Official Review of Volcanoes Stadium in Salem-Keizer, Oregon

Here's my official review of Volcanoes Stadium in Salem-Keizer, Oregon.

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/volcanoes-stadium-s313/

I've been helping out my buddy Paul Swaney by doing reviews for him when time allows me to which these days is very rare.

His website, Stadium Journey is on my blog list. Here's the link: http://www.stadiumjourney.com/

Please feel free to check out his amazing site which will educate you greatly if and when you decide to take a road trip to see a new venue or if you're just curious how life is in other parts of the country.

When it comes to sports travel knowledge I have plenty but I don't have the time to go in depth like his site does. Regardless you can always feel free to e-mail me and pick my brain.

I'm a team player so whenever I can help somebody else, I indirectly help myself too. I think if you follow my blog, you should do the same.

Life is short. Play hard. I do, I believe you should too.

I hope you enjoy my evaluation.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman     

Volcanoes Stadium in Salem-Keizer, Oregon

Volcanoes Stadium

After watching the Ducks play in Eugene, I went to see the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the San Francisco Giants affiliate play a minor league baseball game against the Eugene Emeralds, the San Diego Padres farm club.

The stadium is known as the "Crater" and it's located right off I-5 exit 260A which was on my way back to Wilsonville where I was staying for two nights at Super 8.

In addition, my friend Kevin Feist, who coaches high school baseball played at that field. His son Caleb played there and won back-to-back State Championships on that field as well.

It's quite ironic that the Feist family had such an impact on me on Saturday.

Kevin also told me to ask for Jerry Howard, who's a team executive.

After getting settled in, I walked around and I asked a gentleman with a staff shirt on if he knew where Jerry Howard was. He said I'm Jerry Howard so I introduced myself to him.

I told him I know Kevin Feist. Just like that I received royal treatment.

Jerry told me he's a 68 year Duck so he was very happy with the Duck game. I told him I was at the game.

He also introduced me to the owners of the team who were from NY as well.

I got to spend most of the game in the diamond club suite as a result.

As for the game itself, it was scoreless for 9 innings then in the 10th inning the Volcanoes erupted when their centerfielder Gary Brown delivered the game winning hit to give them a 1-0 victory.

I want to thank the owners and Jerry Howard for treating me so special.

I had a blast while I was there.

Furthermore, I plan to do a Stadium review for Stadium Journey on this ballpark too.

Stay tuned for my return to Seattle on Sunday.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty attracts a crowd at Autzen Stadium-Home of the Oregon Ducks!

Me, Caleb Feist, Casey Heinz, Kieran Colahan & Conor Colahan 

Upon leaving my hotel in Wilsonville, Oregon Saturday morning which was around 95 miles from Eugene, I didn't expect to have nearly as much traffic as I did.

Being an a very experienced driver, I found a way to minimize the delays along the way.

The traffic moved from time to time but there were pockets of traffic.

I needed to make time so I creatively saw opportunities to get off certain exits where I could just go across to the other side and get back on the highway.

I did that on a few occasions and I passed hundreds of cars in the process.

Royalty knows all the tricks of the trade.

I saw ways to get ahead and I made sure I took full advantage.

Finally I got close to the Autzen Stadium area.

Thankfully I was told by my new found friend and big Oregon Duck fan, Kevin Feist, where to park and pick up a shuttle bus to the game.

I wound up paying $5.00 to ride a school bus to and from the game.

That was the best $5.00 I spent on this trip.

By doing so, I avoided the hassle of dealing with the rest of the traffic that was going to the game.

It worked out perfectly for me.

Once I got to the stadium, I still needed to found a ticket. I wasn't alone others were holding fingers up too.
After looking for a short time, a gentleman approached me and he said he had an extra ticket. I asked him where it was. I looked at my seating chart and I saw it was towards the corner of the end zone right by the gate I was outside of. So I asked him what he wanted for it, he said $20 so I immediately decided not to haggle with him and I gave him a twenty dollar bill.

I proceeded to go inside the stadium.

I got a text from Kevin Feist's son Caleb who was attending the game with his friends.

Ironically, the ticket I bought outside was located in the same section. I was in section 36 row 56 seat 12 and Caleb and his friends were in section 36 row 68 seat 27.

I told him I'll look for him at halftime.

I said I like to keep the play by play of the game.

I proceeded to my seat and I watched and scored the game.

The Ducks got the ball first after the New Mexico Lobos won the toss and deferred the kickoff to the second half.

The Ducks were driving and the Lobos intercepted a pass. That turned out to be the highlight of the day for the Lobos who couldn't do anything else right all day.

The Ducks demolished them, 72-0!

Kenjon Barner who replaced LaMichael James who was suspended for this game, had a career high 147 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns then he caught a 60 yard pass for another touchdown. He did all that in the first half of the game. The Ducks lead at the half, 59-0!

In addition, Cliff Harris ran back two punts for touchdowns of 61 and 64 yards respectively. It was the first time ever a Duck has done that.

The Ducks set a team record for yards in a game with 720.

They also tied the Autzen Stadium record for points with the 72.

It was quite an assault.

The game was over long before the half but for me personally the fun was just about to begin.

I got to meet up with Caleb and his friends as you can see in the picture.

Caleb is wearing a hat and he's to my right. Next to him is Casey, then Kieran is also wearing a hat and Conor who's Kieran's brother is in the front of us.

It was a privilege and an honor to meet these young men who all are from Burns, Oregon which is comprised of 4,000 people.

Being able to meet them made my visit extra special and memorable.

They all seem like very nice kids. I look forward to staying in contact with them.

Royalty attracts people of all ages.

Please stay tuned as I plan to do a Stadium review for my buddy Paul Swaney of Stadium Journey.

In addition, stay tuned to see how the rest of the trip unfolded.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Pike's Place Public Market in Seattle

Upon arriving at Sea-Tac airport at 2:15PM Pacific time, which is located around 15 miles from downtown Seattle and 15 miles from Tacoma hence the name, I went to Alamo to pick up my car rental.

I proceeded to drive to Federal Way which was heading south of the airport towards Tacoma to check into my Super 8 hotel around 3PM.

After I got situated, I drove back into downtown Seattle.

I called my friend Joey Kraft who I met last Halloween in Philadelphia at World Series Game 4 between the Yankees and the Phillies.

Joey had told me when we were talking that he was from Seattle.

I told him I hadn't been to Safeco Field since 1999. At that time, I didn't know when I was coming back to Seattle.

As the schedules came out, I noticed that Labor Day weekend shaped up to be a perfect opportunity.

Once I knew for sure I was coming I let Joey know.

With that being said, the time had finally arrived.

First and foremost, I want to personally thank Joey for making the time to see me.

His wife is expecting a baby at the end of the month so the timing worked out well.

In addition, he brought his nephew Alex with him. Alex is just 16 years old and he's a left handed pitcher who throws 88 MPH he said. I hope he has a bright future. He seemed like a nice young man.

We all met near Safeco Field at 4PM. I wound up leaving my car on the street for free.

Alex decided he wanted to go to the game and watch batting practice.

Joey drove me to the Pike's Place Public Market which was recommended to me by Kevin Feist from Burns, Oregon.

Joey and I wound up walking around the Public Market which is similar to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

I told Joey the King and I were here years ago.

The market is located right along the waterfront of Pudget Sound.

It's a beautiful area. You can see Safeco Field and Mt. Rainier in the distance amongst other great tourist attractions.

In the picture, you'll notice a fish being wrapped up for a customer.

It was thrown across the table when the person decided they wanted it.

It's a tradition that's been seen on TV during big sporting events according to Joey.

It was pretty cool to see the fish go flying.

After we walked around the market for a while, we decided to get some dinner there.

Stay tuned as I'll write a separate post regarding that.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royal treatment for visitors from Burns, Oregon

Me & Kevin Feist

On Friday, August 6th, I was at Yankee Stadium watching the Red Sox play the Yankees.

During the game, I noticed a guy coming up in our section wearing an Oregon Ducks shirt.

I decided to ask him if he knew what time the Ducks were playing on September 4th against New Mexico.
He said he didn't know. I told him that the New Mexico website had the game starting at 12:30PM Pacific Time. The Ducks website said it was TBA.

He said 12:30 sounded like it should be right.

We continued to talk during the game. I told him I'm planning to go to that game when I'm out in the Northwest that weekend. He said his son Caleb will be going too. I plan to meet him there.

He wound sitting right in the row behind me. We exchanged contact information.

He said and I quote "it's a small world".

He told me that he and his family were visiting New York for the very first time.

He said they were from Burns, Oregon which is a small town of around 4,000 people in the Southeast corner.

His name was Kevin Feist. He was with his wife Toni, and their 3 children, 2 boys Caleb and Austin and a girl, Carli. In addition, they were accompanied by his brother-in-law Bob and his wife Linda who were from Carson City, Nevada.

Kevin told me that his son Caleb is going to be a freshman this fall. He's going to school at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.

Ironically, his son plays baseball and his college coach is going to be former Yankee Scott Brosius.

Kevin said that his sister is good friends with Scott Brosius.

Kevin also mentioned he's a baseball coach too. In addition, he said he knew Kellen Clemens since he coached him in high school in Burns who also went to school at the University of Oregon and is the backup quarterback for the Jets.

When I saw the Jets play the other night, Kellen Clemens came in and I instantly thought of Kevin.

We spoke until the end of the game. I said to myself I'll going to take these people back to their hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

It was a rare night where I actually had time on my hands.

So after the game, I took pictures of the whole family. Then I escorted them to the subway.

Normally I take the 4 train to go home but since they needed the D train, I decided I'll go that way instead.

Fortunately I did for their sake, we walked towards the entrance of the stairway to the D train and it was wall to wall people.

I told them to follow me, we went upstairs towards the 4 train. I know there's a way to get back downstairs to get the D train.

It seemed like a longer way around until we got back downstairs inside the subway station and we saw the mob of people still trying to get to the turnstiles.

If we stayed where we were who knows how long we would have had to wait just to get into the subway station.

These people were amazed how I knew exactly how to out maneuver the crowd.

We proceeded to get right on the D train and off to Midtown we went.

We got off the train by Rockefeller Center. I decided to walk with them to their hotel so they wouldn't get lost.

I took them all right to the lobby of the Hilton Garden hotel where they were staying.

That's how royalty gives perfect strangers the royal treatment.

As a result, they were all very grateful for my kindness.

I had some rare spare time so I wanted to make good use of it and I did.

I did a good deed and I'm very proud of it.

These people contacted me before they left to go back home and they told me what a great time they had here and they look forward to coming back someday.

I hope they do, it will be an absolute pleasure to accomodate these people again.

I want to thank them for giving me that opportunity to do so.