East Coast Baseball

Before I start the police academy Ashley and I wanted to take one more trip. We decided to go to the east coast to go to five more baseball games to make our total of 15 out of the 30 baseball stadiums that we've been to. First stop was Washington DC. After taking a bus for 30 minutes to downtown DC, we headed to the Capitol building. They do free tours at the Capitol so we joined a large group on a tour. The dome of the Capitol has an awesome mural. This painting is pretty funny, only because it depicts the forefathers all signing the Declaration of Independence at the same time. Problem is, according to our tour guide, they were never all in the same place at the same time to sign the document. Next we walked over to the Supreme Court. They were not hearing arguments at the time so we got took advantage of the 40 minute free tour. The lady giving the tour made a joke that a while back the justices wanted to put a basketball court on the upper floors of the court, so she made the joke "So actually the Supreme Court" is not technically the highest court in the land." (insert rimshot). They don't allow cameras inside the courtroom but they did allow photos just outside of the courtroom. To be honest, I was pretty underwhelmed by how small and unassuming the courtroom is. Next we walked over to the Old Post Office Building. You can go up to the top for a nice 360-view of Washington. We found out that Donald Trump had just recently bought the Old Post Office and is planning on turning it into luxury condos. On the left is the FBI building and you see the Capitol on the top right. The first game we went to was at Nationals Park where we watched the Washington Nationals play the Tampa Bay Rays. Stephen Strasburg was starting for the Nationals. He is doing very good this year. Washington Monument in the background from the stadium. The Capitol at sunset. The next day we had all day to see the various sights around DC. It was VERY hot on this trip, and with all the walking, we had to limit the places we wanted to go because it was so hot. First on the list was the White House. Security cameras everywhere on the roof. According to the White House's web site, the people on the roof of the White House are members of the Secret Service Countersniper Team. Their mission is to prevent any long-range threat to the President. This guy seems to be looking through some sort of lens. Next we walked over to the Washington Monument. Look closely and you can see two of the countersnipers on the roof walking around. Lincoln Memorial. Washington Monument and the Capitol. On Thursday we had to head out and take the train to Baltimore. This is the subway station we took to go to the train station. While waiting at the train station we took up a conversation with a police officer who works for the Amtrak Police. He was very nice and ultimately hooked us up with getting on a different, high-speed train to Baltimore. Once we got there and got checked in to our hotel, we walked around. This is the Mariner Arena where they have various concerts. We took a boat that gave us a tour around Baltimore. We came across this rather large cruise ship. Under Armour headquarters is in Baltimore. Next game we went to was the Baltimore Orioles hosting the Washington Nationals at Camden Yards. Weird setup for the bullpens. What if there is a fight on the field? Do they file single file down the steps to get to the infield? Orioles Win! We are now 2-0 with the home team winning. Next up was another short Amtrak train up to Philadelphia. We walked around downtown for a little bit and came across City Hall. After having lunch with Ashley's friends from college, we headed to our third stadium Citizens Bank Park to watch the Philadelphia Phillies play the Tampa Bay Rays. Directly across the street is where the Eagles play. Another weird bullpen situation where they are right next to each other. The game went back and forth, and the Rays tied it up in the top of the 9th. The Phillies' Jim Thome came up and pinch hit and ended up hitting a walk-off home run. I wish I could say that this was the homer but it was a foul ball. Missed it by one pitch! The guy at the top of the screen pointing at Thome was the pitcher who gave up the lead at the top of the 9th inning. Apparently he had told his team if someone hit a home run that he'd give them $5,000! He had already written Thome the check before the media even got into the locker room after the game! The next day we took our final Amtrak train up to New York City. Time Square is awesome! The famous Naked Cowboy who walks around Times Square in underwear with a guitar. We walked down to Radio City Music Hall and came across a movie being filmed! Ben Stiller and Kristin Wiig were filming "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", which is supposed to come out Christmas 2013. It was cool to see a little behind the scenes of a movie being shot! If you look you can see that in this scene where they are standing still, Wiig is standing on a pallet of sorts to appear as tall as Stiller. The Today Show set at 30 Rock. More from 30 Rockefeller Center. Trump Tower. Fourth stadium was Citi Field where we saw the crosstown rivalry between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. This is a pretty new stadium. Back at the old Shea Stadium they had this huge apple in center field that would come up every time a Mets player hit a home run. They have it here too. Mets knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey has been having a great season so far. Alex Rodriguez almost gets hit in the head. La Guardia Airport is right next to the stadium. Things got a little rowdy in the upper deck as the game went on and this gal was yelling at a Mets fan. She got kicked out. The Empire State building from our hotel room. Monday was our last day in NYC and we woke up early to go watch the Today Show be filmed. Unfortunately it was raining all night and they didn't do any outside segments, including this one that they had all set up. I didn't realize how far away the Statue of Liberty is from mainland. These folks decided to take the ferry around the island to get a closer look. Views of the new World Trade Center. Very powerful walking around there. New York Stock Exchange. New York City Library. Last but not least, we hit Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to watch the Yankees play the Cleveland Indians. Five stadiums, four states, and countless Cracker Jacks and hot dogs consumed, we have now hit 15 of the 30 ballparks. We're halfway there! Subway arrives. NYC copper in Times Square. Time lapse of Grand Central Station, where we took the train to go to the airport in New Jersey. After a week's worth of walking and using public transportation, it was good to head back to Colorado. We had such and awesome trip! I start the police academy on July 9th and it goes for 20 weeks with graduation on December 7th. We are both so excited about this new opportunity.