From Boston to Houston - Part 3

July 18, 2012 (Day 3 – Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH)

Cincy! Cincy! Here I come.  J. Rho and I awoke on a beautiful Tuesday morning, showered, got coffee and embarked for our next destination, Cincinnati.   J. Rho took the first leg while I took Carlos into downtown Cincy to complete a very mountain filled 8.5 hour drive.  As a Texan, I hate driving through the mountains.   I just don’t understand why people enjoy it.  I mean, it’s quite beautiful here and there, however, it’s painfully inefficient.  Up and down, swerve left, swerve right; it’s quite exhausting.   In Texas, highways go straight so what really should be a three hour drive doesn’t take five hours. 

To recap the ride, J. Rho and I went through Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania before finally getting to the great Buckeye State of Ohio.  After stopping at the Ohio border for Taco Bell at noon (don’t hate on the BELL), J. Rho and I arrived in beautiful Cincinnati at 4:30pm.  We parked Carlos in a lot and made our way to Great American Ballpark (Reds home).   Sadly, right as we bought our ticket, it started pouring, however, the stadium opened early and Jeff and I were able to wait it out.    

Stadium: Ladies and Gentlemen, Great American Ballpark is a park.  The energy of the crowd was fantastic and the turf and outline of the infield was beautiful.  Although we sat predominately in the outfield, the view was still great.  There was, however, one touchy usher who wouldn’t let J. Rho and I sit by the third base dugout even though no one else was sitting there.  I tried to dodge him but obviously wasn’t as shifty as I needed to be and we ended up getting kicked out of the section. Oh well, our outfield seats were still great!

The coolest part of the game: After every Red’s pitcher to throw a strike out, the fire work stacks in center field would roar with a flame that resembled a dragon’s nostrils.  It was awesome, especially since it was sprinkling and about 65 degrees the whole time. 

Food: NOOOO!!!! Skyline in the ballpark does NOT have the famous Cincinnati spaghetti and chili.  This deeply upset J. Rho and I as we planned to eat the iconic Cincinnati meal when we first mapped out this trip.  To make matters worse, Skyline’s coneys were painfully PITIFUL.  They ended up being small little terd hot dogs with too much cheese and not enough chili.  Although Skyline was disappointing, the sausage I had in the sixth inning was splendid and sort of made up for my disappointing earlier meal. 

The Reds played the Diamondbacks and ended up getting killed 1-7, way to go Mat Latos (Pitcher on my Fantasy Team).  Next stop, Kansas City.