Ballparks

        The Daughter and I are just returned from Kansas City and Minneapolis, completing a 20 year family quest to visit all the major league baseball parks.  Somehow it all makes perfect sense to me.

        It began innocently enough in 1991 with a family visit to Yankee Stadium where #2 Son was just too little to stay beyond the 5th inning. When we had to go to Buffalo the next year it seemed no big thing to visit Toronto, and off we were.

      We have been in various combinations of Trophy Wife and children, but I have now done them all.  Previously the daughter and I have been to Baltimore in 2005 and St. Louis in 2006 (see "Bardstown").

       Each trip has its memories.  The children and I did an empty Comiskey Park in Chicago one Thursday, got standing room only at Wrigley Field the next day and the next day drove to Milwaukee where a good deal of beer was sold.

        I remember 2 hot trips with #1 Son to Florida (Tampa and Marlins) and Texas (Houston and Dallas), but Cincinnati and Detroit with the Boys was probably the hottest, and all those trips had long drives in the middle.  I remember the coldest game, the whole family on July 5, 1994 in San Francisco, and I remember the train up Pike's Peak with #2 Son in Colorado.  The most peculiar nght was Oakland which I visited in 2003 with Trophy Wife who graciously entertained my high school girlfriend.

        The nicest stadium was Pittsburgh, and the worst was Montreal.  The newer ones are nicer than the older ones, and the stadiums woven into downtowns have a much better feel than the out of town fields.

        I have devoted some time over 20 years to creating memories, both for our little group and for each of us individually.  I understand that something can be silly, pointless, expensive and well worth it.