Our final game! (Well, until this weekend when we see Pirates at Brewers on the Chick Trip, an outing unrelated to the Nor'easter).

We may have gotten going a teentsy bit late from Philadelphia, but don't you worry, there was a good 42 minute rain delay, even though apparently it was never really raining over the ballpark. The radio announcers referred to it as the "phantom rain."

We enjoyed the ballpark - Oriole Park at Camden Yards - very much. It's home to the Baltimore Orioles but it seriously appeared that there were at least as many Yankees fans as Orioles fans present, especially in our section which could almost have been a visitor's section. It just celebrated its 15th birthday, and has our favorite old-style design, which is set up in a plaza/city street setup with the concessions and stores situated along the street. It's just basically very fan-friendly and welcomes people to grab food and sit in tables or along fences and watch the game. Camden Yards also has a lot of nice historic features, including a sculpture of Babe Ruth (a Baltimore native), bronze plaques on the Eutaw Street where home run balls have landed, the Sports Legends museum, and it's named for the railyards that were on the site it was built.

Orioles fans were very excited while we were there about how shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. had just been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He played his entire career in Baltimore, and the wall of the old warehouse behind right field showed how many consecutive games he played (apparently they always used to change this number every game until his streak ended, but they put the sign back up in honor of the Hall of Fame induction).


A little aside- Kristina enjoyed her first perk of having a Honda Civic hybrid - special parking spaces just for hybrid drivers! Yay for the ozone.

So, tomorrow I head back to Iowa. Was worried there for a bit when I got a voice mail from Northwest Airlines telling me my Monday flight had been canceled and that I'd been rescheduled for Tuesday night. Kristina saved the day by firmly telling them that I needed to be back Monday and that it was not negotiable (hmm, just realized she may have been motivated for me to LEAVE so that's why she was willing to help, or maybe because I freaked a bit at the idea of not getting back Monday like planned...) Anyway, I am now leaving about the same time, just from a different airport so all is well. We have more to say, though, so keep checking back, dear readers.