Royalty meets up with Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge in Cleveland, Ohio in the middle of May!‏

On Saturday, May 17th I woke up early so I could go to Avis to pick up a car rental for the weekend. I wound up getting a Ford Focus since that's all they had left. I drove it back home so I could pick up the King as we drove all day to go to Cleveland, Ohio. We stopped off at the rest area in Pennsylvania just past the Delaware Water Gap just before 1PM. Luckily we got there at the right time. When we came out of the rest room, the line was a mile long. A few buses pulled in for a pit stop on their way to Yankee Stadium. The Yankees were playing the Pirates that day at 4:05PM. There was a mixture of Yankee & Pirate fans. As I say, timing is everything. I was beside myself but I was all smiles when I got there. 

Reason to smile

We got back in the car ‎& I drove to Brookville, PA where we got gas & made to order food at Sheetz around 3:45PM. I wound up eating my chicken fingers & mozzarella sticks in the car as we continued on to Cleveland. We arrived there shortly after 6PM. I arranged to meet up with our pal Rick Morris of the FDH Lounge outside Progressive Field, home of the Indians by the Bob Feller statue. I called him when I was 20 miles from downtown. He told me he was there already. He said he was going to stop off at a local bar so he could watch the Preakness. I told him I'll see him by the statue when he got done. We wound up meeting up around 6:30PM. We had bought some cheap tickets in advance so we were able to head right inside once we met up. We wound up meeting the King who was inside already in section 554 upstairs behind home plate. 

Me by Bob Feller statue

View from section 554

As for the game we saw, the Indians were hosting the Oakland Athletics on this night. Former Met & Indian Scott Kazmir was starting for the A's. Thanks to home plate umpire Jerry Layne he wasn't long for the night. He wound up getting ejected for complaining about the strikeout zone or the lack thereof. He lasted just one ‎& a third innings. He gave up a run on a wild pitch while walking three & striking out one. However he got off the hook for the loss thanks to his teammate, third baseman Josh Donaldson who tied the game at one with a run scoring single in the top of the third inning which was followed by a two run homer by first baseman Brandon Moss which gave the A's a 3-1 lead. The Tribe got a run back in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to make it a 3-2 game. The Athletics wound up putting the game away with three more runs in the top of the seventh inning when Josh Donaldson & Brandon Moss struck again. This time Donaldson delivered a two run triple & Moss added a run scoring double to give the A's a 6-2 victory. Relief pitcher Dan Otero threw three & two thirds of shutout relief to earn the win. Josh Tomlin who started for the Indians suffered the loss despite getting a quality start as he went six innings allowing three earned runs. The bullpen let it slip away once he came out. 

Regardless of the outcome, it was great to spend some quality time with our pal Rick Morris who's a big fan of the King & I. I want to thank him for always making time to join us when we come to visit. 

After we said our goodbyes to him, we walked back to the car ‎& we drove 200 miles to Somerset, PA where we spent the night at Days Inn.

Stay tuned for another special post that will recap how we spent that Sunday.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty can explore the rest of the World again!

On New Year's Eve the King and I went to the Post Office in Brookville, Pennsylvania to get our passports renewed.

When I came home last night I got my new passport. They tell you it takes 4-6 weeks to process. For me, it took only 13 days. Now that's royal treatment.

We initially got our passport so we could go to Japan in March 2000 to see the Mets play the Cubs.

Nowadays just to go to Canada you need a passport or an enhanced driver's license.

We decided that renewing our passports was a worthy investment for now and in the future.

We're North American specialists but eventually we need to see how the rest of the world lives.

In addition, my blog has attracted so many people from other parts of the world. Hopefully someday I'll get to meet some of these special people who have spent some of their precious time reading about me.

It's a new year and we have new dreams to fulfill.

If you need my assistance please feel free to ask for it.

If and when I decide it's time to move about the world, I'll need help too.

Team work makes the dream work. Let's all work together to achieve our goals.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty says goodbye to 2010 in Columbus, Ohio!

The King and I left Yankee Stadium after the Pinstripe Bowl and we headed towards Columbus, Ohio to say farewell to another amazing year.

We drove to Brookville, Pennsylvania to spend the night.

Before we departed for Columbus we stopped off at the local post office in town. With our trip to Calgary coming up over President's weekend we needed to get our passports renewed in order to get across the border. Thankfully we found a little time to do so. After we finished we were both relieved.

Next stop Columbus, Ohio which was 260 miles away.

We drove just under four hours and we arrived in Columbus shortly after 4PM which put us in position to secure a pair of $10 tickets that were going on sale at 5PM.

The Blue Jackets put 250 tickets on sale 2 hours before every game. This time we were able to take advantage of this tremendous promotion.

The Blue Jackets were playing the Ottawa Senators to close out the calendar year.

It should be noted the first Blue Jacket game we saw was ten years ago against the Devils on New Year's Eve as well.

This was our fifth visit to Nationwide Arena, which happens to be a great place to see a game.

If you have been there yet I strongly suggest you get there. The arena is conveniently located right in downtown off the highway.

As for the game we saw, the Blue Jackets build a 3-0 lead until late in the second period when the Senators finally got on the scoreboard to make it 3-1.
In the third period, the Senators continued to apply the pressure and they wound up tying the game at three. They forced overtime. In the overtime session, they kept bringing the pressure but they missed out on their opportunities to win the game and then the Blue Jackets got a break and they went down the other end and they lit the lamp to come away with a 4-3 victory.

What a way to end the year.

Stay tuned as I recap our change in plans to start the New Year on New Years' Day.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman