seattle

After trekking all across the city, most of our group met at Safeco Field for the Twins @ Mariners matchup.

We were even joined by an old friend who celebrated the 3-run home run so enthusiastically, he hurt Ryan's hand.

legendary garlic fries

The Mariners won 4-1 and Mark even gave us a lift back to our hotel.

what are the chances?

Who knew that the game we're going to the night before our Alaska cruise was giving out LOLcat bobbleheads!

in honor of Manny's grand slam

Manny supposedly being hurt and coming in to pinch hit with bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th against the Reds on Manny Ramirez bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium reminded me of this video. All he needed was one pitch.

This video cracks me up. My favs are Manny's double, not HR and Youkilis's 3rd strike looking. Don't know why they didn't include Nomar . . .

Also on YouTube . . .
Batting Stance Guy Impresses Manny Ramirez
This one's hilarious b/c Manny's cracking up watching the guy impersonate everyone.

let's go Red Sox!

4 for 4

Our last game was on the way home from Mt. Vernon. We stopped to see the Cubs play in Cincinnati and the Strunks came with us. Their son Josh drove over from Kettering to meet us.

Bronson Arroyo, a former Boston player, started for the Reds.

The center field was made to look like a riverboat.

There were a lot of boats on the Ohio river that day.

surviving in the heat

Lou Piniella came out to yell at the umpire when the Reds player was ruled safe.

Josh, Jean, and Ed Strunk

the whole gang in the 14th inning, when we finally decided to leave
As we were walking out, Alfonso Soriano hit the go-ahead run for the Cubs who won 6-3 in the 14th!

back in the "untied" states

After the almost five-hour drive back to Detroit from Toronto, we unwound with a little shopping, Olive Garden, and a lot of pool.

Ryan puts his ball in the corner pocket while also scratching with the cue ball.

I try to stay in the game by knocking down stripes.

the real pool shark in action


game 3 of 4 June 4
Red Sox @ Tigers

taken by a friendly usher . . . should have specified that I wanted the tigers in the shot

Tim Wakefield, expert of the knuckleball

standing by the visitors' bullpen


the National Anthem

Ryan's view from our right field seats at Kaline's Korner

Rocco Baldelli filled in for J. D. Drew

couldn't have seen this last season . . . know why?

Pedroia's odd broken bat - see how much is left?

Hey, what do you know, it's us at the game.

the view from our seats

Papelbon comes in to close it out for the Sox.

last out - Pedroia gets Inge at 2nd

friendly chipmunks back at Ryan's grandparents'

Gary getting the tour of the backyard plants before supper

Jake and Grandpa assembling a remote-controlled helicopter

an after-supper walk around the neighborhood

a little family rivalry

Our Internet's been a little screwy since we got back from our trip, a problem AT&T is having trouble resolving . . . grrrrr. I will attempt to post this and hope it works throughout!

Ryan about to enter the Rogers Centre, formerly the SkyDome for our first game of the trip.

I was most excited about this game because it was both of our favorite teams.

We got lots of comments about our opposing "viewpoints."

We caught the tail end of batting practice and I managed to snag Justin Masterson's autograph on my glove. This is him throwing it back to me.

Jon Lester, starting pitcher for Boston warming up in right field

Ryan watching me watching Jon Lester

The stands were pretty full for how big the stadium is.

Kevin Youkilis hit 2 home runs to help Boston's and my fantasy team's efforts.

Ryan and the fake Ace. I tried to take a picture with the real Ace in the stands, but he took offense to my Red Sox getup. Oh well.

Alex Rios hit the only Jays home run of the game.

the view from the 500 level

self-portrait way up high

Ryan's face should tell you who won the game. The Red Sox won 8-2.

After the game and a quick walk back to the car to get coats and snacks, we took off along the lakefront to catch a ferry to Centre Island. On the way we snapped some pictures of the tallest landmark around. The CN Tower was the world's tallest free-standing structure on land from 1975 until 2007.

boarding the ferry

watching the Toronto skyline

That's the Rogers Centre on the left below the tower. Everything's below the tower =]

On Centre island, I discovered some baby squirrels running around a tree. They ran in this hole and this one wouldn't leave as long as I was watching.

Far Enough Farm has barnyard animals: horses, ponies, rabbits, chickens, etc.

a BIG chair

AND little HORSES

one of those shots where you're looking directly into the sun

waiting for the ferry to come get us