Day Twenty, Denver, CO: Coors Canaveral

On Thursday night I went to a Rockies game at Coors Field. Among all the major league parks, Coors hosts games of the highest offensive output every year. Because the stadium is literally a mile above sea level, the thinner air causes the balls to fly farther and reduces the motion on a pitcher’s pitches. In the last several years, the Rockies have begun using a humidor to moisten the balls, compensating for the drier air. This has had some effect in dampening the hits, and begun to lessen Coors’ reputation as a launching pad for home runs.

Otherwise, Coors is really a Comerica Park clone, albeit with some more seats in the outfield, (Coors seats over 50,000, while Comerica seats about 41,700.) For some reason, the Comerica architects opted to provide us with a view of the Detroit Skyline in lieu of more seating. I suppose there aren’t enough sellouts to justify more seating, but there isn’t enough skyline to justify such an open-air approach either.

I’m assuming that most of you are not too interested in the details of the game, which is too bad, as it was one of the better games I’ve attended. I am going to note, however, that my fantasy baseball team – Team Adventure Ball – does have FIVE Rockies on the roster. And they came up BIG for both the Rox and I last night. The Rockies won 7-6, with the help of 5 RBIs and 5 runs scored from the Adventure Ball big men, along with a save from Adventure Ball Closer Huston Street. Fantasy baseball is very real.

After the game we went to a bar down the street from the park. There are a lot of people handing out free beer tickets outside Coors Field. And there are a lot of bars in downtown Denver and thus the competition is pretty fierce. For the most part, however, a bar is a bar. My buddy David and I chose a buy one get one deal.

It’s amazing the people that you meet in the most random places. Dave and I played shuffleboard at the bar with a nice couple from Grand Rapids, MI. They work in the painting business, and informed me that business in Grand Rapids is booming. I guess it’s surprising what happens when you leave Detroit. Shuffleboard is an interesting game. I think I like it.

I’m finally leaving Denver today (Friday) and am heading to Rocky Mountain National Park. Not sure how long I will be there, or where I will go next, or when I will have internet. I expect to stay a couple days and will probably make a post afterwards. In the meantime, you can check the Twitter feed on the right sidebar, (directly below the Latitude map,) which I should be able to keep going even in the park.

Day Eleven, Kansas City, MO: Free Hot Dogs and Flying Saucers

I went to breakfast with my host, Greg, at McDonalds in the Plaza. I can’t say enough about that Deluxe Breakfast. Great value. After breakfast, we went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which was an interesting tour. The Negro Leagues had little structure for most of their existence, but at some times, their events rivaled those of Major League Baseball in size and attendance, not to mention player talent.

Following the museum we went to Arthur Bryant’s BBQ. Kansas City is famous for their BBQ restaurants. Arthur Bryant’s isn’t the most highly thought of among all the BBQ  places in KC, (Oklahoma Joe’s, which is located just across the state line, is supposed to be the best). However, Bryant’s was within walking distance of the museum.

Still having a few hours to kill before the game, we went to the Crown Center, which is easily one of the strangest places I’ve ever been to. Entering through Kansas City’s old Union Station, (left; built in the 1920’s to accommodate an increase in rail traffic which never materialized,) the Crown Center was created by the founder of Hallmark as an “Urban Experiment.” It has absolutely no clear identity, direction, or purpose.

Again, it’s difficult for me to describe how odd this area was. Think of an indoor mall attached to a 1920’s train station, with a large hotel located within, Corporate Headquarters-style decor (not surprising, as Hallmark’s headquarters are connected by skyway), and the oddest collection of shops you’ve ever seen. There was the Crayola Cafe (haven’t you always wanted to try the smoothie version of that Electric Yellow-colored crayon?), the Cat Boutique (?), Chocolate Factory, and Mobile Solutions. Mobile Solutions was really a microcosm of this entire urban schizoid aberration. At first, you might assume that the store carries cell phone cases, extra batteries, and things like that. In a way, that is correct. But Mobile Solutions also carries knock-off Calvin Klein sunglasses and an enormous selection of remote control helicopters. Like the mall it’s based in, it is designed for people with no clear reason for visiting and a fantastically short attention span.

It’s a small world. After arriving at Kauffman Stadium and buying tickets ($7), Greg, Marlene, Torey (a friend of Greg’s), and I enjoyed a nice KC-style tailgate. Kauffman Stadium is on the same general plot of land as the Chief’s Arrowhead Stadium, and thus they both share a parking lot that does not end. As it happened, we were parked next to two girls who were also tailgating. One of them was from Michigan and knew a few people I went to Albion with. It also turned out that they were sitting directly in front of us at the game.

Which didn’t make much of a difference, as we sat at the outfield bar for almost the entire time. Following this, there were a few more events that made this night incredibly remarkable.

First, there was a free hot dog giveaway in our rightful section, (which the bar directly overlooked). You know the kind where the girl trying to pay her way through college holds up three hot dogs and tries to get everyone to make an amount of noise that, were free food not involved, would be completely unacceptable? Whether it was the waving arms or my bar-perch that overlooked the section, this gracious lady decided that tonight was my night. This hot dog was the first prize I have ever won and I will never forget it. It tasted like delicious free.

Now under the impression that this new good luck  streak could only bring me more valuable free things, I immediately picked out the closest give away employees I could find (see picture). It turns out they were giving away hats, in this case. After realizing that I was not going to be getting a free hat, I settled for the picture to your right. Although I look a little distressed, I assure you that I felt fine.

As the game came to a close, I was witness to one of the most spectacular exchanges between two people that has ever occurred. While we were talking to a guy who was probably in his late 20’s, an innocent looking, 8-year-old-ish kid walked up. This was the result:

Guy: [With straight face] “Yeah, so this is my son-”
Kid: [Visibly flustered] “I’m not your son, for the last time!”
Guy: [Still straight-faced and unnerved] “Yeah, I have no idea who this kid really is…”
Kid: [Somehow even more bothered] “You’re such a dick!”
Guy: [Now searching his brain for some way to associate himself with this child, and saying the first thing that comes to mind] "Uh, he’s my AA sponsor.”

Of course we gave the guy directions to the bar we were headed to next and told him to meet us there. Not surprisingly, he didn’t make it there.

Really, the word “bar” does not adequately describe the Flying Saucer. They use the words “Draught Emporium” and I’m inclined to stick with that. The Flying Saucer has 200 beers on tap. Two hundred. And each beer has its own tap handle. The idea behind the Flying Saucer is simple; drink all of the beers. You have a membership card, and each time you order a beer, you swipe it. The beer you ordered is recorded, and when you reach 200 different beers, you get a saucer on the wall. Do it again, you get a different colored saucer, and so on. This is obviously not something you do in one night. However, it takes some people significantly less time to accomplish than others.

I usually get a positive reaction when I tell the people I meet what I’m doing. A lot of them think it’s a great idea. Some ask interesting questions, like, “What, did you just quit your job and go?” I laugh and remind them that I’m from Michigan, where people don’t have jobs. But invariably, most people express a desire to take a similar trip. Sure, some people can’t just get up and leave for two months, (especially if they’re lucky enough to have a job!) But otherwise, why not?

For more pictures, see http://picasaweb.google.com/reidksmith.

Day Seven, St. Louis, MO: Across the River

Today I drove from Bloomington to St. Louis, which went by surprisingly quickly, although on paper it was a 4+ hour drive. In the past week I’ve found that my definition of “the middle of nowhere” is both a bit anachronistic and woefully inadequate when applied to some other states. Having spent almost all of my life in Southern Michigan, I’ve grown accustomed to what amounts to a variable, but constant and thorough, population of the land surrounding myself. But even in Southern Illinois, there just are not a lot of things or people. I’m sure that at this point, the farther west I go, the more in-the-middle-of-nowhere I will find myself.

On the way out of Bloomington – on a road that rapidly progressed from main city thoroughfare, to city bypass, to country road – I saw something I did not expect to see this quickly; a herd of Bison. The herd was grazing in an enclosure and thus is, I suspect, being raised for human consumption. Most American Bison are now raised for human consumption and are not wild herds, let alone genetically pure, as they have been cross-bred with cattle.

(A note about pictures: clicking on the pictures within the blog will only link to a reduced size of the image, although still larger than what appears within the post. I’m working on a solution to that through separate photo albums.)

On the way to St. Louis I stopped at the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, which is about 45 minutes outside of Bloomington. Take Jurassic Park. Now, remove the genetics lab with the fancy robotic arms and the (faulty) electric fencing. Replace the dinosaurs with lions, tigers, and cougars. Keep the loud roaring and the blistering heat. What you’re left with are very exotic animals in very large cages.

However, this place is not a zoo. The main focus is on providing a habitat for these big cats, many of which have been abused and illegally kept in inadequate conditions. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, around 12,000 tigers are kept as private pets in the United States. When, inevitably, some of these animals need a larger or more legal home, they end up in places like the EFRC. The Center is open to the public and tours are offered, however, as I mentioned before, this is not the primary mission of the center. It is constructed to allow for easy caring of the animals; not to provide good viewing angles for guests.

But the view was still plenty good enough. The funny thing about these tigers is that they act like cats, which, of course, they are. But there is something unexpected about seeing a 1,000lb behemoth move with the same graceful saunter as your 10lb housecat. Some of the cats will – I suppose this word fits best – nay. It’s an odd sound, (see video at the end of the post). A roar, on the other hand, is not easily mistaken for much else. It is far deeper than I ever imagined, and carries much farther as well. The cats seem to carry on conversations with roars just as neighborhood dogs in close quarters often do.

After leaving the EFRC I continued to make my way to St. Louis, which is essentially a mindless track down I-70, through Illinois,  until you hit the Big River with the large city on the opposite bank. I’m staying in the heart of the city, right near the Delmar loop, and expect to do plenty of exploring around the city in the couple days ahead. This is also the first time I’ve been left of the Mississippi in roughly five years. The high tomorrow is 98 degrees, which makes it a great day to visit a brewery. With a special emphasis on the indoor aspect, as well as the cold beer aspect.

Tonight I went to the Cardinals game at New Busch Stadium, which is well known as one of the “better” parks in the country. The stadium recently opened in the 2006 season. To someone such as myself – a picky park fan who despises the encroaching commercialization of some newer stadiums (take Yankee Stadium), adores the oldest ones, (Tiger, Wrigley, etc), and admires the well done, newer ones, Busch Stadium is a beauty. The park is crafted in an entirely different mold than many of the newer parks, which have begun to shift to a retro with a finely-tuned modern aspect of design. Comerica Park and many others fit this bill; rather, Busch’s high, four-level bowl gives it a distinctly modern feel. It occurred to me that such a construction is possible in St. Louis, where a large majority of the skyline still projects over the tall bowl of the stadium. If you fold this collar in half, you’re left with Comerica Park – a structure that barely insulates you from your urban surroundings. This open air field is, in some cities, a nice effect. Detroit is not one of those cities.

It was a far different experience than a trip to downtown Detroit for a Tigers game. First, St. Louis, despite being roughly the size of Metro Detroit in population, has an actual public transit system. The Metro subway, while not delivering trains every minute and a half, is still a far better option that driving and parking. Second, the entire city goes to the ball game, they all wear red, and most of them take the subway. The Cardinals are a historically rich franchise, and fans in the city are truly devoted to the team. And they’re there to watch the game, not attend a social event. One couple that left early – with the Cards down two in the bottom of the ninth – was nearly shouted out of the park by the rest of the section.

It’s real late, (although I’ve entered the point where late for me is later for you,) so I must be going. More tomorrow!

For more pictures, see http://picasaweb.google.com/reidksmith