Royalty is going back to the Bay Area over Labor Day weekend!

Here's the game plan:

The King & I are flying to San Francisco on American Airlines. We leave New York JFK Airport on Thursday, August 30th at 7AM Eastern Time, we arrive in the City by the Bay at 10:19AM Pacific Time if all goes well. Upon arrival, I'm renting a car for the long weekend from Payless Car Rental. I plan to drive right to San Jose upon arrival. Due to a change in plans, we're going to Oakland that night instead. Thanks to our pal & fellow sports traveler Tike Narry we'll be sleeping at his new house while we're there. Friday morning I plan to drive to Stockton so we can spend some quality time visiting the King's sister who lives there. We'll be returning to San Francisco that night to see the Giants play. Saturday we get to see a Bay Area baseball doubleheader with the Giants playing that afternoon & the Athletics home that night. Sunday afternoon we're going back to AT&T Park then we're going to Tike's house warming party that night. Labor Day Monday we'll be in Oakland that afternoon. We should have enough time for a farewell dinner before we head back to the airport in San Francisco to catch our red eye flight back home. We're scheduled to leave there at 10:16PM Pacific Time & if we don't get delayed for any reason we should land back at New York JFK Airport at 7AM Eastern Time Tuesday morning.       
   
Thursday August 30th Stockton Ports at San Jose Giants 12:30PM Pacific Time

                                       Mariners at Athletics 7:05PM Pacific Time

Friday August 31st Mets at Giants 7:15PM Pacific Time
                            
Saturday September 1st Mets at Giants 1:05PM Pacific Time                                                            

                                          Mariners at Athletics 6:05PM Pacific Time

Sunday September 2nd Mets at Giants 1:05PM

Monday September 3rd Yankees at Athletics 1:05PM Pacific Time 

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us & many other people we plan to meet out there.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

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

Royalty is going to the West Coast for a week full of baseball games all over California, Reno, Nevada and Arizona in the middle of August!

The King & I are going to the West Coast in the middle of August.

Here's the game plan:

Saturday, August 10th we have a flight booked on American Airlines that departs LaGuardia Airport at 6:30AM Eastern Time we're scheduled to arrive in San Francisco, California at 11:15AM Pacific Time with a layover at Chicago-O'Hare.

Upon arrival, I'll be renting a car from Dollar for the week.

Saturday August 10th Orioles at Giants 1:05PM

                                  Modesto Nuts at Stockton Ports 7:05PM

Sunday August 11th Orioles at Giants 1:05PM

                                Bakersfield Blaze at San Jose Giants 6:05PM

Monday August 12th Nashville Sounds at Reno Aces 7:05PM

Tuesday August 13th Mets at Dodgers 7:10PM

Wednesday August 14th Orioles at Diamondbacks 12:40PM

                                       Oklahoma City Red Hawks at Tucson Padres 7:05PM

Thursday August 15th Mets at Padres 7:05PM

Friday August 16th Astros at Angels 7:05PM

Saturday August 17th Indians at Athletics 6:07PM

We'll be flying back home on a redeye flight, August 17th. Our flight on American Airlines departs San Francisco at 11:25PM Pacific Time. We arrive at  LaGuardia Airport at 9:40AM Eastern Time after we have a layover at Chicago-O'Hare.

Please feel free to check back for all the details of how this getaway turned out. It's going to be a midsummer's night dream.

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

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman