Cruisin' the Bayou

6.24.92 Woke up early today, Sem's birthday, to catch the Voyager Cruise along the Mississippi River. We were excited to see the city from the riverbed. However, the trip got old real fast. The Bayou wasn't what I expected it to be, and since my buddy John Fogerty wasn't there to sing "Born on the Bayou" (even though he's from California), we got a little bored. We did get to see some Cajun villages and a couple of locks (not of the "pole" variety). Turned out to be a decent cruise, just long.

We were deserving of some time on Bourbon Street afterwards to celebrate the big boy's birthday. Things don't start kickin' on Bourbon at 5:00 PM however, so we were forced to spend $1 at a time back at Pat O'Briens. Finally, we broke out and bought Sem a "jet fuel" and a "hurricane" to get things rollin'. Spent most of the night at the Gold Mine and then back to the Annex, getting to know some girls from Chicago that we hoped to meet up with when the "No Worries Tour" made it's way North.

Finally at about 3:00 AM, tired of sharing our tent with mosquitos and humidity, we packed it all up and drove East towards Daytona Beach! Sem drove through Mississippi and Alabama without the comfort of any country CD's (Jase couldn't get to those under the luggage in the way back). Fortunately, there was some Pearl Jam available to keep him awake. Happy Birthday, Sem!

After 11 hours, we pulled into Camelia's hotel for $29/night in Daytona Beach. Grabbed a slice of pizza and walked on over to the beach where we crashed for a while. That night, enjoying the luxury of our first hotel room bed on this tour, watched a little 90210 so that we could get caught up with Brandon, Dylan and the crew.

Gimme the Key's

6.27.92 Nothing like breakfast at IHOP in Daytona Beach....followed by a swim in the Atlantic! Nice to bodysurf for a couple hours without a care in the world. Dinner at Gringos and pool at the Oyster Club prepared us for our jaunt to Key West in the morning.

The "End of the Line" was our goal today...the Southernmost tip in the continental U.S. 150 miles South of Miami (on a two-lane highway) but 8 1/2 hours of drive time.

Boyd's Campground on Stock Island was holding our reservation for $9/night.

Duval Street, home of Margaritaville and Dirty Harry's was calling our names-especially after hearing that Harry's had Karaoke! Made the best of our rendition of Buddy Holly's "Oh Boy" and Tone Loc's "Funky Col' Medina". Worked up enough of a sweat so that our tent actually felt "cooler" than the temp outside.....

Woke up to a nice cold shower before working up a sweat again packing up our tent (we have become experts at this takedown process by now). We drove all day, we drove all day, we drove all day, we drove all day......to Savannah, Georgia's Skidaway State Park, where we set up the tent for another solid night's sleep...

A City of Firsts

6.30.92 We awoke to see our campsite for the first time - not too bad! But with no intention of admiring it for too long, we completed our now infamous tent takedown and grabbed a bite at IHOP. Within the historical district of Savannah, we discovered that the first lighthouse in the U.S. is here; as is the first girl scout office; and, they were the first city to design using the square method of planning (city blocks).

Moving North on HWY 17 (the Kings Highway), we landed in Charleston, South Carolina. S.C. was the first state to secede the union, so colonial forces occupied Fort Sumter just off the coast. Rebels attacked with 700 pounds of ammo until the colonials surrendered. This little incident started what we now know as the Civil War.

Tired of history lessons, we continued North to Myrtle Beach and checked into our hotel (the Myrtle Beach State Park) and setup shop in record time! We even received kudos from other campers nearby. After an all you can eat dinner at Gino's, we celebrated my birthday eve at Murphy's Law - a local oyster joint/pool hall. "Eat 'em raw at Murphy's Law"!

25

7.1.92 - 7.3.92 Celebrated my 25th birthday surrounded by the 70 golf courses around Myrtle Beach. Enjoyed a little body surfing as well as some real cruising along the sandy beach.

After wolfing down our $2.19 breakfast at Manny's, we headed West on Hwy 20 for Atlanta! We drove through Augusta before the heavens opened up and poured out one heck of a rainstorm. Driving in pitch black, with cars hydroplaning right and left, we were thankful to make it in one piece....so thankful, that we checked in to a Motel 6 for the first time in a while.

Anxious to check out the MLK historical district, we pursued Dr. King's boyhood home and the church he led. There is an eternal flame that marks his tomb.

Capped off the afternoon with a double feature of Eddie Murphy's Boomerang, and then A League of Their Own. Grabbed dinner at the World's largest Drive-In - the Varsity- to map out our gameplan for the Independence Day Game at Fulton County Stadium tomorrow....

Independence Day

7.4.92 I was one of the 42,104 people at Fulton County Stadium that was excited to see if the Cubs could score their first run here in a year! Upon arriving, we received an American flag (mini version) to wave in the 90 degree heat at 11:00AM! This is the CBS Saturday Morning game, and why not? Sitting about 5 rows from the top of the left field seats, we watched Jeff Blauser hit a 2 run homerun in the bottom of the first to set the Tomahock Chops in action...Brian Hunter added a solo shot in the 2nd to grow the lead to 3-0.....Mark Grace, in the midst of a ten game hitting streak, had an 0-4 day at the plate.

That would do it for the scoring....now the anticipation is all about fireworks! From our perspective, they were weak compared to the dynamic display we've grown accumstomed to in big Tacoma, Washington. Guess we'll have to get out the funnel.....Sem's turn! Goodnight......

Geared up for our drive to North Carolina, we stopped about 6 hours down the road at Duke University. Amazing campus - comparable to Oxford in my opinion....And, as luck would have it a bit later, the Durham Bulls were having a night game! Nice! For $3 big ones, we watched a 1 all tie for 8 innings, hoping that we'd get to see the Bull go crazy in the outfield after a homerun. No such luck. But, luck would have it that we spent the night in the cozy confines of a Motel 6 rather than one of those luxurious campsites we'd grown accustomed to.

Bull Durham

 7/22/92

It took 6 hours, but when we finally got to Durham, we took the Duke University exit.  The school was unbelievable.  Reminded me of Oxford or Cambridge.  Very old stone buildings.  The chapel in the center of campus looks like a cathedral.  Really unusual...

So now to the Durham Bulls stadium before we settled in Raleigh.  We got there at 7:30 and were shocked to find they had a game.  We were thinking that if they even played today, it would have been a day game.  So, we bought tickets for $3 General Admission.  Pretty fun to see the Bull that was portrayed in the Bull Durham movie.  

The game was 1-1 until the bottom of the 9th, when a player knocked in the winning run.  I guess the Bulls won their league in the first half and most of their better players moved up to double or triple A.   We drove for two hours until we found a motel 6- our campsite was closed when we got there....oh well, no worries, right?

Research Triangle

 Today, we checked out NC State.  Of course the main thing we really wanted to see was the gym where the Wolfpack play....pretty sweet.

Then we drove to Chapel Hill to check out UNC. The Dean Dome was phenomenal.  Brand new building with pictures of all the old teams.. The school has had Michael Jordan's number retired.  I guess he played in the old arena before this one was built.

Stopped in Charlottesville, VA and go headed directly to Albright's house in Georgetown

It was incredible to see the Capitol and WA Monument as we drove into the city.  Drove right by the Pentagon.  Albright lives right near American University, which was fun.   Great to have a friend's place to stay in again!!

Got the oil changed in the hoopdee and made a few phone calls to get tickets.

Todd Ruppert, a friend of dads, was able to get us some tickets to thursday night's Baltimore game.

Played some tennis with Brian, got our haircut and ate some bbq burgers.

Cruised thru GTowne and saw where St Elmo's fire was filmed.  Listened to some jazz and went to Phil's mall with B A

Baltimore - brand new stadium

 Off to Baltimore today - checked out the Inner Harbor...Really nice area along the water.  Very clean - brand new.  Exciting to find since we knew nothing about this area.  

The park is breathtaking - literally even walking around takes you through a time warp.  The ushers are dressed in old uniforms.  There are shops inside the main gate on EUTAW Road.  It's like Disney land...the old clock on the scoreboard and the two orioles are awesome.  The green seats are a reflection of the well groomed field.  So clean, but historic!

our seats are first row of the club level.  We have a waitress the attends to us. They even cleaned our seats off for us.

There's no such thing as cheap food here.   Hots dogs is $3.75, Peanuts are $2.50.  But the portions are huge.  

Jase feels there's a definite home field advantage here.  With the stadium excited about their new park, the clock has no numbers on it.  When the national anthem is sung, the whole crowd  yells Orioles instead of "O".

Brady Anderson hit Erickson's first pitch of the game out of the park, and then the second batter did the same.....fun times

KJR

 Spoke with Keith Shipman on the radio today about our experience at the brand new ballpark. I had to follow New York Vinny, who is very vibrant in his conversations....He suggested the Mariners and other loser teams ought to have their own league called the "Happy Hour league"....hilarious.  Keith asked how the stadium was, and how long Brady Anderson's sideburns were....stuff like that.

Drove thru Gettysburg today and then Hershey, PA - which was awesome....

Drove thru New York and Connecticut to make it to Rhode Island to stay with BC....great to chill at a real residence with friends now.  Played some wiffle ball in his house just to break it in:)

NYC

 Yankees vs. Mariners:)

This place looks like a huge building.  Our seats are way out in left field.  We can see the museum they have honoring former players.  The stadium doesn't look as old from the inside.  It feels fairly intimate, although it is family day at the House that Ruth built on a Sunday day game.  

The M's rallied for two on the top of the first.  But we gave up a leadoff homerun in the bottom.   

We loved the pretzels..Yankees up 6-4 now but in the 7th, Jay Buhner hit a 3 run homers to put us back on top!!  Erik Hansen comes in to relieve.

We walked out to discover mustard on all of our backs from fans who didn't like the fact that the Mariners won!

Atlantic City - Philly

 Our only gambling luck occurred at Trump's Taj mahal - where at the blackjack table, we came out even between the three of us:(.

So, we continued our trek onto Veteran's stadium, attendance 34,500 on July 15th.  The Phanatic is a great feature... Lenny Dykstra, John Kruk and Darren Daulton are the stars..  They've lost 8 in a row.  We loved the cheesesteaks for $4.75!  Visited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell....drove for hours before settling on a $50 hotel in Stamford, Connecticut:)

Next day, NYC! Saw the WTC, Stock Exchange, Statue of Liberty, Shea Stadium and Ellis Island.....

Shea Stadium is right up Jase's alley!  Took the subway right to the game.  Our seats are in the mezzanine level and were perfect for a foul tip from Jose Uribe off of David Cone that landed right in Jase's pocket, a lifetime Met's fan!  Couldn't have been better.   He said if he died tomorrow, he couldn't be happier!

 7/8 Montreal - 5 and 1/2 hours to find a camping site - south of town... City was celebrating its' 350th anniversary - so we joined in along the St. Denis.   Another night of sleeping in the tent before heading to ballpark tomorrow....

Olympic Stadium (There was one?)

 Looks like a UFO from inside.  Can't read the scoreboard because it's in French.  It's a nice day, before the roof is closed - doesn't make sense. Sheffield led the Padres to a victory 9-2....

We headed back toward Cooperstown after the game.  We knew we were to connect with dad near Albany, NY after the game so we called him.  He stayed at the Ft. Orange men's Club.  Awesome men's place that we met him at - kind of like a private Elk's club room or something.  Really great to see him.  Jase took his earring out for respect.  Dad's got meetings all day tomorrow, so we are on our own and will cactch up after:)

Heading to Cooperstown!  " in baseball, you have no time limits - you get three strikes until you're out. But until then, there is no time, and you stay for everything!"....

We loved the museum, but really enjoyed the Doubleday Field where they filmed A League of their Own.

14 games in so far....record is 10-4 for the home team!

We've had times where we hated each other, laughed with each other, wanted to go home, or wanted to stay forever!! Overall, I think we are celebrating life.  Taking advantage of every day!  Seeing the things in this country that makes people want to live here...We are grateful for our opportunity to do this and take advantage of it to its fullest!

BC's bday and Red Sox

 waited for BC to get home to tear up his bday cake!  Then headed to Boston for awesome game!! Drove an hour to hopefully watch Roger Clemens pitch... Bought standing room only tix since Fenway only holds 35,000 strong.  Raining at the time and groundscrew covered the field....waited a couple hours before it was finally rained out sadly... Played wiffle ball on his tennis courts to make up for lost time:)

Dream Team

 After watching the Dream Team (Hoops) win by 80 in the Olympics the night before, Al Goduti, dad's friend in Boston, took us to a Red Sox game that wasn't actually rained out!   Awesome seats between home and first base...Sunny day as opposed to the rain recently.   Kevin Brown loaded the bases in the 1st and gave up a grand slam to Brumanstaz, ultimately losing 9-1 for the day!

Headed to Springfield, Mass Basketball Hall of Fame and enjoyed our hoops opportunity there!   Our hoopdee broke down and we had to call for a replacement sadly....And with that, we got pulled over by the police for 'looking like' a drug car in our area.,  Jase and I spent the evening in handcuffs in the back of a cruiser while they interrogated SEM and looked thru our luggage before determining that they were wrong - and escorted us to our next campsite with lights flashing!!

Niagra Falls

 Why not check out the Falls before heading to Toronto??  70 miles later we saw that they really do sell out every game.  The Falls were amazing!  Bought $10 tix for the game with obstructed views.  They were hilarious...But after a couple innings, we moved  behind home plate...What a huge dome!  KC won 5-2 and Jefferies was 4-5:)...headed to the falls the next day!

Off to Pittsburgh next, loved the campground. got to Three Rivers Stadium early:)

SEM tore up the Iron City Brew....taking the extras home in a garbage bag!  Very few people in attendance. Tim Wakefield just mowed down the opponent, less than 2 hours...