Take Me Out to the Ballgame...Charles B-Day Trip Part 3

Well, this is the 3rd time I've been to Boston during baseball season and the 3rd time the Red Sox have been out of town.. grrr. So this time I compromised and went to Fenway Park for a tour. Eventhough I was the big baseball fan Lori, Meg, Charles, and Anna enjoyed the tour also.

This was no tour for weak Yankee fans.

Our guide made comments about their intelligence,
the evilness of their team and city, etc. He has been in Boston and a fan of the Red Sox since 1949. We got to see just about everything but the locker rooms.

The past few years there have been seats on the Green Monster. The only way to sit there is through a lottery that is held online.

You register at the Red Sox site and if you are picked you can buy 2 tickets at

$150 each for 1 game. The view from there is really good. In fact, everywhere we went was a good seat.

The is a section below the press box that in order to get tickets there you have to commit to 2 seats every home game for like 7 years. End cost is about $350,000.
Don't worry there is a waiting list.

Fenway still has some wood seats.. not benches though. The owners from the 20s to the 60s want to be immortalized at Fenway. You can see in this picture dots and dashes on 2 of the vertical lines. Those are the initials of the owner and his wife. Pretty cool.

The person who runs the totally manual score board on the bottom of the Green Monster makes about $60 a game. He has been doing it about 16 years and there is a 400 person waiting list for this job. The room back there is very narrow with no heat or air conditioning or water or toilet...

Charles' 16th B-Day Trip Part 2

After a red-eye flight from Seattle to Boston we arrived in Beantown. Considering the nutrutional suppliments you get now-a-days on flights we were to say the least FAMISHED when we arrived. The guy at the rental place gave a tip on a good local diner at which to have breakfast. This is one of the old train cars that has been converted in to a eating establishment. Food was really good. The atmosphere was very authentic north-east. We added a GPS to our rental car so we could get around. Well, it got us to our apartment, but more on the GPS later.

As in England last year we rented condos/apartments for our stays instead of doing the hotel thing. We were in the blue building

With 5 of us it made more sense. This one on the east side of Boston was on the 3rd floor...no elevator... and had 2 bedrooms, our own bath, kitchen, satalite TV, and internet.. including an actual computer. The landlords of this apartment also let us use their game room in the basement which incuded a Wii, 2 pinball machines, and a slot machine. It was quiet, near a "T" station and very comfortable.

Good-Bye to the Old Fart-Dick Hart 1930-2008

As many of you know my dad Richard Harold/ Dick/ Spaz passed away on 9 May 2008. He had been dealing with Alzhiemer's for many years and had been in a nursing home since last summer.
I saw him last Sept and he was still able to walk around, but when we saw him in March he was wasting away fast. The good thing about Alzhiemer's is that the person afflicted probably has no clue as to what is going on. The care givers, ie, my mom are the one's that really struggle. For both of them this passing into the next life is a blessing for both of my parents.
The services were held on 17 May. It was a good day for all of us, especially Mom. She got to see just how well liked Dad was and how much she is loved. Lori and I were able to attend after cancelling part of our vacation to get there. Anneka and Samantha flew down from Idaho. My brothers came in from Utah and Seattle. My cousin Mathew flew out from North Carolina. Friends came from northern California and Utah. Mom was pretty amazed with the response.
We were able to get a military color guard to present a flag to Mom and play taps. It was really cool. Anneka kept a promise she made long ago, by playing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the luncheon. We also sang the Navy Hymn although most of us just muttered random words since we didn't know anything but the tune. My sister- in-law Laurie sang during the service and she played with Anneka.. playing cello.
For all those who knew Dad knew that although he was a grouch and very loud, he was a big softy inside and we loved him all the more.
I feel very lucky to have had my dad around for so long. I love him and will miss him, but I'm so glad he is free of his failed body and can now enjoy his time in the spirt world while he waits the Resurrection. Till we meet again Dad, Love you.

Charles' 16th B-Day Trip Part 1

We started a tradition with Anneka that when the kids get turn 16 they get to have a trip to celebrate it. For AJ it was a cruise with Mom and Dad. Richard did a Hawaiian cruise and last year we did Meg's to England. This year Charles turned 16 and he decided to do an American History trip. So for the next few posts we will explore our travels in Boston, New York, and Washington DC.

Before we even got back east we had a long layover in Seattle. My brother David and his family live there. They picked us up a

t the airport and we spent the afternoon with them. My cousin Luke joined all of us for a very nice time.

On the couch l-r is Anna, Charles, Meg, Debbie

On the floor l-r is Lori, Cristina, Me, Darlee, David