graduation trip, part 1

I just got back from THE most glorious college graduation trip with my dad.  And what did we do, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  We went on a most grand and glorious baseball trip!  That's right, ladies and gentlemen.  Baseball.  Because here's the thing: I love baseball.  I love it, I love it, I supes one million love it.

I'm not exactly sure how long ago it was, but once I was talking to my dad about how it would be fun to go to all the different baseball stadiums to see a game.  We both thought it was a pretty awesome idea and he suggested that we do it as a graduation trip once I graduated from college.  I thought that was a maaaaaah-velous plan, but graduation was still a ways off, so the idea was put on the back burner for a while.  Then, a few months before graduation, my dad brought it up again, and some real planning started to commence.  It was tricky because I didn't exactly know what my post-graduation life would look like, but as it got closer, we just decided to go with it.  Also, my dad is kiiiiind of amazing, because he really did all the planning and made it happen.

We decided to go to a lot of the stadiums on the east coast because they are all reasonably close to each other (a few hours apart at most).  We ended up going to SEVEN games in NINE days.  The plan was to go to eight, but one of them got rained out, which was a BUMMMMER.  Regardless, the trip was still glorious. And will need to be broken up into multiple posts because we all know me and we all know I write too much, e'ery dang time. Anyway, let me tell you more:

So, to start, both my dad and I were to fly out to New Jersey and then stay with my brother who lives in Manhattan.  Originally, I was supposed to take a red-eye flight out of Salt Lake and my dad would take a daytime flight out of San Francisco, but fortunately, my dad worked it out so I ended up flying to San Francisco and was then on the same flight with him to New Jersey.  It's a dang good thing we ended up flying together because I will tell you what: if I had flown a red eye and then had to figure out my way from New Jersey to Manhattan, I probably would have ended up in Rhode Island.  Seriously, it would have been terrible.  But like I said, we were together, so I mostly just followed my dad around and we magically ended up at my brother's apartment.

Sidenote: humidity is a jerk.  There was too much of it on this trip and my hurr totes did not appreciate it.

The next day, my dad had business, so he went and did that (he was able to do a lot of business stuff while on the trip, so it worked out really well). I woke up at 11 am (girl has got to get her beauty sleep, you know?) and then headed to where my brother works because OH YEAH, they have a catered lunch every single day.  I mean, seriously?  What the heck?!  After spending time there with him and his wife Lena (because OH YEAH she works there, too--talk about a sweet deal!), I managed to master the subway system and arrive back at their apartment where I took another nap.  I'm worth it, dang it!

Then all the people who had jobs (Dad, Danny, and Lena) came back from work and then we all headed to the first game!!  It was a Yankees game and on principle I cannot like anything about the Yankees, but it's baseball so obvi it was still amazing.  Plus, I could root for the other team and spend like three hours booing the Yankees and I ask you, what could be better than that?

UNNNfortunately, my booing was not enough to make the Yankees lose to the Indians, but I promise I did my best!  But, I did get to see a grand slam and that's always cool.  It's just a lot less cool when it's the Yankees. Plus also, Mariano River blah blah blah he's good at what he does, whatever

Also, hot dogs.  Ballpark hot dogs.  I don't ever have a need to eat hot dogs outside of ballparks, but let me tell you.  I NEED to eat a hot dog when I'm at a ballpark.  Seriously, there is something magical about ballparks that make the hot dogs approximately one MILLION times more delicious than anywhere else. HOLY COW.  Oh yeah!  It was magnificent.

It was a way good game and it was fun to have Danny and Lena with us, even though they had just flown in on a red eye the night before from California and were dead tired, but they were still good sports and I loved it.  We all came home super tired and ready to crash but it was a super duper start to an amaaaazing trip. Plus, the guys that rake the dirt in the middle of the game did dance moves when they were playing "YMCA".  That was definitely a highlight.

Join us next time where I will talk about the Phillies game!