. Minute Maid is still my favorite so far, and I think it's going to take a lot to beat it.
  • Our seats were on the third deck on the first base side but the sun hadn't set yet and it was shinning very brightly where our seats were, so we decided to park ourselves on the third deck right behind homeplate in the shade until someone made us move - which it turned out never happened. I was on the phone with my mom before the game had started when the lady who had sat down next to us noticed the score book I had made on Chris' lap (the cover says "Chris and Meryl's Cross-Country Baseball Scorebook). I over-heard her ask him if we were going across the country visiting baseball parks and he of course said yes, which led to her being excited and asking us all sorts of questions about our trip. It was nice though having a stranger be so excited about our trip, I'm always excited about it and it's pretty cool when other people become interested in it too. We continued to talk with her on and off throughout the game, and she even gave us a Braves hat as a souvenir, VERY nice, so shout out to the random lady at the Braves game. It started to rain in the 8th inning and so we moved down to field level where the seats were covered and most of their inhabitants had left. The Diamondbacks won 2-1, which I was excited about because Eric Byrnes (a past A's left fielder) is on the Diamondbacks and I like his hustle and was very dissapointed when the A's traded him last season to the Orioles. He had a pretty good game too, 2 for 2 with 2 walks, he represented 2 of the D'backs' 5 hits.
  • We started driving south on I-75 after the game on the way down to Florida because we knew we would have a lot of driving to do. We decided to sleep in the car again last night because Florida has LOTS of mosquittos and we wanted to save our hotel money for a place where it would be put to better use. Tonight we'll probably turn in early and hang out at the hotel. We've been going to bed pretty late and waking up early because of the sunlight and heat, so we haven't been getting that much sleep. Plus, Chris wants to see some of the NBA playoffs, and we've missed the last 4 games, so that'll be nice. Only 291.4 miles to go!
  • Well, it seems as if the south is full of a lot of bad drivers. For example, it's been about 2 minutes and we've seen 2 HORRIBLE drivers. I'll save the best for last. 1 - some Lincoln town car was apparently trying to change lanes, but it had to have been officially the slowest lane change ever. It literally must have taken him about a half a mile of driving in the middle of the left and right lane until he finally crossed over to the right lane, and because we're only on a two lane interstate, it was pretty comical to see from right behind him in the right lane. 2 - and for sure the best....a truck hauling ass down the interstate had a trailer about 20 feet long trailing it. He of course passed us on the left and continued down the freeway playing tag with a Cherokee about who was going to change lanes. At this point he was in the right lane and finally went for it when he shouldn't have and changed lanes into the left way too quickly for a truck with a trailer behind it. Because of it, his trailer started fishtailing back and forth REALLY bad and all of us behind slowed WAY down. It went on for a good 20 or so seconds and at one point it was getting worse and worse and we thought maybe the force of the trailer going side to side would jackknife and the whole car would just flip over. Some how he got it under control and just kept motoring down the freeway. One would think he might pull over on the shoulder and make sure his car or FAMILY was okay, but he of course didn't. What a retard.
  • (11:30) meryl's driving right now. that fishtailing experience with the trailer was pretty fucked up - it looked like he was going to flip a couple times, but he got luck in the end so i guess that's a good thing.
  • the braves game last night was enjoyable. i liked the way both teams were playing - lots of good defense and groundball pitching. there were several excellent defensive plays, especially by the braves, who i felt played a better game, but ended up losing by a run largely because of a fielding error by the pitcher. there seemed to be a good amount of entertainment during the breaks - some quizes, a couple of those find the ball under the cup type games (meryl missed both), etc. i haven't been to a dodger game in a while, but i used to go there all the time and the entertainment (beachballs, the wave, etc.) during the breaks was generally provided by the crowd. even though we're only talking about mid-inning entertainment i think i still enjoy the organic, grassroots aspects of the dodger games over the top-down entertainment provided by some other ballclubs.
  • turner field has a more traditional look to it than minute maid park. the right field fence has a break in the curve, but it's otherwise a very standard field. minute maid park, meanwhile, has that hill in center field and a couple odd angles in left field. it also has some blind spots for people in the upper deck of left field. the turner field announcer seemed to have a bit of sas as well. he called the marlins "the mullets" and at one point there's a mid-inning break where they get shots of people in the crowd and put little thought bubbles over their heads. they showed a diamondbacks fan and put a toilet in his thought bubble, we all got a laugh at his expense. i did get into the "tomahawk chop" part of the game. it's pretty intoxicating.
  • i'm looking forward to the pistons game tonight. they really seem to need to have their backs against the wall in order to play to their potential. if they win tonight then i think miami can go ahead and start planning their summer vacation because game seven is in detroit.


    • 6-1-06 (16:49)

  • We got to Atlanta around 5 or so last night. We looked around to try and find something to do, but because of the timing of our arrival, most of the museums and other attractions were closed. We decided to go see a movie, sadly the only movie we hadn't seen was Mission Impossible 3. I had vowed not to see it, but it was too hot and we couldn't really figure out what else to do, so we went inside. We saw it at an AMC theater, but they apparently started redesigning their movie theaters like the Alamo Drafthouses in Austin. I have to say I enjoy Alamo more, they've got much more character and they play way cooler movies. I fell asleep in the theater, during the movie which was good because I guess I kept my vow not to watch it. After the movie we cruised around for a little bit, stopped at a Kinkos and then decided it was probably time for bed due to the fact that the night before we only got 4 hours of sleep after our adventure in New Orleans.
  • We woke up this morning and went out to breakfast at a cool place called The Flying Biscuit - which we later learned is going national. It reminded me of a place I go to for breakfast with my mom and Clarke in San Rafael called Johnny and Theresa's, and the general area (named Buckhead) reminded me of Berkeley, so that was nice, a little taste of home. After that we went to the CNN Center, which is the global headquarters of CNN. We bought tickets and went on a behind the scenes tour. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. We were on the tour with a bunch of younger kids (probably at camp), which turned out to be pretty fun because they asked a lot of funny questions, kids are always good for that. Part of the tour put you above the actual news room which was cool because you got to see live taping that was on the air. After the tour we walked through the Centennial Olympic Park. I thought it was going to be exciting, but other than a fountain that kids were playing in, it was pretty boring which was a little dissapointing because I love the Olympics. We tried to go to the Aquarium (which we learned is apparently the largest in the US, and I think the world) but after finding out it was $22.75 we decided not to. After a little people watching we decided to go to the Jimmy Carter Museum. It was pretty cool, and I learned a lot of stuff about him that I didn't know, so that's always good. We drove to Turner Field after that to get tickets for tonight's game against the Diamondbacks. From the outside the field looks pretty cool, so I'm pretty excited. It's our first game of the trip, so that's even more exciting.
  • we're in a burger place called Varsity right now. it's been around since 1928 - it's got a huge interior space and several drive up (not drive-thru) spaces as well. it seems pretty popular and the food is good so it was a good choice.
  • atlanta is a lot cooler than i remember it being. it's big and sprawling and the traffic would probably bug me if i lived here, but it's otherwise a nice, livable city. buckhead is an especially nice up and coming area. apparently it was once dominated by clubs and bars, but has been transformed by businesspeople over the last few years. skyscrapers and malls are a bigger focus and, in 2007, construction will begin on making it more pedestrian friendly and beautiful. urban development is another thing i find interesting.
  • one odd thing about the buckhead/midtown area of town is that peachtree blvd runs the entire length and it intersects with several streets of the same name. that is, you'll be heading north on peachtree blvd and you'll see a cross street like "peachtree road" then a couple other streets, then "peachtree ave" then "peachtree circle" then "peachtree lane" then "peachtree street" then "peachtree street." i shit you not. it seems needlessly confusing.
  • after strolling through atlanta a bit last night we watched mi:3 (you know where the reviews are) and made use of meryl's dad's tmobile account at kinko's. while we were there there was a guy sitting next to us talking on his cell phone about soybean trading or something. we slept in the parking lot for the night and went back into kinko's the next morning to check gas prices and e-mail. surprisingly, the commodities trader guy was still there.
  • sleeping last night was pretty tough. it was really hot and i couldn't get comfortable. eventually i found a cool spot and slept well.
  • this morning we went to the aforementioned flying biscuit and had a good breakfast. it's a nice spot that would fit in well in berkeley or hyde park in austin or the like. afterwards we went to the CNN office and did the tour. the building is filled with ted turner related projects - braves, tnt, tbs, tcm, cnn, etc. are all represented there in one way or another. apparently the first broadcast of CNN occurred exactly 26 years ago today. the building has the tallest free-standing escalator in the world (185 ft.), not that that's important. the tour guide was reluctant to talk about anchors' salary or CNN's competition, but she did mention that CNN has about 90 million viewers and that larry king gets $14 million a year. while inside we saw a live broadcast that just happened to mention that New Orleans has seen an increase in the crime rate every month since katrina. this confirms what we already felt to be true.
  • after the CNN building we walked around olympic stadium a bit and headed off towards the jimmy carter museum. i've stated before that carter is probably the best ex-president of all-time (at least to my knowledge), but the museum really focused on his work as a president. j.q. adams is the only ex-president who i can think of who might have done more after his presidency than carter, but i honestly can't be sure about that. main topics of the museum include his establishing stronger ties with china, the camp david accords, the energy crisis and response, the 444 day hostage crisis, SALT II and his treaty with panama. the last of which got me thinking. a lesser president would have handled the situation with far less tact, diplomacy, skill and morality. to summarize: we had lifelong rights to the panama canal because of TR's work around the turn of the century. as time passed the panamanian government grew tired of the permanent agreement and pushed for change. while many senators (including strom thurmond) were pushing to steamroll panama on the issue, carter tried to find a middle ground - keep america's economic interests protected while returning sovereignty of the land to panama. most politicians would look at in the short run: if i talk with the panamanian gov't i show weakness and if i don't talk with them the u.s. can continue to have run of the canal. carter, though, chose the moral and politically difficult path so i laud him for that. in the end, carter's treaty passed by one vote in both houses of congress. i've always viewed carter as a great guy and just a so-so president because of some bad luck and reluctance to be an asshole.


    • fuck fucking zell "i wish these were the days when i could challenge you to a duel" miller


    5-31-06 (16:00)

  • I-10 in LA is in pretty bad shape. it's a federal highway, but outside of LA the highway is in fine shape, why? is it state responsibility to maintain the highway, was it poor LA workmanship, is there an unusual amount of traffic along this route because of the MS river and the N.O. port? please fill me in.
  • first sign of hurricane damage was around the LA state line - several businesses had damaged signs.
  • we stopped in baton rouge for a few hours. mostly did the driving tour thing. went to the campus which was nice enough. there were some rundown parts around the LSU campus, but overall the city was decent and easily the best part of louisiana to my limited knowledge. lsu apparently boasts the best baseball attendance in the country and athletics are clearly a big deal there. that goes for the rest of the south as well.

    • a bad picture of an awesome building. the old capitol building in baton rouge:
  • we arrived in new orleans at night with the intentions of finding a suitable parking lot or campground to spend the night. the campground that the gps system had listed was either no longer in business or tucked away between industry and a railroad; either way the area was in very bad shape and it didn't look safe. there was debris all over the place, usually in piles. signs were half fallen, buildings were abandoned, and cars were abandoned and in various stages of decay. basically, much of the outside part of the city looked as close to a war zone as i've ever seen.
  • it was late and we were getting tired so we decided to find a public parking lot so we could park and sleep. we drove towards downtown and eventually found a sporting goods store with a sizable parking lot. i quickly pulled into the first parking lot entryway that i saw and, as soon as i made the turn, i realized i was entering the lot from an exit road. less than a second after that i noticed a cop car following behind me. he proceeded to turn on his lights and i parked in the parking lot. he told me to come to the rear of the vehicle, but i didn't have my shoes on (it was hot and i don't like driving long distances with my shoes on) so i bent down to pick them up and put them on outside (so he wouldn't think i was reaching for a weapon). i gave him my info and told him that i was looking for a place to rest and was so excited by the sight of a large parking lot that i didn't have time to notice what path i was taking. to be fair, neither meryl nor i noticed any "one-way" or "wrong-way" signage. at any rate, he was nice and said he just wanted to make sure i wasn't drunk.
  • sleeping in the parking lot proved nearly impossible - it was very hot, even with the windows open, and mosquitos were in full force. i wonder what the hurricane did for the mosquito population of new orleans. after giving rest a try for about 1.5 hours we looked for the only hostel we found listed in our guide book. we found the place, but it was closed. as we sat in the car looking for nearby hotels/campgrounds meryl saw a couple guys walking towards the car in a suspicious manner so she started the car and we got the hell out of there. we went downtown to probe for hotel prices, but that proved to be far too expensive so we decided that new orleans sucks and left. i've been to new orleans pre and post-katrina and haven't been impressed either time. it was rundown, dingy and unimpressive. the cop was the best part of the city. speaking of cops, there seemed to be a good deal of cops on the streets of new orleans, but i felt less safe there than in almost any other city i've ever been in.
  • i feel bad for the city since it's been through a lot and the community has an uphill battle for the next few years. at the same time, other than its musical contributions, i think new orleans is a shitty little city.
  • outside of new orleans we looked for some reasonable lodging and came up empty. places were either closed down or too expensive. while filling up the gas tank we saw a couple junkies come out from behind a trashcan to wait for the bathroom to be free. we ended up sleeping in the car outside of slidell, la. it was cooler, there weren't any mosquitos and it was a hell of a lot safer.
  • today, while in alabama we saw a sign for a local sheriff's race, the candidate it was for was named Hoss Mack; that's perfect.
  • we drove through mobile and montgomery today as well. while in montgomery we stopped at Chris' hot dogs, which has been in business since 1917. the prices were good and the food was too. it was a real down home cooking style experience. worth checking out if you happen to be in the area.
  • we also saw the confederate white house that jefferson davis occupied for a brief time. nice enough from the outside, but it doesn't come close to some of the nicer southern homes or new england homes. the wainscotting was fairly commonplace, the floors looked like plainsawn (not quartersawn) oak, the plaster was in disrepair and it wasn't as big as i would have imagined. in many ways i supposed it embodied the entire confederate experiment - i'll let you decide in what ways that applies.

    • confederate white house:

  • after checking out the capitol building and the small downtown area we left for atlanta. right now we're 11 miles from the GA border.


    • 5-30-06 (21:34)

  • Chris is driving now, we split up the driving today pretty well, so we each got a good amount of passenger and driving time. When I drove to Houston last weekend it made my knee hurt a lot. I seem to not be having that problem so far on the trip, so that's good news to start off with.
  • We got to Baton Rouge around 5:30 or so this evening. I saw the LSU campus from the freeway, so of course in honor of Sarah (at work) we drove onto the campus so I could look around at her alma mater. I figured the most important thing to visit would be the football statdium, which was VERY big, and old. It looks as if a lot of the original architecture is still intact, but they were doing some repairs. All in all, LSU looked like a pretty cool campus, good choice Sarah. We decided it was time for dinner, and I attempted to navigate us to one of the Lonely Planet's recommended restaurants. This of course is where my dad was right when he guessed that I wouldn't be able to use the navigation system he got us properly. In my first attempt at using it I got us lost. In true Meryl fashion, I got completely pissed off and had Chris take over as naviator. We finally got to Phil's Oyster Grill. It was pretty tasty. After dinner we roamed around the shore of the Mississippi River. The Old State Capitol building was down there. It was really cool, and at the same time pretty strange looking for a capitol building - we figured it was because of the French architectural influence, because it was very gothic looking.
  • According to our navigation system - which I have now figured out - we are about 40 miles outside of New Orleans. The first day of our trip has been pretty fun, even though mostly filled with driving. I've been counting down our trip for months now, so it's very exciting to actually be on it.


    • 5-30-06 (15:06)

  • on I-10E heading to new orleans right now. we're about 20 miles from the LA border. meryl's dad got a gps program for us and i've been messing with that for a while, pretty fun. it has all sorts of info - local gas stations, points of interest, theaters, restaurants, campgrounds, etc. of course it also does realtime directions and the like.
  • rained very hard outside of houston.
  • lonely planet's guide to the USA (i bought the 2006 edition because i forgot my other one in davis) is fucking great. it gives a great, balanced look at the US. it has good info on culture, media, sports, religion, history, etc. for the traveler. it also does a good job of highlighting the unique elements of particular regions and it doesn't pull its punches. they don't mind pointing out the weaknesses of new orleans alongside raves about its musical impact, for example. it also made me think about the fact that most of our culture denies, at least outwardly, some of the unsavoury elements of our history, but museums around the country generally do a great job of incorporating the effects of slavery or europeans' impact on native civilizations. i feel most patriotic when i'm travelling and seeing the potential and diversity of the nation.


    • 5-30-06 (10:46)

  • trip has officially started, we're on the road.



    • bungey cord system which currently holds clothes and sleeping pads. bungey cords are indispensible.

    5-28-06 (10:15)

  • minute maid park pics:




    • cool buidling in downtown houston.

    5-27-06 (19:56)

  • so far we've gotten two sets of free tickets - mets and reds (both in the national league) and been rejected four times - nationals, blue jays, tigers and white sox (three of which are in the american league).


    • 5-27-06 (12:40)


    • Meryl:
    The Cincinnati Reds Community Relations department has recieved your ticket donation request. It is with pleasure to inform you that the Reds will donate two view level tickets for the 6/28 game to help with the finances of your trip.
    Best Regards.
    Nate Ingles

    5-22-06 (08:57)

  • went to houston on saturday to watch our first game of the trip. when we first arrived in houston (4th largest city in the us) we were caught in traffic on the outskirts. traffic that reminded me of the worst of la and dallas. it turned out that it was more a result of bad road maintenance and construction plans than anything else. eventually they'll be done and, presumably, the traffic will be much better. but, for a saturday at noon, it was the worst traffic i had ever been in. strike one. we drove into downtown and i was immediately struck by the architecture and cleanliness of downtown. we drove around a bit and admired the nice layout of downtown, but noted the lack of commerce; downtown was remarkably empty. there are plenty of office buildings and i'm told there's a condo building downtown as well, but there isn't much in the way of shopping or entertainment. oddly, i didn't see any theaters (live action or film) in the theater district. basically if you're not going to work or going to a baseball game it didn't seem like you'd go downtown.
  • after we explored the downtown area we drove around the adjacent areas. first we went to south houston which has some nice apartment buildings, then to east houston which is more run down (just like east austin) and industrial, then to west houston which has some nice areas (including a huge, nice park) and some not so nice areas. overall, it's a fairly spread out city, but it didn't seem to have much commerce and it didn't look like the fourth largest city in the country to me.
  • after looking around houston we settled back into downtown where minute maid park is. what a baseball park. it's designed by HOK, the same architectural firm that designed pacbell. they look pretty similar with their lines in outfield and this one has a train on the left field wall, just like pacbell has a trolley. it's famous for its retractable roof (which we didn't see in action). according to my baseball book it has a capacity of 40,950 (and it sells out 10% of the time), but there must have been some upgrades or something because it wasn't sold out and the attendance was 41,480. the astros fans get really into the game. even with the 'stros down 6-0 in the late innings the crowd was trying to pump up the team. during the 7th innning stretch they sang "take me out to the ballgame" and "deep in the heart of texas," it was hilarious. we were in the upper deck in left field and had trouble seeing all of left field. otherwise the sightlines seemed pretty solid. around the park they have cool info about baseballs, bats, pitches, the astros, etc. they're also the first (maybe only) stadium to have a closed captioned screen; it's in right field. the field is squarish - 436 to center field and only 326 to right. i wonder what the biggest gap between center and right/left field is. during the national anthem they had the lyrics on the big screen and the last line read: "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" i thought it odd to have a question mark at the end since it's supposed to be a statement and we're in texas so i doubt it was some subtle commentary. more likely a faux pax on someone's part. as nice as the park was the field wasn't in great shape. the grass was pretty well worn in the out field and deep infield. one last note, i think it's the first sports stadium in which i've ever seen a church advertising. the astros lost 6-0, pettite got pounded and that's not good for my fantasy baseball team.
  • we got another rejection letter, this one from the tigers, saying they couldn't give us tickets. it was signed and mentioned the trip so it was peronalized, so that's nice.


    • 5-19-06 (17:45)

  • cut and pasted response, this one from an intern for the nationals:

    • Hell Ms. Phillips and Mr. May:
    I am writing regarding your complimentary ticket request. Unfortunately, we do not donate tickets to independents. One of our donation requirements is that the group is a 501c3 non-profit. I do still encourage you to come to the game, though! You can get tickets for as cheap as $7/each if you check our website, www.nationals.com . Plus an N.L. East Rival coming into town is exciting!
    I do wish we could help you out, but your trip sounds amazing. Have a fabulous time!
  • poorly written and a disappointing outcome. fuck the expos, er nationals.


    • 5-8-06 (17:01)

  • meryl wrote to a bunch of baseball teams explaining the trip and asking for tickets. amazingly, it has yielded one set of mets tickets:

    • "Meryl,
    We received your letter and I am writing to inform you that we will leave 2 tickets at the Will Call window for you on June 19th.
    The Will Call Window is located between Gates C & D to the left of the Mets Offices Entrance.
    Good Luck with your trip...It sounds like a lot of fun.
    Donald Muller
    New York Mets
    Media Relations Coordinator"
  • i'm very surprised. i might have to become a mets fan.