Day 1

And we’re off! We left New Jersey around Noon, but Pennsylvania’s annoying construction slowed us down.  It was the kind where your backed up for two miles only to run into a quarter mile of cones with no work. So we arrived into Akron around 7, parked and walked downtown into beautiful Canal Park. The city’s done a nice job revitalizing the area, but there are some shady folk when I was walking around taking pictures. The Aeros have a terrific AA facility both inside and out. Loved how they incorporated “Wings Warehouse” into the interior design. Its a bar and restaurant with patio that has a view of the game. Most times I’m not a fan of just single level seating, but it was fine here. The crowd was average and there was a lot of talk about Ohio State’s season opener (Yes, even where there is a D1 football team just down the street, OSU still dominates in this state). My only wish is that Northeast Ohio takes care of their gnat problem, because man they were out in full force (remember the Jake a few years ago?). Unfortunately, it was our sixth straight loss as the Aeros closed out the home slate with a 6-1 loss to Reading. After the game was one of the sweetest fireworks displays I’ve seen yet.

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Day 2

Today hopped over a state into Indiana, where we visited South Bend. It is blistering hot here with the high in the mid 90s…yet another vacation in the heat. We had a great afternoon lunch at Tippecanoe Place (pictured above). It’s cool because this was home of the Studebaker’s and they turned into a restaurant with each room housing eating areas. Its also a pseudo museum which is cool. After that, we checked out the generically named “Center for History”. It was jam packed with stuff and a good overview of South Bend and the St Joseph River Valley. Right next door is the Studebaker Museum, which is all dedicated to cars. Didn’t make it there, but we’ll save it for another time. In the evening, it was part one of our wedding festivities. My good friend is getting married and the bride’s family is Indian. I’ve never been to an Indian wedding and things get started with a Sangeet. This is like a wedding itself, its basically a big party, to kind of meet and greet before things get going. Lots of eating, drinking and dancing. Definitely a great time! Food was different and I first foray into that cuisine, but everything was good and worth second helpings. Tomorrow, we have a ceremony known as Puja, then its off to Notre Dame Stadium!

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Day 3

We started the day by heading back to the Sharma’s for Puja, which was the first part of the Indian wedding ceremony. It was all different to me, but interesting and enjoyable. Around 1:30 it was then off to Notre Dame! (cue fight song). Amazing…an incredible place. I was amazed how easy it was to drive in, park and take the shuttle. They had that down to a smooth operation. We did the requisite Touchdown Jesus photos and I did my touring around the outside, concourse and inside. Its a simple place that oozes history. What really makes Notre Dame Stadium special is the atmosphere. The Irish had so many deflating plays, yet the crowd kept coming back just as loud and energetic as the last play. It was definitely loud and hearing the band play the fight song gave me goosebumps, even though it was 90+ degrees. Speaking of the weather, what an adventure this game was. Two thunderstorms delayed the game at halftime for over two hours and then yet another storm led to another brief delay as this turned into a six hour affair. It was all worth it, I just wish the Irish didn’t have as many mistakes in a game they easily could have won. Sadly, the losing streak is now at 7. Looking forward to doing this review next week as I can’t picture a better football experience. Incredible atmosphere, fans, chants and traditions.

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Day 4

My wife Cheryl, newlyweds Lee and Tara, and myself

It was wedding day in South Bend as the Indian wedding experience continued. Awesome to experience and if you ever have an opportunity to attend one..go. Lots of food, drinking and dancing. Being in the wedding, we started early to get ready for Baraat and that was an event. Never danced that much ever before in the morning! My buddy Lee, rocked it as he rode in on the horse. The ceremony was exquisite and unique to go through the whole Hindu rituals. After a little break, we regathered with the wedding party, took pictures and went to the reception. Again, amazingly decorated. I didn’t think I would ever get into Indian food, but most things I tried, were worth coming back for seconds. The DJ jammed out the rest of the night with both Indian and American music…and needless to say, I’m exhausted after a long, but terrific night with old and new friends….till tomorrow!

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Day 5 

College Football Hall of Fame

Today we left South Bend, but not before visiting a few places. We went back to Notre Dame in the morning. It felt perfect to stroll around this campus: cool, partly cloudy and breezy. Kind of surprised to see most of the buildings look the same, architecture-wise. What makes ND stand out is the obvious, the golden-domed main building, the stunning Basilica and the inspiring Grotto. After getting some pics of the Joyce Center and Eck Stadium (along with a few more of the stadium), we went back downtown. We were going to take a factory tour of the South Bend Chocolate Company…but it was closed thanks to Labor Day. Settled on getting awesome pumpkin chocolate instead at the shop. Right next door was the soon to be closed and moved College Football Hall of Fame. It was completely empty and I’m sure its losing money. Felt like more of a museum as opposed to a hall of fame as the HOF plaques were generic, non-descripitive and had too many members. The museum stuff was good though and I love the traditions/school spirit type exhibits. We were then off to Chicago! After checking in, it was off to dinner for some classic deep-dish pizza. I’m glad I had it, but I prefer New York style. Tomorrow….its Wrigley!

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Day 6

It feels like the middle of October here in Chicago and the chilly wind keeps blowing off the lake. But its sunny and nice enough to spend most of the day outside, which we did on the North Side. The first part of the day was at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Its free and quite expansive. Lots of walking, but the wife loved it and it did have some good exhibits. We then went further North up to Wrigleyville. First, we met up with Paul Swaney at Stadium Journey. Great to finally meet up and have an opportunity to talk for a little while. Our bar experience in Wrigleyville was at Goose Island, which was a nice choice thanks to Paul and I had a tasty beer and burger. Then it was onto Wrigley. The old ballpark was as good as advertised. Hearing the organ, seeing the ivy and getting that stadium smell in the concourse was awesome. We were seated in the middle of the 200s (the back part of the lower level) and the old stadium has that gentle sloping, so your kind of far back from the field, along with an obstructed view of fly balls. So, we moved upstairs and I liked that view better. Loved seeing an old ballpark design. Only a few disappointments were that you don’t have access to the outfield bleachers. Also, the crowd. I’ve heard so much about the atmosphere, but it was quite blah. I’ll give them a pass, because it was a Tuesday Night in September (with school in session) with the team 100 games back. The Cubs weren’t much help…only one hit through nearly all of the game. Until, Starlin Castro legged out an infield single and completely out of nowhere, Bryan Lahair hit a game tying 2 run homer in the bottom of the ninth. That got the 8,000 or so left cheering and celebrating loudly. Unfortunately, they still fell in the 13th to the Reds by a score of 4-2. My losing streak is now 8. Regardless of the result…it was a special night in a special old ballpark.

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Day 7

We did a lot of Chicago sightseeing today…and what a beautiful city it is. Kind of like a cleaner New York. After strolling on Michigan Ave and the Magnificent Mile, we went up the Hancock Center to the 94th floor observatory. This is a better view then the Sears (now Willis) Tower as you get a great view of the amazing skyline, Lake Michigan and the Northside. Spent a lot of time up there gazing on a perfect visibility day. Back on the ground, we saw the Water Tower, one of the few buildings that survived the Great Fire of 1871. We grabbed lunch at Downtown Dogs and I had my first loaded Chicago-style hot dog. Sorry, I’ll prefer Nathan’s over that. Later, we took to the water for an architecture tour via a boat that went on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Well worth it as the buildings are all so different and striking. It was a great tour, one I would go on again. Before we turned in, we went to the tourist trap, Navy Pier. Just a lot of overpriced stuff there, though the stained glass museum was interesting. We’ll check out more of Chicago the next few days we’re here, though tomorrow we spend some time in Joliet, where we visit Silver Cross Field and the Joliet Slammers.

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Day 8

Got a chance to check out the Loop today, which is essentially downtown or working Chicago. Started at the surprisingly interesting Chicago Cultural Center, which was yet another striking architecture building both inside and out. Speaking of that, we spent time in Millennium Park, with the Bean as the main attraction. I’ve got a ton of pictures (as I do with everything else), but its worth a google of Cloud Gate to check it out. After seeing the Wrigley and Tribune Buildings, we took a break from the city and went about an hour Southwest to Joliet. Both trips on the way there and back were filled with construction and traffic. I feel like the roads here are worse than NYC, at least in terms of construction. Once in Joliet, we spent some time at the historical museum, which did a great job describing the history of this city along the Des Plaines River. After losing money at the nearby Harrah’s, we walked to Silver Cross Field, home of the Slammers. Love the downtown location of the stadium, alongside Union Station. It’s a great design both and in out. Simple seating chart flanked by sloped grassy knolls, with dark green seats in between. I really liked the outfield view with trains in left, the castle-like Joliet High School in right and a building with a Skydome-ish statue of people watching a baseball game near the Right foul pole. Wasn’t impressed with the food options (some stands were closed) and prices were a little high. It was Game 2 of Joliet’s divisional playoff series vs Lake Erie. Only about 800 – 1300 turned out and that was disappointing, but they did make some noise. Weather again played a factor in our trip, but I’m not complaining, most of the game went smooth. A couple home runs held up and the Slammers were up 3-1, then our 30 minute mist turned into a steady rain and the game went to a rain delay in the bottom of the 9th. We didn’t wait it out, as it lasted an hour. Joliet then got the final three and the losing streak is over! As always, I’ll have more Silver Cross Field details will be in the upcoming review, but overall I really liked the ballpark and thought the experience was good. Just one more stadium left on the trip for Saturday.

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Day 9

We slept in a while today and got a late start on our journey. First, we checked out the McCormick Bridge House museum. Small, with just some descriptive posters inside the bridge house, but it was cool being inside one. Then we headed south to Museum Campus, where there are three impressive museums. It also gave me a chance to see Soldier Field. Really funky looking stadium because of the recent renovations. Looks like a spaceship landed on top of a 1920s building. Anyway, the Field Museum was our choice and I wish we spent the entire day there instead of just half. Unbelievable, how much there is to see. From the evolution of life, to fossils, dinosaurs, plants, animals and whales, there was a plethora of displays. After dinner, we called it an early night as we’re off early tomorrow to Akron on our way home and one more stadium to see: InfoCision Stadium, home of the Akron Zips.

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Day 10

Our last day was spent heading home and we stopped half-way again in Akron. Besides the zoo, there seems to be only one touristy thing to do in the city itself, and that is the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, former home of the Seiberlings, who founded Goodyear. So we stopped there  and it was pricey but worth it. Both the house and grounds were interesting to check out. Then it was off to #110 on the list: InfoCision Stadium, home of the Akron Zips. Weird visit. We parked at a downtown lot, where a shuttle brings you to the stadium, since the parking map didn’t show much nearby. It felt like we were the only ones downtown, we were definitely the only ones on the shuttle and the whole experience was empty. Fans that were there talked more Ohio State than Akron and the Zips seemed like a joke. Even though, they are a joke (they lost 41-3 to Temple), it was still the home and conference opener, hope should be in the air, even after a 1-11 season. It’s too bad because they have a beautiful, brand-new stadium. Loved the stadium here as it had some great features, like building it below ground with the lower deck of seats below street-level (makes it more intimate and appealing). Also, they made good use of a steep grassy seating area set in the end zone. Nice job too of having concourse banners, ring of honor and retired numbers. And of course, what would a college football game without me sitting through a lightning delay. Yet another one here lasting about an hour and a half. This is getting tiresome and frusterating, especially as this one was just for the threat as I never saw lightning or heard thunder (it was all legit though as it was in the vicinity). After waiting that out, Temple came back and blew the Zips out.

So that wraps up our trip…it will take me a few weeks, but I’ll have detailed reviews up for each stadium soon. Take care!

Our Memorial Day trip, started off by taking a ride through Delaware and into the DelMarVa, where we stopped at Salisbury, MD. This small city on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, didn’t offer too much, though we started at a free zoo which was descent for not having a charge. Dinner took us downtown to the Market Street Inn, right on the Wicomico River, where we had our best meal of the whole trip. Then it was off to the East side of town to check out Arthur W. Perdue Stadium and a South Atlantic League game between the Delmarva Shorebirds and the West Virginia Power. The best feature of this ballpark was the Eastern Shore Hall of Fame located in the hallway of the lower level. I wish I spent 45 minutes down here before the game instead of perusing in game, because what  a terrific hall of fame, the best I’ve seen so far at a minor league park. Most of the focus is on the Eastern Shore League in the early part of the 1900s, a league that compared to today’s “A” ball.  A wonderful collection of memorabilia from this era is displayed, including newspapers from when Salisbury won the ’37 league title. The man working there was also very knowledgeable and great to talk to as I learned that those Indians were one of the greatest minor league teams ever. Also displayed was the actual hall of fame and plaques for area players who played in the majors.

The ballpark experience itself was pleasant and the stadium had touches I liked and disliked. Starting with the likes, it was great to see a mid 90s facility tweak the design a bit. It is still a one-level facility split by a walkway (slightly more seats in the upper level), however behind home plates things are a bit different. There is the continuous sections of lower seats, but behind that are concessions stands (and the exit to the hall of fame) and a “picnic area” known as the Hardball Cafe. Normally, I’m against luxury seating in this area, but here it fit very nicely. Plus its only $30 for a ticket and buffet in this spot. I did feel they were a little heavy on the bleacher seating and it became a pain when so many people stood in the aisles trying to figure out where to sit. It was a packed house and seeing that is good when conditions couldn’t be any better (perfect weather, Saturday Night, Fireworks). The Shorebirds unfortunately lost the game 5-3 as they flirted with danger too much towards the end. In each of the last three innings, West Virginia put the leadoff man on and then sacrifice bunted him to second. Delmarva’s luck ran out after escaping the 7th and 8th, as the Power had a double and triple in the 9th to take the 5-3 lead and then win by that score. For a full, detailed review click here or head on over to Stadium Journey where a review will be posted soon.

The next morning, we drove down to Norfolk using the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Heading in, I did not realize that this is the longest bridge-tunnel in the world. What an amazing architectural marvel this is and we even took a little time out to stop at the visitor center to check things out. We might as well get all of our $12 toll worth! Off the bridge took about 15 minutes more to get to Harbor Park, home of the AAA Norfolk Tides. When I went back and did my review, it rated so well in many aspects and I’m not sure why I didn’t like it more. Its in a descent location (just a mile away and nearly walkable to Norfolk’s quiet, but terrific downtown) and easy to get to off of I-264. The exterior is appealing, built with beige and light brown coloring, trying to evolk a few of Norfolk’s older building architecture. Concourses were open with a full field view and there were many food options (but none featured any local establishments, with the exception of O’Connor beer products). The inside design was terrific. Very similar to Syracuse, but this ballpark came first and I loved the seating design and the very clean look of the second level with seating, patios and press box/suites. What might have turned me off a bit here was the lack of atmosphere and crowd. It was a hot, Sunday afternoon game and it was rather empty. That same day and time both Buffalo and Lehigh Valley brought in over 8,000, but the announced crowd here was only 4,289. The atmosphere was just kind of blah and again maybe the hot weather had to do with it. Secondly, given the name of the park, I was expected this beautiful view overlooking a harbor. Instead, the Elizabeth River is filled with cranes, cargo ships and beat-up buildings (see picture below). Not exactly breathtaking, plus the scoreboard’s obstructing the nicest part of the view, the water. But stepping back and realizing that Norfolk is one of the busiest ports in the East (and even the world for that matter), you have to realize that its a working harbor. Those two things might have skewed my opinion a bit on what otherwise is a terrific ballpark. It’s probably my favorite design so far in AAA, but ranking the experience is just a bit below Rochester and Lehigh Valley. As for the game, the first place Columbus Clippers beat the last place Tides in 10 innings 6-5. For the full review click here.

One other note regarding the Tides. Being a Rochester Red Wings fan, I saw first-hand the ineptitue that the Baltimore Orioles had in the Peter Angelos regime. It occurred both at the major league and minor league levels as the Wings tanked in the late 90s to the early 2000s until finally breaking the relationship and paring up with the Twins in 2003. Now that Norfolk has suffered with Baltimore for four seasons (with losing records each year), maybe that is one of the reasons attendance has continued to decline for seven straight years.

The rest of our trip was terrific as I was pleasantly surprised at how nice downtown Norfolk is. They did such a great job revolutionizing this area and we had perfect weather to stroll around in. After the game, we first checked out the MacArthur Memorial, which is free and very informative. After dinner on Granby Street, the best part of Norfolk likely is the waterfront on Waterside Ave. Walkways allow people to stroll and take in the water views, along with the occasional ships and cruises passing by. There is a market there, along with Town Point Park which hosts festivals and concerts. In that park, we saw a very poignant memorial for an area that has seen so many servicemen and women off to sea and war. The memorial contained real letters in bronze statues that look like they were blown in the wind and it was a very meaningful, emotional square to read and walk through. Later in the trip, on our way home Tuesday, we stopped at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens…sometimes bigger is not better as we won’t overly impressed. One thing I really loved about this city was how there are markers throughout describing about the city’s history and it serves as a way to display how important Norfolk for the military and marine transportation/shipping.

We then spent the next day in Virginia Beach. No sports facilities there on The List. The only close one is the 6,000 seat Virginia Beach Sportsplex, where many minor league soccer teams have played. However, they may soon be added onto The List as there are plans to expand the stadium to accommodate the UFL’s Virginia Destroyers in the 2011. We shall see if that goes through. Anyway, I found it very interesting that Virginia Beach is the 39th largest city in the US and the biggest city in Virginia. This is deceptive because Norfolk acts like the city (complete with downtown and the focus for the economic sector), while Virginia Beach is more like the suburb. Because its boundaries are much bigger than Norfolk’s, the population and size is bigger at VB. We started the day by heading to the Virginia Beach Aquarium which was pretty cool. Initially, we had plans to see Cape Henry, but the aquarium took awhile, so the rest of the day was spent at the beach, more for the wife’s enjoyment than mine.

All in all, a great trip, with two new facilities visited and a good time had at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury and Harbor Park in Norfolk!

I left work  on time around 1 PM Friday Afternoon and quickly hopped on the road to Rhode Island. I left myself plenty of extra time as there was the expected I-95 sporadic traffic in Connecticut. First stop was Providence and this was my second visit to that city. Last summer, I was there for a trade show and was pleasantly surprised at how nice the downtown area was after their revitalization that took place in the 90s. There’s a whole section within walking distance featuring the beautiful new convention center, Providence Place mall, the State Capitol and the best part being Waterplace park, which runs along the river. Then there’s also the older section of Federal Hill nearby, which is “Little Italy” and featured a ton of great Italian restaurants.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Center is attached to the convention center, who actually bought the building and put it through an $80 million renovation in the mid-2000s. This really changed the whole complexion of the arena as it feels new, as opposed to the classic 70s building it used to be. From the outside look, to the large, open concourses, to the refurbished seating bowl, EVERYTHING was essentially modernized and I thought it turned into a terrific building.  Because of the older design, luxury seating is neatly tucked away and overall sightlines were good. It felt like an arena bigger than the near 12,000 capacity. The only think I didn’t like was how at the top of the 100 level, there were three rows of seats scattered about and this disrupted any possibility of a walkway between the first and second level.

I came to see a Bruins AHL hockey game, but it was nice to see that this arena seems to show equal love to both the Bruins and the Friars basketball team (the other tenant from Providence College). The Bruins played hard and even outshot the best team in the league, Hershey Bears, 22-6 in the final two periods, but they ended up falling 4-3 after they couldn’t tie the game in the last minute with a 6 on 4. Providence has tremendous fan support with over 10,000 showing up on this night and the team ranks third in AHL attendance. It is however a minor-league baseball type atmosphere with a ton of families and kids. There was a lot of general buzz or talking during play and I heard almost no applause for the non-big plays (killing off a penalty, making a big save). Also, the amount of people (mainly parents with kids) walking up and down the aisles during play was ridiculous. Regardless, it was nice to attend a game with a mostly packed house and noise after goals was decent.

After the game, I stayed at a hotel in nearby Warwick and then made the short drive to Kingston the following afternoon for a Rhode Island basketball game. This one had a little personal special meaning because it was my 100th new stadium visited. It started off a little odd, because I parked in the Keaney Lot at the South end of the building. I knew that will-call was on the other side of the arena, but I wanted to walk around and get my pictures. What I didn’t know was they didn’t connect and you can’t really walk around to the other side because the football field and other attached buildings block it. Whoops! The only good thing was I got my pics in and I got to see their old arena: Keaney Gym. I walked back into the cold wind to my car and drove around to the other side and parking lot, which was not bad at all.

What a beautiful arena I saw and fully deserving of being #100. Build in 2002, I like how it has “Rhode Island” touches: from the corner towers attempting to resemble lighthouses, to the soft sand/water colors of the beautifully carpeted concourse, it is a terrific facility. I’m also a fan of unique seating bowls and this one was just that. I thought the corner where the concourse opens up to a full view of the inside and the scoreboard on the wall looked good. The upper-decks here were also steep giving a closer view of the game. A good turnout of over 5,000 showed up for the game and they were into it, though I did not like that they booed when Rhody couldn’t make a shot in the first half. Overall, it was a decent atmosphere (about a 6.5 out of 10), but I was disappointed in the student section as the “official” one was quite small, while the ones behind the basket (just about all of them in fraternity or sorority sweatshirts instead of URI stuff) just sat on their hands or played on their phones.

What really made this arena visit was the incredible game. Rhode Island was playing Charlotte in an A-10 contest and the Rams were horrific shooting in the 1st half, probably the worse performance I’ve seen at a game. Even though 9 for 28 doesn’t sound atrocious, believe me it was. They still struggled in the second half, but finally turned it around with a nice run (including two alley-oops) as they caught up to tie and take the lead when the game was in the 50s. The Rams were up by two with :14 left when Charlotte game down and got fouled under the hoop with :08 remaining. Chris Braswell knocked down both shots to tie the game at 64 and Marquis Jones’ shot at the buzzer was blocked. In OT, URI was down three and a frantic offensive position in the final 30 seconds eventually led to a Jones layup to cut the lead to 1 with :12 left. They then forced a turnover on the inbounds pass and had a chance to win it. The first attempt failed, but they got the ball back with :03 left. A shot for the corner went long, but little used Jamal Wilson got the putback to go in just before the horn and URI wins a buzzer beater! Awesome! I had the camera rolling for video at the end (see below) and I couldn’t help myself getting excited for the home team. That wrapped up a good, little trip with a couple solid venues and an arena worthy of my 100th visit. I’ll likely have a post later in the week on the first 100. Be sure to check out the detailed reviews of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and the Ryan Center. Also, look for my reviews sometime within the next week or two over at Stadium Journey.