Baseball Game #1: Red Sox at Twins

Getting to the Twins game felt like heading to any other MLB game - train full of fans: families, teenagers, businessmen - all decked out in the gear for the home team, with the occasional fan of the away team (a much higher percentage when the Red Sox are involved). We stepped out in front of the Metrodome on a gorgeously sunny day. What a perfect afternoon for baseball! 

Except.

The Metrodome is indoors. How I forgot, or didn't know this, until a few days before the game makes me very aware of my lack of baseball stadium knowledge. How needed the road trip feels now!

Our general admission seats leave us in the outfield. We feel at once very far from the action in the large stadium, but also extremely close.  We are all under one roof. The sounds echo off the fabric. Is that a real organ playing? How cute!

Twins fans are quite focused. Many keeping score. Singing every word of the fight song. Boston fans rival Twins fans in volume at this business person's special. The reserved section next to us is empty, yet the ushers enforce the ticketing rules.

The game goes by uneventfully, with the only 3 runs (2 for Boston, 1 for Minnesota) being solo home runs by the middle of the top of the 7th.

And then...

Boston sends a runner home. Everyone in the Metrodome stands. My view of the plate is blocked. The ball is thrown from right field and caught. Fans erupt for an out. But no. The umpire calls the runner safe. The catcher gets up and into the face of the Ump. Who knows what was said? In a millisecond, the umpire points his thumb to the white fabric between us and the sky. The catcher is ejected. 

As any good manager would, the Twins' skipper comes from the dugout to protest. As Aaron rightfully points out, no argument has ever ended not in the umpire's favor. This is the game. It is not a democracy. The umpire ejects the manager. Boos ensue. Oh! Twins fans DO have booing in them. How comforting! No music plays or announcements made to explain what is happening. Mauer, who has been the DH for the Twins appears quickly in full gear behind the plate. We continue, 3-1 Red Sox.

Now, the bottom of the 7th. Jason Varitek behind home plate, where he has been the whole game except for when hitting 2 solo homers. At some point, a pitch he sees as a strike gets called a ball. He has not learned his lesson from the first half of the inning.

He gets up and protests to the umpire. Without a beat, the umpire calls him out of the game. The ump obviously has no qualms about this action at this point. So why would the Red Sox manager rush out of the dugout feeling invincible? Now, the loudspeaker gets involved and plays some rousing music. And just like that, the 4th person of the 7th inning walks back to the clubhouse.

No one else scores this game. Who would even be in charge of calling the shots? Are the managers now outside enjoying the sun? Maybe watching replays on their iPhones or enjoying a beer? Imagining what it will be like in 51 more home games when finally Twin Cities fans can have baseball with wind and rain and sunglasses. When the unpredictability of the game will be enhanced by the elements and not just a power hungry home plate umpire and the catchers and managers who dare to defy him. 

Beer of the Day

So, we're 1 for 4 in breweries to cities, and the 1 is more like a 0.5 since the beer was so bad. However, we have sampled many local brews, including some winners today. Surly's Furious, out of Brooklyn Center MN, is an aromatic citrusy IPA with plenty of nose and was a nice treat on a hot day. The Summit Oatmeal Stout, out of St. Paul, was not available, so I went for the Lefthand 400 Pound Monkey, an IPA from Colorado. Leigh had a Capital Dopplebock from Middleton WI and a Kayak Kolsch from Duluth. High marks all around today, but the Surly stole the show for me. The 400 pound monkey was certainly hoppy, but mostly on the backend. For me the hefty malt body detracted somewhat from my hop experience, and didn't measure up to the Furious. I will have to look for Surly back home to try some of their other offerings.

In other Minneapolis news, who knew this was such a nice city? After parking at the Mall of America and the baseball game (see Leigh's upcoming post), we trekked over to the Walker sculpture park (you would recognize the giant cherry on the end of a spoon). Afterwards, we headed back to the newish Guthrie Theater. Wow, this thing is huge! Eight floors, 3 theaters, and this huge jutty cantilever balcony. This picture does not do it justice.

Folks: did you know there are waterfalls in the Twin Cities? I did not until today, when our travels took us over an old stone arch railroad bridge that's been converted to a ped bridge. Apparently the falls used to power a booming lumber and grain industry. The old mills are now ruins, museums, and luxury condos, but the area is very ped friendly. We found a restaurant on the East side of the falls, Pranca, where the aforementioned beverages were readily imbibed, along with a jigger's worth of ice cream sundae.

Picture Update - Missoula, Rapid City and I90

As you can see, we are really getting into the western lifestyle. In Missoula, we learned to yield to pedestrians, slow down for horses, and just take it easy.

Staying in the special secret A-Frame location, I learned to toss a hammer up in the air and catch it. Aaron master this skill and beat everyone in two rounds of Stump. Luckily, I got to feel like a winner in cribbage. I did not feel like a winner in the sauna, as I totally wimped out earlier than the rest of the gang.

After driving for 9 hours across basically all of Montana, we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota. This charming town has bronze sculptures of our nation's presidents (up through GHWB), an inordinate about of bridal shops (by my count, 6 within about a 4 block radius), and a surprisingly awesome and chic restaurant (The Corn Exchange). I could do a whole separate post on the local food goodness of this restaurant. I think the Firehouse Brewery does NOT deserve its own post. I couldn't even drink half of my "amber wheat".

As it approached dark, we drove 20 miles south to Mt. Rushmore. To get to this huge national monument, one must drive through Keystone, which is the Vegas of South Dakota in terms of flashing lights and family fun events.

In the morning, we were back on I-90 again for another 8 hours of driving. One of our favorite things about this part of the country is the Sinclair gas stations. Here is a picture of Aaron with their mascot.

We arrived in Bloomington, MN just in time for a wonderful dinner with my cousins. A major perk of traveling is seeing family and we are glad we'll get to do a bunch more of that along the way.

Now for breakfast before seeing the Twins vs BoSox at noon!

Rapid City & Mount Rushmore

Rapid City, SD: cuteness.
Corn Exchange: surprising.
Mount Rushmore: surreal.
Richard Nixon: Mr. Burns.
Firehouse Brewing Company: boo-urns.
Pictures: forthcoming.

We're now in Minneapolis at the Thompsons', and it feels like 4AM. We've covered about 1300 miles in about 16 hours worth of driving, and I'm glad the longest legs of the trip are out of the way. More to come about our adventures along I-90, and our upcoming day trip to downtown twin cities.

For now: sleep.

A-Frame Road

Readers: sorry to keep you in rapt suspense. I know you've passed out by now from holding your breath awaiting the revelation of the aforementioned surprise. Let me tell you this: I am about to reveal that surprise.

Before the surprise, we ventured on an unsurprising but nonetheless enjoyable trek. Though a sought after meadow proved elusive, we avoided an angry equestrian and found suitable pasture for our afternoon graze. Blanket was laid, frisbee was tossed, baguette was consumed, and beer was drunk.

If this blog post were a popular television show, a commercial would interrupt it exactly now, because I am about to reveal the revelation. After packing up and driving about 10 minutes from Missoula, we followed our surprisers off the interstate and headed into the foothills. (We didn't really feel like camping, and I'll tell you that we were not disappointed.) Snaking alongside an engorged river, surrounded by snowcap and evergreen, from a nearly gravel road we turned onto a nearly mud road. Friends: we arrived at Rock Creek cabins.

Our chalet was the only one on A-Frame Rd. Our eponymous cabin sat upon stilts, one of which stood in a small rushing stream. We populated the two-bed loft with grill, meat, beer, and entertainment and settled in. Our ameneties: no running water, but our own refrigerator, electric oven, wood fired stove and sauna. Rustic indeed, but far from roughing it!

I had never played stump before, but I highly recommend it. It could not be simpler to play: here is the necessary equipment: hammer, one nail per player, stump. Also: Dean and Caren can both play cribbage: bonus. What a wonderful and relaxing cap to our Montana adventure. Oh, that and I totally beat Caren at tossing the frisbee.

Pictures: coming soon.

Decemberists and Beer

The Decemberists were awesome. They played two hour-long sets plus an encore. The first set was their latest record The Hazards of Love, and they nailed it. I'm not totally hot on the new album, but I respect the fact that they performed the entire thing without a break. Second set was great too, favorites from The Crane Wife and a shanty or two. The opener was Blind Pilot, and I think I recognized one of their songs from one of my coworker's playlists.

It doesn't look like we're going to get to a brewery in Montana, which is too bad. However, I have sampled the local brews of Big Sky, Kettle House, and Bayern to good effect. The Rhino, hopping last night after the Decemberists show, boasts an impressive (epsecially for such a small town in Montana) 40 taps, many of which are local. I could do without the smoking indoors, and Leigh is hurting from it today, but all in all a good taste of Missoula nightlife.

Today has a surprise in store for us, care of our gracious hosts. Don't expect an update until Minneapolis.

Missoula Action

Here is a photo of me on the tarmac in Missoula. The plane was very little and amazingly they served free wine and beer.

We didn't know what to expect from Missoula - the terrain, the activities - though Caren had lots of plans, some of which we told her to keep secret. I am constantly amazed by the mountains and the evergreens. The people also happen to be very attractive.

There are also oodles of taxidermy, even at the airport. See?

Ok, so this morning we had some breakfast at the Hob Nob. Aaron and I split an awesome plate of migas. I've never enjoyed lentils this much. There, we got into a conversation with a little girl in Eagles girl and her dad with a Phillies hat on. Turns out, this guy's dad directed me in my 8th grade production of "Cheaper By the Dozen" at Cedarbrook Middle School. Given my love of coincidences, this was pretty bonus.

We then drove to Idaho for some hotspring action. About a 90 minute drive led us to Weir, one pool of hotsprings after a mile hike. It was maybe a bit too hot to completely enjoy the heat of the water, but we had some enjoyable conversation with the locals nearby. We also had some creepy encounters with a couple that followed way too close behind on the hike out. (You can see the lady in the pic at left, behind me.)





Here are some pics of the hike and the springs. Be impressed by the picture of Aaron, me and Caren in the springs, as Aaron used the timer on the camera and ran down rocks to make it into the shot.

Ok, now we are making pizza (sensing a theme?) at Caren's. Must get back to playing Jewish Geography with her friend Aaron.

Missoula At Last

We're finally in Missoula. Caren, our gracious host, has given up her bed for me and Leigh, so we're living the high life now. Last night she prepared a fabulous spinach salad with fresh fruit and chicken that we picnicked on. We set out at about 9pm to watch the sun set. It stays light really late out here, but alas we were a tad late. (Pictured, Missoula at night.)

Sunny with Slight Delays

After missing the first flight to Missoula, the group was a bit disheartened. We decided that spending five hours at the airport waiting until the next flight would not be good for morale, so we got back on the bus to Downtown Seattle. Fortunately for us unscrupulous East Coasters, Seattle has a very open policy on public transit fare, and we paid only for our first trip of the day. The next three rides were made possible by our free transfers, care of the City of Seattle and the Seattle taxpayers.

Philly to Seattle via Nashville

An hour in the Nashville airport afforded us the opportunity for a greasy breakfast. We decided that "biscuit or croissant" on the menu was not a choice, but a strange amalgam of the two (Pictured: Leigh, dissatisfied with her croiscuit). The bacon, however, was authentic and fantastic.

In Seattle, we lunched on Vietnamese and coffee. A begrudgingly large city, Seattle's odd mix of green, grime, and sprawl evidence its denial of full-fledged metropolitan status. More on that later. Now, we dine on homemade pizza with fresh basil, thyme and rosemary from the garden.

... and breweries

There are a few breweries to add to the list. 

Obviously we won't hit even close to all of these.

• Big Sky Brewery, Missoula MT
  
• Anheuser-Bush, Minneapolis MN (I don't care if you like their beer or not. You can't argue that they must have some seriously impressive gear going on.)
• Granite City Brewery, Minneapolis MN
• Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis MN
• Barley John's, Minneapolis MN
• The Herkimer, Minneapolis MN
• Miller, Milwaukee WI
• Milwaukee Ale House, Milwaukee WI
• Three Dachshunds Beer and Cider, Milwaukee WI
  
• Longneck's, Milwaukee WI
• Rock Bottom, Chicago IL
• Goose Island, Chicago IL
• Three Floyds, Chicago IL
• Lunar, Chicago IL
• Harrison's, Chicago IL
• Founder's, Grand Rapids MI
Bell's, Kalamazoo, MI
• Jackie O's, Athens OH
• Voodoo, Meadville PA

more info at http://www.pubcrawler.com

Our Itinerary

With our vague (and ever more realistic) goal of seeing every Major League Baseball stadium, we were fortunate to stumble upon the use of a car to cross the U.S. of A. this summer.

In the next two weeks, will be attending the following games:
-Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins. Thursday, May 28
-Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers. Saturday, May 30
-LA Dodgers at Chicago Cubs. Sunday, May 31
-Oakland A's at Chicago White Sox. Monday, June 1
-Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers. Tuesday, June 2
-NY Mets at Pittsburgh Pirates. Thursday, June 4

As die-hard Phillies fans, we'll root for the home team wherever we go!
Check back for photos and assessments of the ballparks, the fans, the hotdogs.

And of course the breweries we visit in between games!