Baseball Cities Tour

June 9th – We visited Mt Rushmore National Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial. We had dinner at Flying T Chuck wagon where we enjoyed a “cowboy dinner and show”.
June 10th – We drove through the Badlands National Park and had lunch in Wall before walking through Wall Drug. We had dinner at the Ruby House in Keystone before returning to Mt. Rushmore for the nightly lighting ceremony. This was a very impressive presentation. A Park Ranger read “The Ragged Flag”, a film presentation describing each president’s contribution to our Nation that resulted in their inclusion in the memorial was shown and as the film was concluding the faces of Mt Rushmore were illuminated. At this point all Veterans in the audience were invited onto the stage to assist with the retiring of the American Flag. After the flag was folded, each veteran did a self-introduction stating their name, branch of service and any conflicts they served in. The stage was full and the crowd showed their thanks and support loudly.
June 11th – Just a relaxing day in the campground, saw a movie and did grocery shopping.
June 12th – Visited the National Museum of Woodcarving.

June 7th & 8th - Our original plan was to drive through Yellowstone NP on our way to Sheridan, WY but snow had been predicted for the higher elevations and we decided not to take any chances so we drove back to I-90. We still went through some snow flurries on our way to I-90. This revision to our plan resulted in our being able to stop at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. When we arrived at the campground in Sheridan, WY, we found out that the road we had originally planned to take had been closed due to the snow and flooding. Good thing we are flexible! From Sheridan, WY we continued on I-90 until we decided to get off the highway and visit Devils Tower National Monument. What a site! We had lunch in the towers shadow and then continued on the back road into South Dakota.

Wednesday, June 6 -Having only one day to visit this park and the weather being cold and rainy, we decided to take tour. We chose the Lower Loop Tour so that we would see Old Faithful. This proved to be an excellent choice – we visited Firehole Canyon, Fountain Paint Pots, Old Faithful Geyser, Old Faithful Inn, Hayden Valley & Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone where we saw the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. Despite the rain and occasional snowflakes, we had a great day!

Sunday, June 3 - We had only one day in our schedule to visit this park. Our plan had been to drive the Going to the Sun Road through the park however the road was not open. We drove the 14 miles that were open on the west side of the park. This was along the shore of McDonald Lake. The views were beautiful. From there we drove the Camas Creek road hoping to see some wildlife. On the way back we did see a mule deer out in a meadow but it was too far to capture on film. When we left the park, we drove along Rte 2 to Goat Lick Overlook where we did see a mountain goat.

Route map is now being updated to reflect our progress.

Thursday, May 31 – Another great baseball park! About 10 years ago we attended a Mariners game at the old Kingdome and it was at that game that we first started talking about making this trip. Safeco Field is a great place to see a ballgame. We also had the best hotdog yet here – the “Liana Dog”. Don’t go looking for it on any of the menus, as it is the creation of my niece, Liana Kelley who attended the game with us. Take the regular foot long hotdog and add nacho cheese and your choice of condiments – Mark added relish & mustard. Even with the cheese, it was a great tasting hotdog and the bun was toasted. We also received an official welcome on the Jumbotron. Imagine our surprise as we were watching the various groups being welcomed and up pops “Welcome to Safeco Field Karen and Mark”. Thanks Mom.

May 24 - we spent most of the day in Yosemite National Park. The views are breathtaking and one could spend a lot more time here. We took a two hour tram tour of the Valley Floor which was guided by a Ranger. This allowed us to see most of the most famous views and the highlights but really covers only about 1% of the parks area. Well worth a visit.

Tuesday, May 22 - We had really great seats at this park for a while. We had tickets for Row 1 Sec 328. That is where we sat until the beginning of the game when season ticket holders informed us we were in their seats. Apparently we were in the Upper Box Sec 328 and our tickets were for Upper View Sec 328. Only off by about 5 rows really. Pictures are from our real seats. This is a great park! If you had a young family and wanted to instill in them a love for the game this would be a great park. There were lots of fun things to do before the game with the kids. The Coke bottle in the outfield next to the large glove is actually several slides for adults and kids. There is a small T-ball field out in that area and “stuff a bear” where you can make your own Lou Seal (the team’s mascot) or a bear with Giants apparel. On the lower level, there is a both where you can watch a real major league baseball being stitched or have your name carved into a bat. (They had this same thing at Angels Stadium also.) The park is right on the bay at the edge of downtown San Francisco. You can watch all size boats, yachts and cargo ships sailing by while you are watching the game.

Sunday, May 20 - This stadium is showing its age and with talk of building a new one, it is no wonder it has not been through the renovations that some of the others the same age have. This game was between “cross bay rivals” – Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants. The place was packed with fans from both teams. Things got interesting right from the start in the stands. There were four young men sitting 2 or 3 rows in front and to the left of us. During the playing of the National Anthem one of them remained seated and was being very obnoxious. As you would expect, others in that area expressed their displeasure with this person. Language got rough and within minutes, security removed these people from the stadium. A special thank-you to Ernie, Paula, Linda, Kent and Greg. They picked us up at our campground and took us to a lovely brunch before the game and delivered us to the stadium. Paula & Linda are Karen’s cousins. It was great visiting with them as it has been a few years since we had seen each other.

Since the Angels were playing the Dodgers, we saw Nomar again but we also got to see another former “Let’s go Angels” were followed by “Let’s go Dodgers”. Just what you would expect in a “Freeway Series” as this rivalry is called. Before the game we heard the best rendition of the National Anthem yet. It was sung by a 10-year old young lady named Taylor (unfortunately I did not catch her last name) with a great voice. She returned to lead the 7th inning stretch traditional “Take me out to the ballgame”. The home team prevailed.