The Baseball Trip, 2017

Day 10, August 5, 2017

Here's where we stayed last night:

It's a Days Inn. No kidding.

I don't think this was a Days Inn originally, if you know what I mean. It looks like it used to be a juvenile detention home. Our room was just down the hall from the registration desk, and all the halls had wood floors. You could hear every voice and footstep; I hope they found that one dude's reservation.

Okay, so there's really no action on the last day, just lots of driving. Normally Cleveland is a six hour drive, max. But we are stubborn. Back roads, all the way. It took ten and a half hours. But hey, I had to take the obligatory quaint County Courthouse picture in Indiana, so here it is:

Marshall County Courthouse, IN. What's up with that damn tree on the left?

Seriously, we did not see a major highway till we were somewhere near Beecher, Illinois. We also have a tradition of consuming a root beer float in Indiana on our last day if we are coming from the east. The only trouble was that the only ice cream emporiums we passed only sold soft-serve. No-go on that. But here's a picture of an original westward trail as we traveled under a canopy of trees:

Random observation from Randy: 17 lead to 20 . 20 Leads to Toledo. Do not take 20.

Random observation from Randy: If I owned a team in Helena, I'd name them the Handbaskets.

IAD - 0

KAPO - 2 on bikes

              1 playing basketball

So what do we have here?

2740 miles

6 U.S. States, 2 Canadian provinces

6 minor league ballparks.

1 MLB ballpark

3 racetracks.

1 casino.

1- giant phantasmagorum of  people, places and things. You know the object of this trip is not simply baseball. It's everything.

Final tally: Inflatable Air Dancers: 10

                   Kids actually Playing Outside: 18

Favorite sign: Sin knocks a hole in your bucket of joy.

Random observation from Randy: I'd like to see documentation on that.

The Baseball Trip 2017

Day 9 - August 4, 2017

It's only a ninety minute drive from Presque Isle to Cleveland, so we can sleep in. The skies opened up on us again as we traveled to Thistledown Racino, another combination racecourse and casino. Ohio, however, doesn't have card tables, so we did not bother with the casino part of the hybrid. Slots are not our thing.

Breakfast at Shirley's Country Kitchen was real good.

Mmmmmm....mushroom omelet with everything else on the menu. Yes, now I am that guy who takes pictures of his food.

Anyway, there was a guy going into the restaurant just before us who tied his dog up outside. The little guy yapped so much that his owner asked for a seat by the window. He then went outside and put the dog up on the window sill. Not a sound after that.

Little Scruffy.

After breakfast we headed west toward Cleveland, or specifically, North Randall, Ohio - a little southeast of Cleveland proper. Thistledown is no different from other once well-attended racetracks that have seen their day - not much of a turnout. Everybody was inside playing slots. Horse racing was once the most popular sport in America, but no more.

Nonetheless, pictures from the track:

This horse, Star Mabee, won me $100.00. I will not show you all the pictures of the horses that lost me money.

From along the rail.

Muddy track that day.

Later, we lit out for the home of The Lake County Captains, Classic Park. You have to park across the street, a four-lane highway. Then you cross a walking bridge back across to get to the park. My fear of heights did not appreciate this.

 The bridge.

Front gate, taken from the bridge.

First thing we did was to get something to eat; we usually don't eat lunch. Randy thought it was cool that they served kielbasa, so we ordered some. The guy brought out this gigantic box, so I'm thinking he's putting both sandwiches in it. Nope. 

You certainly don't need a side of fries.

And that bread was like a half of a French loaf. Classic Park is located in suburban Cleveland. (The Indians were in town, playing the Yankees, but it was sold out.) And guess what? It was superhero night! No kidding...we saw Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Captain America, and Batman. Awesome!

Superhero night!

Random observation from Randy: Wonder Woman wanted no part of that. She was definitely not interested in your picture.

But hey! They came over and sat right in front of us!

Spidey tried to web me.

Okay, so pictures of the park:

 Center field scoreboard.

Left field bleachers.

 Right field pavilion area.

 From center field.

Home plate area.

The South Bend Cubs beat the Captains in a close one, 15-9. The wind was blowing straight out so hard there must have been 6 home runs hit by just lofting it into the jet stream. It was a wind chill in the forties; it's only the second time in I don't know how many years of the Baseball Trip that I threw on a sweatshirt. Honest to God. I even had to cross that damn bridge to go back and fetch it from the car.

Favorite town name: Chagrin, Oh

IAD - 0

KAPO - 2 with dog

            - 2 swimming

Tomorrow: Home.

The Baseball Trip 2017

Day 8 - August 3, 2017

It's a long way from Saratoga Springs to Erie Pennsylvania. Actually, Presque Isle is our destination for more horse racing. It is a relatively small track, but it also houses a casino. It is also the first track in America made of Tapeta, which is a combination of sand, rubber, and wax on top of porous asphalt. It's like that new artificial surface for high school football fields. You know, where athletes drag those little beads of asphalt all over the hallways. It's that stuff. Sort of.

Anyway, someone left a little voodoo man hex made of twigs for us on the steps at our motel this morning. I didn't think it jinxed me immediately because I won a few bucks at the track. But then I lost it back at the casino, so, who knows?

We had a great breakfast that morning at a real honest to God diner called Crazy Otto's Empire Diner:

Anyway, here are a few pictures from Presque Isle:

 Paddock area: This is Smartina, the horse that won me 85 dollars.

 Rainbow over the track. It just finished pouring as we pulled in. It was the first real ran we've  experienced on the trip.

The starting gate for this race was right in front of the tote board.

Favorite town names: Schroon, NY

                                      Ostelic, NY

Favorite signs: Text Stop Five Miles

                         Sugarbush Road

Things we cannot stick around for:  Diamond Days in Herkimer
                                                              Paris Hill Garage Sale
                                                              Paris Hill Chicken BBQ

Random observation from Randy: I wasn't going to bother betting this race, but then again I always bother.

IAD - 0
KAPO - 1 on a bike
              1- kicking a ball around the yard.

Tomorrow: Cleveland - more racing and baseball.

The Baseball Trip 2017

Day 7 - August 2, 2017

We wind our way out of Quebec, following the St. Lawrence River west until we turn south toward south toward New York. Then, we follow the Champlain River and Lake Champlain.

Random observation from Randy: We can either go south through a forest or follow the rivers. Let's go Routes du Rivieres. I'm tired of trees.

So that's what we did.

Favorite sign:

We found a moose:

Our destination is Saratoga Springs, home to Saratoga Race Course. Saratoga has been in operation since 1864 and is considered a Mecca for horse racing enthusiasts. I have to tell you though, there's limited seating and there's no air conditioning. Luckily it wasn't as crowded as last time we were there, and the temperature was much cooler.

Here are a few pictures from Saratoga:

 Front gate.

 Entryway.

There's a lot of action outside of the racecourse. Behind the stands is a whole area dedicated to art fairs, boutique shops, jazz bands playing in gazebos...it's like Lollapalooza for old people:

 Tote board.

 Grandstand.

 Across the street is Fasig-Tipton,  the equine auction house for Saratoga.

Another favorite sign: Shame on you Mayor of Utica! Dirty Backroom Politics As Usual!

Favorite town name:  Herkimer, NY

Things we cannot stick around for:  Warrensburg Lobster Bake

IAD - 0

KAPO - 1 kicking a ball

            - 1 on a bike

Tomorrow: Presque Isle

The Baseball Trip, 2017

Day 6 - August 1. 2017

We left Quebec, but not after having breakfast at Cora's. Yeah, I know, it's a chain. So how were we to know? Except for the fact that they are all over Canada. We don't care...it's breakfast.

You know how we know we're not in Canada anymore? There are no more recycling bins in the hotels.

Random observation from Randy: We should have told the border guard we met at the anarchists' convention.

We travel south into the States, toward Plattsburg, home of the Independent League Plattsburg Redbirds. Only, the Redbirds play in in an Independent League lower than the Can-Am League, If you do well here, you get to go up to the Can-Am..

So, there's nobody here. All games begin at 4:30 because... there are no lights. This is the best place we have ever visited. The game was called on account of darkness (sound familiar, Cubs fans?); the Redbirds tied the Puerto Rico Islanders 4-4 . Game will resume tomorrow at 3:15.

The Redbird's owner and president is Eddie Gonzalez, and he is one cool dude. Baseball enthusiast, gentleman, family man. Yeah, that's right, we met and talked about the baseball trip and the responsibility of owning a team. Much love to Eddie.

Plattsburg Photos

Entrance gate, Chip Cummins Field, University of New York, Plattsburg

 Bullpen,third base line.

 Pitching.

Bleachers behind First base line.

IAD - 0

KAPO - 2 on bikes.

Oh yeah... Baseball Annie waiting for her sweetheart to bat...

Tomorrow: Saratoga Springs

The Baseball Trip 2017

Day 5 - July 31, 2017

Along the St. Lawrence River, on the way to Quebec:

Oh I have seen things! That weird nightmare hallucinogenic paranoiac dream where you have to get on up and get the hell out of wherever it is you are but you can't remember where you parked the car it is the same thing you don't speak the language you can't get where you're going, sortie! sortie now!St. Anne Boulevard, what? I'd pay for something to eat but all I have is this Monopoly money with windows look! you can see through the money how much is this anyway? I'll just point at the picture and you can bring it to me? Gas is only $1.10 that's cheap isn't it? Everybody knows I'm from somewhere else I'm a pariah, an outcast an infidel. I am going to starve here living in my car. Arret! Arret! Arret!

Actually, people in Quebec are very nice. We can make out a few words and get by because almost everybody here understands English.

Random observation from Randy: She knew we were Americans from the moment we said "cafe."

We traveled east from Trois Rivieres and set up camp just north of Quebec. The place is known as Camping De Le Joie. It's kind of fake camping, really, but we don't care. It's not hotel pricing. The idea is to relax here until game time, 7:00 pm, and return here to camp another night. We motored downtown, a mix of hipster general, hilly terrain, and cosmopolitan living. We decided to eat first and explore later. Our destination...Le Fou (The Fool).  Randy ordered the poutine.

Random observation from Randy: I didn't come to Quebec for lunch to have a hamburger.

I had a hamburger. To be fair, it was a Royale. And it was good.

Le Fou.

Restaurant Row.

After lunch we hoofed it around the city:

The Citadel. The Citadel is part of the fortification of Quebec, one of only two cities in North America completely surrounded by forts. The Governor General Of Canada lives here.

 This arched entryway to the Citadel marks the beginning of the tourist district in Quebec.

 Tourist district.

 Tourist district.

 Me with the mascot of the Winter Festival of Quebec, Bonhomme. The festival goes back over 100 years.

Fort under repair.

More from the tourist district:

  

Anyway, we made it to the game at 7;10. The Quebec Capitales were hosting the Rockland Boulders. It was 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth when the Capitales took a 4-3 lead. The Caps couldn't hold the lead, and it was 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth. With a man on first following a walk, the Caps hit a two-run walk-off homer to win it. Pretty exciting.

Here are some pictures from the ballpark:

 Front Gate. This is Stade Ganac. Ganac is a hardware retail chain.

 Third base line.

 Right field scoreboard. It is hand-operated; you can see the kid who operates it sitting under the ninth inning marker.

 This is really old-school: general admission is church-pew seating.

 Home plate area.

Me with Capi, the Capitales mascot. Is he drinking a daiquiri?

IAD - 2

Kapo - 0

Tomorrow: Plattsburg, NY