The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 8

Thursday, August 2

We arrived a little late in Kansas City because we took our time and stopped at a place called Freedom Park, just across the highway from Fort Riley, Kansas. Freedom park is a war memorial, and so there is a tank and a couple of howitzers, and all that. But the real attraction is the atomic cannon. Honest. This is a cannon that fires an 11 inch shell that is basically an atomic bomb. It's an atomic bomb in a cartridge. I'm not kidding; and it has a range of 20 miles. But you have to climb a 250 foot hill to see it. So we did. In 97 degree heat. Here's what it looks like from the bottom of the hill:

More views from the top of the hill:

Also, I took a close-up of one of the shells:

Pretty intimidating, don't you think?

After that frightening experience we took off for Kansas City and Kaufman Stadium to see the Royals play the Indians. More bad baseball.

Random observation from Randy:
"Stuckey's. They still have Stucky's. Lets get a cheese log."

Ewing Kaufman founded the Kansas City Royals in the late 60's. His wealth is derived from Hallmark Cards, which he started. That's why that weird little crown is at the top of the jumbotron:

See? It's the Hallmark crown!

Kansas City led 6-0 in the first inning. Cleveland came back to tie the game and send it into extra innings, but KC won in the bottom of the eleventh. It was hot and sweaty in Kansas City.

Random observation from Randy:
"This is how I remember summer nights in Kansas: wet and dark."

We weren't going to eat dinner beacause we had a late luch at Randy's sister's house, and we were pretty full. (As a matter of fact, his sister Karen fixed us sausage and onion omelets for breakfast. Then Karen's daughter, Carrie, grilled us some kebob and fixed us a  baked potato for lunch. Delicious. But we had to try Gates BBQ at the stadium. We had to. We had burnt ends with baked beans. Then we were sleepy.

Here are some shots of the stadium. It's a nice place to see a ballgame. We had fountain seats, seats by the outfield fountains and pools.

We're going to blow off St.Louis (been there twice) and find us a minor league game in Iowa tomorrow.

Favorite Signs: Immaculate Conception Center
                           Meat Loaf Festival