Making the Most of our Trips

Our trip this week was to Westminster MD to tour McDaniel College and watch a ballgame at the Hagerstown Suns. Since we will be departing from the area within the next months, I wanted to look at the area's colleges. Better to look now than later! Even though I am only a sophomore, I think that looking early is better. I have become obsessed with the book 40 Colleges that Change Lives by Loren Pope and I want to visit every one of them. Luckily, some of the colleges are in the area (McDaniel being one of them).

I don't think McDaniel gets the credit it deserves. I had heard about it previous to the book, but I never knew how great it really was. Situated in small-town Westminster, McDaniel is a small, happy community of 1,800 students. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to go to a small school close to Baltimore. I want to go to a college in a new area that I have never been so McDaniel doesn't fit that criteria.

Lunch in Westminster was followed by the drive to Hagerstown. An industrial city of old, Hagerstown NEEDS SOME HELP! It is awfully run-down and in desperate need of a new baseball stadium. The stadium is the second oldest in the minors. Needless to say, bluh! Dad and I did the tire race around the field. We had 4 inflatable tires around ourselves and raced each other. I almost knocked Dad down when we collided but I wasn't strong enough! I won the race. It was a late night. We arrived home at 11pm. Fun! I anticipate more college-MiLB road trips!

Andrew

Week 2: First Ballgame of the Year - Hagerstown

First, you should know that Andrew and I have visited 13 major league ball parks in his 14 years and nearly as many minor league parks. We both enjoy a day at a baseball game, although we differ on the importance of having a stadium dog. I say it's a necessity. Andrew prefers healthier options!

Second, you should know that we've had the Hagerstown Suns on our list since we arrive in Baltimore. We drive right past the exit every time we head to Ohio. This second road trip of 2010 was a short mileage trip. We left after lunch and headed to McDaniel College in Westminster. Although just a sophomore, Andrew wanted to check out this institution that he found in his book of Colleges That Change Lives.

In addition to lives, McDaniel has changed its name. It was called Western Maryland College. I thought it was a geographic reference, but I learned that it was originally named after a railroad that was owned by the college's first president. The railway is no longer in existence but a train car sits near the McDaniel football field as a reminder of the original moniker. The college changed its name in 2002 to honor an alumnus that had given a lifetime of service to the institution.

Frankly, I was impressed with the McDaniel visit. We arrived just as one of the admissions counselors was starting a tour so we jumped right in. We had a great tour of campus from a recent grad who will be starting to work soon for the state of Maryland. She shared her enthusiasm for McDaniel. I particularly like the president's residence in the center of campus, the historic theatre and the honor code.

After a stop in downtown Westminster for an afternoon snack at Harry's Main Street Grille, we headed further west to Hagerstown. After a self-guided tour through the downtown area of Hagerstown, we settled on the Stadium Grill & Tavern as our dinner spot. The place is actually located within a long home run of the stadium. I enjoyed a mushroom swiss chicken sandwich and Andrew had a Chesapeake wrap and we were ready for the game.

Minor league baseball is booming all over the country, but does not seem to have caught on in Hagerstown despite great marekting efforts. The sport has a long and interesting history at Municipal Stadium, which is celebrating its 80th year and is one of the oldest parks in minor league baseball. The announced attendance for our game was 488.

The modest arriving crowd may account for the request that Andrew and I received shortly after we arrived: to participate in a between inning contest. After we agreed, I learned that I would need to put four tire-like innertubes around my body and run around the bases. I consented because I thought it would provide a memorable experience, and because I didn't know anyone in Hagerstown. Imagine my surprise when I ran into Beth Eubanks, a former Towson athletics colleague, just before game time. She is now working for a baseball agent and was in town visiting with a few players. Oops.

For the record, yes, Andrew did win the contest and took home the Suns t-shirt. I managed not to embarrass myself too much, despite a serious collision at second base. Andrew was taking this entertainment thing much more seriously that I was.

Fortunately, our entertainment was in the first inning and we settled in and watch a great night of baseball. It was true minor league fun -- with interns running promotions and activities all over the ballpark. The baseball team was not able to score a run so the home crowd had little to cheer about. The Suns lost 2-0, wasting a nice pitching performance by Daniel Rosenbaum, a 22-year-old left-hander from Xavier University (one of my previous stops). It appears that Rosenbaum has not had much offensive support all season. He has a 0-4 record in 10 starts, but a terrific 2.83 ERA. Hickory scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings for the win.

We need to thank Dave Vatz for the seats. Dave, a Maryland grad, is completing an internship in broadcast services with the Suns. We had the chance to hear him give the wrap up the game on the way home. His father, Rick, is an outstanding professor at Towson and one of the best supporters of the basketball program. His son is off to a great start in his career.

It was an uneventful 90-minute drive home for Hagerstown -- no traffic issues at all -- as we ended trip #2 and had another great day!

Mike

Our Journey through the Capital!

Washington D.C. has so many museums and attractions that you could spend weeks in DC and not see everything. We have made good use of our proximity to DC while living in Baltimore. There were still some museums and things to see. We woke up early in the morning to catch the MARC commuter train to DC. An environmentalist, riding mass trasit was a great way to start the day.

When we arrived in Union Station I was pleased to see a hustling and bustling station full of businesspeople and tourists alike. The shops and restauraunts reminded me of an airport. We arrived at 8am a little early for our 10:30 tour of the Library of Congress. We walked around the Capitol Building and since we realized our camera battery was dead we had to walk about 2 miles to get to the nearest photo shop.

The Library of Congress had so much unique early American architecture with the finest marble in the world and the ceilings hand-crafted with unmatched precision. Gold, aluminum, and silver are just some of the expensive gems that reside in the Library of Congress. We both enjoyed the beauty of the building but our stomachs stopped us from finishing the free tour and left us looking for a place to eat.

During the orientation video at the Smithsonian Castle that we saw earlier that day, it recommended to eat at the cafeteria at the Native American Museum. Okay, I have never seen such exotic and different food in the best cafeteria I have ever eaten in. This thing was awesome. I had a ground buffalo burger with an AMAZING butternut squash sauce! Needless to say, it was the best burger I have ever eaten.

We then walked to the American History Museum which was colossal in size and equal in number of exhibits. We spent about 3 hours there but only saw about 60% of the exhibits. We saw Dorothy's ruby slippers and the original Kurmit the frog. It was a neat museum.

Since I work at the National Aquarium in Baltimore this summer, I wanted to see our small branch aquarium in DC. It was small but it was free since my family has a membership and I volunteer. I would definately recommend the Baltimore one over the DC one. We then walked about 5 blocks north to catch the circulator bus (only $1 a ride) to the Georgetown area. In rush hour traffic the 45 minute ride took a while. The ride was worth it since the Georgetown area is very upscale. I was not interested in going to Georgetown University (even though it is Jesuit) so I did not set up a tour. The campus was nice, built on a hill overlooking the C&O canal.

Dinner was at the Georgetown cafeteria. It was good. We walked the half mile to catch the circulator bus to Union Station. This time the ride took about an hour. It was a long hour. At about 7:30 we got on the train to Penn Station.

The D.C. trip was packed full of activities, but fun. We did a LOT of walking, but that helped keep the budget under $100. The temperature was over 90 degrees which is common in D.C. this month. I think the weatherman said it was going to be the hottest June ever in D.C. with over 15 days over 90 degrees. Can't wait 'till the next trip!

Andrew

Week 1: Start with the home base of knowledge - Library of Congress

Where would a guy who is a self-confessed "researcher" and an insatiable learner select as his first destination - the home of all knowledge - the Library of Congress. On June 24, we began. Andrew had prepared the complete itinerary. We caught the 7 a.m. train from the Martin Airport and arrived at Union Station in Washington at 8:05. We started the trek toward the mall, stopping by the U.S. Capitol for a few photos. When we arrived at the mall, the only place open was the Smithsonian Institution Building (a.ka., the Castle), headquarters for the great museums. We took in the orientation video, narrated by Ben Stiller. While it was amusing, the most important information received from the video was a lunch recommendation. More on that later.

We made our way to the Library of Congress for the complimentary public 10:30 a.m. tour. I was surprised to learn a few things during the tour. First, the "library" is now three adjacent buildings - the Jefferson, the Adams and the Madison - plus numerous off-site storage areas. The tour of the Jefferson was less about books and collections and more about architect and art. The building was a marvel, in size, scope and decor. Our volunteer tour guide gave an excellent tour and focused a great deal on the art, evident in every corner of the place. We enjoyed the visit and left around 11:45 a.m.

Ben had recommended the cafeteria in the National Museum of the American Indian. We gave it a try and found a wide variety of unusual native dishes. I opted for a chicken taco on fry bread, which sounds bad for you and tastes like its really bad for you. The meal was great. Andrew was a bit bolder and opted for a buffalo burger and a tomato melon salad. He seemed very satisfied with both choices. After our lunch respite overlooking a neat waterfall, we headed to our next stop - the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

This exhibit had been closed for remodeling during our recent trips to Washington D.C. We spent three hours exploring the museum and were particularly impressed with the exhibit, Within These Walls. The exhibit included a two-story house that had been built in the 1760's in Massachusetts and relocated to the museum after it went vacant in 1945. The exhibit told the stories of five families that had lived in the house, describing the American history that happened as each new family arrived. We also particularly enjoyed the exhibit with the original flag the flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner, and the exhibit on Abraham Lincoln. We have both Fort McHenry and Civil War sites on our future itineraries, so the background information will be helpful.

Around 3:30 p.m., we exited the museum and headed to the National Aquarium exhibit. Since Andrew is an intern at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, he thought we would check out the branch in D.C. As aquarium members, we had free admission and saw lots of fish. It was great having my own personal tour guide and I was most impressed with the alligator exhibit. After about 60 minutes, we decided the Baltimore version was much better and headed to our next stop.

We walked about 10 blocks north and caught the Circulator bus to the Georgetown area. Andrew wanted to see the Jesuit school. The bus dropped us off in the district and we had another 10-block walk to campus. We were quite impressed with the campus. It seemed like a quiet oasis away from the madness of DC, but still close enough to engage in the madness if you wanted. As a John Carroll University alum, it was great to see the huge statue of John sitting in a chair on the front lawn of the campus. After a walking tour of campus, we opted to have dinner in the O'Donovan Dining Hall. I remember now why I gained those 10 pounds my freshman year at college. It was a good choice. Despite the summer hours, the hall was bustling with a participants from a leadership conference.

We hustled back to M Street to catch the Circulator back to Union Station. However, the delay in the arrival of the bus, compounded by the slow progress through heavy traffic, caused us to miss the 6:13 train, which would have taken us back to the Martin Airport stop. Fortunately, mom agreed to pick us up at Baltimore's Penn Station, so we caught the 7:40 p.m. train, instead of waiting for the 9 p.m., which was the next one scheduled to go as far as Martin.

Andrew fell asleep on the train. We had an exhausting day, but a memorable one. We had always talked about taking advantage of our proximity to Washington. It took the threat of limited days left in this region to get us in gear. But, we had a great first exhibition! Week one is in the books!

Mike

A New Sort of Summer Fun!

With my Dad's unexpected resignation from his job, summer was doomed to be dismal and full of anxiety. "There has to be a way to improve this coming summer!" I thought early in June. Dad came up with the idea of spending one day a week to go somewhere. So with that came "Unexpected Explorations."

I am a researcher and whenever I hear about something, I will rush to the computer to look it up. As soon as this idea emerged I spent the next few days finding places to go. Dad and I enjoy baseball very much. In fact, we have a tradition of going to a different major league baseball park every year. We have also been to many minor league baseball parks. Among these include, Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, Ripken Stadium, and others.

Frankly, I couldn't think of a better way to explore a region of the country while also filling up summer with fun day-trips. I've spent 4 summers in Baltimore, 2 of which were spent alone with my brother and the other one spent reading and without a job. I was 13 that summer. Now 14, almost 15 and entering the 10th grade, I am currently in an internship program, these fun "explorations" will certainly contribute to a memorable summer!

Andrew

Game Plan: Lemonade Time!

Turning lemons into lemonade! It's the age-old strategy of making the best of any situation. So I find myself without a job for the first time in my professional career. In fact, it may be the first time since I started feeding the dogs at Squier's Kennels in Randolph at age 13. It's been a good run - but now, at age 50 - I have more time than any other period in my life. It's the lemons.

Here comes the lemonade - so I decided to devote at least one day a week to a day trip with my son, Andrew. Time with sons is precious. I've learned that with his older brother, Alex, who is already 18, working two jobs, has a full social life, and is packing his bags (or boxes) for his move to San Diego in August to start his college life. So, I'll focus on the one who has time. Plus, it will get me out of the house at least once a week, which may be best for my marriage since my wife, Paula, actually works from home. (We might be a bit too close, both in the same house!)

Andrew was a willing partner. We both enjoy baseball and visiting new stadiums. Although just a rising sophomore, he's starting to think about college and would enjoy some early college visits. We both like history. This could be some tasty lemonade! So we're off!

Mike