I left Denver on July 27 and drove to Steamboat Springs to check on our house there.  By the way, if you know anyone who would like a lovely secluded mountain home, send them to www.steamboatsolitude.com.  After that it was on to Spokane but only after, I am embarrassed to say, my first visit to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.  Obviously that slowed me down considerably but I thought this to be a good opportunity to see what I had always heard was a gorgeous area of the country.  And I was not disappointed.  Striking mountain peaks, beautiful lakes, plenty of animals and massive areas of wildflowers in bloom.  I took a few shots that are not very good because they were taken from a moving vehicle without looking through the viewfinder.  But I didn't want to lose any more time than necessary and summer traffic in the parks is slow.  I will be returning there with Konnie who has not been to the area since her childhood.

The entire drive though was beautiful.  Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington all have wonderful scenery, climaxed by that first view of the Columbia River from Interstate 90 as you close in on Seattle.

So 1,500 miles later I am in Seattle moving Chelsea into her apartment in preparation for the start of law school at Seattle University in a few weeks.  I know she will love Seattle.  I hope the same holds true for the study of law.

I did not know either of my grandfathers as they passed away at ages much younger than I am now.  This year, in addition to the trip just completed, I also spent a week in New York City with my 12 year old granddaughter Isabelle and daughter Kristin.  As you can imagine, both of these trips have been a treat for me.  I hope to continue with all three of them annually in an effort to lock in positive memories for all of us of our times together.

I will be continuing my blog to communicate with family and friends who might be interested in what we have going on.  So there will be occasional posts which will be linked through Facebook and for sure I will be reporting on Konnie and my 23 days in London in September.

When this trip was conceived, it wasn't part of the plan to find the Colorado Rockies somewhere on the road.  It was just a coincidence that it happened.  I selected a week when most of the east coast teams were playing at home and started with a trip that went Boston, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.  But air travel complications caused me to re-visit that plan and I ended up with Boston, New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.  But trying to go through Phoenix and stay on United presented new complications which the layover in Chicago cured.

Phillies 6 Rockies 0 as we saw our second five hit shutout in as many nights.  There may be pictures with this post that don't look like much but they were intended to capture the views from the perch of the broadcasters.  Oh, and I saw one of the most beautiful women I've seen in awhile.  There are two pictures of her.

An interesting side note.  We sat behind a dad and his son from Minnesota who had been in Boston on Sunday when we were, Yankee Stadium today and will be at the game tomorrow in Baltimore.  So I'm not the only crazy old man.

Fortunately for anyone reading this we did not get many pictures of ourselves today.  So I am posting some shots that give the flavor of the inside of the stadium, a little action, my favorite Yankee tradition and, yes, it was Seniors' Day.  Love them or hate them, one has to admit that this franchise has an incredible history with some amazing participants in that history over most of a century.

But because of the hectic first few days of the trip including our arrival in Boston after 1 in the morning, I let them sleep in thus cutting our activities a little short.  Lunch, the NBA store, Lego store, Rockefeller Center, NBC store and back to the Yankee shop provided the Manhattan excitement before leaving four hours early for the Bronx to begin our search for tickets for Tuesday night's game against the Rangers.

I have tried to let the boys know what goes on in this city, especially on the subways so that they would be prepared.  One fellow didn't disappoint when he hopped into the crowded subway car to announce that "folks, I am not going to lie to you.  I got out of prison just a few months ago and am homeless with no job.  I try to take care of myself by keeping my clothes clean, taking showers and shaving so I don't look or smell like the usual bum on the street.  But I need help.  I need some food. If there is anyway you can help me…blah, blah, blah."  As we exited the train Logan tells me that the guy scared him and I told him he didn't need to be scared because that's just how some people beg for money in NYC.  His observation was that "he could have left out the part about being in prison."  We'll suggest that if he hops our train today.

The next "highlight" for us was the ticket search.  Holy cow!  It is a bit different here.  We established relationships with a number of fine middlemen.  At one point there was a bit of a tiff between two over whose client we had become.  Many promises were made but none kept.  This is where my over twenty years of working with investment managers came in handy.  Overpromise and underperform.  How many do you need?  How much do you want to spend?  Where do you want to sit?  Go down there, stand in front of that abandoned bowling alley (pictures included here) and someone will meet you there with tickets for section 214, row 3.  I ask when.  He looks at my watch and says, "five minutes after the big hand is on that little dot at the bottom of your watch."  We do this stuff for about 90 minutes and then get a new appointment at 5:30.  Enough time to eat and have Logan clothesline himself on the handicap rail at the restaurant entrance…tough guy I learned after watching his head snap and the restaurant personnel rush to his aid.  But he shook it off.

We're back at the abandoned bowling alley at 5:15 and meet Joel.  He's waiting for clearance to sell certain seats.  Apparently what happens here is most people now dispose of their extra tickets through Stub Hub which gives them control.  At a certain time before the game, Stub Hub will "release" tickets to middlemen like our new guy Joel.  Because buyers from Stub Hub can print the ticket online, the sale of the actual ticket on the street must be coordinated because it will be voided if an online version is produced.  You can get to the gate with a real ticket and not be allowed in.  So, as nearly 6 pm rolls around it is not looking good, I seek Joel's professional advice and he says the market looks very tight for the evening and I should take what he has, field level 11 rows back down the right field foul line.

So why WOW?  The New Yankee Stadium is a WOW.  We were in Wrigley Field just days ago where even game and player information is almost non-existent, the seats are tight and not well positioned and now we are in this state of the art palace.  Then at Fenway larger people could not walk straight down our aisle.  They had to move sideways.  The cushion on our seats was just short of the depth of my iphone.  Four inches of space between my knees and the seat in front of me.  Seats angled towards the playing field so the boys end up with their best view of a game so far even though we were 250 feet from home plate.  A gigantic HD display that is hard to believe for an old folk like me.  It is an amazing facility and clearly worth the billion dollars.  And at $5 for a bottle of water, $9 for nachos and $6.50 for a cup of ice cream (I think I saw $9.50 on the beer), it should be paid for by the end of this first season.

We saw the usual Yankee Stadium purist traditions of no "National Anthem of the Day Singer" but rather the recorded Marine Corp Band version, no pre-game hoopla, no names on the jerseys, the traditional and unique method of introducing players and the not so traditional (and my favorite) of the ground crew performing "YMCA" while they groom the field .  We had five home runs in front of us, defensive plays, a manager ejection, foul ball action, the boys getting to stand at the rail and watch batting practice and inning warm ups while hoping for a ball to come their way and an epic battle between Ryan, diving over a row of seats to try to capture a ball, and a bully adult who out fought him for the prize.  Despite crowd and buddy pressure, the guy did not cave and kept the ball for himself.  Ryan's physical injuries were only slight but who knows what the long-term emotional toll might be.  I have the guy's pictures.  We will find him.

Oh yeah.  The final score was Angels 10 Yankees 2.  Back to the Palace today.

Today we were at the 600th consecutive sellout out Fenway, a major league record.  But in spite of that, tickets were much more widely available on the streets than at Wrigley.  We managed three seats eight rows back looking right down the right field line.  Pretty sweet.  It was an interesting game with the first place Western Division Rangers taking a 4-2 victory.

After the game we walked from Fenway to Faneuil Hall Market Place (Quincy Market) which remains a fine gathering place 26 years after my first visit there.   It is off to the Big Apple via Amtrak in the morning.  Next stadium stop is the new Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night but hopefully to the top of the Empire State Building before that.