graduation trip, part FINAL.

We have finally arrived at the final installment of what I like to call the graduation trip series.  In fact I think you should all call it that, because well, that's what it is.

After the terrifically long Mets game, we had Sunday off.  We went to church (which, of course, was listed online as starting at 11, but really it started at ten.  We arrived just after 11 and walked into the chapel and all the way up to the second row for everyone to see, only to have them start the closing hymn immediately after we sat down. Hilariously embarrassing.)  Then that afternoon we went with Danny and Lena to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, which was really cool because there were a ton of people and this girl right here LOVES people watching so it was incredibly ideal.

The next morning we headed off to Baltimore.  The day was looking stormy and rainy and we weren't really sure what exactly Baltimore would look like.  By the time we arrived in Baltimore, it had at least stopped raining, which was good.  But holy to the cow, it was humid.  No idea why I bothered doing my hurr because two seconds after we walked out of the hotel my hair was like, oh yeah, I hate you and I will now proceed to frizz like nobody's business. I said, thank you hair, punched it in the face, and then pulled it back into a ponytail.  When we arrived at the game, we had awesome seats under an overhang on the lower deck just along the third base line, which proved to be quite convenient later on.

The game against the Angels started out alright, but it was raining a little bit.  As the innings progressed it started raining a little bit harder and harder.  People started moving back to seats like ours that were under an overhang and things started getting a little cray cray on the field.  Hit balls would bounce weird, players would slide past the plate and the poor pitcher had wet hands to throw a wet ball.  Finally in the middle of the game, they called for a rain delay.  Which meant we had to wait it out.

Turns out it wasn't so bad because a) dad bought us a funnel cake which I had never had before and it was amaaaaaaazing, b) they showed Bugs Bunny cartoons to pass the time, and c) this kid who was like 10 and was from Memphis sat next to me and we talked baseball for a good long while and he had the most adorable little accent and the kid knew his stuff (Me: "Boo, Albert Pujols runs so slow!" Kid (in a most serious, all-knowing tone): "Ma'am, it's cause he's injured." I about died.  Also, when dad got the funnel cake, I accidentally breathed too hard or laughed or something when I went to eat it, which made powdered suger end up alllll over my pants.  My little friend thought it was hilarious and couldn't believe that I would make such a rookie mistake. "You've never had funnel cake before?  Gee!")  After a short 2 hours and 14 min, the game finally resumed and the Orioles came out on top.  Winners!  It was funny because the actual game time was only 2 hours and 23 minutes, which is very short.  But with the rain delay, we were there for nearly 5 hours.  Still, there's a first for everything. For example, I'd never seen the shortstop's area turn into a lake.

The next day, we headed to our very last game, which was in Pittsburgh.  The Pirates were playing the Giants, so obvi I was cheering for the Giants seeing as they are one of the teams from back home.  Generally, I'm more of an A's fan, but still.  But apparently the Pirates had this brand new pitcher, Gerritt Cole, who was going to be making his debut.  The place was packed.  We had AWESOME seats maybe 20 rows behind home plate, so we got to see little Gerritt in all his glory.  Aaaaand turns out the kid was pretty dang good.  Smoked the Giants.  I have to give it to the guy, he did a way super good job for his first major league appearance.  Holy wow.

Also at this game, dad taught me how to score a game!  As in, I had one of those scoring cards that the moms fill out at the little league games and I learned all the little symbols and markings and such.  I totes for sure need more practice, but I now have permission to have children who want to play little league because now I can be a contributing team mom.  Plus, I make very good cookies and am a pro orange slicer.  What more do you need?

Oh another thing about this game, slowest concessions system of my life.  I felt supes bad for dad because he went and got the hot dogs all by himself so I could continue to score the game and he was gone for TWO INNINGS.  I mean, that's just straight up ridiculous.  So I'm looking at you, Pirates stadium concessions manager.  Get your act together, because that was straight up cray.

After the game ended, I was a little sad about how the trip was over and how we really had gone to all those games.  But it turns out there was one more fun little activity for us.  Homelessness!  Haha, since the game got out late and our flight was supes early in the morning and we would have to leave for the airport at like 4 am, dad was like, "Ain't nobody got time for a hotel!"  Which meant we went and slept in the car in the parking lot of Denny's.  See, I think you think I'm kidding, but I'm totes one million not.  I legitimately spent the night in the Denny's parking lot.  Seriously going down as one of the funniest things I've ever done.  Granted, it wasn't super fun at the time, but looking back at it now, I'm like, that's hilar.  We got 2 or 3 hours of sleep in and then since we were already at Denny's, we figured what the heck?  Why not have some breakfast at 3:30 in the morning?!  Haha, it was great.  I looked so good.  Also, note to self and also you should make a note of this, too:  the people who go to Denny's at 3:30 in the morning are not the people that you would generally want to associate with.  For example, exhibit A who was sitting near us said the following AND I QUOTE: "Feminism is stupid because, I mean, it's just WRONG.  Women are fundamentally lower than men in everything, so it's just stupid."  If there's one thing that can tick me off so good even when I'm running on practically no sleep is when someone tells me that I'm fundamentally "lower" than them in every way (WHICH, by the way, I'm so glad he was such a smart person and didn't even know to use the word "inferior" instead of "lower"). Seriously, I wanted to punch the kid soooooo bad, you have no idea.  But I refrained, which was probably good because I wanted to go home...and not to jail.

Anyway, after that we headed to the airport and good thing dad is a super flier which meant we got to be in all the shortcut lines and get through security super fast.  But then we had to say our goodbyes and it was sad.  I just want to give a HUGE shout out to my dad who did ALL the planning and scheduling to make this trip a possibility.  It was seriously an amazing trip and I loved that I got to spend lots of time with him and of course, I love that I got to go to so many games.  It was definitely a trip that I'll never forget.  Thank you SO one million much, Dad!  It was really the best.

graduation trip, part fooooooour.

We're almost there people.  Just one more after this.  I'm sorry I've dragged it out this long, but it's just that darn inability of mine to write short posts.  I've got too many words and I know it.  But just roll with it.

So, after we found out that the second Red Sox game was going to be postponed (insert a few tears here) we decided to drive back to New York.  When we got there, we went to my brother's place and stayed the night.  The next day we headed to a Mets game that started around 1 pm.  My brother and his wife came with us. The cool thing about the tickets we had for that game was that they came with a free hot dog and fries!  How neat is that?!

But we should have known right then that there was something fishy.  I mean, they don't give away that much free food unless they are dying to get people there.  And teams aren't dying to get people there unless their team is...struggling.  And I mean, maybe you give away free food sometimes, but you don't give away that much free food unless your team is playing another team that is also struggling. That's my theory anyway.

Such was the case with this game in which the Mets played the Miami Marlins.  But here's what I don't get:  we had seen both the Mets and the Marlins play different (and better) teams earlier in the week and they did not seem to be so terrible.  In fact, just three days before, the Mets had destroyed the Nationals 10-1.  Just two days before that, the Marlins had taken the Phillies into 11 innings and had many good hits.  But when these two teams came against each other, it was no good.

After the 5th inning, the score was tied at 1.  It wasn't that terrible.  Granted, the Mets couldn't get a dang hit to save their lives, but you know. It was still alright.  But the next four innings remained scoreless.  Also the next FOURTEEN innings after that.  I MEAN. COME ON.  How did that even happen?  That's right, folks.  Neither the Mets nor the Marlins scored again until the TWENTIETH inning. Not a freaking joke!  It was ridiculous!  It was the longest game to ever occur in that stadium--six and a half hours!  Like, woah.

Here's the thing: you know how baseball games have a 7th inning stretch?  Alls I'm sayin' is that no game should also have a 14th inning stretch.  I mean, that's ridic.  At the end of the 14th inning, the Mets had only had 7 hits the entire game.  Those boys could not get a hit to save their lives.  Originally, I was rooting for the Mets, but by the time the 11th or 12th inning came around, I was mostly just cheering for anyone who could hit the ball.  I mean, I love baseball just as much as (or probs more than) the next guy, but this game was just cray cray long.

Originally, we had seats out in left field, but around the 15th or 16th inning, we decided to go down to the third base line.  Because while our boys couldn't seem to get a hit to save their lives, they could hit a foul ball like nobody's business.  So we thought we might have a better chance of catching a ball down there and that might make things a little bit more exciting.

While they continued to hit foul balls, we never caught any.  But something better happened. I was caught on film!  And was on the jumbotron!  For a full 45 seconds! There was a little limbotron competition going on where the cameraman would film us and we would be able to see a line on the jumbotron that we were supposed to limbo under.  To be honest, I didn't want to do it at first.  Buuuut, my family knows how much I love to be embarrassing (no, but seriously), and convinced me to go do it.  See the video of such below:


Seriously, it's like when I do these things I don't quite realize how embarrassing they are and then as soon as it's over, I'm like, wooooooow. Can someone remind me again how it is that I have friends? On the subway home after the game, there were these guys my age and I heard one of them whisper to the other, "Look, it's the girl that was on the jumbotron for, like, ever." Sheesh.

But fortunately, the game finally ended an inning after this experience, so I didn't have to stay in the stadium too long after my ridiculous display of a lack of ANY social skills.  You are welcome, friends.

While we were at the game, my brother Danny was looking at what people were tweeting about the game.  Some of my favorites are as follows:

"The Mets are going into the 14th inning. I am going to Wendy's. I'll probably be back before the game ends."
"The Mets and Marlins are in the 15th inning. Somewhere, a hot dog vendor's legs are failing."
"The Yankees finished their afternoon game on the West Coast before the Mets finished their afternoon game on the East Coast."
"Mets and Marlins now beginning game three of their unscheduled triple header."
"Shaun Marcum of the Mets just threw his 100th pitch--in relief."
"If you're still at this game in the 20th inning, the Mets should give you season tickets."

It was a long game, but it was a good one.  Definitely something I'll never forget.  Plus, it was even more fun that we got to go with Danny and Lena.  Plus also, we survived a 20-inning game.  That's definitely something to write about in your journal.  Plus also also, afterwards we went to this place that served Korean fried chicken and seriously. That stuff was so good.  I keep thinking about it and I want it.

Okay, I'm done now.

gradution trip, part threee!!!

Also, sorry if you're getting tired of this, but there will be four parts, I just thought I should mention that.  Like, if you want to just not read my blog for a few days and miss part four.  Which I do not recommend.  Because part 4 includes me being homeless and I mean, COME ON.  You don't want to miss that.

Annnnnnyway.  Part three.

Part three started by making all my dreams come true.  Like, not even a joke.  YOU GUYS.  I am a Red Sox fan.  I have dreamed for over ten years about going to a Red Sox game and on this trip my dad made my dreams come true.  BUT SERIOUSLY.  As we were walking down Yawkey Way and into the stadium, I was like, holy cow, holy cow, holy cow.  This is actually happening right now.  I am walking into my first Red Sox game and HOLY COW. I am SO excited.  Everything about it was so perfect.  Just the way it felt was like perfect. Perfect baseball atmosphere, not a joke.  We had seats out past the first baseline (because, oh yeah, Red Sox games always sell out so seats can get a little pricey).  But they were still awesome seats and we sat next to this guy who thought it was the literal greatest thing ever that we were on a baseball tour.  He kept asking us questions about it and just couldn't get over how cool it was.  Also, my favorite was when I told him that it was a graduation trip and he was like, "Oh, graduation from high school?"  Neat.

Anyway, the game was super good, too.  Also, in my extremely vast knowledge of baseball hot dogs, I have decided the the Fenway Frank is the BEST hot dog.  Let me tell you why:  first of all, the hot dog is super nice and hot.  Second, the hot dog is not that gross kind with the plastic casing that snaps all gross-like when you bite it.  I mean, it has a nice casing, but they cook it the right amount so it's not that snappy, plastic style. Ew, gag.  And third and most importantly, THE BUN. Um, WOW.  The bun.  It wasn't the cheaper bread that hot dogs usually have (which, by the way, the cheaper bun still satisfies my needs completely, JS'in.).  It was some seriously high qual bread.  Like I want to say that it was almost a cross between like french bread and like subway sandwich bread?  That doesn't make sense, but just believe me.  It was like it was homemade and fresh from the little bakery down the street or something. It had the little grains of whatever on the bottom (was it corn meal?  did I just make that up? ID even K).  Anyway, it was a magical experience and I loved it and it won the prize for best hot dog of the trip.  Also, I just spent an entire paragraph talking about hot dogs.

The game was so super great and I was just obsessed with everything because I was actually at FENWAY STADIUM.  Like, woah.  And then, to make my dream become out of this world amazing, the game ended with a walk-off three run homer in the bottom of the ninth by the one and only David Ortiz.  I mean, but really.  The crowds erupted and it was just the most glorious experience.  I just couldn't get over how perfect everything about it was.  Like WOW.  I was j lovin' it times one million.

That night we headed back to our hotel and when we woke up in the morning it was raining.  Dad went to work and I stayed in bed. Actually, I went down to have breakfast and I would just like to publicly declare my hatred for all hotels that do not provide a complimentary breakfast.  I mean, okay fine.  I'm a little spoiled.  With all the business that Dad does, he gets free hotels and stuff and so my family has been really lucky to be able to stay at hotels fairly often when we go on vacation.  And you know how there's like the Marriott Hotels?  But there's like the actual Marriott hotels, and then there's like Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites, and blah blah blah?  Well it turns out that each of those hotels is a different level of classiness, apparently.  Some of them are more expensive than others even though here's the thing.  They're basically all the same.  But the thing is, when you go to the more expensive one, they decide that you must be super rich and so there will be no complimentary breakfast even though seriously everything else is exactly the same.  I don't get it. Like seriously.  So anyway, as you might have guessed, the hotel we stayed at in Boston did not provide a complimentary breakfast and so I had to charge a $9 dollar breakfast to the room even though all I had was a bagel, a muffin, and some juice. I mean, like REALLY.  The other hotels would give me that exact same thing FO FREE.  I do not understand that logic.

Okay, rant over.

So like I said, it was raining.  Which was terrible news because we were supposed to go to another Red Sox game that night.  Once dad got back from work, we found out that the game was officially being cancelled  that night and postponed to the next day, but that wasn't really going to work for us because we were headed back to New York for a Mets game!  So, as sad as it was, we didn't get to see another Red Sox game.  BUT.  All I'm saying is that it's a way super good thing that we had two Red Sox games planned instead of just that second one. Because, girl please.  If my only Red Sox game had been postponed and I wasn't able to attend it, I would have mostly been devastated.  But alas, such was not the case. And for that I am supremely grateful.

Also, it turns out that day was National Donut Day (as three people made sure to remind me).  That meant that Dunkin' Donuts was giving out free donuts.  And honestly, if there was one thing that could make up for me missing that second Red Sox game, it was a donut. So I'd say that was rather fortuitous, thank you very much.

So, now I have some potentially obnoxious news. This post turned out to be quite a bit longer than I had planned on.  As such, I will move the second part of this post to the next post.  Which means this vacation summary will not be four posts, but five.  I do apologize and I sincerely hope that you will forgive me.  Will a video of me acting like a fool in the next post make up for it?  I sure hope so.

graduation trip, part dos

 The day after the Yankees game, Dad and I woke up totes supes early (like 8 am! ha), packed up, and headed off to the car rental place to pick up a car that would be our friend and companion for the next five days.  Dad even went a little cray cray and got the GPS, which he later named Nicole.  Nicole was really good to us the whole trip, even though sometimes we didn't trust her and we wouldn't listen to her. (And then most of the time it turned out she was actually right in the first place and we should have listened to her and if you can hear us, Nicole, we're very sorry we ever doubted you!).

Anyway, after we figured out how to get out of the city, we headed off to Philadelphia.  It wasn't that long of a drive, but I bet I still took a nap (typical).  When we got to the hotel, dad had to hurry off to do some work and so I...took a nap.  When he got back, we went and ate, took another nap, and then headed to our next game!  The Philadelphia Phillies!  I have to say, for some reason I think this was my favorite stadium (besides the Red Sox stadium, obbbbvi).  I don't know, it was just very nice and clean and the fans were, for the most part, respectful.

Actually, I kind of have to take that back.  Toward the end of the game (maybe the 8th inning?) the score was tied at 2.  The Phillies were up and there was a man on first.  The batter hit a ball that looked like it could end up leading to a double play.  The guy running to second did his best to slide into the second baseman so he wouldn't be able to make the play at first.  He appeared to be successful, but then the ump said that he had obstructed the play, which meant that both he and the batter running to first were out. And HOOOOOLY COW, the fans did not appreciate that.  Every single call after that for the rest of the game was booed by the fans.  Every strike, every ball, every hit by the other team, every out made by the other team, everything.  It was a little cray.  They were also booing the ump.  It was a little ridiculous if you ask me.  But I guess fans will be fans and you gotta stick by your team, you know?

The game ended up going into extra innings, but in the bottom of the 11th, the Phillies blasted a grand slam into the stands and the crowds went WILD.  It was my second grand slam in two nights, so obviously I figured I would see one every single night from there on out, but it turns out that didn't really happen. Weird, right?

The next day we headed off to our next game in Washington, D.C.  Dad got us some pretty wonderful marvelous seats right by right field because our main man Bryce Harper plays in right field for the Nationals.  Bryce Harper is LDS (Mormon) and who doesn't love a Mormon celebrity, am I right?  So we we're kind of excited for that except then Bryce had to go and get injured recently and then wasn't able to play. Bummerrrrrr, because I really wanted to give him my number or something.  Oh well.  It was still pretty awesome because we had seats down low close to the field.  Also, here's something: the Nationals were playing the Mets and the Mets were hitting balls all over the place.  Unstoppable, really.  They destroyed the Nationals 10-1.  I was very impressed with them because well, they're the Mets.  But then I just need to give you a sneak peek because a few days later at a Mets game the Mets literally had NOTHING. They couldn't get a hit to save their lives, not a joke.  But that night at the Nationals stadium they had skillz, let me tell you what.  So I was glad I got to see them then or else I would have had very little faith in them in the future.

Also, at the Nationals game both dad and I knew we couldn't eat a whole hot dog, so we shared.  Can you guess which half is his and which is mine?  Let me just give you a hint that might not actually be a hint: I wish they would have fry sauce for hot dogs because then the intensity of ketchup would be decreased.  Okay, which one do you think is mine?  The correct answer is the ketchup one.  I still like ketchup, it's just that sometimes I wish it was a little less intense, ya dig?

Oh, and one more thing!  At this game we were wearing our Red Sox hats and ended up sitting right next to a man and his son who were also wearing Red Sox hats.  We ended up talking to them and they were doing a baseball tour, too!  Crazy, right?!  Actually, when we would talk to people at any of these games, they always thought it was so cool that we were on a baseball tour (which, duh. It totes WAS the coolest).  I just thought it was pretty neat that these guys were, too!

So that's game 2 and 3.  Join us next time for game FOUR (which was a dream come true) and game five with those silly Mets again.  Also, another sneak peek: I did embarrassing things at the Mets game.  Hope that teaser keeps you intriiiiiiiiigued.

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!