We Interrupt This Blog...

Our 'BucketListVacay' was a blast! We are two extremely blessed Baseball Fans, to have enjoyed such an adventure! For an impromptu trip, we somehow pulled it off and made some fantastic memories!

On Monday morning, the road trip to Pittsburgh began. It was a good trip down the PA Turnpike, please note the word 'fun' was omitted. If you have ever traveled the PA Turnpike you know what I mean. We checked into the hotel and had plenty of time to walk to PNC. The Nationals W-O-N!!!! Final score 8-4, needless to say a pleasant surprise! Pre-game included the U.S. Air Force Swearing-In Ceremony of several young men and women. Such an honor to watch! I, of course was cheering and clapping...when a young man asked if I was the parent of one of these new recruits. I told him I was not one of their parents, but I am the proud parent of two Airman. He too served in the USAF and as he left the stadium at the end of the game, he saluted me! a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3FF_t84QhAZ9DnvgzgNTouXHZVFmPwbFwDOHp5qsCaYhy_whBZ1MygUog9CWyKLDAr7H606GCzcDcJctLWJRKROX70RF2_HAIXRtMB8XHWAsz9QrSmDaI1rAmXa-CB1H5CK_YVqh2W7CA/s1600-h/278.JPG">PNC is a nice stadium with a great view of Pittsburgh's skyline!(we walked across the gold arched foot-bridge to get back to the hotel)

Tuesday morning had us heading west to Cincinnati to watch the Reds take on the Chicago Cubs. Sadly (yes, MudPuppy VERY sadly) the Cubs won. The seats were filled with a sea of blue shirts...everywhere! Cubbie fans everywhere!!!! The attendance for the game was 19,000 and I am convinced that 18,500 were Cub fans. Oh my gosh, they make some noise!!! Oh my gosh, they give Yankee fans a run for their money on the obnoxious meter (I'm an O's fan, so Yankee fans please don't hate!)
On the fun-side...Hubster and I were on the Kiss-Cam! Yep, Nana and Pa making out on the big screen at Great American Ball Park! The stadium sits along the bank of the Ohio River, which was rising due to the crazy rain...so there was a special announcement for those parked along the river to move their vehicles!
As we walked back to the hotel after the game, we stood with some Cub Fans at a stop lights as they chanted, "Let's Go Cubbies, We Hate White Sox". C'mon folks, not a White Sox fan in sight! I get it, MudPuppy...I really get it!

Our next stop was Dayton to visit one of my favorite Airman at Wright-Patterson. Hubster and I toured the Air Force Museum, while John finished his workday. There is so much to see at the Museum; if you ever have the chance to visit, it is well worth the trip! Dinner was yummy and then it was off to see John's truck...the one which he has taken up the sport of Muddin'. The truck which has been the primary reason John has been in court, not once but twice. The truck is currently not running, due to the fact it sat in a creek for two weeks. Even Mom knows that water and engines don't mix well. So, the truck is out for the count for a while. After going to dinner, we went to the garage to hang out for a couple hours while John's Muddin' buddy worked on his truck. These two guys took turns pulling each other out of the creek, both trucks needed to be towed out...when all was said and done. Both John and Josh had fun.......for a little while!

Comerica Park was the next game, to watch the O's take on the Detroit Tigers. It was YMCA day at the ballpark, so there were over 1,000 kids there who were able to walk the field before the game began. 33,000 attended this afternoon game, the final score was 3-7. This was the first time Hubster and I visited Detroit, such a sad city. The stadium is really nice, along with the area immediately surrounding it...but a few blocks away was rundown. When we arrived to the stadium, we asked a Tiger fan where we could find Will-Call to pick up our tickets. We were told that since we were O's fans, all we had to do was walk around the stadium twice. Ha Ha! I kinda thought we were the only two O's fans and it was confirmed later that evening as we took a walk to a Thai Restaurant for dinner...a couple men approached us and said, "Hey, aren't you the O's fans?" Yep. I've said it many times, it is not easy to love the O's!

Friday morning is was a quick trip to the Canadian border and then off to Toronto! We blew this trip! First of all, we did not expect it to take over an hour to get through customs, we did not plan well arriving in Toronto during rush-hour and for the first time all trip our MapQuest directions were wrong! Even the best of Navi-Guessers would have had a tough time deciphering those directions. So Hubster sucked it up and asked for directions! Toronto loves one-way streets. For a few moments there was concern if there was a right-way to the hotel. We were lucky to find our way and had just enough time to change clothes and walk to the stadium. But oh my gosh...we had the yummiest, most unhealthy dinner of the entire trip at Rogers Centre! We ate Poutine for the first time ever. As we stood in the food line, we were encouraged by some locals to eat lots and lots of Poutine, since we are O's fans. Poutine is a heart-attack in a basket! French Fries, topped with cheese curd and drowned with oodles of brown gravy. Washed down with a cold beer...Alton Brown, this is Good Eats!
We chose to dine on Poutine only, although the plan was to have a Mediterranean Sausage along with these fries. So, one would think fine dining would have been the highlight of this stop....nay, nay! The O's won. Go ahead and read it again..... the O's W-O-N the game 7-5. Rogers Centre is a dome stadium, it was a gorgeous night the roof was open! Did I mention the O's won? Good times, even though once again we were the only two people rooting on the Orioles!


Saturday morning we were on the road early to make our way to view one of the Seven Wonders of the World...Niagara Falls.
Awesome! Amazing! This was my first visit to the Canadian side of the Falls. Breathtaking! And then it was time to cross the border and step back on U.S. soil. We had great weather all the way home. There was no need to rush, so the trip was thoroughly enjoyable. We were going home.

How fortunate I am to be married to my best friend.
A guy who has no problem driving 1,623 miles in six days, so that his wife can experience Ball Parks. Happy Birthday!!!

How blessed we are to live in a nation, where people can set aside their worries and differences to enjoy a ballgame. How much I love to stand and place my hand over my heart as our National Anthem is sung at the beginning of each game! How I can't wait to plan our next adventure! We've got stadiums to see, people to meet and baseball to watch. Go O's!!!!!

I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog..............