Saturday, June 26, 2010
Quick update
Our time in Lincoln-Omaha has come and gone, and we head home to Alexandria today. It was great saying hello and goodbye to Rosenblatt Stadium after 60 years as home of the College World Series. We had a great couple of days at the stadium and saw two great games. Today, we begin our lengthy trek home. It should take us about 16 hours, including a pit stop to watch Team USA against Ghana in the World Cup. Hopefully, we'll arrive home sometime before midnight!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Oh my snap
Rosenblatt Stadium is AMAZING!
E-beth and I got our first taste inside the park today, and we were treated to bonus baseball! I'll take (almost) anything for free. If I pay for nine innings of baseball, and you want to give me 12, I'll take it! Well, we got 12 innings today at Rosenblatt Stadium, watching South Carolina rally from behind TWICE to win 3-2 in 12 innings. The Gamecocks tied the game with a run in the 8th inning, and then scored two in the bottom of the 12th after Oklahoma had taken the lead on a solo home run in the top of the 12th.
Getting inside Rosenblatt made the trip totally worthwhile. It wasn't exactly easy to get to that point, though. We went on Wednesday and experienced all of the hectic hustle and bustle around the stadium, but we didn't actually make it inside because, well honestly, I just didn't want to wait in line.
Today, our plan was to visit a garden/arboretum and the Omaha Zoo before going to the game. However, Elizabeth wasn't feeling well this morning, so those plans changed. Those plans are now Friday's plans. While Elizabeth stayed at the hotel, I drove into Omaha in order to upgrade our general admission tickets to reserved seating. At first, I was upset because the line looked tremendously long from the road, and I was worried about not being able to get tickets. It turned out, howeve, that I only had to wait about an hour in line and had no problem getting tickets.
Our upgraded seats were down the third base line in the outfield. While we were far from the action, it actually turned out to be some of the best seats in the house because of the location of the sun. We were among the first seats to be in the shade, and in fact were in the shade almost the entire game. We arrived in the bottom of the 1st inning, thinking we were attending a College World Series game that would be full of offense and instead were treated to a pitcher's duel. It wasn't until the bottom of the 12th that one of the teams scored more than one run in an inning.
Rosenblatt's views truly are breathtaking, and it's really sad that the stadium that has been home to the College World Series for the past 60 years no longer will exist soon. The stadium will be torn down at the end of the Omaha Royals (Kansas City's AAA affiliate) season and will become part of the Omaha Zoo. The CWS will move into a new, state-of-the-art stadium in downtown Omaha, which is expected to open in time for next year's series.
Our vacation is coming to a close. On Friday, we'll visit the garden and the zoo before going to the second game of the day at Rosenblatt. It should be a long, exhausting day. Then, we have a long drive ahead of us on Saturday, as we will try to make it all the way back to Alexandria (while also finding a place to watch the U.S.-Ghana soccer match somewhere along the way). Honestly, I love vacation, but I'm always ready to get home. And I'm especially ready to see the pups, who have to be thinking by now that mommy and daddy may never come home. But we're coming girls, and we'll see you soon!
E-beth and I got our first taste inside the park today, and we were treated to bonus baseball! I'll take (almost) anything for free. If I pay for nine innings of baseball, and you want to give me 12, I'll take it! Well, we got 12 innings today at Rosenblatt Stadium, watching South Carolina rally from behind TWICE to win 3-2 in 12 innings. The Gamecocks tied the game with a run in the 8th inning, and then scored two in the bottom of the 12th after Oklahoma had taken the lead on a solo home run in the top of the 12th.
Getting inside Rosenblatt made the trip totally worthwhile. It wasn't exactly easy to get to that point, though. We went on Wednesday and experienced all of the hectic hustle and bustle around the stadium, but we didn't actually make it inside because, well honestly, I just didn't want to wait in line.
Today, our plan was to visit a garden/arboretum and the Omaha Zoo before going to the game. However, Elizabeth wasn't feeling well this morning, so those plans changed. Those plans are now Friday's plans. While Elizabeth stayed at the hotel, I drove into Omaha in order to upgrade our general admission tickets to reserved seating. At first, I was upset because the line looked tremendously long from the road, and I was worried about not being able to get tickets. It turned out, howeve, that I only had to wait about an hour in line and had no problem getting tickets.
Our upgraded seats were down the third base line in the outfield. While we were far from the action, it actually turned out to be some of the best seats in the house because of the location of the sun. We were among the first seats to be in the shade, and in fact were in the shade almost the entire game. We arrived in the bottom of the 1st inning, thinking we were attending a College World Series game that would be full of offense and instead were treated to a pitcher's duel. It wasn't until the bottom of the 12th that one of the teams scored more than one run in an inning.
Rosenblatt's views truly are breathtaking, and it's really sad that the stadium that has been home to the College World Series for the past 60 years no longer will exist soon. The stadium will be torn down at the end of the Omaha Royals (Kansas City's AAA affiliate) season and will become part of the Omaha Zoo. The CWS will move into a new, state-of-the-art stadium in downtown Omaha, which is expected to open in time for next year's series.
Our vacation is coming to a close. On Friday, we'll visit the garden and the zoo before going to the second game of the day at Rosenblatt. It should be a long, exhausting day. Then, we have a long drive ahead of us on Saturday, as we will try to make it all the way back to Alexandria (while also finding a place to watch the U.S.-Ghana soccer match somewhere along the way). Honestly, I love vacation, but I'm always ready to get home. And I'm especially ready to see the pups, who have to be thinking by now that mommy and daddy may never come home. But we're coming girls, and we'll see you soon!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Days 2-4
So, it's Thursday morning of our vacation that began on Sunday, and I'm just now getting around to posting my Day 2 update. It's been one of those trips. But hopefully I can get everyone caught up pretty quickly.
My work conference didn't begin until noon, so Elizabeth and I were able to lounge around the hotel some on Monday morning to relax and recuperate after our long trip up to Nashville on Sunday. I'm not going to go into too many boring details about the conference -- if you're really interested, get on Twitter and search the hashtag #ganire to see what was discussed -- which lasted from noon until about 6:30 p.m.
I skipped out on the supper after the first day of the workshop because I had made plans to catch up with an old friend from my hometown, Seth Jones. Seth is a couple of years younger than me and lives in Nashville, where he works in the music business doing a number of different things, but primarily writing music.
We caught up to eat at Jackson's Bar & Bistro, which is just between the campuses of Vanderbilt and Belmont universities. It's always good to catch up with old friends, particularly ones you haven't seen in several years and have been communicating with via Facebook and Twitter. Our visit with Seth certainly has been one of the highlights of the trip.
Unlike Monday, which started slowly, the third day of vacation and second day of the workshop began early. After breakfast, I had to be at the First Amendment Center on Vandy's campus at 8:30 a.m. We had about five hours worth of classroom sessions -- while Elizabeth drove around unsuccessfully in search of a park in Nashville and eventually settled for hanging out at the First Amendment Center until the workshop was finished -- before we hit the road for Omaha.
That's where things got interesting. Naively, I decided we didn't need to make hotel reservations for this night. I said, let's just drive as far as we can before we get tired and then find a place to sleep. Omaha, from Nashville, was about a 14-hour drive. We left Nashville around 2 p.m. and just started driving. Honestly, these are some of the best moments of our trips. We love driving and looking at scenery. So far, this trip has covered nine states (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska) and more than 1,200 miles.
Along the way, we stopped in Metropolis, Ill., to visit Superman. Seriously, the town square has a giant Superman statue right in front of the county courthouse. How cool is that! While there, we ate at a Dippin' Dots that had been renovated from an old skating rink. It had a nice little coffee shop vibe. Think the Frothy Monkey, but with Dippin' Dots and not coffee. We stopped in St. Charles, Mo. -- just outside of St. Louis, where Elizabeth and I spent our third anniversary to see a Collective Soul concert -- and ate supper at Buffalo Wild Wings.
At that point, it was around 11 p.m., and both of us were getting tired and a little road weary. However, I really wanted to get to the other side of Kansas City, which would put us only about two or so hours away from Omaha (and Lincoln, where we're actually staying). Bad decision. After wrestling the keys away from Elizabeth (literally, she drove the whole way from Alexandria to Nashville, and then had driven every minute from Nashville into Missouri), I plowed on through Kansas City as Elizabeth fought with trying to sleep in the Sportage.
I keyed in on St. Joseph, Mo., about 45 minutes north of Kansas City as the place we would stop and get a hotel. It was around 2 a.m. The only problem? I didn't have a reservation, and EVERY room in EVERY hotel was booked because of some military function in town. SERIOUSLY! The one time Elizabeth and I show any spontaneity backfires! So back on the road we go, much to Elizabeth's chagrin, not knowing if there would be any opportunity to stop at a hotel between St. Joseph and Lincoln, where we didn't have a room either because our hotel was booked and couldn't get us in a night early. Luckily, we were able to find a bed -- the LAST room -- at a Super 8 a little north of St. Joseph.
We checked in about 4 a.m., exhausted. After all, we'd been on the road for 14 hours, give or take some time for the stops in Metropolis and for supper. I wanted to get to Omaha as soon as possible, but we needed sleep. So we crashed for a couple of hours, and then added a detour by watching the U.S. soccer team defeat Algeria to win its group in the World Cup (priorities, people!).
After a couple of hours on the road, we finally arrived in Lincoln around 1 p.m., when we grabbed some lunch at Ruby Tuesday and were able to check into our room around 2:30. Finally, after about 28 hours of driving and a two-day detour for a work conference, we'd arrived from Alexandria to Omaha/Lincoln for our vacation!
So it was time to get started on what we came here for -- the College World Series. Or so I thought. Again, call me naive, but I had no clue what I was getting myself into. We drove down to what I'll lovingly call the Trainwork on 13th Street. Wow. Some people love the party scene. Some people love being a part of huge crowds. They think it's fun. I don't. I just want to watch the game. I'd much rather be one of 20,000 people in a 40,000-seat stadium, instead of being one of 100,000 crammed into a stadium designed to seat 80,000. Give me space. Give me room. Let me just enjoy the game.
I can't even accurately describe the scene at Rosenblatt Stadium. It was crazy. The line to get in the stadium using our general admission tickets was insane, and partly because I was cranky after the long drive and little sleep, I just didn't want to deal with it. So we checked out the fan zone a little bit, did some shopping (and have some more to do) and called it a night. We're going to try to upgrade our general admission tickets to reserved tickets today and Friday so that we don't have to fight the crowds and will be guaranteed a seat. It's a little more money, but a lot more peace of mind.
My work conference didn't begin until noon, so Elizabeth and I were able to lounge around the hotel some on Monday morning to relax and recuperate after our long trip up to Nashville on Sunday. I'm not going to go into too many boring details about the conference -- if you're really interested, get on Twitter and search the hashtag #ganire to see what was discussed -- which lasted from noon until about 6:30 p.m.
I skipped out on the supper after the first day of the workshop because I had made plans to catch up with an old friend from my hometown, Seth Jones. Seth is a couple of years younger than me and lives in Nashville, where he works in the music business doing a number of different things, but primarily writing music.
We caught up to eat at Jackson's Bar & Bistro, which is just between the campuses of Vanderbilt and Belmont universities. It's always good to catch up with old friends, particularly ones you haven't seen in several years and have been communicating with via Facebook and Twitter. Our visit with Seth certainly has been one of the highlights of the trip.
Unlike Monday, which started slowly, the third day of vacation and second day of the workshop began early. After breakfast, I had to be at the First Amendment Center on Vandy's campus at 8:30 a.m. We had about five hours worth of classroom sessions -- while Elizabeth drove around unsuccessfully in search of a park in Nashville and eventually settled for hanging out at the First Amendment Center until the workshop was finished -- before we hit the road for Omaha.
That's where things got interesting. Naively, I decided we didn't need to make hotel reservations for this night. I said, let's just drive as far as we can before we get tired and then find a place to sleep. Omaha, from Nashville, was about a 14-hour drive. We left Nashville around 2 p.m. and just started driving. Honestly, these are some of the best moments of our trips. We love driving and looking at scenery. So far, this trip has covered nine states (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska) and more than 1,200 miles.
Along the way, we stopped in Metropolis, Ill., to visit Superman. Seriously, the town square has a giant Superman statue right in front of the county courthouse. How cool is that! While there, we ate at a Dippin' Dots that had been renovated from an old skating rink. It had a nice little coffee shop vibe. Think the Frothy Monkey, but with Dippin' Dots and not coffee. We stopped in St. Charles, Mo. -- just outside of St. Louis, where Elizabeth and I spent our third anniversary to see a Collective Soul concert -- and ate supper at Buffalo Wild Wings.
At that point, it was around 11 p.m., and both of us were getting tired and a little road weary. However, I really wanted to get to the other side of Kansas City, which would put us only about two or so hours away from Omaha (and Lincoln, where we're actually staying). Bad decision. After wrestling the keys away from Elizabeth (literally, she drove the whole way from Alexandria to Nashville, and then had driven every minute from Nashville into Missouri), I plowed on through Kansas City as Elizabeth fought with trying to sleep in the Sportage.
I keyed in on St. Joseph, Mo., about 45 minutes north of Kansas City as the place we would stop and get a hotel. It was around 2 a.m. The only problem? I didn't have a reservation, and EVERY room in EVERY hotel was booked because of some military function in town. SERIOUSLY! The one time Elizabeth and I show any spontaneity backfires! So back on the road we go, much to Elizabeth's chagrin, not knowing if there would be any opportunity to stop at a hotel between St. Joseph and Lincoln, where we didn't have a room either because our hotel was booked and couldn't get us in a night early. Luckily, we were able to find a bed -- the LAST room -- at a Super 8 a little north of St. Joseph.
We checked in about 4 a.m., exhausted. After all, we'd been on the road for 14 hours, give or take some time for the stops in Metropolis and for supper. I wanted to get to Omaha as soon as possible, but we needed sleep. So we crashed for a couple of hours, and then added a detour by watching the U.S. soccer team defeat Algeria to win its group in the World Cup (priorities, people!).
After a couple of hours on the road, we finally arrived in Lincoln around 1 p.m., when we grabbed some lunch at Ruby Tuesday and were able to check into our room around 2:30. Finally, after about 28 hours of driving and a two-day detour for a work conference, we'd arrived from Alexandria to Omaha/Lincoln for our vacation!
So it was time to get started on what we came here for -- the College World Series. Or so I thought. Again, call me naive, but I had no clue what I was getting myself into. We drove down to what I'll lovingly call the Trainwork on 13th Street. Wow. Some people love the party scene. Some people love being a part of huge crowds. They think it's fun. I don't. I just want to watch the game. I'd much rather be one of 20,000 people in a 40,000-seat stadium, instead of being one of 100,000 crammed into a stadium designed to seat 80,000. Give me space. Give me room. Let me just enjoy the game.
I can't even accurately describe the scene at Rosenblatt Stadium. It was crazy. The line to get in the stadium using our general admission tickets was insane, and partly because I was cranky after the long drive and little sleep, I just didn't want to deal with it. So we checked out the fan zone a little bit, did some shopping (and have some more to do) and called it a night. We're going to try to upgrade our general admission tickets to reserved tickets today and Friday so that we don't have to fight the crowds and will be guaranteed a seat. It's a little more money, but a lot more peace of mind.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Vay-kay-shun!
We made it! It's Day 1 of our 8-day vacation, and I'm hoping to give daily (or semi-daily) updates via my blog.
Today was our trip from Alexandria to Nashville for my two-day work conference, which kicks off our vacation. We decided we weren't in that big of a hurry, so we took the Natchez Trace Parkway up to Nashville, instead of going along the interstate the whole trip.
If you are into the outdoors -- hiking and biking -- or just a fan of beautiful scenery, I highly recommend this trip. The parkway runs 444 miles from Natchez to just southwest of Nashville, and it's billed as an "unhurried" trip. That's exactly what it is. If you're impatient, don't worry about it. But if you don't mind taking your time -- the posted speed limit the whole way is 50 mph -- you'll love this trip.
We stopped a few times along the way to use the restroom and stretch our legs, as well as to have a quiet, riverside picnic with sandwiches and drinks that we brought along with us, and it took us about 11 or 12 hours from Alexandria to Nashville. But it was a wonderfully peaceful trip, which included sights of three white-tailed does and several turkeys (as well as two slithering snakes across the road -- booooo!).
Once we got into Nashville, we ate supper at Five Guys Burgers & Fries. Honestly, it was OK, but nothing special. I've heard some people compare Five Guys with In-and-Out Burger as the best fast-food burger joint in the country. The burger was good, juicy and sloppy, even if it wasn't a little on the small side. And they use sweet pickles, rather than dill pickles. That's a picky preference thing, though. The fries were decent, at least the regular fries are. The Cajun fries were just doused with a cayenne pepper that was a little too much for this "Louisiana Yankee." I'd eat at Five Guys again, don't get me wrong, but I still don't think it's nearly as good as Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.
Monday should be a slow day, at least for me. I'm planning to sleep in after the long drive today, and then I have the first day of my conference from noon to about 7 p.m. Afterward, I'm hoping to catch up with an old friend from my hometown and have supper with him and his wife. Should be fun times. And it puts us one day closer to getting to Omaha and Rosenblatt Stadium for the College World Series!
Today was our trip from Alexandria to Nashville for my two-day work conference, which kicks off our vacation. We decided we weren't in that big of a hurry, so we took the Natchez Trace Parkway up to Nashville, instead of going along the interstate the whole trip.
If you are into the outdoors -- hiking and biking -- or just a fan of beautiful scenery, I highly recommend this trip. The parkway runs 444 miles from Natchez to just southwest of Nashville, and it's billed as an "unhurried" trip. That's exactly what it is. If you're impatient, don't worry about it. But if you don't mind taking your time -- the posted speed limit the whole way is 50 mph -- you'll love this trip.
We stopped a few times along the way to use the restroom and stretch our legs, as well as to have a quiet, riverside picnic with sandwiches and drinks that we brought along with us, and it took us about 11 or 12 hours from Alexandria to Nashville. But it was a wonderfully peaceful trip, which included sights of three white-tailed does and several turkeys (as well as two slithering snakes across the road -- booooo!).
Once we got into Nashville, we ate supper at Five Guys Burgers & Fries. Honestly, it was OK, but nothing special. I've heard some people compare Five Guys with In-and-Out Burger as the best fast-food burger joint in the country. The burger was good, juicy and sloppy, even if it wasn't a little on the small side. And they use sweet pickles, rather than dill pickles. That's a picky preference thing, though. The fries were decent, at least the regular fries are. The Cajun fries were just doused with a cayenne pepper that was a little too much for this "Louisiana Yankee." I'd eat at Five Guys again, don't get me wrong, but I still don't think it's nearly as good as Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.
Monday should be a slow day, at least for me. I'm planning to sleep in after the long drive today, and then I have the first day of my conference from noon to about 7 p.m. Afterward, I'm hoping to catch up with an old friend from my hometown and have supper with him and his wife. Should be fun times. And it puts us one day closer to getting to Omaha and Rosenblatt Stadium for the College World Series!
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