From Boston to Houston - Part 1

Howie has been interested in writing some guest posts for a while now. He has decided the time has come to dazzle you with tales of his journey on a baseball oriented road trip across the country. Enjoy!

July 16, 2012 (Day 1 - Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY)

The day has come; day 1 of a road trip I will undoubtedly remember forever.  But before I go into specifics about our adventure, let me give you some background into the significance of this trip. 

To make a long story short, J. Rho has been my brother since I was 15.  Coming from a high school where most people stayed in state (Texas) to attend college, it made the transition to the northeast a lot easier knowing J. Rho was going to Boston.  Since then, I have visited Boston countless times; going to Fenway and taking every opportunity to hang out with my best friend.  So when J. Rho decided to make the move back to Texas and proposed a baseball road trip down, it was a no brainer I would join. 

We packed up Carlos (J. Rho’s 2000 Ford Explorer) and left South Boston at the scheduled time of 11am, taking a minor detour to the Prudential Center’s food court for one last clam chowder.  After that “Boston last meal” we were truly on our way.  The drive to the greater NYC area, the location of my residence, was a quick three hours - the shortest of our scheduled drives.  We hung in my apartment for a couple of hours before heading to Yankee Stadium, our first of five baseball games. 

The Yankees were playing the Blue Jays and I was excited to see Edwin Encarnacion (misspelled) and Jose Bautista, who sadly got injured during the game.  Tied up in the 8^th inning, Ibanez hit a grand slam and the Yankees ended up winning 6-3.

Stadium:  For those who haven’t been to Yankee Stadium, it sucks.  As a baseball purist, I separate baseball stadiums from baseball parks.  Stadiums are gaudy concrete structures that feel more like a corporate event than a true baseball game and in comparison; parks have that nice simple baseball feel.  In my opinion, Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium, a huge slab of concrete that doesn’t fit well with the Bronx neighborhood.

Food: For this trip, J. Rho and I decided we were going to sample the unique food each specific stadium had to offer.  In New York, unique means one thing, Nathan’s hot dogs.  J. Rho and I both ate three of these (original casing) before also polishing off a nice hot sausage and peppers, another NY staple. 

As I live in New York, there is not much else to say.  Tomorrow we go to Washington D.C. Stay tuned.

J. Rho:

Before embarking on the road trip, I took Carlos to the Ford dealership for a check-up.  Everything checked out okay and systems were a go; except for the driver side passenger door that does not open anymore.  If Carlos makes it to Texas, he gets a bath, oil change, and that left wing fixed. For my last meal I had clam chowder. It was good, but I prefer “five alarm chili” instead.  Take care MA.