Prior to a vacation beginning, you can only hope for a few things. One of those, is to have a memorable time, and the other would be to make it through the entire time without hitting any snags. Beyond that, the experience is what you make of it.

In planning my summer vacation with my son, I took into account a few of the things that the two of us bond over and tried to incorporate that into a whirlwind 6 day trip that would ultimately span 6 states in the midwest of the United States. As we both are into baseball, and in my continuing quest to see all of the stadiums in Major League Baseball, the states in the Lake Erie region seemed a conquerable locale.

The idea behind this trip was spawned last September, after venturing to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C., for a quick 4 day jaunt to see some games in each respective city. I was solo on that trip, as Christian had just started his 1st grade school year. As I described my vaction to him, he immediately expressed his jealousy of my trip. Knowing his fandom at such a young age, I actually felt a little lonely on the 4 day excursion since I knew he would have loved to have accompanied me. That ultimately led to my plan for our summer trip this year.

We started in Detroit, after a marathon red-eye set of flights that took us from Seattle to Cincinnati, up to Chicago, and finally over to the Motor City. To put this into perspective, our flight left the Northwest at 11:34 PM on Wednesday August 3rd. We arrived in Cincinnati at 6 AM (approximately) and flew to Chicago an hour later (an hour flight). Another hour long flight to Detroit put us into Motown at about 12 PM. The Tigers vs. Rangers game started at Comerica at 1:10 PM. Having never visited this park before, I wanted to get there as soon as possible to ensure maximum viewing time. We cabbed into downtown and quickly found our seats, which were up on the 300 level, first row, along the Left Field foul line. Humidity was quickly my nemesis, as we were hauling all of our bags from the flight (3 total). Detroit was only a momentary stay, so we didn’t have a rental car yet, nor were we getting a hotel here. 90 degree heat, lugging around Christian’s bag as well as mine, and humidity levels that are only experienced in the rarest of occasions in Seattle, were enough to make anyone uncomfortably hot. At least it was expected though.

The park itself was nice, with Tigers adorning the walls of the exterior & interior. Some might call it excessive, but I thought it was unique and helped to set Comerica apart from the plethora of design elements that are in every new stadium built in the post-Camden era. One thing that I didn’t quite like however, was the “amusement park” quality of the stadium. They house a Ferris Wheel and carousel, which just seems to take away from the actual quality of the product on the field. The stadium provided nice views of the surrounding downtown areas as well as the neighborhoods which surround it. Detroit is a decaying city, but you couldn’t tell from within the confines of Comerica. Baseball exists at the heart of Motown and the heritage of the Tigers is strong enough to withstand the economic slaying of this once great American city.

As the game came and went, (Tigers lost to the Rangers), we had only 4 more hours to kill before hopping a train to Cleveland. Now, without a car, or a knowledge of the city itself, I had a somewhat interesting plan for Christian and I. Since it had been about a day since I had seen a shower and the heat of the day was already beating down on me —and my clothes— I looked into buying a day pass at the local YMCA down the street from Comerica. We walked there, and Christian and I went swimming and used their showers over the next 4 hours, which was an absolute life saver. More for me than him, I imagine, but I know he thoroughly enjoyed the swimming, and it saved us from hauling around our bags in downtown Detroit, looking like tourists just waiting to get mugged.

Our train left the Amtrak station in Detroit at 9:30 that night. Our scheduled time into Cleveland was 1:00 AM on Friday. Of course, this was not a realistic time-frame. Amtrak, as beautiful as the experience is, rarely is on time. We arrived into Cleveland at about 1:45. Our plan was then to cab to the airport and rent our car (as we were leaving from Cleveland the following Wednesday, this saved us $200 by dropping off in the same city). We then drove straight through to Pittsburgh, which is a 2+ hour drive. At this point, I haven’t seen quality sleep for about 44 hours. Efficient? Yes. Stupid? Absolutely. But, as a business owner, efficiency is a part of my life, so I opted for this plan of attack. Thankfully, I was focused and got us to PGH by about 5 AM. Unfortunately, our check in time at the hotel wasn’t until 1 PM. So, we slept in the car until the sun woke us up around 8, where we drove to get some breakfast and made our way into the SouthSide Works area of the city. I scouted out a tattoo shop where I made an appointment to get the Pirates “P” inked on my neck, and Christian and I watched the new Planet of the Apes movie to cool off before the appointment. After the movie and the ink-session, we checked in at our hotel and showered up, before heading back into town for the Pirates game that night.

My plan for the trip was centered around Pittsburgh. As a huge baseball fan, I’ve known that of the modern day stadiums, PNC Park is known as the jewel of them all. They’ve been unfortunately fielding some absolutely horrendous teams for the past 19 years, but they sure built a beauty of a stadium to house some absolutely dispicable teams. As a city of bridges, PNC is surrounded by the gold painted steel bridges that span the Allegheny River adjacent to the outfield walls. Roberto Clemente Bridge, which drops you into the stadium directly from downtown is closed to vehicle traffic on gamedays. This is a nice touch, as it lets fans enjoy the experience of walking into the stadium from a short distance, rather than parking right next to it and failing to observe the natural beauty of Pittsburgh’s steep incline hills that surround the downtown area. The architecture of the Steel City reminds one a lot of the fictional Gotham City of Batman fame. There is truly a lot to take in, in this often overlooked East Coast city that once served as a gateway to the West. By cutting off vehicle traffic in a major artery to the stadium, the experience is benefitted greatly. Nice touch Pittsburgh! From within, PNC is the 2nd smallest park in the Majors and it couldn’t be a more beautiful thing. Sight lines are top notch from anywhere in the stadium. Majestic skyline views are seen from the 3rd base side on the 200 level, but are still quite decent down on the lower level. There are only 2 levels in this field, contrary to the 3 of most stadiums. I could probably go on for a series of blog posts about this park, but I’ll leave it at what’s already been stated. It is an absolute gem. Go. Experience it for yourself. The city is great (think Portland meets San Francisco for you West Coasters) and the stadium is amazing. Now, if only the product on the field would start to match the magnificence of the stadium…

We went to game at PNC on both Friday and Saturday. San Diego was in town and proceeded to mop the floor with the Pirates. Both games were absolute hit parades and the Friars came out on top mightily. We ended our PNC experience with a post-game fireworks display and Train concert which took place on the infield dirt. As we left, I took some of the most amazing pictures of the bridge spans with fireworks going off in the distance. They’ll definitely see some frames and have some wall time at the salon I imagine.

Sunday morning was a bright & early kind of wake up, as I had to drive us to Sandusky, OH, for our one off day from baseball. Now, for those of you who recognize the city name, think back to the days of Chris Farley, and his movie Tommy Boy. Much of that movie was based in good ol’ Sandusky Ohio, home of the fictitious Callahan Auto Parts. Since we had no desire to tour movie set locations, we did the next best thing: Cedar Point Amusement Park, the best theme park in the world for Roller Coasters & Thrill Rides. This, was my only over estimation of Christian’s willingness to participate. Most of the rides are quite thrilling and at the tender age of 7, he wasn’t really up to going on 120 mph magnetic levitation coasters, or twisting-turning ones either. I coerced him into doing the Millennium Force coaster, which was voted Best Roller Coaster in the World, and just celebrated its 10 year anniversary. I imagine that if I repeated this trip in 3 years, I wouldn’t be able to keep him off of the rides. Oh well, I guess they say hindsight is 20-20.

After a long day spent at the park, we hopped in the Jeep Liberty and began our trek south, through the farmlands of Ohio to Dayton, home of my cousin Casey. Casey is stationed in Dayton because of the Air Force, and since we were going to be in Cincinnati on Monday to see the Reds, Casey offered a place to crash for the next few nights. This, was really nice for me. In all of my travels, I’m always amazed at the way that even in subtle instances, home never seems that far away. Casey is my closest cousin in age and we graduated the same year of high school. Having him around for the few short hours that we were able to hang out was just the sense of home I needed during our 6 days away from Seattle. I hope that we also provided him the same sense. He suggested some things for us to do on Monday, since the game wasn’t starting until 7, and my original plans of touring the Underground Railroad Museum fell through —CLOSED ON A MONDAY??? The Louisville Slugger Museum is located about 2 hours south of Cinci and Casey said we may enjoy that, despite the extra driving that it would entail. As I’d already driven a ton, and since this WAS a baseball road trip after all, why not just drive some more and check out the birthplace of baseball bats. Our visit didn’t disappoint. Equally as educational as it was fun, we learned about the process of making bats and how it has evolved over the past 100 years. The museum itself was separate from the factory part of the tour and it provided us with tons of history from my beloved pasttime.

From Louisville, we quickly drove back to Cincinnati, but not before stopping in two places: one, at a rest stop in northern Kentucky to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken IN KENTUCKY! The other, in Covington, KY for another quick ink session. I also planned to get the Reds “C” logo adjacent to the “P” I had just gotten done. Now, I understand that in the years that I’ve got left, I’ll get asked countless times why I have so many team logos on my body. This is an entirely different blog post in itself, but boiled down, I feel so connected to the game of baseball and have had it very intricately woven into my life, that I have no problem putting the logos on my body. If not for the game itself, I think I’d be in a completely different point in life. Baseball provides me with something positive to be involved with. It also is a game that I can bond over, with my son. Experiences at the ballpark with him as he grows up help me to shape his childhood, in similar ways as they helped shape mine.

Great American Ballpark is located right on the edge of downtown Cincinnati across the river from Kentucky. If you’ve ever watched a game on TV from this park, the right field views shown, are of the river beyond. There is something so inherently small town about this ball park, and I knew I would love it from the moment I saw Ken Griffey Jr. grace the park with it’s first ever base hit back in 2000. As I grew up, I watched the Reds with a fiery passion as they played their games at cookie-cutter Riverfront Stadium. Now, they have a proper baseball field to call their own and it lives up to the reputation that I had built up in my mind about it. No gimmicks here, just good ol’ fashioned midwest baseball. People here love their Redlegs and have no problem sporting red for game nights. This highly contrasting color sticks out all over the park even if the stadium itself is a bit empty. Forecast for the evening called for rain, and sure enough it came as anticipated. Heavy enough that I experienced my first rain-delay ever. The delay lasted just over an hour before play resumed. Despite the setback, we actually benefited by it. Many people left, anticipating a cancellation, so good seats were aplenty and we moved to 5 rows behind the Rockies dugout. Here, Christian got not one, but 2 balls, one a foul ball thrown by one of the Colorado infielders and another tossed up by a batboy. The game itself was a slugfest as 7 home runs were belted. When a Cincinnati player hits one, the tall smoke stacks that look out over CF billow out a slew of fireworks. Despite a Reds loss, we still saw an enterataining game that lasted until right around the midnight hour. Having Casey there was the icing on the cake.

Our final stop on the road trip was Cleveland, a 3.25 hour drive to the north. Our original plan would have put us into town around noon, but as it was, we didn’t leave Dayton until that time. With all the early morning drives and hours spent behind the wheel, I had finally hit my exhaustion point. Sleeping in felt pretty amazing. My excitement over not having to drive any more significant lengths was enough however, to get us on the road. Our lodging this evening was at a super cool bed & breakfast located in the Ohio City neighborhood, a close approximation to the stadium and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We checked into our final digs, an old 3 story mansion that could have been the setting for a Ghost Hunters episode or something of the like. Our host, a friendly man by the name of Richard helped to accommodate us to our rooms (yes, plural, Christian requested his own room and got it—lucky kid). We were on the top floor, up 3 flights of stairs. After settling in and recharging our electronics, we made the drive over to Progressive Field for what was to be our final baseball game. Little did we know, that we were in for the longest game day(s) experience of our lives.

Progressive Field, formerly known as Jacobs Field is a stellar facility that was one of the blueprints for the modern era stadiums that were built in abundance from 1997-2008. When it was first opened, Cleveland came out in support of its team in record numbers. Things have changed in the past few seasons, as the team has become a doormat for the league, and as Cleveland itself has been hit very hard with the recession and current job market. One thing that I realize though, as I’ve traveled to all these stadiums, is that baseball is at the heart of America. You might be able to bring it down, but it can’t be kept entirely out. Too many experiences and memories are had within the walls of these stadiums, both new and old, large and small. Dreams are made and shared that will last lifetimes. Tonight, was another one of those nights.

Gates opened at 5:10 and we were there waiting at 4:45. The reality of this road trip ending was falling hard on me, so I wanted to make the most of our final hours together, father and son. Here in Cleveland they only allow early entry into the CF/RF bleachers during batting practice. This creates a bit of a frenzy since all the early traffic is centered in this one area. I narrowly missed a long home run hit to CF, as it grazed the tip of my glove but was hit just a bit too high and far for where I was standing. A few moments later, a player threw a ball to the kid next to me, right as another home run ball hit the wall and caromed into my crotch. The force was hard enough that it skittered off into the adjacent row. I got hit in the balls, by a ball, and I didn’t get it. That hurt. At 6 PM, they open the rest of the stadium, so we made our way through the rest of the facility to snap some photos, view our seat, and get some food. Game time was at 7:10 PM and it approached all too soon. Former Mariner Doug Fister was pitching for Detroit, so we had a familiar face to watch. Runs were scored fast and furiously and by the end of the 2nd inning the score was tied 2-2. Almost as fast as the runs were scored, rain also began to fall. Ominous clouds came in from the West and began to dump heavy drops onto the crowd below. Fans began furiously making their way towards the concourse and the game was immediately delayed. This delay, provided me a bit more time to snap some photos, but I didn’t realize that I’d get nearly 2 extra hours! I honestly thought the game would be called off, and our final game would be a non-recorded affair in the Major League record books. Fortunately, the extended hourly forecast showed a decrease in precipitation, so they patiently waited it out. Rain finally ceased to fall and play resumed around 10:00 PM. Official delay time was 2 hours, 3 minutes. We didn’t see another run scored until 4 hours later. We were into extra innings by that point, and in the most anti-climactic of ways, the winning run scored by the Indians happened on a hit batter to walk in the winning run with the bases loaded. A win is a win, however and Cleveland-ers were happy. The game ended at 1:52 AM, securing a 9 hour experience at Progressive Field, easily the longest amount of time I’ve spent at a ballpark before. As with the game in Cincinnati, due to the rain delay, we moved down to seats directly behind the Indians dugout. Christian snagged a ball from a fellow fan, as it was thrown to him from a batboy. That was his 2nd of the game, as I caught one from him in batting practice also. What a way to go out!!

Final morning of the trip was headed our way (or, already there) so we went back, slept, and woke up 6 hours later for our home-made breakfast of chocolate waffles and fresh fruit. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was next on our agenda and for 2 short hours, we toured the museum. Christian saw Michael Jackson stage outfits, learned about the Beatles, saw video on the birth of grunge and the death of radio & stared interestingly at Janis Joplin’s custom painted Porsche from back in the 70’s. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take any pictures inside the facility, so those memories are only able to be tucked into our minds. We finished by checking out Johnny Cash’s tour bus, before heading away, our final stop in a weeks worth of memories to be cherished forever.

I’ll always remember this vacation and the fun that I had, bonding with my son. My time that I spend with him is of the utmost value to me, as I don’t get as much as I’d like. I’ll tear up to the point of balling like a child when I have to drop him off with his mom in a few days, the rush of memories from the past week undoubtedly filling my mind, followed by the extreme depression of not having him around for 3 weeks. There is absolutely no description that I could justly give to what that feels like, but I am more than fortunate for the time that I am able to craft lifelong experiences with him in the short times I have. I couldn’t feel more blessed to have such an amazing son to keep me motivated to be the best dad that I can possibly be. To Christian, when you read this some day, know that I love you with all of my heart and have enjoyed every minute I’ve spent with you. This vacation, is exactly what we made of it: an incredible memory, for the rest of our lives.

• 1, 125 miles driven
• 580 Photos Taken
• 6 States
• 6 Days
• 5 Flights
• 5 Games
• 4 Stadiums 
• 4  Baseballs
• 3 Museums
• 2 Rain Delays
• 2 Tattoos
• 2 Legendary Sandwich Shops
• 1 Movie
• 1 Amusement Park
• 1 Incredible Vacation