Backtracking entry about Phoenix

My apologies again for missing the blog yesterday.....and I don't really have a reason except I wanted to just hang out at the hotel room in Phoenix and then really hang out in the suite I have here in Denver...I'll tell you that story in a little bit, but it's the swankiest room that I have had so far on the trip.....just crazy!

Alright, my final day in Phoenix was a great day of just talking to locals and taking in a game at Chase Field.....As I've been saying all along, one of the best things that I'll take away from this trip is just being able to talk to the locals, exchange stories about each others' hometowns and get a sense of what the population is like in each city....

So, here's the jist of what I gathered in Phoenix about what they think about their sports teams....

1) The Suns - the number one team in town, even though they are quickly becoming an old, worn-down team...

2) The Cardinals - gained huge momentum by making it to the Super Bowl this year and might be able to take over the Number 1 spot if they have another great year....

3) The Diamondbacks - Even though the Diamondbacks won a championship in the 90's, nobody really goes to the games 'cause nobody knows who the players are...

4) The Coyotes - And the Coyotes just garner laughter....There's a hardcore fan-base, but the general population couldn't care less about the team leaving....

As for the game, I had heard some great things about Chase Field and boy, were they right! It's a great place to watch a ball game and the view of the stadium from a few thousand feet is gorgeous as well....

I was concerned about the heat and really hoping that they would have the roof closed, much like they did in Houston when we were there about a month ago, but the roof was opened.....However, to compensate for the heat, they had the air conditioners blasting like there was no tomorrow...I wondered to myself about just how much energy it's costing them to air condition the place despite the fact that they have to counteract the heat from outside....It's a weird feeling to have a gust of disgusing hot air blow in your face from time to time during a game....

The field also has a retractable roof, but like I've said before, it doesn't really get points anymore since it's not so unique anymore, but everything else is holding up really well even after about 15 years in use.....

So, on the updated list of 21 stadiums now, Chase makes it quite high on the list:

1) AT&T Park - San Francisco

2) Petco Park - San Diego

3) Chase Field - Arizona

4) Minute Maid Park - Houston

5) Camden Yards - Baltimore

6) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City

7) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas

8) PNC Park - Pittsburgh

9) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)

10) Fenway Park - Boston

11) Yankee Stadium

12) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia

13) Angels Stadium - Anaheim

14) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles

15) Busch Stadium - St. Louis

16) Safeco Field - Seattle

17) Turner Field - Atlanta

18) Tropicana Field - Tampa

19) Nationals Park - Washington

20) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland

21) Dolphins Stadium - Miami

Only 10 stadiums to go!

Just sitting in the hotel room in Phoenix and it's just hit me that I only have three weeks to go and have 10 stadiums to explore....well, technically 9 since I've been to Rogers Centre a few times, most recently for the World Baseball Classic in March, but I'll still see the Jays in a week and a half.....just incredible that I'm into Day 44 of the trip and I still have 20 to go....

We'll hit stadium number 21 tonight as the Diamondbacks take on the Braves at Chase Field....this is one of the stadiums that I've been looking forward to as well because I've heard nothing but good about this place, but for someone in Ottawa, you have to be a pretty big baseball fan to see what the stadium is like....

First off, you need to be a baseball fan in the first place....then you need to subscribe to the MLB package....then you need to stay up until 10 o'clock in order to see the start of the game....that's asking a lot for anyone in Ottawa to watch an Arizona Diamondbacks game....so I have a vague picture in my head of what the stadium is like, but it will be nice to see what it's actually like when I get there....Game time is at 6:40 tonight....kind of an odd choice for a time, but that will probably allow me to see the end of the Lakers/Nuggets Game 6 tonight....

I do have one wish for the game.....They better have the roof closed 'cause it is disgustingly hot! It's only going to be 102 degrees today, which equates to 39 degrees celsius.....ridiculous! And it's not like it's a heatwave here.....this is what is every day....managed to see a 7-day forecast for the area on TV this morning....the lowest it got was 99 and the highest was 104...But as everyone says, it's a dry heat....lol

The funny thing is that the taxi driver who drove me to the hotel yesterday actually lived in Ottawa for a couple of years when he immigrated to there from Somalia, but after a couple of harsh winters, he said he had enough and wanted to go somewhere in North America that mimcked the weather he was used to, so he moved here instead....during winter, it's pretty common for people in Canada to say that they should move down South to get away from winters, but most people just grin and bear it, but this guy actually did it.....good for him if he likes the heat, I suppose....

After tonight, it's off to Denver tomorrow for the rest of the weekend, and then I'm flying to Minneapolis on Monday to meet my roommate and stay in Minnesota for three days as we head into June....

We have another Number 1!

Alright, there was more frustration with travel.....took a cab from Oakland-Alameda to the Oakland Bus Station as I needed to get to San Francisco for 7 o'clock....I got to the bus station at 3:45 and was told that the next bus would be at 4:50....a chance to get a quick bite to eat....

I got back there to wait at 4:30 and was waiting for a boarding call.....4:50 came along and I hadn't seen anyone or heard anyone call for the bus, so I just decided to walk over to get myself ready....only to see the bus driving away! There goes the hour that I could have spent doing a tiny bit of sightseeing....the next one was at 5:50....I finally got there at about 6:20, had to quickly get another cab to check in at the hotel and then take the same cab to head to the game and got there at exactly first pitch....

AT&T Park is an absolutely beautiful park and you can tell that they thought of every detail to make it as they call it "the best experience in baseball"...of course, everyone knows about McCovey's cove in right field because of the Barry Bonds chase a couple years ago.....there's also a great patio behind centre field that's adjacent to the cove as well, so you can have a bite to eat with a date with the Golden Gate bridge in the background and still watch the game on several of the TV's offered around the stadium....

There's also a great area for kids to run around during the game as well....the only negative I can think of is that it was very cold once the sun went down.....reminded me of the first game of the tour in Boston, but that was Boston in mid-April on a Monday morning.....

Also managed to see a fight right in front of me in the centre field stands.....I will say that because San Francisco is a younger city, there were a few more people out of control with their alcohol then I would have thought....but I'll show you a pic of the cops taking care of business....lol

Alright, so here's the new updated list with 20 stadiums down and 10 to go....

1) AT&T Park - San Francisco
2) Petco Park - San Diego
3) Minute Maid Park - Houston
4) Camden Yards - Baltimore
5) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
6) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas\
7) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
8) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
9) Fenway Park - Boston
10) Yankee Stadium
11) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
12) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
13) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
14) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
15) Safeco Field - Seattle
16) Turner Field - Atlanta
17) Tropicana Field - Tampa
18) Nationals Park - Washington
19) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland
20) Dolphins Stadium - Miami


We'll see the 21st stadium tomorrow with the D'Backs taking on the Braves, then it's off to Denver on Saturday for a couple of days....

In Phoenix now....buh bye Cali!

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days, but it's been nothing but travel and more travel frustration, but I was able to squeeze in the Bay Area double....I'm just now in Phoenix and finally have a night to just hang out and relax a little bit....I've decided that I'm gonna do this entry in two parts...this part right now, then Part 2....I can only fit 4 photos in per entry, so I want to get photos from both Oakland and San Francisco.....

So, the last time I checked in, I was in Anaheim.....I tried as desperately as I could to find to find a good flight from Anaheim to Oakland, but unfortunately, there was nothing....there were a lot of options if I wanted to make two layovers somewhere and make it a 6-9 hour flight....really, does a flight that only takes an hour and a half need to have two layovers? Just ridiculous!

So, I had to leave Anaheim at 8:30 p.m. to get to Los Angeles for 9:30, then I had to wait 4 hours for another bus to take to me to Bakersfield to get me there at 4:30 a.m., then a train from Bakersfield to Oakland to get me to downtown Oakland by 11 a.m.....a cab ride later, I was at the stadium at about 11:30 or so.....but by far, the most grueling travel day I've had in the 43 days that I've been on the road....

Oakland-Alameda Coliseum is the second of three stadiums that are convertible and house more than one sport and the biggest problem with these stadiums is that they have to be generic in order to allow for easier conversion, so it shows in the overall outcome.....

As I joked about today on the show, the only positive is that the seats in the stadium reflect one of the colours of the A's....unlike in Miami where the seats are teal and orange because of the Dolphins....

But it's about 45 years old and the age of the stadium shows....it really reminded me a lot of Frank Clair stadium and I think we all know how the people of Ottawa think about that stadium....I'm really searching for other positives, but there's nothing that really pops out.....at least it was Dollar Hot Dog Day....but I had to adhere to the max of 10 hot dogs per purchase.... :-)

Oakland lost 6-1 to the Mariners in Game 1 and it was off to Game 2.....with more frustration.....

I'm going off the board for Games 19 and 20!

Just getting ready to head back to the ESPN Zone at Disney to watch the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United....I used to really be into soccer, especially the English Premier League, 'cause I would watch on weekends with my dad....but over the last couple of years, I've just lost touch with the sport, so I don't really know the ins and outs of the different leagues anymore, so I'm looking forward to watching....

I've deemed today another organizational day.....as I wrote about 2-3 weeks ago, I've learned that when you do this kind of a trip, you need to have a day every couple of weeks or so to get a plan of what you want to do over the next couple of weeks....I love the idea of being spontaneous and doing whatever I feel like from day to day, but at the same time, you have to have a little bit of control....

I've decided that one of my new ideas to do now is to scrap going to the Athletics game tonight and try to do the Bay Area double tomorrow....there's an Athletics game at 12:30 p.m. against Seattle, followed by the Giants taking on the Braves in San Francisco at 7....so I'll be heading to Oakland tonight, the games tomorrow, then flying to Phoenix for the D-Backs game on Friday night....

As for the Angels game last night, it was the most lop-sided win on the trip so far as the White Sox were able to beat the Angels 17-3.....however, there were quite a few people who stayed the whole nine innings, but I'm assuming it was only because there was a big Memorial Day fireworks show after the game....

The stadium itself is another beautiful stadium just on the outskirts of the Anaheim community and as I said yesterday on the show, it's only a 20 minute walk from the Disney area where I'm staying....

At the main entrance, you have two massive Angel helmets to greet you, but the one thing that really chokes you up is the memorial to Nick Adenhart....for those who don't recognize the name, Nick Adenhart was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver in April, just a few hours after making his season debut for the Angels....he was only 22 years old....it's a huge reminder that life is so precious and that I'm so lucky to be doing what I'm doing right now.....

The stadium itself is nice and open and centre field offers the rocks and waterfalls, but at the end of the day, after seeing 17 other stadiums, it's hard to give me that "wow factor" and unfortunately, I didn't get any real buzz from being there....so here's the new updated list...

1) Petco Park - San Diego
2) Minute Maid Park - Houston
3) Camden Yards - Baltimore
4) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
5) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
6) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
7) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
8) Fenway Park - Boston
9) Yankee Stadium
10) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
11) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
12) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
13) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
14) Safeco Field - Seattle
15) Turner Field - Atlanta
16) Tropicana Field - Tampa
17) Nationals Park - Washington
18) Dolphins Stadium - Miami

One last thing....the internet connection has been sketchy here, so I haven't been able to put up pics as fast, but I'll see what I can do when I get to San Francisco tomorrow night....

Frustration all over! Angels game tonight...

I love the idea that I can wake up around 9 a.m. and the NASCAR race is just starting....so just lying in bed here in Anaheim as I decide what I want to do before the Angels game tonight....

My sports watching pattern is now used to watching East-Coast hockey and baseball games at 4 p.m. and West-Coast games at 7....I got my sports fix by 10 o'clock and I still have energy to go out and do something at night....so it's going to be a big letdown when I get back to the East....just thinking about it now, I've been on the West Coast now for 8 days and overall, this is Day 40 of the trip....crazy!

So, as the title suggests, it was nothing but frustration with travelling the whole day....before I get into anything, my advice for anyone travelling around California, spend the extra money and make sure to rent yourself a comfortable car.....I made the mistake of not going this route and I paid for it...

Took the bus from San Diego to Los Angeles....was supposed to be on the 8 a.m. bus to arrive at 11 o'clock....there were maybe 30 people in front of me when the driver says that there's no more room and that I have to wait 'til 9....I finally arrive in Los Angeles at 12:30, which only gives me 30 minutes to get to the game....I had to rely on a cab to get there which I knew was going to be costly at this point, hence why I wanted to get there a lot earlier...

You hear about LA traffic from other people, but until you experience it, you have no idea....as my dad always yells, "Hey, did you get your license out of a cereal box?" Imagine thousands trying to get to a Dodger game when you have a bunch of cereal box drivers behind the wheel of all those cars....it's utter chaos! So, about 40 dollars later....I was finally at the stadium...

The stadium is a legendary place to be and you can feel the history....I hate having to rate the stadium because it has a half of a century or so of wear and tear on them as opposed to ones that were built this season, but it's pretty tacky-looking and the outside looks pretty rundown....

The outfield gives you a beautiful view of the mountains and the fact that they packed 55 thousand into the stadium yesterday for the Dodgers/Angels game makes it the biggest attended game that I've been to so far....quickly about the rivalry, it's pretty friendly....there's some jabs going on back and forth, but it's nowhere near the hate that happens between Yankees and Red Sox fans....

Alright, so here's the new updated stadium list:

1) Petco Park - San Diego
2) Minute Maid Park - Houston
3) Camden Yards - Baltimore
4) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
5) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
6) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
7) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
8) Fenway Park - Boston
9) Yankee Stadium
10) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
11) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
12) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
13) Safeco Field - Seattle
14) Turner Field - Atlanta
15) Tropicana Field - Tampa
16) Nationals Park - Washington
17) Dolphins Stadium - Miami

Probably just going to explore Disneyland and then head to the game tonight as the Angels take on the White Sox....

We have a new Number 1!

This city has such a great vibe to it, but alas, I gotta keep going, so I have a busy day ahead of me....a three hour bus ride to downtown Los Angeles, followed by some lunch and the Dodgers game, then it's back on a bus to head to Anaheim and the hotel....

I really wish that I could have spent some time in Los Angeles, but because I'm travelling alone, the issue becomes storage of all my belongings....since I'm gone for 64 days, I had to pack quite a bit and it's just simply not feasible for me to drag all that stuff around, so I'll just have to plan a trip back to California for another time.... :-)

Spent another day sightseeing yesterday....walked around the harborfront and got a look at all the big ships and other boats out on the water...I like how the city has made it a point to keep their harborfront and boardwalk as clean as they have....I've walked around some other cities with boardwalks over the last month or so and some of them were just simply unkept...

In San Diego, I've found as well that if you want to do anything, you ultimately end up in the Gaslamp quarter, so I found myself back there again before the ball game....met a great group of brothers visiting from L.A., so much like the night before, they invited me to have a couple of beers and we shared stories about each others area's.....The population seems to be pretentious, but it's hard to make that statement completely when in two days, I've had two different groups of people from here just invite me to hang with them....

The thing that gets me is that the weather is perfect every day...I decided to look up the history of the weather for the year here and it never gets too hot and it doesn't get cold....very much to my liking!

Ah yes, I guess I should talk about Petco Park....what a great ballpark! It's now my favourite place out of 16....the great thing about it is that the designers did an amazing job of integrating the downtown area with the park itself....for example, one of the old brick office buildings acts as a place to watch the game from left field, has the left-field foul pole attached to it and acts sort of like a wall...

In center field, you have the bleachers section with a big sandbox for the kids and you can also watch the game from a big hill past the bleachers....from the right-field stands, if you're high enough, you can see a view of the ocean....

There's enough modern amenities and the dimensions of the stadium are traditional enough as well....but maybe the biggest thing it has going is that it's outdoors....Minute Maid is as well, but the breeze of the ocean is something that Houston just can't compete with....

So, the new list as of today is:

1) Petco Park - San Diego
2) Minute Maid Park - Houston
3) Camden Yards - Baltimore
4) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
5) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
6) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
7) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
8) Fenway Park - Boston
9) Yankee Stadium
10) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
11) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
12) Safeco Field - Seattle
13) Turner Field - Atlanta
14) Tropicana Field - Tampa
15) Nationals Park - Washington
16) Dolphins Stadium - Miami

West Coast, where you at?

My great friend Sarah would love that title....I FINALLY MADE IT TO SAN DIEGO!

Just a full day of flying and delays galore.....The total travel time between Front-Door Seattle to Front-Door San Diego was just under 13 hours....It was only supposed to be 9, but we were delayed severely in Denver, first because of bad winds and then because of a thunderstorm over the airport in Denver...

I managed to watch the Cavs/Magic game on the flight and it was timed perfectly so that I started watching the game halfway through the second quarter and then saw the amazing game winner by Lebron literally seconds just before we touched down in San Diego.....what a game! Well worth the money to pay for the TV privileges...

Once I got to San Diego, the travel hit me all at once and all I really wanted to do was grab a bite to eat and then just crash, even if it was a Friday night....you should have seen some of the dirty text messages I got from people just for the mere suggestion of not going out last night....lol....so I finally made it to the hotel, dropped my stuff off and found a Japanese restaurant...

I was sitting quietly having my teriyaki and minding my own business when a group of three guys and a girl asked me if I wanted to have some sake with them.....I was so tired that I declined it and telling them about my travel for the day, but they asked again, so I couldn't say no twice.....

From there, Greg, John, Toby and Vanessa insisted on showing me around San Diego.....just awesome! They showed me around the Gaslamp area and we ended up at a couple bars throughout the night....We just ended up talking all night and learning about each others backgrounds and cultures....at one point, we all had a great laugh 'cause I had never had a fish taco before....it blew their minds that the idea of fish taco was foreign to me....I told them that the first time I had heard about it from the Farj on Friday's show, it sounded like something sexual....

Everyone knows me as a laidback person and my style just meshes so well here since everyone is just so laidback....I've found that when you're travelling on your own, people are drawn to you for whatever reason, so there are times when you're alone, but as long as you're open to people and adventure, you won't be alone as much as you think....

Gonna do some full sightseeing around San Diego today, then I'm off to see the Padres and the Cubs at Petco Park....the first of 15 games in 26 days....I'm starting to slowly see the finish line on just an incredible trip...

Howdy from Denver International Airport again....lol

Yup....second time this week that I've had a layover in Denver....this one has now been delayed for a second time...the first time was for heavy wind in the area and now there's a thunderstorm right over the airport, so it looks like I could be here for a while....I come back here for a third time next week, but at least I get a chance to stay for a couple of days to watch the Rockies....

I suppose I could have done the blog entry a lot sooner, but I wanted to get some redemption from a bad poker session online yesterday at one of the many Starbucks in Seattle....

Those who are poker players will understand the frustration in general of playing well and not getting rewarded for it....you just want to get back on that horse again as soon as possible, so that's what I've been doing for the last few hours.....I'm happy to say that I got over double my money back today with some good fortune....I can sleep soundly tonight....

Although after drinking 125 ounces of beer at the bar last night, I shouldn't have a problem with sleep tonight....it was just soooo dirt cheap though.....125 ounces of beer plus a thing of chicken wings cost me 30 dollars.....gotta love how cheap this country really is....it's no 86 cent beer in Pittsburgh, but it will do....

Yesterday was just another chill kind of day in Seattle where I didn't really get up to a whole lot.....ended up heading to a bar called Gameworks in downtown and pulled up a seat to have the Pens/Canes game on one TV, the Lakers/Nuggets game on another and the Memorial Cup on the third.....it's been 37 days since I left home and it's the first time since I left that I've been able to watch a Canadian sports channel....I had to explain to the other bar flys where Rimouski and Windsor were in Canada....lol

I've been wrestling all day with the idea of how to describe the locals of Seattle.....they seem to be much more pompous and arrogant than the people of Portland, but it's not the kind of arrogance that I'm used to.....

For example, in New York, Washington and other East Coast hot-spots, it becomes a case of "If you've got it, flaunt it..." So, you see a lot of higher-end cars and the like to show off status....in Seattle, it's almost the opposite.....it's about showing how "real" you are and how eco-friendly or worldly and how intelligent you are....it's fitting that the show "Frasier" was based out of that city....it's not so much about money, it's about intelligence and other inner qualities....I'm not sure which one I'm more offended with, but unlike Portland, Seattle is not a place in the Northwest that I would live in.....a couple of days was good enough for me thanks!

Well, the delay is not ending any time soon, so I'm just gonna find the airport bar and watch the Wings/Hawks and King James and the Cavs v. the Magic.... :-)

15 down, 15 to go!

Hanging out at the hotel room here in Seattle and since I got a great deal online, I'm staying in a four-star hotel for dirt cheap.....because of that, it's making it really hard to get my day started....but I do want to do more sightseeing today, so we'll get that done eventually....

My biggest complaint about this city is that it's just soooo confusing to get around here....talking to one of the locals last night as well and he said the same thing....I told him that I just came from Portland and he instantly said how lucky I was to have been there instead....don't get me wrong, it's another beautiful city and it would be great to live here, but for someone getting around for the first couple of days, it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and few have the patience to do that....

Great train ride from Portland to Seattle and the train yard is literally beside Safeco Field, hence why you would hear the horns from the trains throughout a Mariners game....I'll get to Safeco Field in a second...I still want to rant on the transit system here.....

What a bunch of garbage.....Ottawa is still worse, don't get me wrong, but I'm getting spoiled now by being in so many cities where they've managed to get it right.....Seattle has a good system for those who work, but if you want to use it at night, good luck as I quickly found out....

For starters, they implemented a subway service just recently, but it's only runs until 7 at night.....have you ever heard of a subway system downtown only running until 7? Not me....but I made the mistake of relying on it after the game....

Then I got on the bus and it vaguely took me to where my hotel was, so I hop on.....ring the bell for the stop and the bus comes to a halt....I step down at the back doors waiting for the door to open only for the doors to stay closed and the bus to continue on its way....I ring the bell again and this time head to the front of the bus....this time, the driver opens the door and as he does, he says, "No exiting out of the back after 7, front doors only..." WHAT?!?! What kind of bus doesn't allow people to get off the back? Isn't in encouraged for people to get out the back doors so you don't have congestion at the front? I was just so ticked off with the city at this point, I just decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel....all the bars that I passed by were empty anyways, so there was nothing going on.....

As for Safeco itself, it's not bad, but there's nothing special to it....I would have thought that they would have integrated the trainyards a little more, but after thinking about it, the trainyards are the dirtiest part of the city, so you wouldn't want to really expose that....

It's a retractable roof stadium, but in 2009, there's no cache to that anymore, so it doesn't really give a stadium a lot of points like it would have before.....everything else is adequate as well, but I guess the word "adequate" would be fitting....it's not a dump by any means, but it's nothing eye-catching either....I didn't think it would make it this far down the list, but here's the updated list...

1) Minute Maid Park - Houston
2) Camden Yards - Baltimore
3) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
4) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
5) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
6) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
7) Fenway Park - Boston
8) Yankee Stadium
9) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
10) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
11) Safeco Field - Seattle
12) Turner Field - Atlanta
13) Tropicana Field - Tampa
14) Nationals Park - Washington
15) Dolphins Stadium - Miami

Alright, my stomach is dying for some food, either that or Starbucks since I've started my day with a frappuccino every day for the last three days.....if that's the case, there's a Starbucks connected to the hotel....lol

Off to sightsee and then, it's a day of flying to San Diego tomorrow.....

Off to Seattle....5 weeks on the road!

Yep, it's Day 35 of the trip and I have to say that my stay here in Portland has absolutely revitalized me and given me so much energy to keep on going....at times over the last couple of weeks, there was so much hussle and travel that it was starting to drag and I was beginning to think if I had put too much on my plate by doing this, but I went back to the hotel last night with as big of a smile as I've ever had in my whole life....

I don't mean to brag by saying this, but just walking by myself in the middle of downtown Portland was another one of those moments on the trip where the coolness factor really kicked in and I realized that it truly is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip....

Alright, I let everyone in yesterday on the show about my nightlife while I was here....It probably comes off pretty clearly when I'm on every day, but I really don't like talking about my personal life, my partying and relationships and things like that, so I'm really out of my element when I talk about it.....so if I come off in any sort of negative way, I apologize, but the people have spoken and they want to hear about that kind of stuff, so I'll do my best, but I will still be pretty reserved about what I say and as Yorkie pointed out, I am holding back on some stories that are reserved only for those in my inner circle...those stories will never make it to air.... :-)

So, those who are looking for the story of my second night with Amber will just have to tune in this afternoon....Like I said, this blog is for "informational purposes" only....HAHAHA....I will say that it ended pretty badly for me and that the highlight of the night was playing bar trivia with a group of people from Los Angeles....it actually got a little dicey for me involving an ex-boyfriend....alright, that's all you get on the blog! :-)

I was able to win the bar a couple rounds of drinks for the team with my knowledge of Canadiana....the two questions in the category of Green were:

1) What is the name of the Canadian comedy that stars Steve Smith and Patrick McKenna?
2) Name the Canadian comedian that was recently married to Drew Barrymore?

Then I had to explain Red Green to the LA people....how he wears plaid and suspenders, likes to fix things and makes everything out of duct tape....they had blank stares

Anyways, I'm taking a scenic train ride from Portland to Seattle today and then I'm off to Safeco Field to see the Mariners take on the Angels tonight....After that game, as far as stadiums go, I will be at the halfway point of the trip with 15 down and 15 to go....

I've found something I like at Starbucks!

Sitting at a Starbucks just outside my hotel room in Portland since my internet connection is really sketchy there, so naturally, I felt obligated to buy something.....this Frappuccino Coffee Milk Drink is actually really good.....I pretty much chugged it and now my body wants another one....hahaha

So another corporation has sunk their claws into me.....all I need to do is get myself a Crackberry and started tweeting on twitter and my life is then completely taken over....I feel dirty just having used the word "tweet"....it's the same feeling that I get when I hear anybody use the phrase, "It is what it is...." WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!

Wow....the caffeine must be getting to me....

Anyways, Portland is such a beautiful city....it's got a small-town charm to it and it's just so clean and well-kept....when I go to every city, I wonder to myself if the city is somewhere I would pack up and move to....this is one that I would have no problem moving to....

The light rail system is something to behold as well.....perfectly integrated into the city and the outlying areas and the best part, there's a 10-15 block radius in the downtown area that they call the "free zone", so as long as you start and finish your trip within this free zone, you can ride the train for free....and yet, we can't seem to figure out this kind of system in Ottawa....hmmmm

However, the cleanliness and friendliness has attracted a large amount of homeless people to hang around, so I could see that getting old fast for the locals....I know for myself that it was getting old quickly after being asked for change about 3 times in a 4 block radius....that's one thing I'm not looking forward to when I head back to living in downtown Ottawa....

I'm glad the city was as nice as it was 'cause I really wasn't in the mood to deal with any sort of garbage after flying all day yesterday and going through a couple of time zones....my body was just so out of whack....it didn't know what time it was....I was watching the Carolina/Pittsburgh game at 5 in the afternoon at a bar....my brain had no idea what was happening....especially as the night wore on and the people at the bar were buying me drinks since they loved the idea of the trip and the fact that I was from Canada..... :-)

So, I'm gonna do the whole walking tour of Portland today and then back to the bar to watch the Chicago/Detroit game....it's off to Seattle tomorrow for a couple of days with the Mariners game tomorrow night....after that game, I will have hit 15 out of 30 stadiums....pretty crazy when I think about it....

Cheers from the Rose City!

Howdy from Denver International Airport!

Waiting for the second of my two flights today.....got up around 8 a.m. KC time to get down to Denver and now just have to wait another half-hour before my flight to Portland.....just gonna hang out in Portland for a couple of days, then it's off to Seattle on Wednesday for the Mariners game before hitting up Cali for five games in five nights....

As for yesterday, we just hung around Kansas City and did some more sightseeing....KC is a city that has even more of the urban sprawl that we have in Ottawa....NOBODY lives downtown and everyone just lives in the outlying areas instead....walking around downtown on a Sunday afternoon is like walking around a ghost-town....all you're doing is waiting for the tumbleweed to roll by...there are a ton of shops and bigger places that are just boarded up as well, so it looks as though the recession has really hit the city hard...

There really isn't much to see there as well, so we were just going to have some dinner in the new Power and Light District when we stumbled upon their version of the Food and Wine show....all of a sudden, we were told that it was 40 dollars for all-you-can eat and drink....JACKPOT! LOL

I should explain that the Power and Light district is this new four-block setup in an effort to revitialize the downtown area in the hopes that people actually head downtown to spend some money....the courtyard area is the mainpiece where you're surrounded by 6-7 different bars and you can walk in and out of these places without having to worry about your drink.....just carry it with you....

Anyways, there were booths of different restaurants offering great food all over the place and other restaurants and vendors were offering their different alcohol as well....let's just say that I got my money's worth....a couple vodka-crans with some Clean Vodka from KC....a margarita, a couple beers from a local brewery and a glass of white wine....not to mention about five plates of food as well..... :-)

The unfortunate part was that everything closed up at around 8 o'clock 'cause I was just hitting my stride at that point, but probably for the best since I did have to be awake and functioning for 8 a.m.

So, I'm on my own now for the next couple of weeks, so any sort of trouble that I get into now is purely my fault, so we'll see what we can do to make things interesting...hope everyone is enjoying their Victoria Day!