We made it to the ATL

After a LONG 12-hour drive from Baltimore that covered five states and DC, we made it to Atlanta yesterday.  Today, we hope to cover a few of the major tourist traps in the ATL like the MLK grave site and his home, a CNN tour, and maybe a trip to the Coca-Cola headquarters.  It's quite a bit warmer and humid than what we have dealt with in the past week or so, but then again, it is the South.

Our Visit to Our Nation's Capitol

After Michael and I took our tour of Nationals Park on Monday, we joined up with the girls to see the sights in Washington DC.  First, we took a drive to Arlington National Cemetery to pay tribute to the great people who have served this country.  It's hard to tell how much the kids understand the importance of a visit to a place like that since they are so young.  I will say, however, that Michael seemed amazed at watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We also managed to see multiple horse-drawn carriage ride past us containing a coffin of a soldier who had died in Afghanistan.  It was an amazing and moving experience.  It's puts a face on the war(s) that you can never get from just watching CNN.

Watching the changing of the guard is an unbelievable experience.

A fallen soldier being taken to his final resting place.

Michael and Andie in front of President Kennedy's grave site.  The kids thought the eternal flame was very cool.

Someone suggested to Helen that the after dark tour of the monuments was very cool.  We decided to do it, and we weren't disappointed.  The tour lasted about three hours and we got to hit all the main stops.  Here are some pictures we managed to get.

Just sittin' here on Capitol Hill... (well actually standing).

Dad, Michael, and Andie in front of the White House.  We got some great video of Malia and Sasha playing soccer on the White House lawn with their dog.  We'll have the video up soon.

Michael and Andie in front of one of our country's greatest thinkers - Thomas Jefferson - at his memorial.
If only he didn't have slaves.

Michael and Andie at the Jefferson Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.

More from the Jefferson Memorial

Michael in front of the Lincoln Memorial at night.

Two score and four years after being born, I've got two great kids who I love dearly.

Michael and Andie reading the names at the Vietnam Memorial

Michael and I at the Iwo Jima Memorial.

On Tuesday the 28th, we spent the day touring the museums.  The coolest for me was visiting the National Archives Museum.  Helen and I got a big kick out of seeing the originals of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  The kids thought it was okay, but were much more impressed with the natural history museum and the Air and Space Museum.

Michael and Andie at the Air & Space Museum

Andie flying a plane

A mammoth mammoth

Michael demonstrating what he has in common with the hippo.

Couldn't take pictures in the National Archives, but seeing the originals of the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was awesome.

The kids cooling off on a hot and humid day in DC

Hey!  How do I back this thing up?

A great picture of the family in front of the Capitol.

We had a great time in DC and Baltimore.  It's definitely a place where you have to bring the kids back when they get older to fully appreciate it.  We will definitely be back at some point.  Next up - the longest drive of our trip.  Michael and I drop the girls off at the airport on Wednesday and we head down to Atlanta to stay with my niece and her family.  Michael will most certainly have a great time with his cousin and we will see the Braves play on Friday night with some good friends of mine.  

Baltimore / DC days and photos to follow tonight

We've been so busy the last couple of days, we haven't had the chance to load up the stories and photos for our time in Washington DC and Baltimore. We'll have those up tonight. Today, the girls are leaving us and heading back to Phoenix from Baltimore. Meanwhile, we are leaving on a long trip (12 hours) to Atlanta, GA, for what should be a great time with family and a great game with friends and family on Friday night in Turner Field to see the Braves. Please continue to submit your comments and emails. We really appreciate them.

Updated Stadium Rankings - through Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies) as of 6/25/11

After seeing a game in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, here are the updated rankings.

Michael's Rankings:

1. PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates

2. Petco Park - San Diego Padres
3. AT&T Park - San Francisco Giants

4. Fenway Park - Boston Red Sox

5. CITIZENS BANK PARK - PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

6. Coors Field - Colorado Rockies
7. Citi Field - New York Mets

8. Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers

9. Anaheim Stadium - Los Angeles Angels

10. Rogers Centre - Toronto Blue Jays

11. Comerica Park - Detroit Tigers

12. Great American Ballpark - Cincinnati Reds

13. U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox

14. Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals
15. Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs
16. Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks

17. Safeco Field - Seattle Mariners
18. Yankee Stadium - New York Yankees

19. Busch Stadium - St. Louis Cardinals

20. Progressive Field - Cleveland Indians

21. Dodger Stadium - L.A. Dodgers

22. Oakland Coliseum - Oakland A's

Lance's Rankings:

1. PNC Park

2. AT&T Park
3. Petco Park

4. Safeco Field

5. Coors Field

6. Citi Field

7. Fenway Park

8. Chase Field

9. Comerica Park

10. U.S. Cellular Field

11. Miller Park

12. Kauffman Stadium

13. CITIZENS BANK PARK

14. Great American Ballpark 

15. Busch Stadium

16. Yankee Stadium
17. Anaheim Stadium

18. Progressive Field
19. Dodger Stadium

20. Wrigley Field

21. Rogers Centre

22. Oakland Coliseum

Our review of Nationals Park - Home of the Washington Nationals - Day 38 (6/27)

Since the Nationals were on the road, we didn't get to see a game in Nationals Park - only a tour.  But it was a pretty good tour especially for Michael (more on that in a minute).  The Nationals are the reincarnation of the Montreal Expos who folded up shop back in 2005 and moved to Washington DC.  The Washington area was without baseball since the Washington Senators moved to Dallas, Texas and became the Texas Rangers back in 1970.  We got a chance to see the new park that opened for the Nationals in 2007.

On the outside, it's not much to cheer about.  The outside looks like most of the government buildings in DC.  It's white and it has no distinct characteristics.  It's probably the only park of the new ones that we've seen that made no attempt to incorporate some old school feel to it.  That being said, the building on the inside does a a nice job of making every seat a good place to be to watch a game.  There isn't much history to talk about when it comes to the Nats, but they do have a love for one of the greatest pitchers who ever played the game, Walter Johnson.  He played for the Washington Senators back in the 20's.  But since then, it's been pretty light for the history.

Statue of Walter Johnson

The view from CF

Michael liked Nationals Park.

Michael and I both liked the tour.  Milwaukee has its sausage races and Washington has it's presidents races.  We were told that poor Teddy Roosevelt hasn't won a race in the 7 years they've been doing it.  I have to give the edge to old Abe.  He was by far the tallest and probably could run fast in his day.

On the tour, we got to see all the places where the big shots in DC get to hang out.  I have to admit, it's pretty impressive how upscale the stadium is.  We also really liked the scoreboards - again perfect placement in the outfield with a huge video screen.  But other than that, the overall feel of the stadium is pretty sterile.  When looking to the outfield, you don't get a nice view of any of the monuments because the building faces the opposite direction.  If you're in the upper deck, you can see the Capitol building but that's about it.

We also got to see the Nats' clubhouse and press box.  Both were very nice and very impressive.  But the highlight came when we got to go out on the field.  Michael always gets a kick out of going out on the field of a major league ballpark (as do I).  But we got a special bonus on this one.  After visiting the area behind the plate and in the dugout, they took us to the Nationals' bullpen and they let Michael throw pitches in there.  VERY NICE!  He can now say he's pitched in a major league ballpark.  Maybe it won't be his last.  He impressed the tour guide with his blazing fastball.  The guide then wanted to know where he got it from and I had to show him of course.  I didn't fare as well as he did (ha ha).  

Maybe this will happen for real one day.

Me and the main man.

Michael in the Nats dugout.

Michael got to throw several pitches in the bullpen.  

Anyway, it was a great park, but it doesn't match up to any of the newer parks that we've seen.  It's one of those places where you wonder why they didn't try to give it some character instead of making it look like every other government building in DC.  Overall, I give it a 7/10.  Anyway, here's Michael's take:

Hi everyone!  Michael here again.  I liked Nationals Park better than dad did.  I thought it was really cool.  Any ballpark that let's me throw in the bullpen has got to be a great place.  I can't believe I got to do that!  I kept thinking what it would be like to get the call to come into the game and run in from the bullpen.  The tour guide said he would have the scouts take a look at me from the Nationals.  And man were the suites awesome!  There's a lot of W's around the park.  They also had some really cool names for their food stands like Changeup Chicken, and Senator Sausages.  I also saw where the president sits when he comes to the game.  Very cool!  I also really thought the scoreboard was really nice and big.  But maybe my favorite part of the tour was seeing the statues of the presidents that run the races during the 4th inning.  Poor Teddy Roosevelt.  I give the stadium a 7.5/10.

Well, there you have it.  We take a break from stadiums for the rest of the week until Friday.  At the time we are writing this, it's Tuesday morning.  We did an after dark tour of the monuments last night and we'll report on that later today after we go visit the Smithsonian museums on the Mall today.  Tomorrow, we take off bright and early to Atlanta.  More later.

Our Mixed Review of Camden Yards - Home of the Baltimore Orioles - Day 37 (6/26)

A lot of people that I've talked to who have been to the city of Baltimore don't like it for various reasons.  Definitely do not count me and my family among that crowd.  My wife and I have been to Baltimore probably 3-4 times and both love it.  If like me, you are a fan of the greatest TV series ever made - The Wire, you may have a distorted view of what Baltimore may be like.  Sure, just like any other big city, it has its problems.  But there is a ton to do here, and certainly Camden Yards is definitely one of the crown jewels of the city.

After heading out from Philadelphia yesterday, we took the short 1.5 hour drive down I-95 to Baltimore.  Michael and I dropped the girls off at the Baltimore Aquarium - something that they both highly recommend if you ever come here.  Both agreed that it was the best aquarium they had ever been to, which I guess that means including the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  That's a tough one to swallow for me!

Michael and I walked over to Camden Yards.  First of all, it is hard to believe that this place is 20 years old.  It was the first of the new ballparks that opened back in the early 90s.  I remember how crazy everyone was about it and how everyone raved that it was the best park in the majors hands down.  Well 20 years later, it's still hard to argue with that.  It's one of those parks that just does things right.  It fits right into the downtown area perfectly.  The outside of the park brings back the old style brick with cast iron fences near the entrances to the park.  And there is plenty to do around the park - lots of places to eat, drink, and be merry.  There's also the Babe Ruth museum and his childhood home right down the street from the park and a sports museum if you are looking to check out Baltimore's sports history.

Michael and The Babe

Old school entrance to Camden Yards

Inside, it is a thing of beauty.  The best ballparks so far have been the ones that give you something unique with great views of the city.  Camden Yards does that perfectly.  It's best known for utilizing the B&O Warehouse (which I learned was the longest building in the country) as the backdrop in right field.  It just works perfectly there.  As you look toward center field, you get a spectacular view of downtown Baltimore.  The scoreboard is just the right size.  It has two video boards stacked on top of each other and during the game, you get just the information you need.  The out-of-town scoreboard is located along the huge right field wall, which again is where it should be and it does a great job of giving you not only the scores, but updated info about each game in progress.

What a view!

The B&O Warehouse is the signature feature of the park.  I think Ken Griffey Jr hit a HR off of the building once.

The view from our seats

Michael next to the jersey of the great Cal Ripken Jr.
Michael could learn a thing or two from Cal about getting up for school in the morning.

Because there are no bleachers in center and right fields, the park feels small and intimate.  Thanks to my brother-in-law Andy who hooked us up for the second time on our trip with some great seats - this time in the club level just to the left of home plate, we had great views of everything.  The thing I also thought was great about the park is the really wide walkways in the behind the stands.  So many parks we've seen have these narrow walkways that make it impossible to walk around if there are a lot of people.  Not Camden Yards.  The food was great too.  When you're in RF, you can smell the Boog Powell BBQ stand.

Camden Yards just does it all right.  It's so hard to believe that it's 20 years old and it's even harder to think that this place will ever be obsolete.  The Orioles haven't had a good team in a long time.  Since Cal Ripken, JR retired, there hasn't been much to cheer about in Baltimore.  But the experience at Camden Yards makes up for it.  And oh yeah, the game.  It was very enjoyable.  The Orioles won 7-5 over the Cincinnati Reds.  It was a great game. We saw three home runs and it was a perfect day weather wise.  Overall, the Camden Yards experience was fantastic for me.  Michael, however, for some reason did not think the stadium rated as high.  Here's his take:

Hi everyone, it's me Michael again.  Dad really liked Camden Yards a lot.  For me, it was just okay.  I loved our seats and it was a really nice day to see a game.  But I thought the ballpark wasn't anything to get excited about.  The stadium was plain.  The food was good though.  But I liked Philadelphia's stadium better.

Well there you have it.  Next up is a drive over to get a tour of Nationals Park in Washington DC tomorrow (Monday) - the home of the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos).  We hear the park is really nice.  We'll then take a break from baseball for a couple of days and see the sights in our nation's capitol.  The gals then head back to Phoenix on Wednesday and it will be back to me and Michael for a few days.  We're down to our final five parks on the tour.  We'll be in Washington until Wednesday morning, and then we're taking our show to the deep south with a 12 hour drive to Atlanta to see the Braves play in Turner Field.  It should be a great time for a number of reasons.  More on that later.

Updated Stadium Rankings - through New York (Mets and Yankees) as of 6/24

After visiting Fenway Park in Boston, we have now seen 19 stadiums.  Here are our updated rankings, as of 6/19/11. Fenway scored nicely for both of us

Michael's Rankings:

1. PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates

2. Petco Park - San Diego Padres
3. AT&T Park - San Francisco Giants

4. Fenway Park - Boston Red Sox

5. Coors Field - Colorado Rockies
6. CITI FIELD - NEW YORK METS

7. Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers

8. Anaheim Stadium - Los Angeles Angels

9. Rogers Centre - Toronto Blue Jays

10. Comerica Park - Detroit Tigers

11. Great American Ballpark - Cincinnati Reds

12. U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox

13. Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals
14. Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs
15. Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks

16. Safeco Field - Seattle Mariners
17. YANKEE STADIUM - NEW YORK YANKEES

18. Busch Stadium - St. Louis Cardinals

19. Progressive Field - Cleveland Indians

20. Dodger Stadium - L.A. Dodgers

21. Oakland Coliseum - Oakland A's

Lance's Rankings:

1. PNC Park

2. AT&T Park
3. Petco Park

4. Safeco Field

5. Coors Field

6. CITI FIELD

7. Fenway Park

8. Chase Field

9. Comerica Park

10. U.S. Cellular Field

11. Miller Park

12. Kauffman Stadium

13. Great American Ballpark 

14. Busch Stadium

15. YANKEE STADIUM
16. Anaheim Stadium

17. Progressive Field
18. Dodger Stadium

19. Wrigley Field

20. Rogers Centre

21. Oakland Coliseum

Our Slightly Mixed Review of Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia Phillies - Day 35 (6/25)

Before the review of the park, I have to say that despite my three past visits to Philadelphia where I didn't have such nice things to say about it, this time was different.  The family and I had a great time.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we enjoyed seeing the main Philly tourist attractions.  The only bad mark on the town was the traffic.  For a Saturday, it was plain awful.  You couldn't drive anywhere on the street or on the expressways without getting into huge delays.  The other negative was that the tours for the main part of Independence Hall had been sold out so we only got to go inside the less-interesting buildings in the Hall.  Other than that, we had a great time.

We arrived at Independence Hall and got some pictures from the outside.  We really wanted to show the kids the Hall.  It's really cool.  The inside of the building is set up just like it was when the Declaration of Independence was signed - including most of the original furniture, ink wells, etc.  But you win some, you lose some.

Andie in front of Independence Hall - the Declaration of Independence was read outside right behind her

George and the kids

We did, however, manage to get in to see the Liberty Bell.  The Bell is right across the street from the Hall which made it convenient.  The kids thought that was pretty cool.  The funny thing is that no one really has a firm explanation where the crack came from.  Still, it was a pretty awesome sight.

No - Andie didn't make the crack bigger.

After that, we managed to let the kids sample Philly's world famous Cheesesteaks.  We didn't make it over to Pat's or Geno's - the two most famous spots.  We got an inside tip from one of the park rangers at the Hall of a place he thought that was just as good and right around the corner from the Hall.  He was right!

Finally, we drove over to the Philadelphia Art Museum to what every tourist wants to do when in Philly - retrace Rocky's run up the stairs.  The kids and I did it and it was pretty cool.  It must be funny for all the locals to watch the hundreds of silly tourists do this thing.  When we were there, I think I must have counted about 30 people or so, who did the same thing.  Then of course, we had to "get a polaroid" with Rocky himself.

The famous Rocky steps

Yo Adrian - I like this Venable family

Anyway, Michael and I dropped the girls off at the hotel and headed over to Citizens Bank Park for the baseball game.  Michael REALLY liked the park, whereas I just thought it was pretty good.  Of the newer parks, I thought the outside of the park was very boring and didn't have much character.  All of the newer parks we have visited have a theme or a clever design to make the park stand out.  Citizens Bank doesn't.  And a really big negative is that there is absolutely nothing to do around the park.  The park is isolated and has no bars or restaurants to speak of near the park.

On the inside though, it really is a great place to see a game.  We had some really nice seats in the lower level down the third base line thanks to two really nice gentlemen I know in Philadelphia who I have done some work for.  One thing you notice right away is that Phillies fans are hardcore.  I think other than St. Louis, Michael and I hadn't seen so many people show up with Phillies gear on.  Lots of Cliff Lee and Ryan Howard shirts were all over the place.  Because it was such a great night weather wise, you couldn't help but like the atmosphere.  

Citizens Bank Park is a see of red

What the park does really well is give you a great seat and view of the field from anywhere in the ballpark.  It's big, but it seems intimate.  The park has a nice scoreboard, but it's too far in the left field corner.   If you want to look at it from the field, you have to turn your head too far and if you're on the left side as we were, the foul poll is in the way of it.  The out-of-town scoreboard is in the perfect place too - on the right field wall and it shows all the games. The food was good as were the fans.  Philadelphia fans are known to be hardcore (they booed Santa Claus once at an Eagle's game).  They weren't as loud as I expected, but they were enthusiastic.  I also liked that at the beginning of the game, they have an announcer do all of the pre-game announcements and starting lineups from the field behind home plate.  That's the way they used to do it before there were PA systems.  Finally, the Philly Phanatic is the best mascot hands down!

Who doesn't love the Philly Phanatic?

The view from left field

Michael competing against little Philly fans

Me and the main man

What I thought it came up short on were the walkways behind the field - way too narrow for a new park.  Also, the park doesn't really have any signature characteristics other than a big image of the Liberty Bell in center field.  Being in Philly, there's so much you could do with the history themes.  Also, they are light on history in the park.  The franchise has been around forever, and they could have done some more there.  Those are small details though.  The park was nice and it was definitely a great place to watch a game.  The A's beat the Phillies 4-1 in a great pitchers duel.  That makes our record for home teams 7-9 on the trip.  Overall, I give the park a 7.5/10.  Here's Michael's take:

Hey everyone, it's me Michael again.  I LOVED Citizens Bank Park.  It's hard to say what I liked most about it.  It was all really cool to me.  I liked our seats and the field looked great!  I thought the scoreboard a lot.  I also think the Phillies have some cool uniforms.  I felt like we were really close to the players since we were just behind the Oakland A's dugout.  The food was really good too.  Dad thought the Liberty Bell in center field was cheesy, but I liked it.  Overall, I give the park an 9/10.

Well, there you have it.  Citizens Bank is a great park and will probably make it our top 10.  It was a great park to go to after a great day in Philly.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we take off for the Baltimore/DC area.  Michael and I will catch a 1:30 game at Camden Yards in Baltimore to see the Cincinnati Reds take on the Orioles.  Everyone raves about Camden Yards so we will have to see if it lives up to the hype.  Then, we will head down to DC to take in some sights tomorrow afternoon/evening.  More later!