The first weekend of August was this year’s annual trek to see the Red Sox play the Orioles in Camden Yard. After saying that I would never be trip captain for the Church Group again, I wound up being trip captain for this trip. Ah, what the heck. I am getting used to it. This was a particularly trying trip, but a heck of a lot of fun too. I rented a 15 passenger van from Triangle Rental Company. Got it for $310 for the two days, picking it up on Saturday and returning it prior to 7:30 AM on Monday. Got to my Mom and Dads house at about 8:30 AM and began to pack. We were using Dad’s car as the luggage conveyance, and the van was to be party central (as I learned). Greg was my co driver, so we got to sit up front and listen to the noise in the back. Everyone had made or brought something special to eat or drink and they were breaking out the food even before we left the driveway. Kyle drove my Dad’s car and Larry kept him company. We stopped every hour or so to take a stretch-break and to change drivers, but it took at least 20 minutes to get everyone back into the van. We stopped on Route 301 just after crossing into Maryland for a lunch break and then again where 301 and 5 split so my Dad and Mom could go on up to Baltimore. They had tickets for the Saturday night game. The rest of us headed into Tyson’s Corner as some of us (ME) wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Levenger’s store. For those who don’t know, Levenger’s is the Rolls Royce of office supply stores. Abby and I probably could have spent four hours there. We wound up getting a free Circa notebook and spent a good hour messing around there, but soon those that don’t share in the passion for good office supplies were getting antsy. Abby bought us a Starbucks and we met up with the rest of the crowd in time to move over to Tyson’s II for dinner. You see, we had made reservations for Legal Sea Foods (are you beginning to see a pattern?). What a wonderful meal. I had the lobster roll and a bowl of clam chowder. I wound up tasting some of everyone else’s meal and finishing two others as we got more than the average person could handle. Got in the van two hours later and took an hour driving to the hotel in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Stayed up an hour to smoke a good cigar and was in bed by 1130 PM.
Met everyone down stairs in the hotel for their contential breakfast and loaded up the van by 9:30. It was threatening to rain so we decided to go to the dollar store to buy some cheap ponchos – just in case. Went to two dollar stores, neither of which had any ponchos. So, got back in the van and went to Kmart where we found ponchos, but in the mean time, it started to pour buckets outside. I was absolutely sure that the game was going to be called. Half of us waited inside Kmart until it let up a bit so we wouldn’t get too soaked walking out to the van. We got to the train station and it began to let up. I was thinking that maybe the game would be a go! Got into downtown Baltimore at 11:45AM and everyone spilt up to find a place to eat. I still had all the tickets so told everyone to meet at 12:45 at the base of the hill below Camden Yard. Mistake! My small group took about thirty minutes to decide where to eat (Unos) and then our waitress was sweet, but about as sharp as a bowling ball. We finally got our food at 12:40 so Kyle got on the phone and got a hold of Heather who was with the other group. We asked her to come get that groups tickets and told her we would meet at our seats. We made it to our seats at 1:35 PM, just in time to see the first pitch thrown. Sat in great seats. We were under the overhang along the first base line. Protected if it started to rain again, or more importantly, we were protected from the sun which came out and pounded the stadium. It was a great day, the Sox put on a hitting clinic. Final score was 18-6 or something like that. The group wanted to leave a bit early, but one of us wanted to be difficult. It was not pleasant. We finally got the entire group out and on the train somewhere in the midst of the 8th inning so were not dealing with too much traffic or crowds. Got back to the train station and somebody had given Mom and Cindy a huge shot of Vodka each. They were not feeling any pain and made the trip to Waldorf (where we were going to eat dinner) a lot of laughs. There was even a rumor that they were swapping shirts! We stopped in Waldorf at 5 Guys and ate burgers and fries for dinner and got back on the road somewhere before 8PM. Greg drove till it got too dark to see and then I took over. Rolled into my folks house right around 1115 PM and got the van back to the rental place before Midnight. Got home, smoked a cigar and was in bed at 12:45 AM. Life is good.
Met everyone down stairs in the hotel for their contential breakfast and loaded up the van by 9:30. It was threatening to rain so we decided to go to the dollar store to buy some cheap ponchos – just in case. Went to two dollar stores, neither of which had any ponchos. So, got back in the van and went to Kmart where we found ponchos, but in the mean time, it started to pour buckets outside. I was absolutely sure that the game was going to be called. Half of us waited inside Kmart until it let up a bit so we wouldn’t get too soaked walking out to the van. We got to the train station and it began to let up. I was thinking that maybe the game would be a go! Got into downtown Baltimore at 11:45AM and everyone spilt up to find a place to eat. I still had all the tickets so told everyone to meet at 12:45 at the base of the hill below Camden Yard. Mistake! My small group took about thirty minutes to decide where to eat (Unos) and then our waitress was sweet, but about as sharp as a bowling ball. We finally got our food at 12:40 so Kyle got on the phone and got a hold of Heather who was with the other group. We asked her to come get that groups tickets and told her we would meet at our seats. We made it to our seats at 1:35 PM, just in time to see the first pitch thrown. Sat in great seats. We were under the overhang along the first base line. Protected if it started to rain again, or more importantly, we were protected from the sun which came out and pounded the stadium. It was a great day, the Sox put on a hitting clinic. Final score was 18-6 or something like that. The group wanted to leave a bit early, but one of us wanted to be difficult. It was not pleasant. We finally got the entire group out and on the train somewhere in the midst of the 8th inning so were not dealing with too much traffic or crowds. Got back to the train station and somebody had given Mom and Cindy a huge shot of Vodka each. They were not feeling any pain and made the trip to Waldorf (where we were going to eat dinner) a lot of laughs. There was even a rumor that they were swapping shirts! We stopped in Waldorf at 5 Guys and ate burgers and fries for dinner and got back on the road somewhere before 8PM. Greg drove till it got too dark to see and then I took over. Rolled into my folks house right around 1115 PM and got the van back to the rental place before Midnight. Got home, smoked a cigar and was in bed at 12:45 AM. Life is good.
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