East Coast: Day 11 and Day 12

Day 11 of the my east coast trip was a long and busy day. I started the day by driving from my hotel in Oxon Hill, MD to the nearby Metro station. I took the Metro, the subway for the greater Washington D.C. area, to the National Mall in the heart of Washington D.C. I first walked around the U.S. Capitol Building. I then decided to walk across the National Mall to get my bearings, find a map, and see many of the historic memorials and monuments. From the Washington Monument, I walked around the tidal basin to the Jefferson, FDR, and MLK Jr. Memorials. I then walked through the Korean War, Lincoln, and Vietnam Memorials. I then completed my trek around the National Mall by going through the Constitution Gardens and the World War II Memorial. At each of the monuments and memorials, I got a cancelation stamp in my national parks passport. I then walked toward the White House. I stopped at the White House visitor center and watch a video on the history of the building.

At this point I needed to find a FedEx Office to print the ticket for the Nationals game that I had bought on Stubhub the night before. The nearest FedEx Office was right next to the Old Post Office Tower and Ford's Theater. After I printed off my ticket, I went to the top of the Old Post Office Tower. The view from the top of the tower was pretty awesome as you could see the entire National Mall. I also went through the museum at Ford's Theater and kind of relearned the events that lead up to Lincoln's assassination.

I only had time to go to one of the many Smithsonian's museums. It was a pretty easy decision to go to the National Air and Space Museum. I made sure I went through the exhibit on jet engines in my limited time. It was also cool that there was a autonomous drone at the museum that was powered by a Williams International engine. I could have spent an entire day at the Air and Space Museum but I only ended up spending 2 hours at the museum before I took off for Nationals Park. I have previously blogged about my experience at this ballpark. After the game, I took the Metro back to my car and drove to my hotel.

The last day of the trip (Day 12) was purely a travel day. I drove from my hotel in Oxon Hill, MD back to Ann Arbor. Despite the internet prediction of a 8.5 hour drive, the drive ended up taking me almost 11 hours thanks to heavy traffic around D.C. and Toledo, OH. Even though I had a blast on the trip, traveling was exhausting and it was good to finally relax.

Cup Collection: East Coast

This blog is exclusive home of the 2013 MLB Season Souvenir Cup Power Rankings! I have previously written about the cups from the west coast. I have now updated the rankings to include the cups from my recent east coast trip. I have also color-coded the rankings based on trip: East Coast and West Coast. Pictures and notes for the cups acquired on the east coast trip are included below.

Rankings after the east coast trip:

1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. New York Mets
4. Washington Nationals
5. San Diego Padres
6. Oakland A's
7. Boston Red Sox
8. Los Angeles Dodgers
9. Baltimore Orioles
10. San Francisco Giants
11. New York Yankees
12. Los Angeles Angels

Notes on rankings:

• The Blue Jays, Phillies, Nationals, and Red Sox all use the same cup style. It is also the same style that the Padres and A's used I have a personal preference for this style since the graphic extends the length of the cup.
• The Red Sox cup was good for unlimited refills and the Blue Jays cup was good for 1 free refill.
• The Phillies cup has some biography information about the Phillie Phanatic written on the inside of the cup.
• The Mets cup is the souvenir draft cup since the souvenir soda cup was really small (about 12 oz). 
• The Yankees had 4 different cups for sale. My ranking is based on a combination of the two cups I have: the souvenir cup and souvenir draft. I did not get the souvenir jumbo or souvenir soda (12 oz).
• The Orioles cup is larger than all the other cups - roughly the same size as the Yankees jumbo cup which I did not buy.
• The Yankees and Orioles cups are low on the list because they are not as rigid as the other cups, giving it a cheap feeling. This is the main reason why these two cups (along with the Angels) rank in the bottom four.

East Coast Trip: Day 9 and Day 10

I left Philadelphia bright and early on Sunday (Day 9) headed south towards Baltimore. After some last minute planning, I met up with my friend Lisa for brunch on the north side of Baltimore. Lisa had also been buys moving as she moved into a new house on Sunday. Unfortunately she was unable to go to the Orioles vs. Tigers game because she had previously signed up for a bicycling tour which conflicted with the baseball game.

I took the light rail in from the north side of Baltimore and it dropped my off directly next to Oriole Park and Camden Yards. The skies look threatening but the game was played in its entirety with nothing more than a couple of sprinkles. Both Lisa and the people who sat behind me at the game recommended that I walk around the Inner Harbor after the game. I walked from the ballpark to Federal Hill and was able to see the entire harbor. At this time the skies finally opened up and it began raining rather heavily. I continued to walk around the Inner Harbor, ducking in and out of stores to get a little shelter from the weather. I found a seafood market and carry-out that had seafood at a reasonable price. For $12.75 I got a huge, fresh crab cake, 4 big fried shrimp, and a couple of scoops of vegetables. I thought this was a really good price considering the meal was fresh and the other restaurants in the area were charging twice the price. I then took the light rail back to the north side of Baltimore and Lisa was gracious enough to let me crash on her couch for the night.

My original plan was to leave Monday morning and explore Washington D.C. However since parking was free, the light rail was free and I could not check in to my hotel in D.C. until mid-afternoon, I decided to go back to downtown Baltimore for the morning. There were a couple of interesting places I didn't get a chance to see on Sunday after the game. The first was Fort McHenry National Monument and National Shrine. I started to walk from downtown Baltimore to Fort McHenry but quickly realized that it was not within walking distance. Luckily there was a free bus (Charm City Circulator) that ran from downtown to Fort McHenry. Fort McHenry was critical in the U.S. defense of Baltimore Harbor in the War of 1812 and inspired the lyrics of the "Star Spangled Banner" written by Francis Scott Key. The other interesting place was the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum. There was a ton of Babe Ruth memorabilia in the museum and it was interesting to hear (and see) how much of a national icon Ruth was in 1920s, 30s, and 40s. On my the light rail back to my car, I saw signs for Lexington Market. I got off the light rail and walked through the market. It was very reminiscent of the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia from a couple of days earlier. There were numerous restaurant counters serving soul food, ethnic cuisines, and seafood but I had eating an hour earlier. This haiku from Yelp summarizes my experience:

The crab cake mecca
Of Baltimore but beware
Crackheads everywhere

I got back to my car safely and headed down to Washington D.C. I got caught in a traffic jam (a theme for this trip), but really didn't have any plans besides checking into my hotel, catching up on the blog, and planning a trip for D.C. the next day. Since I missed on Lexington Market, the guy at the front desk recommended a place near the hotel for dinner that served soul food. The food was good and it was a change of pace from what food is served in the midwest.

East Coast Trip: Day 7 and Day 8

I took a 9 AM train out of Manhattan back to Greenwich, CT so I could pickup my car. I then drove across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey and then into Pennsylvania. My friend from high school, Danny, was recently relocated from a Philadelphia suburb to upstate New York. His apartment lease in Philadelphia ended on June 4, so he came back to pack up his remaining personal items and furniture. In exchange for letting me stay at his apartment and showing me around Philadelphia, I helped him clean his apartment and load his furniture into a U-Haul truck. When I finally arrived in Philadelphia on Friday (Day 7) afternoon, we went together and picked up the U-Haul. We packed and loaded a majority of his furniture and personal belongings on Friday, taking a break halfway through to eat at a brewery downtown West Chester, PA.

On Saturday (Day 8), we took the train into Philadelphia. We then went through the Reading Terminal Market, a large indoor building containing numerous food counters and vendors. We then walked a coupled of blocks over to Independence Mall to get tickets for a tour of Independence Hall. Since we had a couple of hours to kill before our scheduled tour time, we walked to Penn's Landing and to Thadeus Kosciuszuko National Memorial before returning to see the Liberty Bell back at Independence Mall. It was pretty neat to see the Liberty Bell in person because it such an iconic symbol of the city and early America. We then had a tour of Independence Hall, which felt like a miniature history lesson (with props) on the American Revolution.

We then took the bus across town to a more modern iconic image of Philadelphia: the steps of the art museum. I was one of several people who ran up the steps of the museum and raised my hands in the air like Rocky. We then walked back towards the subway and got cheesesteaks sandwiches from a corner restaurant. There are a couple of well-known cheesesteak restaurants in Philadelphia but Danny explained to me that locals almost never go to the most famous places because the lines are always long. While some people consider it blasphemy, others think that all cheesesteaks are about the same. Regardless, I enjoyed the cheesesteak and it reminded me of one of my favorite Ann Arbor eateries, Mr. Spots.

We then took the subway down to Citizens Bank Park to watch the Phillies vs. Brewers.  My experience at Citizens Bank Park will come soon in a separate post. After the game, we took the subway to downtown Philadelphia and transfered to the commuter train. The commuter train was packed with high-schoolers. Apparently all of the high-schoolers came from tailgating at a Luke Bryan concert downtown. It was a very awkward situation because many of the kids were belligerent. When we finally got back to Danny's apartment, we finished loaded his car and the U-Haul. We then cleaned the apartment and went to bed after a long day.

East Coast Trip: Days 3 - 6

I have been trying to cram a lot of things in during this trip and haven't had the chance to sit down and write a blog post on anything stadium experiences. The east coast trip really took off on day number 3 of the expedition. The plan was to leave Boston mid-morning on make my way down to Greenwich, CT where I would meet up with my friend David and head into New York City. I decided to make a pit stop in Newport, RI and write a blog post or two to kill some time and enjoy the scenery. By the time, I had written the blog post on exploring Boston, I checked my phone and I was 3 hours from Greenwich but the plan was to meet David in Greenwich in 90 minutes. Luckily it was not a big deal that I showed up about 2 hours later than planned. I left my car at David's mom's house in Greenwich and we took the train into New York City, We walked around Central Park for a while and ate dinner at a restaurant where we watched the Red Wings try to close out the Blackhawks in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.

The next three days were filled with sight-seeing. On Tuesday I saw Wall Street and Federal Hall, walked to Battery Park, stopped at the African Burial Grounds National Monument, and walked through Chinatown and Little Italy on my way to the lower east side. At the lower east side on watched a video at the Tenement Museum. When I was on the lower east side, it started raining pretty heavily. My main concern was that the game at Citi Field would be rained out - it was the last Mets home game for about 2 weeks. I tried to make the most of the rain situation and headed on over to the 9/11 Memorial which was very crowded earlier when it was nice out. Due to the rain, the line was very short and I walked right in. The memorial itself is pretty powerful as a two giant pools now occupy the footprint of the the two World Trade Center towers. I then headed over to Citi Field for the Mets game where David met me later. I have already written about my experience at Citi Field under the ballparks tag.

On Wednesday, I started off the day by walking east to west across Manhattan from David's apartment to the U. S. Grant National Memorial. Unfortunately, the Grant National Memorial was closed on Wednesday. I then walked north into Harlem to see the Alexander Hamilton Grange National Memorial. It was interesting that Alexander Hamilton's country house in 1800 is now in the middle of a densely populated area. I continued with the national parks by hopping on the subway and visiting the Theodore Roosevelt boyhood home. I was the only one there so I got a private tour from the park ranger. He was a self-proclaimed "Ted Head" and knew the most obscure facts about "T. R.". I had a pastrami sandwich at a Jewish sandwich shop and finished up the day by going to the Highline, a floral walkway on a set of elevated abandoned railroad tracks. I then took the subway to Yankee Stadium where once again I met up with David at the game. At the Yankee game, we met up with David's former fraternity brother Doug who is now an intern in the Yankees baseball operations department. He is by far the biggest sabermetrician I personally know. 

On Thursday, I rode the subway down to Times Square district. I walked through Macy's, by many theaters in Times Square, around Madison Square Garden, and around the Empire State Building. One thing I noticed was that Madison Square Garden (MSG) is very ugly from the outside and it is the mystique that makes it "The World's Most Famous Arena". I also got the see a (so-called) celebrity outside MSG: Snookie from Jersey Shore. I then took the subway back up to the General Grant National Memorial so I could stamp by National Parks Passport Book. I find that these national park (monument, historical sites, etc) are pretty interesting and explain some history of the region. This National Parks Passport Book provides a place for cancellation stamps for many of the sites in the National Park system. Maybe I will write a post on this later. I finished off the afternoon by walking through the upper west side and back to David's apartment. On the upper west side I saw the restaurant front that was used in the TV show Seinfeld. I finished off the day by eating dinner down in Chinatown with David and another friend, Athrey, who now lives in New York City.

Most of my planning has gone into the baseball games and I only has a vague plan as far as what I was going to do each day.  If my goal was primarily to take a vacation to New York, I would have done a lot more planning and organization. As a consequence of my limited planning, I spent a lot of time just walking around but I have found that walking around is a descent way to experience a city.

East Coast: Day 2

Day 2 started out with 4 hours of driving to get from my hotel upstate New York to Boston for the afternoon game between the Red Sox and the Indians. Learning my lesson from Toronto, I parked at Riverside station and took the T to Fenway park. Although saved money instead of parking (~$40 near the stadium), the biggest advantage of taking public transportation to the game was the convenience. The subway dropped me off a few blocks from the park and I didn't get stuck in a major traffic jam. I was able to walk around the park (inside and out) and get to my seat in plenty of time for the game. More on this game and ballpark in an upcoming post under the ballparks tag.

After the game, I maximized the opportunity of being in Boston and took the T downtown. I walked around the Boston Common, around Faneuil Hall, along the Walk to the Sea, and around the North End. I tried to follow the Freedom trail in the North End but I didn't want to go too far away from the crowds since it was getting dark and didn't have a map. Unfortunately by the time I made it downtown a lot of the historical in this area were closed for the day so I didn't get the full historical background on some of the areas. Nonetheless, I saw the Pual Revere statue and the Old North Church. There was also a big music concert, called Boston Calling, happening at City Hall when I was downtown but it wasn't interested in any of the bands playing. Being in Boston for such a short and unusual time (Sunday evening) probably didn't allow me to fully "do Boston" but that is not the purpose of my trip.

The big question of the night was what to eat for dinner. I was debating between eating Italian food in the North End (what several people at the ballpark recommended) and going for clam chowder (a New England classic ). I decided to go for the Italian because there were a ton of Italian restaurants in the North End and they all looked pretty authentic. I went for the Eggplant Parmesean which was good (not great) but it was a comfortable setting for me since I ordered at a counter and sat down rather than have someone wait on me.

I then took the subway back out to my car and drove to my hotel which I booked on Priceline.com the night before. It was good to have a comfortable place to sleep but I would have traded some of the comfort for a little lesser hit on my pocketbook.

East Coast: Day 1

Just like day 1 of my west coast trip, day 1 of the east coast trip was a long day with plenty of travel and a baseball game. I left Ann Arbor at 7:30 AM, hoping to make it to Toronto by 11:30 AM for the 1:00 game. I was planning on parking downtown Toronto so I could walk around before the game and leave soon after its conclusion. Unfortunately, the traffic around Toronto was pretty bad. I was within view of the CN Tower by noon by the exit for Rogers Centre was backed up for about 2 miles. I finally got off the freeway and parked in an underground garage ($8) by 12:45. I made the brisk walk over to Rogers Centre, bought a ticket from a scalper, and made it to my seat for first pitch. In hindsight I should have gone to the next exit, found a quick parking spot, then walked to the stadium.

I will talk about Rogers Center and the game in an upcoming post. At the game I sat next to a guy from Australia who is traveling around Canada and the US for the year. He had just got off a 35 hour train ride from somewhere in the Canadian plains. On his walk over to his hostel he saw people selling tickets so he decided just to go to the game on a whim. He said he played t-ball for a year when he was a kid and only knew the most basic rules (3 strikes and you're out, ...) so I talked him through some of the more complicated plays and strategy. He also gave me some traveling advice for staying in London when I head to my conference next month.

After the game, I walked around the stadium district to get a feel for the city since I was short on time before the game. The Rogers Centre is literally right next to the CN Tower, the tallest building in Toronto. I didn't venture too far from the stadium because I was slightly turned around and I didn't have a map (and didn't want to use international data on my phone). I feel I was in Toronto just for the game and didn't get a chance to really experience the city, violating one of my lessons learned from the west coast trip. I guess I have plenty of time to take a vacation to Toronto in the years to come.

The traffic leaving Toronto was equally bad as coming in. I ended up taking Lake Shore Boulevard out of the city rather than the highway to avoid traffic and get a good view of Lake Ontario. Toronto kind of reminded me of Chicago in that it runs up against a great lake with parks along the water. I also saw an amphitheater and a water park next to the lake. I entered back into the US without any problems at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge even though there was a huge backup going into Canada. I spent the night at a hotel in Rome, NY (about 4 hours from Boston). The hotel wasn't much but it was a place to sleep. For what it was, the rate was expensive and got me thinking staying with friends and family really saves a lot of money.

The Road: East Coast Trip

It was less than a week ago that I got back to Michigan from seeing 6 ballparks on the west coast. My time back in Ann Arbor has been very busy as I am putting the finishing touches on my report and presentation for the IFASD in Bristol, UK. Now I am headed out again to see 7 ballparks in a 12 day trip - this time on the east coast. I planning to see Rogers Centre in Toronto, Fenway Park in Boston, the two New York ballparks (Yankee Stadium and Citi Field), Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, and Nationals Park in D.C. The MLB schedule lined up near perfectly for me in that I will be able to go from north to south without backtracking. I will also have budgeted enough time in case if the weather does not cooperate.

The biggest difference on this trip compared to the West coast trip is that I will be driving from city to city in my truck. I will start off driving from Ann Arbor to Toronto to see the Blue Jays play a day game. My stay in Canada will be brief as I hope to make it to the Red Sox game in Boston the next afternoon. I am crossing my fingers but there is rain in the forecast for Boston on Sunday. I am hopeful that they will try to get that game in because it is the last time the Red Sox and Indians are scheduled to play this year. If this game gets rained out, I will try to attend the game the following night.

If the Red Sox game doesn't get rained out, I will drive down to Greenwich, CT to meet up with one of my former college roommates at his mother's house on Monday. This former roommate lives in New York City so we will take the train from Connecticut to Manhattan and I will be able to leave my car at his mother's house. The plan is for me to stay at my roommate's apartment for 4 nights and go to Mets game and Yankees games. Unfortunately the Yankees do not play Tigers because I need to have my revenge after this roommate (a big Yankees fan) celebrated like no other during a Tigers-Yankees playoff game last year. I will then take the train back to Connecticut and pick up my car.

This is where my east coast trip is still being finalized. I will then try to meet up with a friend from back home in Philadelphia. This friend just got relocated from Philadelphia to New York but he has his apartment for a few more days. Even though he may not have furniture, I am completed satisfied with sleeping on the floor if it saves my some money as opposed to getting a hotel. We have two options for attending Phillies games: a Friday night game and a Saturday afternoon game. I guess part of this depends on the weather in Philadelphia and Baltimore (my next stop). I am hoping the weather forecast looks promising for the Oriole game on Sunday as it is the last game of a 5-game home stand. I might try to head to Baltimore then return to Philadelphia if the weather looks dicey since it is less than a 2 hour drive between the two cities. Luckily I have access to my own personal meteorologist (my dad). 

The last ballpark on the east coast trip is Nationals Park in Washington D.C. The Nationals do not play at home until June  4. This means I will have an entire day off to tour the monuments on the national mall. I still need to look in to possible lodging in Washington D.C. I imagine hotels and parking downtown are very expensive so it may be economical to get a hotel near the subway and take it in to the city. My last day on the trip will be making the 8 hour drive back to Ann Arbor.