Royalty returns to the Bay area before returning home to NYC!

After we left Anaheim Friday night, we drove 100 miles north on I-5 to Lebec where we spent the night at Motel 6. We arrived there around 1AM which gave us enough time to get a good night sleep.

We got up in the morning & we drove back towards the Bay area. We were going to Oakland which was 300 miles away. We drove for a short time and then I noticed an exit that had places to eat so I got off so we could have breakfast. Since Duck wanted to have coffee at McDonald's I dropped him & the King off there. I saw an Iron Skillet just up the road so I decided to go there instead. I had time and I prefer to eat well so I did. I wound up having an all you can eat buffet. It worked out well since we had a long drive ahead of us. After I indulged in my hearty breakfast, the King & Duck walked over to where I was. Once I was done, we got back in the car and we continued on towards Oakland.

As we got closer we ran into a traffic jam that was at a stand still. There was a major accident that closed all the lanes. Luckily we were able to turn around & we took an alternate route instead. By doing so, the delay we had was minimal. Once we got back on the right track we were in good shape. We wound up stopping for gas just before we got to the O.co Coliseum which is the home of the Oakland Athletics. They were playing the Cleveland Indians on this night & it was Yoenis Cespedes bobblehead doll night for the first 15,000 fans who entered the ballpark.

Me with my Yoenis Cespedes Bobblehead Doll

Thanks again to our pal and fellow ballpark chaser Tike Narry who gave us tickets to the game which also had a $6 credit per ticket on them which allowed us to get something to eat at the ballpark. In addition, he gave us a parking pass. We couldn't thank Tike enough for all he did for us at the beginning of the trip & now once again at the end of it.

He told us the ballpark gates were opening extra early at 2:30PM for the 6:05PM start. As a result, we planned accordingly. We wound up getting to the parking lot at 3:30PM. By doing so, we were all able to secure a bobblehead of the 2013 Home Run Derby champion. It's always nice when you go to a game and you get a cool giveaway.

Since we had some much time before the game, we all wandered around the ballpark before we decided to go up to the upper deck where our seats were with Tike & his son Patrick. It was great to see them again before our week long getaway came to a close.

As for the game we saw, the Indians took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as former Athletic Nick Swisher opened the scoring with a solo homer to make it 1-0 Indians. They added another run which proved to be enough as they eventually went on to beat the A's, 7-1. The Indians scored three times in the top of the ninth inning to put the game away with two outs. As a result, the King asked me if we could leave because he didn't want to have a problem making our redeye flight out of San Francisco which was on the other side of the Bay 27 miles away. Tike told us how to get out of the parking lot which worked out well as we got out without any problems. We wound up driving across the Bay Bridge and we got to the car rental center at the San Francisco airport with plenty of time to spare. I returned the Ford Fusion I rented. I wound up driving 2,270 miles safely.

We walked over to the tram that took us back to the terminals where we checked in for our flight on American Airlines. We had our bags checked through to LaGuardia airport. We had a layover in Chicago O'Hare before arrived back home.

Stay tuned for the last leg of the journey as the King & I went in different directions that Sunday afternoon after we got home.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Fenway Park on Patriot's Day in Boston on Jackie Robinson Day!

Sunday night after the Yankee game, the King drove Vincent Ascanio, Phil Butleman and I towards Boston. We stayed over in Vernon, Connecticut which is about 10 miles north of Hartford at Motel 6. By doing so, we were in position to get to Boston which was 90 miles away in time for their traditional Patriot's Day game which coincides with the running of the Boston Marathon.

We wound up parking the car on the street within walking distance of Fenway Park for free by a meter because it's a legal holiday in Massachusetts at 10AM which gave us plenty of time to make the first pitch which was threw at 11:05AM.

It's always a thrill to go to Fenway Park to see a game. For me, I've seen at least one every year since 1986. This was my 95th baseball game there.

As for our pal Vincent Ascanio this was his first time to the old ballyard. It was great to have the opportunity to show him the way there.

Upon arrival we stopped off outside the Green Monster by the left field gate where we saw our favorite street vendor, Sausage Connection which is run by Harry and his mother who were call affectionately call Mama. They were so happy to see us again. Mama told us she's 81 years young. She looked great. It's always a pleasure to see her. She doesn't work as often as she used to but she always tries to make Patriot's Day. We were grateful she did. Of course, we introduced Vincent to them. They treated us royally as they have for over the 25 + years we've known them. We all ordered steak tips which served as our breakfast on this day. They were delicious.

The King, Harry, Mama, Me & Vincent Ascanio

Once we got done, we headed inside. We wanted to make sure Vincent got to see the unique features of going to Fenway. He said he had a blast.

Green Monster 

Royal View from Section 24 at Fenway Park

As for the game we saw, in honor of Jackie Robinson Day all the players wore the number 42. With that being said, it was hard to differentiate who was who. The umpires also wore number 42.

The Red Sox were playing the Tampa Bay Rays. Both starters, Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays and Ryan Dempster of the Red Sox both threw seven strong innings. The Red Sox lead at that point, 2-1. The Rays tied the game at two in the top of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox got a game winning double off the Green Monster from Mike Napoli as Dustin Pedroia raced around the bases all the way from first with one out to give the Red Sox a dramatic 3-2 victory at 2:07PM. Since we positioned ourselves out near the left field gate we were able to get out of the ballpark before many of the 37,449 that we were on hand. We stopped by Harry & Mama to say one last goodbye.

We then headed back to the car. In the process, we got to take a peak at the Boston Marathon which runs nearby. We had to go underground to get to the other side of the street so we could get back to the car. Thankfully we did so with relative ease unlike back in the day when we ran into wall to wall people trying to do so.

Stay tuned for a special post that will recap the unexpected turn of events that occurred shortly thereafter. A sad but unforgettable day indeed.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty officially opens the 2013 Major League Baseball season in Houston, Texas on Easter Sunday!

Live Peacock on Easter Sunday morning

Sunday morning after getting a much needed good night sleep, the King, Bryan Gilligan & I checked out of the Motel 6 we stayed at in Cedar Park, Texas. We were 175 miles from our final destination for the day that being Houston. We made some pit stops along the way before we arrived there.

Being it was Easter Sunday, I thought to myself earlier in the week that maybe I'll see a bunny hopping around for the occasion. Much to my chagrin, we had no such luck. Ironically though as we were walking out of the hotel to go to the car in the parking lot, all of a sudden we saw a peacock with a very long tail wandered around. We were in disbelief. What a way to start the day.

After we took pictures of it, we lost track of it as it disappeared into grassy area which was somewhat hilly. It was quite a scene to say the least.

After that thrill, we put our luggage into the car and we went on our way towards Houston. We drove down the road about 7 miles until we got to Interstate 35. Once we got on there, we saw an IHOP so we stopped off to have a royal breakfast. We weren't alone as there were a bunch of people waiting to be seated. We went inside and I gave them my name. They said it will be a 10 minute wait and that's what it wound up being as we finally got a table. I decided to have their split decision breakfast which consisted of two eggs, bacon, ham which I was able to substitute for sausage, a few slices of french toast and a few pancakes. It turned out to be a sound choice. It was excellent. After we finished eating we got back on the road. Shortly thereafter, we stopped again because we were right outside of Round Rock which is where the Texas Rangers' Triple A farm club plays. They're known as the Express of the Pacific Coast League nowadays. They play at a ballpark called the Dell Diamond. Back in May 2000, the King and I saw a game there. At that time, the Express was in the Texas League which was Double A ball.

After we took a few pictures and looked around, we got back in the car and we continued towards Houston. We arranged to meet up with our pal Steve Fekete aka the Padre Punk Punk who was already there because he went to the Rocket game after we met him in San Antonio on Saturday afternoon. We told him we'll meet him around 4PM by Minute Maid Park which is the home of the Astros who now play in the American League. They spent their first 50 years of existence in the National League.

As we were driving we decided to stop off at our hotel, Days Inn, which was located in a town called Humble which was 4 miles from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport and about 20 miles from downtown where the ballpark is. We wound up getting there around 2PM. Luckily our room was clean so we were able to check in early. It worked out well. We were able to get situated. Once we were done we got back in the car and we drove to downtown. Steve said he was already there hanging out in the center field area where a fan fest was being held on the street right the ballpark. They had different stands set up and there was musical entertainment for everybody to enjoy.

We wound up parking the car on the street for free like Steve did. We were a short walk from the ballpark. We went to the box office first to see if they had any tickets available for the game since we decided to wait until we arrived there since the ticket prices were rather steep online. Steve had bought a ticket online from Ticketmaster for $50 he said a month in advance. We wound up getting three tickets for $20 each that were way out in right field. They were also selling standing room for the same price which was anywhere on the first level. All we cared about was getting into the ballpark as cheap as possible.

We were all excited & relieved once we had our tickets in hand at 3:30PM. We got in contact with Steve and we met up with him. We all decided to take a walk around to see if we could get something to eat for dinner before we went inside the ballpark.

Royalty collides with Qualty Tours

After passing up a few places, we wound up going to a restaurant called the Hearsay Gastro Lounge. We all decided to get burgers for dinner. It turned out to be a sound decision after all.

Once we finished we had to dodge some rain drops as we walked back to the ballpark to go see the game. We split up once we got inside. I decided to hang out with Steve who calls himself, West Coast Quality Tours. He lives out in Anaheim, California. He's in the midst of trying to get to all 122 current venues in the four major sports that being baseball, football, basketball and hockey. He just went passed the midway mark during the week while he was in Texas. I was happy to be apart of his quality experience. We walked all around the first level and Steve took numerous pictures which he's going to share on his Facebook page. He also likes to tweet on Twitter. His handle is @rstones199 in case you want to follow him as he continues to complete his quest for 122.

Prince looking out from Crawford Boxes 

After taking the quality tour, we went upstairs to the upper level where we met up with the King. Steve went to his seat in section 420 row 1 and I joined the King who found a few empty seats in row 11. We lucked out as people didn't show up for the seats so we got to sit behind home plate like we always do.

National Anthem

We got settled in just in time as they announced the players during a special pre game ceremony, J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Shortly thereafter, American Country singer Lyle Lovett sung the National Anthem. He later sang God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch which was followed by a Lone Star State favorite called Deep in the Heart of Texas. I love hearing that tune when I go to Texas. It's a local tradition.

Bud Norris delivers first pitch at 7:08PM CT

As for the game we saw, the Astros got off to a good start as they beat the visiting Texas Rangers, 8-2 to win their first ever American League game which was historical in more ways than one as the Astros also got their 4,000th franchise win before a sellout crowd of 41,307 which was comprised of fans of both teams as people made the trip to see their Rangers play.

Some of the highlights for the Astros included Bud Norris picking up his first victory. He allowed two runs in five & two thirds innings of work. Erik Bedard got a "real" save, the first of his career as he wound up pitching the last three and a third innings of shutout relief to help secure the win. Center fielder Justin Maxwell led the way as he hit two triples & he drove in two runs. Rick Ankiel made his Astro debut in style as he hit a pinch hit three run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning which put the game away right after the Rangers cut the lead to 4-2.

Stay tuned for the next installment as we made our way back home Monday morning in order to get to Citi Field to see the Mets open their season against the San Diego Padres in their home opener. Please bear with me as I try to find the time to recap the adventure in detail. It will be worth the wait.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

 Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Cedar Park to see Texas Stars play hockey!

Prince at Cedar Park Center

After getting a taste of baseball in the afternoon in San Antonio at the Alamodome, I drove the King and our pal Bryan Gilligan another 100 miles to Cedar Park, Texas which is located about 20 miles northwest of Austin, which is the state capital. By doing so, we got to see AHL hockey as the Texas Stars, the Dallas Stars' affiliate, were taking on the Grand Rapids Griffins, the farm club of the Detroit Red Wings which happens to be the King's favorite hockey team at the Cedar Park Center.

As for Steve Fekete, he left us and he drove back to Houston where he went to see the Rockets play the Clippers at the Toyota Center in downtown.

Before we got to the arena, we stopped off at a Whataburger that was seven miles away to have a pre game meal since we were starving from not eating much all day due to all the traveling we did since we left home early in the morning.

As for the game we saw, the Griffins scored the first goal of the game as Jan Mursak lit the lamp with 5:44 to go in the first period to make it 1-0. The Stars got the equalizer as Justin Dowling scored to tie the game at one a minute and 27 seconds later. The Stars got a late goal with just 8 seconds to go in the period to take a 2-1 lead thanks to Travis Morin who redirected a beautiful pass from Colton Sceviour to change the complexion of the game. In the second period, neither team scored. In the third period, Matt Fraser of the Stars added an insurance goal which made it a 3-1 game with 6:23 to go. That's how it ended thanks to goaltender Jack Campbell of the Stars who made 42 saves which enabled his team to emerge victorious as the sellout crowd of 6,462 went home happy.

After the game, thankfully I booked rooms at Motel 6 which was only three miles from the arena since we were all exhausted. With that being said, we were able to get a much needed good night sleep.

Please stay tuned for the special post that will detail how we spent our Easter Sunday in the Lone Star State.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Lewiston, Maine for AHL hockey despite Plato!

Prince outside Androscroggin Bank Colisee

After we left Springfield, Massachusetts Saturday night after the game, we drove up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire which was 142 miles away. We got there around 12:30AM. We stayed over at Motel 6 where we got a good night sleep.

We woke up in the morning and we looked out of the window. It was snowing lightly. We put on the TV and we checked out the weather channel. They said a storm called Plato was on its way up from the South. It was heading towards Maine. Luckily they said that the accumulation was only going to be 3-6 inches after they initially said it was suppose to be closer to a foot.

I knew we may have some snow in the area so I planned accordingly. I dressed warm and I brought my boots just in case. It turned out to be the right move as I wound up wearing everything I took.

Once we checked out of the hotel we went to have breakfast at IHOP which was in a shopping center right up the road. After we had a hearty meal, we drove over to Walmart which was nearby so we could do some shopping.

We got done and we drove to Lewiston, Maine which was 85 miles away from Portsmouth and 35 miles past Portland.

We went to see the Portland Pirates, the Phoenix Coyotes AHL affiliate play the St. John's IceCaps, the Winnipeg Jets farm team at Androscroggin Bank Colisee, which is an old barn with all wooden seats at 4PM. This was one of the four games they were playing there this season.

It should be noted that this the same arena where Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston in their rematch back on May 25,1965.

This place was the cornerstone for making this journey. Despite mother nature trying her best to derail our plans we managed to get there and back without too much difficulty. We allowed enough time so we could get there without a problem. We wound up parking the car on the street right across from the arena for free at 2:50PM.

We walked over to the box office which was in front of the building. They posted a sign saying the game was sold out. We didn't buy tickets in advance because we didn't think it was going to be a problem. With that being said, we started asking people as they were coming towards the arena if they had any extra tickets.


They're were other people looking too. Luckily after a little while I had an older gentleman ask me how many tickets I needed. I told him two. He said he had one. I told him that's better than none. He proceeded to give it to me. I thanked him and shook his hand. Now we only needed one more between us. Ironically while I continued to ask if anybody had an extra ticket, a young man came towards the box office and he said he needed a ticket too. Shortly thereafter, the King found someone who had an extra ticket and he gave it to him. He asked him if he had another and sure enough he did. So we got two together right near center ice. We took the third ticket we had and we gave it to this young man who thanked us and he said and I quote "today's my lucky day." With that being said, we all got in for free. The game being allegedly sold out turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us. It should be noted they announced a sellout crowd of 3,750 but there were a good number of scattered empty seats which makes you wonder.

Prince at Androscroggin Bank Colisee

King at Androscroggin Bank Colisee

As for the game we saw, the Pirates scored early and often as they lead 3-0 after the first period. After a scoreless second period, the Pirates tacked on three more unanswered goals before the IceCaps broke the shutout with just 29.3 seconds to go in the game. The Pirates went on to win, 6-1.

After the game, we went to have dinner at Governor's Restaurant and Bakery which was conveniently located a few miles away just before the entrance to I-95.

I got to have a great seafood dinner while the King had steak tips before we got back in the car to drive 335 miles back home to Astoria.

As for dinner, I had a haddock chowder soup to go along with broiled scallops, red skin mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables which consisted of carrots, green beans and cauliflower. It was a perfect way to end our visit to New England. Nothing beats having seafood in Maine.

On the way back home I braved the strong winds that were blowing as we wound up getting back home at 1:44AM. With that being said, another exciting and adventurous weekend was complete.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman