Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Off She Goes
Shelby is heading off to her first overnight trip, a science camp a couple hours from home with her 6th grade class. It's supposed to be rainy in OKC all week. Hopefully, down South, the weather will be more enjoyable and she won't have to break out the rain coat.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Laborous Weekend
The girls and I had a packed Labor Day weekend, beginning Friday with a trip to the drive-in theater to see G-Force, followed Saturday by a day trip to the Wichita Mountains for a little rock climbing and hiking. The family album has been updated with a few additional pictures from the day trip, but this one is my favorite. The girls looking out over the valley, in quite reflection and relief that they had finally made it to the top (it was a much tougher hike than they expected).
Sunday and Monday we helped good friends move, which doesn't sound like much fun, but we had a pretty good time.
Sunday and Monday we helped good friends move, which doesn't sound like much fun, but we had a pretty good time.
Labels: movies, pictures, trip, Wichita Mountains
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Vacation pictures
It took awhile, but vacation pictures have been posted to the family album. We spent a few days in Washington, DC and a few days in Philadelphia earlier this month.
Labels: Philadelphia, pictures, trip, vacation, Washington DC
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Shelby saves a duckling
Shelby chased down a duckling at the pond in front of the capitol in Washington, D.C. It had gotten out of the pond and couldn't get back in to be reunited with its mom. Pictures from the trip forthcoming.
Labels: Shelby, trip, vacation, video, Washington DC
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mother's Day in Philly
I made a surprise visit to Philadelphia over Mother's Day weekend. When I got in Friday night, I caught the premier of Star Trek with my best high school buddies. Then I spent the rest of the weekend with mom.
I took her to breakfast on Saturday before taking her to get a new cell phone, after which we headed to the Phillies game. She is the reason I love the Phillies like I do, but she hadn't been to the new ballpark yet, a problem I resolved at long last. Too bad the Phils didn't notch a win for her.
On Sunday, I took mom to get some new eyeglasses and to do some clothes shopping before picking up sister at the bus station. Sis bussed down from NYC for the evening so that the three of us could have a nice dinner together, something we hadn't done since high school, so like eighteen years. I know, shameful, but at least I'm finally taking care of business.
I was back on a plane Monday morning, but I think the short trip was enough to hold mom over until the next visit. Well, okay, so I'm headed back to Philly next month with the kids for family vacation, but you know what I mean.
See and download the full gallery on posterous
Labels: baseball, Philadelphia, Phillies, sports, trip
Monday, March 09, 2009
The whole classic story
(Update
Some photos have been uploaded to the album.)
Intro
I've been back from Toronto for a little over a day, though I'm still crazy tired. The trip was probably not the best idea given the times, but it seems to have been worth it looking back from this short distance.
Premise
After my 2006 inaugural World Baseball Classic experience (see game summary, trip summary), it seemed a no-brainer to attempt to attend the second WBC. However, it was not without its twists and turns.
I went, in 2006, with a like-minded sports-loving friend and all was right with the world. It was in Phoenix, a town I enjoy, we participated in tons of great sporting events, and I got make the short trip to Tucson to see my ailing grandmother for what turned out to be the last time. With minor exception, looking back a few years, it was a really great trip.
Prelude
The intent was basically to do it all over again this time around, only the WBC folks decided to mix it up on us, having the first round of the classic in cities outside the United States. This became known as the first problem. While we could have caught the second round in Miami or the semis/finals in San Diego/L.A., there was a bit of risk in not fulfilling what I felt was the key goal of this endeavor... seeing Team USA. I mean, I'm all for seeing some great baseball games, but in less than a month, I'll have a number of options in that regard within a few hours drive. Why make a long plane ride if you're not going to see Team USA? So, given that Team USA COULD have lost in the first round, the only logical choice seemed to be to pack for Toronto.
The second problem this year was that my previous WBC travel partner became decidedly unavailable (though later quite the opposite, however not in time to join plans already in progress). So I had to find a new travel partner that understood the merits of making an international trip to see a baseball game. Not an easy task in my part of the world (college football country). But I did convince a close college friend, who has attended a number of ballgames with me in the past, that this would be a worthy trip.
There was a third problem as it turned out, in that my friend wanted to bring his wife. I don't mean that to sound like "it was a problem that he wanted to bring his wife". It's just that I knew his wife wasn't as into sports as he and I, and so the problem became a fairness issue, or how to balance the trip out with non-sports activities.
So I created an itinerary that was reasonably well balanced, I thought, with the WBC game, an NBA game, and a trip to Wayne Gretzsky's restaurant on the one hand, and museums, shopping, and a theatre show on the other. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. Which is not to say the trip wasn't rounded and excellent. It just didn't quite go according to plan.
Before getting into the trip details, I must note that there was actually a problem four... my friend did not have a passport. And there was some uncertainty as to whether he could get one in time. Fortunately, he was able to do so, averting a trip planning crisis.
Adventure
Thursday morning I hit the road for Dallas. It was decided early on that, living in different parts of the country, we would all meet-up in Dallas and fly to Toronto together. I don't disagree with this plan in retrospect, but the three plus hour drive with road construction threatening to delay your trip doesn't exactly relax you. Traffic delay and parking uncertainty overcome, I made it through security in short order and met up with my friends with great anticipation of a remarkable trip ahead. Aside from long waits in airports, the Dallas to Detroit to Toronto flights were mostly uneventful. Well, there was the incident involving beef jerky, but that's mostly just embarrassing and revealing of my ignorance, so we can skip that part.
The customs line in Canada was not too bad, though I thought the Canadian border agent was noticeably less nice to me than he had been to my friend's wife. Not that it made a difference. It took us no time at all to find a cab to take us to our hotel, though I did feel like the driver took a longer route than necessary, having studied the map a little ahead of time. The cab fare was our single biggest cash expense of the trip. Almost everything else we paid via credit cards, as was recommended on many travel sites.
The hotel, a Holiday Inn, wasn't particularly fancy, but it would do fine. After we checked-in, we got situated in our rooms and then met for dinner and to discuss the itinerary for the next day. Dinner in the pub and grill attached to the hotel hit the spot just fine.
The next morning we met downstairs and began our short walk to a breakfast place down the road. Called "Over Easy", the food there was quite tasty with hearty portion sizes. Breakfast concluded, we walked across the street to visit the Royal Ontario Museum.
We spent a good four to five hours at the museum, which resembles New York's Natural History Museum. As far as content, the ROM seemed more thorough in some areas than the NY NHM, but less thorough in others. I realize this is an unfair comparison, but I've been to both and so can't help but compare. Following our visit to the ROM, we walked back to the hotel for a short break before catching a subway ride downtown.
The plan called for a touristy visit to the CN Tower, Canada's largest structure, and one of the largest structures in the world, followed by dinner and an NBA game. Unfortunately, I didn't buy Raptors tickets in advance, which turned out to be a poor decision. I was trying to keep the agenda somewhat flexible, and I thought for sure in a city like Toronto with SO MUCH to do, they surely wouldn't sell out a basketball game for a team that wasn't in contention (sure, we sell out our very non-contending Oklahoma City arena quite often, but we just got the team, so we're still so darned excited about it). While I did have a plan B, it was based on a fairly narrow time frame, which also turned out to be problematic.
Well, the CN Tower portion of our day went quite excellently. Having been atop the Empire State Building (yes, even the 102nd floor), and as splendid as that was, I have to say the CN Tower experience might be just a tad better. I mean, wow. The views were spectacular... the city, Lake Ontario, the glass floors, etc... just amazing. Well, okay, the glass floors were just plain scary, but they added a dynamic to the experience not achievable in New York. You should have seen my reaction when trying to step out onto the glass floor when someone else jumped on it, making it shake. Did I mention I'm not great with heights?
We followed our tower observation with a meal in the aptly named 360 restaurant. Very much like the former "Nikz at the Top" restaurant in Oklahoma City, the 360 rotates, giving you a 360-degree view of the city and lake while you enjoy your high-priced meal. The atmosphere was remarkable and the food was excellent (also like Nikz). But we couldn't linger too long because we had to execute plan B following my NBA miscalculation.
The plan involved enjoying a show at a local mystery theater. Unfortunately, as we left CN Tower, we were notably behind schedule and needed to walk a significant distance to make the subway (I led us in the wrong direction, north instead of east, meaning we had to go to the St. Andrews station instead of Union Station costing us valuable time). Looking back on this, we should have just caught a cab and we would have been fine I think. Though it didn't take us long to figure out the value of cabs. When we finally reached the subway, we noticed how impractical it was becoming that we would actually make it to the mystery theater on time (thus keeping it a mystery in a sense). So we began discussing Plan C. Trouble is, I hadn't written a Plan C, so we were having to make it up on the spot.
Plan C became the let's just walk back to the main entertainment district and catch a movie plan. Seemed reasonable enough. It was a Friday, Watchmen had just come out, what a nice fall-back. So, we got off at the next subway stop, walked probably about as far as we did going from the CN Tower to the subway, and we got in line for tickets. We new we were too late for th 7pm showings, and that we'd have to wait for 9 or 9:30 showings, but we should also have accounted for the possibility of sell-outs. Ugh. As we were in line, we saw the marquee message that read "The next available showing of Watchmen is 11pm". There was nothing else even showing until 9:45, and we weren't sure that one was worth the wait. So, Plan C was turning out to be as much a flop as A and B. We stepped out of line and went to the book store cafe next door to contemplate the evening.
Not much discussion was needed before we determined the details of Plan D. It was stunningly simple and at that point the most value we could achieve without further spinning our wheels. (Technical note: Much of this aimless bouncing about would not have occurred if I had been able to use my splendid smart phone... but U.S. mobile providers have criminally high [IMHO] international data roaming rates, and so I was very much lacking in the actionable intelligence gathering abilities I'd come to rely on in the states.) Plan D was to, in fact, head the heck back to the hotel and get some sleep because we were bloody tired anyway. At the time I was disappointed with this plan (because hey, I don't sleep anyway), but once I got back to my room, I enjoyed it quite a lot. And this time, we caught a cab, so our trip back to the hotel was quick and without further walking.
Our last day in Toronto started out with another breakfast at Over Easy. We had plans to try another place, but decided we liked our previous day's breakfast enough to do it again. Then we hit the subway (once we found the darned station... you know, in New York subway stations are VERY obvious... in Toronto, not so much... or is it just me?) to one of the bigger malls in Toronto to do some gift shopping. We just spent an hour or so walking around the mall and making our selections as we didn't want to stay too long, have travel issues again, and possibly miss part of the game, which was the reason for the trip to begin with. So, we got back on the subway and headed back downtown.
Lunch plans called for a trip to Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Trouble is, pretty much everybody else going to the game thought of that as well. This time I had plans B and C prepared as well, and we did have to go with C, as B was just as packed. My friend's wife had the excellent suggestion of Plan D (skip external lunch and just get hot dogs at the game). Being men, we ignored that plan and stuck with Plan C. And then it started to rain. And we had window seats and so we saw how wet the people were getting walking to the game. Wonderful.
After scarfing our lunch, we headed to Skydome (yes, I know it's called the Rogers Centre now, but to me it will always be Skydome), getting plenty wet and wishing we had listened to the wife. Thank goodness for domed stadiums. And we arrived at the stadium early enough to catch the tail end of batting practice and to take plenty of pictures.
We had decent seats (35 rows from the field, between third and home). But the lower-bowl was a packed house and I started to wonder if the more spacious upper bowl might have been a better option for comfort purposes (attendance was in excess of forty-two thousand, much more than 2006). There were some obnoxiously loud and drunk Team Canada fans behind us (many in the section agreed they were too loud and annoying, so it wasn't just us), and to the left of us there were a couple of French Canadians that I'm sure were talking about us in French, concerning our American flags and frequent cheering for Team USA in a Canada-friendly crowd. Also, they got up every ten minutes to get a beer (where did they PUT all that beer they drank?), though they couldn't go at the same time. Seemed like every five minutes one of them got up to go get something else.
ANYway, this was about the game. And the game was quite excellent. Unlike my last WBC game, which was a Team USA blowout, this game was close the whole time, with USA victory not assured until the last out of the last inning with a full count. You can't ask for better baseball than that. As a bonus, I got to see three 2008 World Champion Phillies (Victorino, Rollins, and Stairs -- though playing for Canada) perform well, AND I got to see my childhood baseball hero Mike Schmidt coaching third base. What was decidedly less exciting was the fact that I blew an opportunity to get autographs from Victorino and Stairs following the game because the game went longer than expected and I made dinner reservations much too soon afterward. Oh, and did I mention it was still pouring outside?
The original plan called for walking to dinner. With the length of the game and the rain, we opted out of that plan rather quickly. However, catching a cab outside of a building with thousands of people exiting turned out to be far more difficult than anticipated. We ended up getting rather soaked again before we finally got a cab. Fortunately, we made it right on time for our reservations.
Dinner at an acclaimed Italian establishment, was excellent, and the desert was WAY larger than I expected. And I hate wasting perfectly good cheesecake. But once again my planning didn't turn out so well, as we finished dinner much quicker than expected (unlike the previous night), and so we had quite some time to wait before the next item on our agenda, a show at the (in)famous Second City Theatre, where many greats of comedy got their start.
Of course, that show required another walk in the rain as there were no cabs to be found. Did I mention that I gave my umbrella a good hard look before I left OKC, but though surely I wouldn't need it? Well, even with all weather crud on the trip, it all turned out to be worth it, as Second City was amazing. As a huge fan of sketch comedy, I had long wanted to get a live look at where SCTV came from, and at the very beginnings of many SNL players' climbs to the top. And SC didn't disappoint. It was a completely amazing and funny show, and I am reasonably certain I will someday see some of those same stage actors on my TV set, whether in SNL or some other hilarious endeavor. If you're ever in one of the SC cities, don't miss an opportunity to catch a show.
Not unexpectedly, it was still raining after the show, so we caught a cab back to the hotel. Considering we were being picked up by an airport taxi at 6am, AND that we had to spring ahead for daylight savings, there really wasn't much time for sleep, so, after setting up a wake-up call, I had to hurry up and pack so I could get at least SOME sleep. Even though I don't do that much, the trip was starting to catch up with me.
The trip to the airport the next morning and the trip back through customs and onward to Dallas was unremarkable (though we finally got a big enough plane to stretch out in, oh, and we think we saw the mini-me actor at the Detroit airport), as was my drive back to OKC. But it had been about fourteen hours of traveling of some sort, so I was very much like a zombie upon my return. I picked up the kids from their mom's, got some to-go dinner, and went HOME. It was SO nice to be home. Though there are some things to miss about Toronto.
Conclusion
While I didn't get to know her as well as I would have liked, Toronto, in my experience, is an excellent place to visit. Very New York-like with plenty of international flair (it's a VERY diverse city). With its close proximity to the U.S., the lack of language barriers, and the general similarity of most things (except money, metrics, and temperature), Toronto is a fantastic alternative to Europe if money and time are an issue. I'm eager to bring the kids back during a future summer so we can do all the kid-friendly things I skipped-out on this time around.
Some photos have been uploaded to the album.)
Intro
I've been back from Toronto for a little over a day, though I'm still crazy tired. The trip was probably not the best idea given the times, but it seems to have been worth it looking back from this short distance.
Premise
After my 2006 inaugural World Baseball Classic experience (see game summary, trip summary), it seemed a no-brainer to attempt to attend the second WBC. However, it was not without its twists and turns.
I went, in 2006, with a like-minded sports-loving friend and all was right with the world. It was in Phoenix, a town I enjoy, we participated in tons of great sporting events, and I got make the short trip to Tucson to see my ailing grandmother for what turned out to be the last time. With minor exception, looking back a few years, it was a really great trip.
Prelude
The intent was basically to do it all over again this time around, only the WBC folks decided to mix it up on us, having the first round of the classic in cities outside the United States. This became known as the first problem. While we could have caught the second round in Miami or the semis/finals in San Diego/L.A., there was a bit of risk in not fulfilling what I felt was the key goal of this endeavor... seeing Team USA. I mean, I'm all for seeing some great baseball games, but in less than a month, I'll have a number of options in that regard within a few hours drive. Why make a long plane ride if you're not going to see Team USA? So, given that Team USA COULD have lost in the first round, the only logical choice seemed to be to pack for Toronto.
The second problem this year was that my previous WBC travel partner became decidedly unavailable (though later quite the opposite, however not in time to join plans already in progress). So I had to find a new travel partner that understood the merits of making an international trip to see a baseball game. Not an easy task in my part of the world (college football country). But I did convince a close college friend, who has attended a number of ballgames with me in the past, that this would be a worthy trip.
There was a third problem as it turned out, in that my friend wanted to bring his wife. I don't mean that to sound like "it was a problem that he wanted to bring his wife". It's just that I knew his wife wasn't as into sports as he and I, and so the problem became a fairness issue, or how to balance the trip out with non-sports activities.
So I created an itinerary that was reasonably well balanced, I thought, with the WBC game, an NBA game, and a trip to Wayne Gretzsky's restaurant on the one hand, and museums, shopping, and a theatre show on the other. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. Which is not to say the trip wasn't rounded and excellent. It just didn't quite go according to plan.
Before getting into the trip details, I must note that there was actually a problem four... my friend did not have a passport. And there was some uncertainty as to whether he could get one in time. Fortunately, he was able to do so, averting a trip planning crisis.
Adventure
Thursday morning I hit the road for Dallas. It was decided early on that, living in different parts of the country, we would all meet-up in Dallas and fly to Toronto together. I don't disagree with this plan in retrospect, but the three plus hour drive with road construction threatening to delay your trip doesn't exactly relax you. Traffic delay and parking uncertainty overcome, I made it through security in short order and met up with my friends with great anticipation of a remarkable trip ahead. Aside from long waits in airports, the Dallas to Detroit to Toronto flights were mostly uneventful. Well, there was the incident involving beef jerky, but that's mostly just embarrassing and revealing of my ignorance, so we can skip that part.
The customs line in Canada was not too bad, though I thought the Canadian border agent was noticeably less nice to me than he had been to my friend's wife. Not that it made a difference. It took us no time at all to find a cab to take us to our hotel, though I did feel like the driver took a longer route than necessary, having studied the map a little ahead of time. The cab fare was our single biggest cash expense of the trip. Almost everything else we paid via credit cards, as was recommended on many travel sites.
The hotel, a Holiday Inn, wasn't particularly fancy, but it would do fine. After we checked-in, we got situated in our rooms and then met for dinner and to discuss the itinerary for the next day. Dinner in the pub and grill attached to the hotel hit the spot just fine.
The next morning we met downstairs and began our short walk to a breakfast place down the road. Called "Over Easy", the food there was quite tasty with hearty portion sizes. Breakfast concluded, we walked across the street to visit the Royal Ontario Museum.
We spent a good four to five hours at the museum, which resembles New York's Natural History Museum. As far as content, the ROM seemed more thorough in some areas than the NY NHM, but less thorough in others. I realize this is an unfair comparison, but I've been to both and so can't help but compare. Following our visit to the ROM, we walked back to the hotel for a short break before catching a subway ride downtown.
The plan called for a touristy visit to the CN Tower, Canada's largest structure, and one of the largest structures in the world, followed by dinner and an NBA game. Unfortunately, I didn't buy Raptors tickets in advance, which turned out to be a poor decision. I was trying to keep the agenda somewhat flexible, and I thought for sure in a city like Toronto with SO MUCH to do, they surely wouldn't sell out a basketball game for a team that wasn't in contention (sure, we sell out our very non-contending Oklahoma City arena quite often, but we just got the team, so we're still so darned excited about it). While I did have a plan B, it was based on a fairly narrow time frame, which also turned out to be problematic.
Well, the CN Tower portion of our day went quite excellently. Having been atop the Empire State Building (yes, even the 102nd floor), and as splendid as that was, I have to say the CN Tower experience might be just a tad better. I mean, wow. The views were spectacular... the city, Lake Ontario, the glass floors, etc... just amazing. Well, okay, the glass floors were just plain scary, but they added a dynamic to the experience not achievable in New York. You should have seen my reaction when trying to step out onto the glass floor when someone else jumped on it, making it shake. Did I mention I'm not great with heights?
We followed our tower observation with a meal in the aptly named 360 restaurant. Very much like the former "Nikz at the Top" restaurant in Oklahoma City, the 360 rotates, giving you a 360-degree view of the city and lake while you enjoy your high-priced meal. The atmosphere was remarkable and the food was excellent (also like Nikz). But we couldn't linger too long because we had to execute plan B following my NBA miscalculation.
The plan involved enjoying a show at a local mystery theater. Unfortunately, as we left CN Tower, we were notably behind schedule and needed to walk a significant distance to make the subway (I led us in the wrong direction, north instead of east, meaning we had to go to the St. Andrews station instead of Union Station costing us valuable time). Looking back on this, we should have just caught a cab and we would have been fine I think. Though it didn't take us long to figure out the value of cabs. When we finally reached the subway, we noticed how impractical it was becoming that we would actually make it to the mystery theater on time (thus keeping it a mystery in a sense). So we began discussing Plan C. Trouble is, I hadn't written a Plan C, so we were having to make it up on the spot.
Plan C became the let's just walk back to the main entertainment district and catch a movie plan. Seemed reasonable enough. It was a Friday, Watchmen had just come out, what a nice fall-back. So, we got off at the next subway stop, walked probably about as far as we did going from the CN Tower to the subway, and we got in line for tickets. We new we were too late for th 7pm showings, and that we'd have to wait for 9 or 9:30 showings, but we should also have accounted for the possibility of sell-outs. Ugh. As we were in line, we saw the marquee message that read "The next available showing of Watchmen is 11pm". There was nothing else even showing until 9:45, and we weren't sure that one was worth the wait. So, Plan C was turning out to be as much a flop as A and B. We stepped out of line and went to the book store cafe next door to contemplate the evening.
Not much discussion was needed before we determined the details of Plan D. It was stunningly simple and at that point the most value we could achieve without further spinning our wheels. (Technical note: Much of this aimless bouncing about would not have occurred if I had been able to use my splendid smart phone... but U.S. mobile providers have criminally high [IMHO] international data roaming rates, and so I was very much lacking in the actionable intelligence gathering abilities I'd come to rely on in the states.) Plan D was to, in fact, head the heck back to the hotel and get some sleep because we were bloody tired anyway. At the time I was disappointed with this plan (because hey, I don't sleep anyway), but once I got back to my room, I enjoyed it quite a lot. And this time, we caught a cab, so our trip back to the hotel was quick and without further walking.
Our last day in Toronto started out with another breakfast at Over Easy. We had plans to try another place, but decided we liked our previous day's breakfast enough to do it again. Then we hit the subway (once we found the darned station... you know, in New York subway stations are VERY obvious... in Toronto, not so much... or is it just me?) to one of the bigger malls in Toronto to do some gift shopping. We just spent an hour or so walking around the mall and making our selections as we didn't want to stay too long, have travel issues again, and possibly miss part of the game, which was the reason for the trip to begin with. So, we got back on the subway and headed back downtown.
Lunch plans called for a trip to Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Trouble is, pretty much everybody else going to the game thought of that as well. This time I had plans B and C prepared as well, and we did have to go with C, as B was just as packed. My friend's wife had the excellent suggestion of Plan D (skip external lunch and just get hot dogs at the game). Being men, we ignored that plan and stuck with Plan C. And then it started to rain. And we had window seats and so we saw how wet the people were getting walking to the game. Wonderful.
After scarfing our lunch, we headed to Skydome (yes, I know it's called the Rogers Centre now, but to me it will always be Skydome), getting plenty wet and wishing we had listened to the wife. Thank goodness for domed stadiums. And we arrived at the stadium early enough to catch the tail end of batting practice and to take plenty of pictures.
We had decent seats (35 rows from the field, between third and home). But the lower-bowl was a packed house and I started to wonder if the more spacious upper bowl might have been a better option for comfort purposes (attendance was in excess of forty-two thousand, much more than 2006). There were some obnoxiously loud and drunk Team Canada fans behind us (many in the section agreed they were too loud and annoying, so it wasn't just us), and to the left of us there were a couple of French Canadians that I'm sure were talking about us in French, concerning our American flags and frequent cheering for Team USA in a Canada-friendly crowd. Also, they got up every ten minutes to get a beer (where did they PUT all that beer they drank?), though they couldn't go at the same time. Seemed like every five minutes one of them got up to go get something else.
ANYway, this was about the game. And the game was quite excellent. Unlike my last WBC game, which was a Team USA blowout, this game was close the whole time, with USA victory not assured until the last out of the last inning with a full count. You can't ask for better baseball than that. As a bonus, I got to see three 2008 World Champion Phillies (Victorino, Rollins, and Stairs -- though playing for Canada) perform well, AND I got to see my childhood baseball hero Mike Schmidt coaching third base. What was decidedly less exciting was the fact that I blew an opportunity to get autographs from Victorino and Stairs following the game because the game went longer than expected and I made dinner reservations much too soon afterward. Oh, and did I mention it was still pouring outside?
The original plan called for walking to dinner. With the length of the game and the rain, we opted out of that plan rather quickly. However, catching a cab outside of a building with thousands of people exiting turned out to be far more difficult than anticipated. We ended up getting rather soaked again before we finally got a cab. Fortunately, we made it right on time for our reservations.
Dinner at an acclaimed Italian establishment, was excellent, and the desert was WAY larger than I expected. And I hate wasting perfectly good cheesecake. But once again my planning didn't turn out so well, as we finished dinner much quicker than expected (unlike the previous night), and so we had quite some time to wait before the next item on our agenda, a show at the (in)famous Second City Theatre, where many greats of comedy got their start.
Of course, that show required another walk in the rain as there were no cabs to be found. Did I mention that I gave my umbrella a good hard look before I left OKC, but though surely I wouldn't need it? Well, even with all weather crud on the trip, it all turned out to be worth it, as Second City was amazing. As a huge fan of sketch comedy, I had long wanted to get a live look at where SCTV came from, and at the very beginnings of many SNL players' climbs to the top. And SC didn't disappoint. It was a completely amazing and funny show, and I am reasonably certain I will someday see some of those same stage actors on my TV set, whether in SNL or some other hilarious endeavor. If you're ever in one of the SC cities, don't miss an opportunity to catch a show.
Not unexpectedly, it was still raining after the show, so we caught a cab back to the hotel. Considering we were being picked up by an airport taxi at 6am, AND that we had to spring ahead for daylight savings, there really wasn't much time for sleep, so, after setting up a wake-up call, I had to hurry up and pack so I could get at least SOME sleep. Even though I don't do that much, the trip was starting to catch up with me.
The trip to the airport the next morning and the trip back through customs and onward to Dallas was unremarkable (though we finally got a big enough plane to stretch out in, oh, and we think we saw the mini-me actor at the Detroit airport), as was my drive back to OKC. But it had been about fourteen hours of traveling of some sort, so I was very much like a zombie upon my return. I picked up the kids from their mom's, got some to-go dinner, and went HOME. It was SO nice to be home. Though there are some things to miss about Toronto.
Conclusion
While I didn't get to know her as well as I would have liked, Toronto, in my experience, is an excellent place to visit. Very New York-like with plenty of international flair (it's a VERY diverse city). With its close proximity to the U.S., the lack of language barriers, and the general similarity of most things (except money, metrics, and temperature), Toronto is a fantastic alternative to Europe if money and time are an issue. I'm eager to bring the kids back during a future summer so we can do all the kid-friendly things I skipped-out on this time around.
Labels: baseball, pictures, sports, Toronto, trip, World Baseball Classic
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Classic Teaser
Got to see Team USA beat Team Canada in Toronto today... what a blast!
Labels: baseball, sports, Toronto, trip, World Baseball Classic
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A sign your Thanksgiving trip just took a turn for the worse...
Sixty-five miles from home on a three-thousand mile round trip and a belt breaks. Good times.
Update
Our Thanksgiving in Philly was actually quite excellent. More pictures from that trip have been uploaded to the family album.
Update
Our Thanksgiving in Philly was actually quite excellent. More pictures from that trip have been uploaded to the family album.
Labels: holiday, Philadelphia, pictures, trip
Monday, July 07, 2008
RVing to Milwaukee
Six friends were taking an RV trip over the Independence Day weekend to Milwaukee for a concert and asked if I wanted to go. Nah, I said. But then I checked the Milwaukee Brewers schedule, noticed that they'd be in town the same night as the concert, and decided to join them. I doubted there would be another opportunity like this for me to see Miller Park. And I'm glad I went, as it turned into a decent little adventure.
The first leg of the trip, we stopped at a couple wineries in Missouri, and stayed overnight at a Springfield, Illinois campground. The second leg got us all the way to Milwaukee, but we were running so behind that I got dropped off by the RV in front of the stadium just in time for the game. The RV then proceeded to the RV park to "connect" before everybody caught a shuttle to the concert.
While some may question making such a trip for a ballgame, I can say unequivocally that I have no regrets. Not only is Miller Park a beautiful ballpark, it was a great game, won by Prince Fielder in the bottom of the ninth with a game-winning walk-off RBI-single. Good stuff.
I caught a taxi back to the RV once the game was over, with a few hours to myself before everyone else returned from the concert. The next morning we packed up and hit the road for home (so yes, a very quick visit).
You can see a few pictures from the trip in the album, or if you'd like to see more pictures of the ballpark, you can find them in the picasa album.
The first leg of the trip, we stopped at a couple wineries in Missouri, and stayed overnight at a Springfield, Illinois campground. The second leg got us all the way to Milwaukee, but we were running so behind that I got dropped off by the RV in front of the stadium just in time for the game. The RV then proceeded to the RV park to "connect" before everybody caught a shuttle to the concert.
While some may question making such a trip for a ballgame, I can say unequivocally that I have no regrets. Not only is Miller Park a beautiful ballpark, it was a great game, won by Prince Fielder in the bottom of the ninth with a game-winning walk-off RBI-single. Good stuff.
I caught a taxi back to the RV once the game was over, with a few hours to myself before everyone else returned from the concert. The next morning we packed up and hit the road for home (so yes, a very quick visit).
You can see a few pictures from the trip in the album, or if you'd like to see more pictures of the ballpark, you can find them in the picasa album.
Labels: ballpark, baseball, Milwaukee, pictures, sports, trip
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Back
I woke up at four-something this morning. Couldn't go back to sleep. Had a breakfast at the groom's parents' at nine. Then hit the road for a "pleasant" five-hour Sunday drive. When I finally got home I was SO. EXHAUSTED. And even after a two hour nap, I am still crazy tired. I need another weekend to recover from the weekend.
Labels: Temple TX, trip, wedding
"Couple tips about the gun"
One of the groomsmen at the wedding bought toy guns for all of the groomsmen for some joke pictures. The groom said at one point we looked like James Bond in our black suits, so... guns for pictures.
Anyway, they shoot these little plastic BBs. Not the metal-ish ones like when we were kids. So when I got back to my hotel room, I, like ANY guy would, played with my gun. I learned some things, which I text-messaged to the others, just to prevent them from learning the hard way like myself. Among those tips:
1) Don't shoot at anything perpendicularly, as it will bounce right back at you
2) Don't shoot at anything glass, as it WILL break
And just so you know this isn't a stupid Shawn thing, but rather a stupid guy thing, the groom added to the list:
3) Don't shoot yourself in the foot to see if it hurts, because it does
AFTER (instead of before... again, it's a guy thing) I had my unfortunate incident with the hotel glass, I read the manual. Some of those same warnings are there, though they are worded differently. They specifically warn about bounce-back. And shooting at living things. Except you can tell the manual was translated from non-English as it says "do not shoot at the creature", with an image of a person next to that statement. Funny.
Also interesting was the performance stats... 65 foot range and a projectile velocity of 190 feet per second (more than a hundred miles per hour). For comparison purposes, a 9mm shoots up close to a thousand feet per second. So, almost 1/5 the speed of a real bullet, not too shabby. Had I seen that little stat before I started "playing", probably I don't then shoot at the glass.
Anyway, they shoot these little plastic BBs. Not the metal-ish ones like when we were kids. So when I got back to my hotel room, I, like ANY guy would, played with my gun. I learned some things, which I text-messaged to the others, just to prevent them from learning the hard way like myself. Among those tips:
1) Don't shoot at anything perpendicularly, as it will bounce right back at you
2) Don't shoot at anything glass, as it WILL break
And just so you know this isn't a stupid Shawn thing, but rather a stupid guy thing, the groom added to the list:
3) Don't shoot yourself in the foot to see if it hurts, because it does
AFTER (instead of before... again, it's a guy thing) I had my unfortunate incident with the hotel glass, I read the manual. Some of those same warnings are there, though they are worded differently. They specifically warn about bounce-back. And shooting at living things. Except you can tell the manual was translated from non-English as it says "do not shoot at the creature", with an image of a person next to that statement. Funny.
Also interesting was the performance stats... 65 foot range and a projectile velocity of 190 feet per second (more than a hundred miles per hour). For comparison purposes, a 9mm shoots up close to a thousand feet per second. So, almost 1/5 the speed of a real bullet, not too shabby. Had I seen that little stat before I started "playing", probably I don't then shoot at the glass.
Labels: Temple TX, trip, wedding
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Wed
It was a good day. For the groom I tried to make sure it was a great day. I think I did okay.
We got some good sleep. Got up sufficiently early. Went to IHOP with the groomsmen for a big breakfast and some male bonding. That was quite excellent. The groom later conveyed to me that he thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast, and that it was a good idea.
The groom and I were going to have some additional bonding time, but the breakfast took a little longer than expected, though it was totally worth it. So by the time we got back to the groom's place, we only had about an hour before we needed to leave for the church, so as to not take any chances, we got ourselves ready and headed out (though we did take a moment to sit in the grass and meditate about the day).
On the way to the church we stopped and bought powerbars for all the groomsmen. The thought was that we had a big breakfast, but probably all then skipped lunch, and with a 2pm wedding and a 4pm dinner reception, it was going to be awhile before we ate again. So we put the powerbars in our suit pockets in the event anyone felt woozy in the run-up to the ceremony. After we continued on to the church, we had our first near-incident. The groom missed his turn and so slammed on the brakes. I was following close behind and so also had to (unexpectedly I might add) slam my break. Also necessary was a sudden swerve to avoid rear-ending the groom in his 4-month old new car. THAT would have been a story for the wedding album, huh?
We were the second to arrive at the church for pre-wedding photos (probably would have been first without the powerbar stop), so I think we did well on time. We took our pictures, including some fun poses with fake pistols thanks to one of the groomsmen thinking on his toes. Also, while the groom was taking photos with the bridesmaids, the groomsmen and I took the liberty to defile the groom's freshly washed new car with the requisite "just married" decor. He was later quite surprised to see his car not in the state he left it, but was appreciative of the effort.
The wedding went very well. I think the bride and groom had a fantastic time, of course. For our part (the rest of the wedding party), I think we pulled it off nicely. There were maybe a couple hiccups, I think mostly due to a rushed rehearsal, but those were very very minor and likely unnoticed by the audience.
After the ceremony there were, of course, post-wedding photos, after which I followed the bride and groom to the reception location, where we had our first actual incident. The groom forgot some important medication. A failure on my part, to an extent, as his best man, BUT I didn't know he was taking that particular medication. I should have then been the one to hop in the car, scurry back to his place, and return to the reception with the medication. But he lived quite a distance away, and Temple is a confusing place to drive in, so I didn't know the way. Also, neither the bride or groom could go into the reception alone because they had to be announced together.
So, the three of us (bride, groom, and I), hopped into the just-married-mobile (an interesting sight to say the least), and rather hastily proceeded back to the groom's place. Keep in mind that the wedding guests, blissfully enjoying their appetizers, were unaware of this additional delay. Probably we could have done that whole thing differently, but I think it was a nice, fun moment for us (hoping to not get pulled over -- we were definitely speeding -- and have to explain how it was that the three of us were just married). Turns out it was good that I was there with them. The groom had given away his powerbar just before the ceremony thinking he wouldn't need it. But on the drive back to his place, he had a sudden need for it, so I whipped my powerbar out (definitely not what it sounds like), opened it for him, and handed it to him to eat while he was speeding down the highway. What are best men for, huh?
When we arrived back at the reception, I hopped out of the car, ran in to get the photographer so she could take photos of the bride and groom re-arriving at the reception. I then parked the car for them and ran back inside just in time for new couple to be announced. All that and only about fifteen minutes behind schedule (we finished post-wedding photos earlier than expected). Whew!
The reception was excellent. Great food, good DJ, tasty cake, LOTS of kids running around and dancing. Oh, and did I mention the chocolate fountain? Kids and chocolate fountains... definitely a messy combination (I know from experience). Of course, there was my very own moment, the first toast, which I could have done without. But I DID owe the groom some nice words. So, as required, I prepared a speech before hand (like weeks before hand, not JUST before hand), though I was editing it until the last minute. That went okay, if you ignore the couple times I stumbled over my words.
At the end of the reception, in my last official duty, I pulled the car back around, loaded it with the presents, and left it by the exit, but with enough room for the bride and groom to make a long exit adorned in bubbles blown by the cheering crowd. Alas, my work here is done.
There's a picture of me in my suit in the album, for the record.
We got some good sleep. Got up sufficiently early. Went to IHOP with the groomsmen for a big breakfast and some male bonding. That was quite excellent. The groom later conveyed to me that he thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast, and that it was a good idea.
The groom and I were going to have some additional bonding time, but the breakfast took a little longer than expected, though it was totally worth it. So by the time we got back to the groom's place, we only had about an hour before we needed to leave for the church, so as to not take any chances, we got ourselves ready and headed out (though we did take a moment to sit in the grass and meditate about the day).
On the way to the church we stopped and bought powerbars for all the groomsmen. The thought was that we had a big breakfast, but probably all then skipped lunch, and with a 2pm wedding and a 4pm dinner reception, it was going to be awhile before we ate again. So we put the powerbars in our suit pockets in the event anyone felt woozy in the run-up to the ceremony. After we continued on to the church, we had our first near-incident. The groom missed his turn and so slammed on the brakes. I was following close behind and so also had to (unexpectedly I might add) slam my break. Also necessary was a sudden swerve to avoid rear-ending the groom in his 4-month old new car. THAT would have been a story for the wedding album, huh?
We were the second to arrive at the church for pre-wedding photos (probably would have been first without the powerbar stop), so I think we did well on time. We took our pictures, including some fun poses with fake pistols thanks to one of the groomsmen thinking on his toes. Also, while the groom was taking photos with the bridesmaids, the groomsmen and I took the liberty to defile the groom's freshly washed new car with the requisite "just married" decor. He was later quite surprised to see his car not in the state he left it, but was appreciative of the effort.
The wedding went very well. I think the bride and groom had a fantastic time, of course. For our part (the rest of the wedding party), I think we pulled it off nicely. There were maybe a couple hiccups, I think mostly due to a rushed rehearsal, but those were very very minor and likely unnoticed by the audience.
After the ceremony there were, of course, post-wedding photos, after which I followed the bride and groom to the reception location, where we had our first actual incident. The groom forgot some important medication. A failure on my part, to an extent, as his best man, BUT I didn't know he was taking that particular medication. I should have then been the one to hop in the car, scurry back to his place, and return to the reception with the medication. But he lived quite a distance away, and Temple is a confusing place to drive in, so I didn't know the way. Also, neither the bride or groom could go into the reception alone because they had to be announced together.
So, the three of us (bride, groom, and I), hopped into the just-married-mobile (an interesting sight to say the least), and rather hastily proceeded back to the groom's place. Keep in mind that the wedding guests, blissfully enjoying their appetizers, were unaware of this additional delay. Probably we could have done that whole thing differently, but I think it was a nice, fun moment for us (hoping to not get pulled over -- we were definitely speeding -- and have to explain how it was that the three of us were just married). Turns out it was good that I was there with them. The groom had given away his powerbar just before the ceremony thinking he wouldn't need it. But on the drive back to his place, he had a sudden need for it, so I whipped my powerbar out (definitely not what it sounds like), opened it for him, and handed it to him to eat while he was speeding down the highway. What are best men for, huh?
When we arrived back at the reception, I hopped out of the car, ran in to get the photographer so she could take photos of the bride and groom re-arriving at the reception. I then parked the car for them and ran back inside just in time for new couple to be announced. All that and only about fifteen minutes behind schedule (we finished post-wedding photos earlier than expected). Whew!
The reception was excellent. Great food, good DJ, tasty cake, LOTS of kids running around and dancing. Oh, and did I mention the chocolate fountain? Kids and chocolate fountains... definitely a messy combination (I know from experience). Of course, there was my very own moment, the first toast, which I could have done without. But I DID owe the groom some nice words. So, as required, I prepared a speech before hand (like weeks before hand, not JUST before hand), though I was editing it until the last minute. That went okay, if you ignore the couple times I stumbled over my words.
At the end of the reception, in my last official duty, I pulled the car back around, loaded it with the presents, and left it by the exit, but with enough room for the bride and groom to make a long exit adorned in bubbles blown by the cheering crowd. Alas, my work here is done.
There's a picture of me in my suit in the album, for the record.
Labels: Temple TX, trip, wedding
Friday, April 11, 2008
Rehearsed
In Texas for a wedding. Tonight was the rehearsal. Left OKC way later than expected and made it to the church with less than an hour to spare. But it went well, though I wish we had gone through the whole ceremony two or three times, cause I'm not sure I got it down with as quickly as we went through it. Being the best man, the groomsmen are following my lead. And I'd hate to lead them off a bridge or something.
Here's a pic of the groom and I at the rehearsal dinner.
Here's a pic of the groom and I at the rehearsal dinner.
Labels: Temple TX, trip, wedding
Monday, August 20, 2007
What I did on my summer vacation
So I've been gone for awhile. What's it to ya? I'm not even sure I'm back for good yet, so hold your tongue.
I have no good excuses. But the last time I blogged it was at the end of the school year. And tomorrow begins the next school year, so we'll just say I was on summer vacation for lack of a better reason.
I wrote many a blog entry over the summer, but didn't post for various reasons I'll not get into now. I may back-fill some of those blog entries, but I'm not making promises for the time being.
So, here's a brief summary of our summer...
Softball Camps and Clinics
Darby participated in a softball camp in June. Says she learned a thing or two. She also participated in an NCAA softball clinic.
Baseball
Darby played on a co-ed baseball team that experienced a "make-up season" instead of make-up games due to all the rain in June. There are photos in the album in addition to the below sample. She got to pitch quite a bit, and hit a couple homers of the inside-the-park variety.
Kingfisher
The girls spent two separate weeks with their grandmother in Kingfisher. The first week was rainy and indoors. The second was outdoorsy, but Shelby took a nasty spill off her bike. Guess it's good they got all that out of the way before Kingfisher ended up underwater.
New York
We took a trip to New York City in August, which was quite an adventure. We visited four of the five boroughs, took many subways and buses, went to both a Yankees game and a Mets game, and spent a lot of time in Central Park, among other activities. Additional pictures are available in the album.
Philadelphia
After NYC, we went down to Philly to visit family, friends, and landmarks. We went to the nations first zoo, fully experienced Six Flags Great Adventure, BBQed with friends, and spent a good amount of time in the historic district re-visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other sites. Naturally, we also took in a Phillies game. Additional pictures are available in the album.
Got Hitched
Okay, so this is a complete fabrication. Pick your jaw up off the floor. But in all seriousness, I did meet someone rather unexpectedly, if you can believe that. I'm quite fortunate, and things are going rather splendidly in that regard, but I'll not be going into that much here or now.
Well, that covers most of the highlights. Hopefully this will not be the last you hear from me in awhile. Trying to get back into the swing. Bear with me.
I have no good excuses. But the last time I blogged it was at the end of the school year. And tomorrow begins the next school year, so we'll just say I was on summer vacation for lack of a better reason.
I wrote many a blog entry over the summer, but didn't post for various reasons I'll not get into now. I may back-fill some of those blog entries, but I'm not making promises for the time being.
So, here's a brief summary of our summer...
Softball Camps and Clinics
Darby participated in a softball camp in June. Says she learned a thing or two. She also participated in an NCAA softball clinic.
Baseball
Darby played on a co-ed baseball team that experienced a "make-up season" instead of make-up games due to all the rain in June. There are photos in the album in addition to the below sample. She got to pitch quite a bit, and hit a couple homers of the inside-the-park variety.
Kingfisher
The girls spent two separate weeks with their grandmother in Kingfisher. The first week was rainy and indoors. The second was outdoorsy, but Shelby took a nasty spill off her bike. Guess it's good they got all that out of the way before Kingfisher ended up underwater.
New York
We took a trip to New York City in August, which was quite an adventure. We visited four of the five boroughs, took many subways and buses, went to both a Yankees game and a Mets game, and spent a lot of time in Central Park, among other activities. Additional pictures are available in the album.
Philadelphia
After NYC, we went down to Philly to visit family, friends, and landmarks. We went to the nations first zoo, fully experienced Six Flags Great Adventure, BBQed with friends, and spent a good amount of time in the historic district re-visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other sites. Naturally, we also took in a Phillies game. Additional pictures are available in the album.
Got Hitched
Okay, so this is a complete fabrication. Pick your jaw up off the floor. But in all seriousness, I did meet someone rather unexpectedly, if you can believe that. I'm quite fortunate, and things are going rather splendidly in that regard, but I'll not be going into that much here or now.
Well, that covers most of the highlights. Hopefully this will not be the last you hear from me in awhile. Trying to get back into the swing. Bear with me.
Labels: baseball, Darby, New York, Philadelphia, Phillies, pictures, softball, trip
Monday, November 21, 2005
Tucson in the Fall
When we left Oklahoma it was under 40 degrees and the high that day was supposed to be like 44. Today in Tucson it got up to 78, and it was awesome. We LOVE Tucson in the Fall.
As a reward to the children for their mostly good behavior during our 16+ hour journey, after lunch today I took them to the best park in town (Reid Park), and let them enjoy themselves for a couple hours. What made it particularly swell was the fact that all of the Tucsonian children were still in school (my daughters are in the fortunate position to go to a school that takes the entire week of Thanksgiving off), so it was almost like we had the park to ourselves. There were a few below-school-age children along with their parents, but I don't recall seeing any older kids. We left right about when school was letting out locally, knowing it would probably get a lot more busy. It really is a very nice park. Several playgrounds, an awesome duck pond with a waterfall system, and a rose garden. There are ball fields and a performing arts center, but we didn't get to make use of those.
In between checking out playgrounds, the girls and I took-in the extensive rose garden. There's a gazebo in the center with some benches, where we sat a good long while and took in the peacefulness on such a nice, quiet day, with the aroma of roses filling the air. I know it sounds lame for a guy to describe it, so if it helps, Darby said it was one of the most peaceful places she had ever been to. I also used the opportune background to take cute pics of the girls.
The rest of the day was pretty much reserved for family visiting.
As a reward to the children for their mostly good behavior during our 16+ hour journey, after lunch today I took them to the best park in town (Reid Park), and let them enjoy themselves for a couple hours. What made it particularly swell was the fact that all of the Tucsonian children were still in school (my daughters are in the fortunate position to go to a school that takes the entire week of Thanksgiving off), so it was almost like we had the park to ourselves. There were a few below-school-age children along with their parents, but I don't recall seeing any older kids. We left right about when school was letting out locally, knowing it would probably get a lot more busy. It really is a very nice park. Several playgrounds, an awesome duck pond with a waterfall system, and a rose garden. There are ball fields and a performing arts center, but we didn't get to make use of those.
In between checking out playgrounds, the girls and I took-in the extensive rose garden. There's a gazebo in the center with some benches, where we sat a good long while and took in the peacefulness on such a nice, quiet day, with the aroma of roses filling the air. I know it sounds lame for a guy to describe it, so if it helps, Darby said it was one of the most peaceful places she had ever been to. I also used the opportune background to take cute pics of the girls.
The rest of the day was pretty much reserved for family visiting.
Labels: Darby, Shelby, trip, Tucson
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Surf's up
The third day of our meeting concluded early and we got a tour of the B-1 CNMS lab, which was neat stuff. Then we went up to Venice Beach and saw many strange things. Even stranger than Hollywood if you can believe that. We took a walk up and down the shops along the beach and strolled on the beach itself for a bit, going right up to the water. We were going to go to the Santa Monica pier, but opted for Redondo Beach, where we ate at the Bluewater Grill, which is right on the marina. We called it an early night because we have to get up early for our flight out tomorrow morning.
Enjoy this Venice Beach sunset.
Enjoy this Venice Beach sunset.
Labels: B-1B, Long Beach, sunset, trip, Venice Beach
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Ugh's the Word
We just got back from a marathon vacation that spanned five states over ten days and included such activities:
- Visit to the Grand Canyon
- Visit to the Hoover Dam
- Visit to Las Vegas (Caesar's Palace, Barbary Coast, MGM Grand, Mirage, and of course Circus Circus)
- A wedding
- Visit to Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix for an Arizona Diamondbacks game
- Visit to Tucson, Arizona to see relatives
Here's the trip summary:
Total miles - 2988
Round-trip travel time - 48.75 hours
VUE MPG - 23
Total Fuel Cost - $200
Digital pictures taken - 433 personal, 128 business
Needless to say, I am really really tired. Of driving in particular.
Travel stories and many many pictures will be posted to the appropriate places on this site as I have time to do so...
- Visit to the Grand Canyon
- Visit to the Hoover Dam
- Visit to Las Vegas (Caesar's Palace, Barbary Coast, MGM Grand, Mirage, and of course Circus Circus)
- A wedding
- Visit to Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix for an Arizona Diamondbacks game
- Visit to Tucson, Arizona to see relatives
Here's the trip summary:
Total miles - 2988
Round-trip travel time - 48.75 hours
VUE MPG - 23
Total Fuel Cost - $200
Digital pictures taken - 433 personal, 128 business
Needless to say, I am really really tired. Of driving in particular.
Travel stories and many many pictures will be posted to the appropriate places on this site as I have time to do so...
Labels: ballpark, baseball, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, sports, trip, Tucson
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DISCLAIMER:
Principally intended for use by our friends and families, our news blog is sometimes a record of our memorable family moments, sometimes a place for me to rant about something or other (usually inconsequential), and periodically I simply wax satirical for no apparent reason. By reading these accounts, you agree not to be offended, and not to use this information against us in any way, including for legal prosecution, because for all you know, it could all be made up. :-)
