Headin' for the Show...

Hey y'all. Been awhile, so I thought I'd check in. Its been kind of quiet for me since the end of the baseball season. I've been filling the time with work, doing all the things around the house (well, some of them) that I never got around to during the summer, and doing a little of the car show circuit. So far, I've cleaned the garage somewhat, did some major cleaning up of my VW Beetle and Vanagon. My wife and I attended a huge VW show in New Jersey on the 20th and snagged a 3rd place in the Vanagon class. (OK, so there were only 3 entries in that class, but that's beside the point) We're also getting ready for some major exterior remodeling of the house, so there are some other projects I'll have to tackle once that's finished. The ballpark renovation is going full force as w I write this. Knute sent me some pictures the other day and the old ballpark looks like a shell of its former self. I see great things for our ballpark in the future. (Apologies to Walt Whitman...) I did manage to make a little trip down south on the 27th. Knute, Asheleigh, my brother-in-law Ed, and I went to DC to see the Nationals take on the Braves. I've not been to the new ballpark yet, but I must say, I was very impressed. Everything was done right there, from location 2 blocks from the Metro, to every amenity inside. The drive is long, but taking the Metro avoids paying the $25 to $40 to park. (highway robbery) Of course, tickets aren't cheap either, but we have connections and landed in the Diamond Club section ($140 seats!!!) for nuttin'. Great seats about 25 rows back of the home plate on the 3rd base side. Waitress service (that left a lot to be desired. we were pretty much ignored the entire time), and very pricey food and drink, but we expected that going in. It was raining when we left Harrisburg, imagine that, but we slugged through and by the time we Timonium, MD it had stopped and the sun was staring to break through. After a small delay due to an accident on I-695 we made to the Metro station. My brother-in-law, Ed was already there and had purchased our train tickets, so we hopped on the train and were on our way. We made it to the stadium just after the gates opened and walked in to take in the place. Very spacious, laid out nicely, great views, and lots of food choices. It was easy to get around inside, but I suspect that was because there were not very many people there. A bit of a shame, but bad baseball will cause that. Another 100 loss season in the books. But, if you believe what you read in the program, there's light on the horizon. They've been drafting well, and if the pieces fall into place, there's better days in the offing. Dare we say it: playoffs? we'll see... The game started off well. The Nats got back-to-back homers from Ryn Zimmerman and Josh Willingham to take a 2-0 lead. It went back and forth until, by stretch time, the Braves had made it 3-3. The Nats got a lead off triple in the bottom of the 7th, but just could not push a run across. By the 8th, it started to.... wait for it.... rain. Who'da thunk it. Dammit, it follows us wherever we go! We sat through it for an inning, and then went into the Diamond Club to watch the rest on TV. It went to the 10th, with the Braves pushing across 2 runs on some dumb mistakes by the Nats. They went 1-2-3 in the bottom half and that was that. Not that we were terribly surprised. Hey, it is what it is. Wait'll next year! (insert your own cliche here...) But we had a good time on a nice day. That's all that matters. And the trip home was uneventful. ( Except for the Steelers blowing it.) We parted company and made plans for another outing soon. No details, but I'll be sure to report in when we do. So with that said, I'll leave it at that. Later...