After the 15 mile bike ride through Atlanta and a nap, I headed to the current ballpark, Turner Field, for my first game.
The first thing that happened was that I attempted to go down and watch batting practice, but the usher wouldn’t let me into his section unless I took an “I came to chop” sticker. I tried to politely decline by saying that I was a Twins fan, but he wouldn’t let that be a reasonable excuse. I thought about bringing up that it’s also an awful racial stereotype, but over the years, I’ve learned that there are some people not worth having certain arguments with. Don’t bring up politics with my mom’s family (except Uncle Bobby) and don’t try to explain race privilege* to an usher at an Atlanta Braves game. So instead, I walked over to a different section to watch the Twins take BP until the game started. But let’s be clear — I really and truly despise the tomahawk chop. I hate it because of the 1991 World Series, I hate it because it’s an embarrassing racial stereotype which in 2013 we ought to be past, and I hate it because it’s an incredibly annoying rhythm that gets stuck in your head like the earworm from hell. So, no, I will not wear your sticker, Mr. Usher.
The Braves broke things open with two runs in the first. Mike Pelfrey looked pretty shaky on the mound for the Twins through two innings, but then a glorious thing happened. In the top of the third, with the score 2-1, Joe Mauer got a single… and then it poured and thundered. After a lengthy rain delay and brief power outage in the stadium, the game started up again. Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau had back to back singles that resulted in Mauer scoring and tying the game. When the bottom of the inning rolled around, Pelfrey was out and Anthony Swarzak was pitching instead. Swarzak pitched four solid innings, only surrendering a solo homerun to Brian McCann in the 4th, which is actually pretty decent for Twins pitching this season.
In the 8th, the Twins managed to put together two runs on some classic Piranha Ball style singles (and a walk) to take the lead. Glen Perkins came out in the 9th with a one run lead. As one of the lone bright spots in the Twins pitching staff, I figured the game was in the bag.
I figured wrong. With two outs and one strike, Braves rookie phenom Evan Gattis launched a solo shot to left to tie the game and we went into extras. The Twins went hitless in the top of the 10th and the Braves… did not. Heyward doubled, Justin Upton walked, and Freddie Freeman became the hero in Atlanta that night who drove Heyward home with a single.
The Twins scored once in the 6th on a Justin Morneau single and twice in the 9th off two rookie homers from Aaron Hicks and “Where’s Oswaldo?” Arcia, but 3 runs weren’t even close to enough. However, I came close to getting a souvenir from Wilkin Ramirez. In the top of the 7th, he took a swing at a pitch and just let the bat fly… and it landed three rows in front of me.
Despite the failure of the Twins to win either game, I still had a nice time in Atlanta. The bike ride was great — I can’t recommend it enough if you’re ever in the area. The stadium had its charms too… and if they’d get rid of the tomahawk chop, I’d consider making another trip back there in the future. Pictures from the games below the jump.
It has been in the news all week that the space shuttle Endeavour would be doing a fly by of the Bay Area this morning. (Originally it was supposed to be yesterday, but weather reports of fog in San Francisco [duh] caused them to delay it by a day.) Given that I had an 11 AM flight out of OAK, I knew this meant I would miss seeing the shuttle buzz the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. When NASA was being cryptic about the specific time Endeavour, riding atop a 747, would fly over the area, I thought it might mean that I would miss it all together. Even worse, the shuttle was flying to LAX, where I was also flying, and it seemed there was a chance I would just miss it there too.
But man, oh man, did I hit the jackpot instead.
First, while waiting for my flight to board in Oakland, the shuttle did a low flyby of the Oakland Airport runway at about 10:15 AM. It was an awesome site to behold. Then, about 10 minutes later, it came by again, though further away. Another 5 or so minutes later, we got a third glimpse of it as a silhouette flying above the hills in the distance. As Endeavour faded off into the distance, it was time to board my first flight of the day and chase the shuttle down to LA, where I had only a 45 minute layover.
The flight was relatively uneventful, until we were about to land. The captain announced the descent and told us it was time to fasten our seatbelts and turn off electronic devices. I continued reading my dead-tree book and waited for landing when the captain came over the intercom again.
Hmm, I thought to myself, I guess this means I should have my camera handy when we land. And shortly thereafter the captain came on again.
Soon thereafter, we were cleared for landing… and noted that everyone at LAX was watching us land. Because the Endeavour was about to land her final flight right behind us. Or so we, and our pilot, guessed.
Except apparently not exactly like that. After deplaning, I immediately joined the crowd at the gate window, just in time for Endeavour to do a low flyby of LAX. (She was still going to do one more loop around LA before landing, apparently.) That was the closest, most detailed shot I got of the shuttle as it flew directly over our window. It was unreal.
Unfortunately, and this was my only bad luck of the day (did I mention I also got upgraded to first class?), I was boarding my flight when Endeavour actually landed. There was even a special announcement by the gate agent: “Ladies and gentlemen, I know the shuttle is flying over, but we need to board the flight so it’s not delayed further.” I pushed it as much as I could, but alas, I missed the landing. I did however, see her two more times: once from the ground while taxiing to take-off and once more from above as we took off and flew directly over her.
Farewell, Endeavour and the US Space Shuttle program. I hope we send more of you up there soon.
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Quinn and I had an epic adventure today hiking along the largest glacier in Europe — the Aletschgletscher. We took the train to Fiesch in the morning and hopped on a cable car up to Fiescheralp (elevation 2212 m). From there, we walked around the Eggishorn mountain — and partially through it. A 1 km tunnel cut through the mountain, for those not so eager to go up and over. At the other side of the tunnel was a little restaurant where, after watching a goat herd go by (with bells on their necks!), we ate some delicious pastries.
After our pit stop, we detoured from our planned hike and climbed down a shallow cliff to go to the edge of the glacier. From above, the glacier was primarily white and brown (from all the dirt and rock that it was bringing with it). From the side, we were able to climb into these caverns of brilliant blue that was unlike anything I had ever seen. We took pictures, but those will have to wait until I have a faster Internet connection… and besides, I don’t think they will do it justice.
Also, I slipped and fell and hurt my shoulder in that area. But enough about that — I only have minor problems lifting things today.
After climbing back up to the main trail, we hiked over to Roti Chumme and for about three kilometers, we were walking along a cliffside over looking the glacier. The glacier was about a kilometer wide, and across it we could see the Aletschhorn, the tallest mountain in the area. Clouds started to form near it’s peak, and eventually we started hearing low rolls of thunder from the other side of the glacier. The storm was still a few kilometers away from us, but watching it roll in was awe inspiring. Twice a brilliant flash of light reached us (and once I was even able to see the bolt of lightning). Shortly after each of these flashes, thunder rolled through the entire glacier valley and reverberated through the mountains. It was like no sound I’ve ever heard before. Quinn took a video of the second one, but again, I don’t think it will do justice to the rumble of the earth.
Eventually we noticed that the storm was heading over the glacier right towards us, so we picked up the pace to try and catch the last ski gondola from Moosfluh down to Riederalp. Somewhere in this part of the hike, we were coming over a hill and suddenly I heard Quinn say “Uh oh, we have company.” I looked, and there was a herd of cows blocking our path. We navigated through them, us looking at them, them looking at us with bells around their necks while they chewed on the grass. One of the bulls definitely looked annoyed at us.
We made it to Moosfluh just in time to get out of the rain and caught the last gondola down. But we weren’t quite done as we had to walk from there to the Mitte lift and take that down to Mörel where we took the train back to Brig.
Oh, and I fainted, collapsed, and briefly lost consciousness on that last lift down to Mörel, but I’m totally fine now.
I studied German in high school, and last week I had dinner with a German speaking friend in which we avoided English for two hours and I re-opened the German speaking part of my brain. Of course, I was warned that in Switzerland, everyone speaks Swiss German, which is entirely different from Hochdeutsch (high German — the dialect I learned). However, the Swiss mostly all know Hochdeutsch because that’s what they are taught in schools, even though they all speak Swiss German outside of school. So, thus far, someone says something to me in Swiss German, I struggle to grasp for meaning and say something back in Hochdeutsch, they transition to Hochdeutsch, and then we’re talking.
A man walks up to me and says something in Swiss German, which sounds similar enough to “Möchten Sie mit mir tanzen?” that I assume he is asking me to dance with him to the polka band that is playing behind us. Quinn and I are really trying to find some food*, so I say “Nein, danke,” and hope that’s the end of it.
Instead, the guy blocks my path and asks “Warum nicht?” (why not?). I think quickly of an excuse that will both work and I know how to say in German, and point at Quinn and say “Ich bin mit meinem Freund hier,” (I am with my friend).
* Another language note: I was warned that one of the ways in which Swiss German most differs from high German is in the words for different food types. When we did finally get to a kebab stand and I specified “Keine Tomaten”, the woman running the stand pointed to the tomatoes and said “Keine ????” I couldn’t make out the second word, but apparently Swiss German has an entirely different word for tomatoes that sounds nothing like the English word. Fun with avoiding food allergies in a foreign country!
I’m in Switzerland! I spent yesterday in Paris! (I know at least one person reads my baseball posts and inserts the “blah, blah, blahs” in his head. Figured I’d add them for everyone this time because I AM IN SWITZERLAND and I’m only blogging this game as a formality.) I just woke up at 6 am and watched the end of the Twins loss to the Mariners in Seattle. Timezones are weird.
With all the stadiums I’ve been to, the most surprising omission has always been Wrigley Field. After all, it’s the second oldest stadium in existence and I used to semi-regularly drive through Chicago on trips from Ann Arbor to Minneapolis. You’d think that at some point I would have stopped to see the Cubs play. But no, my first trip to Wrigley Field wasn’t until this Friday when I flew to Chicago to visit Anand and drag him to a game.
My initial impressions of Wrigley are that it is very sparse — no jumbotron to show highlights and replays, no sideshow attractions, and no real decoration other than the ivy in the outfield. You’re there to watch a baseball game and nothing else… which is how it should be. It feels a lot like Fenway in places, mostly because of the age and similar construction style. There’s even a giant mechanical scoreboard in the outfield that’s reminiscent of the Green Monster.
The day started with a Chicago dog from Murphy’s Red Hots down the street and a rain delay. The storm cloud coming in from out of nowhere was an awesome sight to behold. While Anand and I waited for the rain delay to pass, we sat in the Wrigley basement doing a cryptic crossword out of the Enigma… because that’s the kind of people we are.
Once the clouds cleared (and the heat came back), we sat in the bleachers, on a recommendation from Harvey that the Cubs bleacher bums are not to be missed. And while we both got a little tired of “HEY DAVID! HOW MANY OUTS?” being shouted at David DeJesus, the Cubs centerfielder, the Bleacher Bums certainly have character.
Being in the bleachers meant we were also in prime location for homerun catching — and the Cubs hit three on Friday. One went clear out of the park onto Waveland Avenue behind us, one went to right field, and one landed right behind us.
Right behind us — in fact, we were on WGN’s broadcast of the homerun where I can be seen chastising Anand for not getting out of his seat to try and catch it. I think we could have had it, despite whatever comment he inevitably leaves says to the contrary. He did get in to the bleacher atmosphere later, yelling at Astros second baseman Matt Downs when he made an error in the field. “I’ll give you a hint: you’re looking for a round white thing!” I think I may have created a monster.
Our last day in Alaska was filled with driving. We had a lot of ground to cover to get Laura to her conference in Anchorage, and we made it harder on ourselves by taking a 175 mile detour to the Worthington Glacier as recommended by the East German woman who ran the roadhouse we had stayed at the night before. We also paused and took a brief hike to view the Matsunaka Glacier.
By the end of the trip, I was amused by the marked change in Laura’s outlook. When she picked me up in Anchorage, she kept commenting on how small it seemed. I kept telling her that we were in the big city, and she seemed skeptical. Driving back to Anchorage, we stopped in Palmer, which is almost an Anchorage suburb. “This town is so big! There are so many cars!” Ah, how quickly we adapt. When we checked in to her conference hotel — a Hilton — we were both shell shocked by the luxury. Fresh towels! A shower that is taller than me with real temperature control! An elevator!
Alas, I did not stay at the Hilton. I took a 1 AM flight back to SF. I thought I might see darkness from the plane for the first time since leaving the lower 48. But even though I didn’t really fall asleep, just as it looked like dusk might descend into night, the sun started to rise again. A starry night sky would have to wait until I returned to California.
… and lest you not believe us about the eagle, here is the amazing picture Laura’s DSLR got of him flying around above us shortly after we stopped filming the above video. That’s National Geographic stuff right there.
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