Day One
First game was 10:30 AM on Thursday in Buffalo, against Toledo. Beer and a hot dog for breakfast, from the lonely open beer vendor in the park... it was school day at the park, packed with kids, so beer was scarce. This was fine, although our great seats along third base were perhaps in the disabled kids' section, so the kid behind me barked like a dog and kicked my seat for nine innings. But the weather was perfect, with a little sunburn on the temple and nose from the late morning rays.
We walked down to Dinosaur BBQ after the game for Brad to try the famous ribs. From there, we toured the Wilcox home, where Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated.
The evening was dinner at a local Italian place called Vino's which had a couple of authentic Italians arguing about their phone bills at the table next to us, and Brad ordered a pasta dish that was so spicy it nearly burnt his face off, but the flavor was excellent. Not enough bread in the joint to put out that fire, but Stephanie did her best with chocolate cake.
Only the overflowing throne in our hotel room threatened to ruin a good first day, and the kid who got hit in the head by a foul ball.
The stadium giveaway was McFries... which we never claimed.
Day Two
On to Syracuse, where the Chiefs played the Columbus Clippers in the evening. A nice gal sat next to Brad to give us the local gossip, the locals loves his red shoes, and we enjoyed a sloppy game of errors. Fireworks after the game rounded out a nice evening.
Earlier when we arrived, the Taste of Syracuse event was a couple blocks from our hotel, where all the local restaurants had tents downtown, and we ate ourselves to exhaustion each $1 sample at a time. We had pizza at Nick's in the evening at midnight before the day ended, while enjoying two local college girls beating the crap out of one another on the street cornernear our hotel.
The stadium giveaway was a free Ice Cream cone... which we never claimed.
Day Three
Down to Erie, PA where we watched the Seawolves (Tigers AA affiliate) beat the Harrisburg Senators (Nationals AA affiliate) twice in an afternoon double header. For $15 a seat, we were front row behind the dugout, where we could see the stubble on the face of manager Lance Parrish. More fireworks in the evening after the game, but no winner at the raffles... we missed the 50/50 in every park, and a jersey raffle for Cancer at this one. I kept score for the first game, a 1-0 pitchers' duel with both of them pitching complete games. Looking down at the scorecard, a player tossed a ball up to me as he came off the field, which I caught with my face. I got a souvenir just the same.
When we first arrived in town, it was RibFest in Erie, so we tried the competing BBQ ribs in the town square... brisket on a bed of mac-and-cheese was to die for. Then we finished our walking meal with ice cream on a fresh waffle.
And of course, midnight pizza at Stevo's.
No stadium giveaway... we were hoping for something to go with our virtual fries and ice cream.
Pictures here.
