Royalty Tours USA

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Royalty gets a visit from the USRT as they return to see Citi Field!

Andrew Kulyk, Peter Farrell with the King and I
Friday night after work I arranged to meet up with the King and the Buffalo Boys, Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell aka USRT in other words, the Ultimate Sports Road Trip at Taste of Dolly's before we went to see the Mets play the Reds at Citi Field.

While I was on the 7 train, I ordered a pie for all of us. I got delayed on the train but they all got there just before me so it worked out well. When I arrived, my pizza was waiting for me. After we ate, we took a short walk to Citi Field.

Andrew in particular was very curious about Taste of Dolly's since he knows I go there a lot before many Met games. He was impressed with the pizza he said. It's a nice little local place to stop off before or after a game if you have time and want to save some money.

Andrew and Peter were back at Citi Field for the first time since they went there in 2009 when the stadium opened. They were anxious to see the changes that have taken place since then. Since we arrived just before game time, they decided to go right up to section 516 with us to watch the game.


Upon arrival at Citi Field, we were greeted by Sam Citron by the  Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Once we got upstairs to our seats we were greeted by some regulars who were on hand. We had Vincent Ascanio, Bryan Gilligan, Frank Anichiarico, Phil Butleman, David Sack and his friend Mark who's also well traveled. It was interesting hearing him tell me some great stories from his extensive road trips over the years.

As for Andrew and Peter, they were planning to come back Saturday night too so they said they would arrive early when the gates opened so they can take a grand tour of the venue. By doing so, they could reevaluate the ballpark since their only other visit was back in 2009. For all the details, check out their website.

As for the game we saw, the Mets' Jason Bay got hurt as he tried to be a hero. He went all out on a ball that was heading towards the left field wall in the corner. He wounded up missing the ball and the Reds' Jay Bruce circled the bases for an inside the park home run to give the Reds an early 1-0 lead. Jason Bay suffered a concussion as he left the game. Brandon Phillips added a two run homer to extend the Reds' lead. The Mets got the scoreboard as Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a solo home run to break the shutout. The Reds tacked on a few more runs before Scott Hairston who replaced Jason Bay hit a two run home run to make the score 6-3 Reds. The Reds added a run in the ninth as they won the game, 7-3. Needless to say, Andrew and Peter weren't too happy with the outcome.

After the game, we all went to Donovan's Pub to enjoy a post game meal. We got to hear about their road trip to Europe last October. Andrew and Peter gave us some family history stories since they got to visit some of their ancestors while they were in Germany and Finland visiting and seeing their Sabres play abroad. It was fascinating and heart breaking at the same time. We all need to count our blessings these days after hearing the hell some of their family members went through back then.

Stay tuned as I continue to recap this exciting weekend we had right in our own backyard.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

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