A Royal return to Nashville, Tennessee in August!‏

Last October I went to Nashville aka Music City to see the Tennessee Titans play at LP Field. This time after spending the night in East Memphis, I drove to Nashville with the intentions of seeing the Nashville Sounds, the Triple A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers play‎ at Herschel Greer Stadium which is notorious for its unique guitar shaped scoreboard in left field. After playing 37 years of hits, this was the last year they were playing there hence the slogan, Last Cheer at Greer. With being said, I purposely made this trip with that in mind. Ironically the Titans were home for a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers as well. 

Me outside Pringles Park in Jackson, Tennessee

After having a royal breakfast at Baymont Inn & Suites, I drove across middle Tennessee. I stopped off in Jackson which is the home of the Double A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, the Jackson Generals. I drove a short distance off the highway & I made a quick stop to go see their ballpark which is called Pringles Park. After I walked around for a short time, I got back in the car & I continued on. I wound up getting to the Nashville area around 3:30PM. I decided to take a ride to the ballpark to check it out before I ate dinner at a highly recommended restaurant called Monell's in Germantown. Since dinner wasn't being served until 5PM, I had some spare time. The ballpark was a few miles away from the downtown area.

Monell's in Germantown

Monell's where you feel right at home

When I got back to Monell's, I parked the car & I waited with bunch of other people until it was time for dinner. It was quite an experience. I wound up sitting at a table with 14 other people. We got to pass around food the table until our hearts were content. Among the different people who were there, a couple came all the way from Poland to visit our country & they also got to experience life in the South. 

My dinner at Monell's

As they say there, we show your mouth to the South. Did they ever? I wound up having plenty of great food which consisted of southern fried chicken, catfish, corn pudding, biscuits & gravy, turnips, mashed potatoes, pulled pork & macaroni & cheese. It was Southern Hospitality at its finest. 

First Tennessee Park - New Home of the Nashville Sounds

I want to personally thank fellow ballpark chaser Steven Burke for the amazing suggestion. When I walked out, I was stuffed. If I get to go back someday, I can go to see the new ballpark that's being built for the Sounds. It's scheduled to open for the 2015 season. It's right near downtown within walking distance of Monell's. It will be called First Tennessee Park.

Me outside the Greer before I ate dinner at Monell's

37 Years of Hits

Guitar scoreboard in left field

Official stamp showing I was physically there

Tarp covering the field

I'm not happy after the game was rained out

I proceeded to drive back to Herschel Greer Stadium. I parked the car & as I approached the ballpark, ‎I noticed the skies didn't look good. I knew trouble in the form of rain was on the way. Sure enough, right after I walked into the ballpark, the skies opened. The rain came pouring down on my parade. I wound up sitting under cover behind home plate. The field was covered but the outfield was drenched with puddles everywhere. With that being said, I knew they had no chance of playing the game. A little kid who was sitting next to me was so upset. As for me, I was too but there was nothing I could do about it. I just had to accept the fact I wasn't going to get to see a game played there. However I did get my minor league passport book stamped to prove I was in the ballpark. After they waited a while, they made the announcement that the game was rained out. In retrospect, it was probably a blessing in disguise. I did have a long ride ahead of me. I got back to the car & I drove to Chattanooga, Tennessee where I spent the night at Super 8. In the process, I lost an hour due to the time zone change.

Stay tuned for another special post that will go into detail about the last day of the getaway.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly‎,

Gary Herman

Royalty is going down South to see some Triple A baseball!

I'm going to the Southeast over the second weekend in August.

Here's the game plan:

Friday August 8th I have a flight booked on Delta Airlines that departs LaGuardia Airport at 7AM Eastern Time I'm scheduled to arrive in Atlanta, Georgia at 9:32AM Eastern Time.

Upon arrival, I'll be renting a car from Hertz for the weekend.

Friday August 8th New Orleans Zephyrs at Memphis Redbirds 7:05PM Central Time
                                              
Saturday August 9th Round Rock Express at Nashville Sounds 6:35PM Central Time

Sunday August 10th Norfolk Tides at Gwinnett Braves 2:05PM Eastern Time  
                        
I'll be flying back home Sunday night so I have to miss the Braves & Nationals since ESPN decided to take that game for their Sunday night game. I'm not surprised. I need to be back for a MLB doubleheader Monday that's why I'm not staying over. My flight on Delta Airlines departs Atlanta at 8:45PM Eastern Time. I arrive at  LaGuardia Airport at 11:10PM Eastern Time.

Please feel free to check back for all the details of how this getaway turned out. It's going to be a good time. You can't beat Southern Hospitality.

If you want to join me, please let me know so I can arrange to make it happen.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty rides to Reno to see the Aces play!

After spending another night at Casa De Narry Sunday night August 11th, the King, Duck & I woke up after the Narry family left to go to work Monday morning August 12th. Tike gave me a key to lock up the house once we got ready to hit the road. They woke up early & we slept through.

Tike who now works for Amtrak as an engineer was driving a train to Reno. We arranged to meet him later in the day there. He decided to join us for the minor league baseball game we were seeing there that night.
Once we left his house we drove back to Stockton because I told the King I was going to make sure that we would go visit his sister Alice Casiano who lives there. True to my word, we did indeed. We wound up going to her home first. We saw her and her husband Miguel. After we spoke for a short time, we decided to go to get something to eat. She recommended Denny's which was nearby. We asked her is there anything else. I suggested IHOP because I know Duck likes that place. She said yes there is. So she decided to drive us all in her SUV. We wound up having a nice breakfast together. It should be noted everything we've gone to Northern California, we've also made time to see her along the way. With that being said, it was nice to see her again.

Once we got back to her house, we said our goodbyes and we continued on our way to Reno aka the Biggest Little City in the World. We got there around 4:30PM. We parked the car in the El Dorado casino garage for free thanks to Tike who told us to do so. We then walked over to a restaurant in the Casino called The Brews Brothers where we met up with Tike for a pre game meal. He told me they have amazing specials from 2-5PM. We timed it perfectly as we got there just before that ended. As a result, we got to take advantage. Even after Tike told us about a time that he and some buddies drank there for a few hours for next to nothing, the King couldn't believe the bill when the waitress brought it to us. We had some really good pizza, wings and microbrewed beers. I want to thank Tike again for another solid recommendation.
After we finished eating, we walked over to Aces Ballpark, home of the Reno Aces which was a few blocks away. It should noted that the Triple A All-Star Game was held there in June. On the way, we stopped by the Amtrak station which is right by left field. Tike showed around there. We then proceeded to head towards the box office to get tickets for the game. Before we got to do so, a guy outside said here's tickets for the game. We were all caught off guard. He just gave them to us. We all thanked him and we proceeded to go inside. We were in the right place at the right time. As I like to say, timing is everything.

View from Aces Ballpark

As for the game we saw, the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks' affiliate were hosting the Nashville Sounds, the Milwaukee Brewers' farm team. The Aces got up to a fast start as they batted around in the first inning. They wound up scoring six runs. There were a few walks, an error, a wild pitch and a few timely clutch two out hits that resulted in the big inning. The Sounds broke the shutout with a run in the top of the third inning to make it, 6-1. The Aces answered back in the bottom of the third inning with three more runs to go up, 9-1. The Sounds came right back as they scored four in the fourth & two more in the fifth to make it a game at 9-7. The Aces responded with three more in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the game away as they went on to win, 12-7.

Duck, The King & Tike

After the game we said goodbye to Tike and thanked him again for all he did for us. We told him we'll see him again Saturday when we return to Oakland.

We drove 45 miles to Minden, Nevada where we spent the night at the Carson Valley Inn, which was another great recommendation by Tike.

Stay tuned for the next installment of this journey as I try to make time to catch up.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman