After a three and a half hour Amtrak ride from Boston, we arrived in
New York City’s Penn Station early afternoon on Monday.  While the trip
was uneventful and got us safely to our destination, it was only high
speed for a short distance out of Boston and the smoothness of the ride
actually reminded me of my trip with Benjamin across the Sir Francis
Drake Channel from Argentina to Antarctica.  The Japanese have us big
time on the speed and smooth ride of train travel.

Our off day from baseball took us to Grand Central Station, the top of the Empire State
Building, to Macy’s to see the wooden escalators, Times Square, the gigantic Toys R Us, the M&M Store and the Yankee Store.  By the way, never go to the Empire
State Building without purchasing the Express Pass.  It saves so much
time it is worth every penny of the premium price.  I was very proud of
the boys to have endured the “Restroom Skyride.”  You know how scary
those can be!

The search for Yankee tickets begins on Tuesday and with these two
Yankee fans to please, the pressure is on.  Ten and eight year old
Yankee fans from Phoenix??  It proves children can be
brainwashed.

I couldn't resist doing a post at 150 mph on the Acela Express from Boston to New York City.  The train station was, well, a US train station.  Dark, stuffy and minimal services except for the two Dunkin' Donuts within 150 feet of each other.  But the train arrived and departed on time and we are on our way having just entered Rhode Island.  The boys are impressed that you are allowed to get up and walk around whenever you want.  By Friday they will get to tick off 8 and 9 new states on their way to trying to get to all 50 states faster than I did.

There may not be a better way to kick off a baseball trip with two young fans than visits to the two oldest ballparks in the major leagues on consecutive days.  They each have their unique charms but if you want to know what is going on during the game, the minimal technological enhancements at Fenway combined with the size of the old style "green monster" scoreboard gives it the edge in our book.  And I'm traveling with two Yankee fans so Fenway must have actually been better for them to give it the nod.

It was a very hot and standing room only game at noon on Saturday (July 17) with the Phillies visiting the Cubs.  We were very lucky to snag three fourth row tickets next to the Cubs bullpen.

Ryan and Logan got to experience Wrigley, saw a good game that the Cubs blew in traditional Cubbie style and walked away with baseballs courtesy of the Cubs bullpen coach Lester Strode.

Unfortunately a nearly three hour delay for a mechanical problem put us at our Boston hotel about 1:30 on Sunday morning.

Off to Fenway…

After flying over Chicago Friday afternoon, we decided we should go there and have dinner.  We found a train station near our hotel and made the trip.  We had a great time seeing some sights, Ryan and Logan had some Chicago style pizza and then back to the train for the ride back to the hotel.

I am at Denver International Airport preparing to leave for Phoenix to pick up my grandsons Ryan and Logan. We are beginning our 8 day road trip to attend baseball games in Chicago, Boston, New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.