Day 5 & 6 Megapost: Washington, Field of Dreams, Omaha

Here's a self portait of Patrick and me watching the Cubs on TV. There's a video of him on my camera, but I'm going to wait until I get home to figure out how to post it.


Patrick tried on my ND baseball hat and sunglasses. He had a little trouble standing still, though.


Thursday night, Mike and I went to see the Peoria Chiefs play.


The lineup would have been useful had I actually found a booth that sold scorecards.


The scoreboard, duh.


When we walked up to the ticket booth, this guy handed us two tickets for free. He wasn't using them and couldn't find anyone who wanted them. When we got to the seats (the tickets were real, obviously), they were in the first row, right behind the third base dugout.


Ryne Sandberg is the Chiefs manager this season.


The Famous San Diego Chicken made a cameo appearance, even though he wasn't supposed to be there until Friday. He did his schtick on top of the dugout in front of us, but I didn't want to take a picture them, because I didn't want him to try anything funny with my new camera.


The guy on the far left is Carney Lansford's son, and is the best defensive infielder in the Cubs system.


Jeremy Papelbon - I still haven't looked up how he's related to Jon.


Shhh - don't tell mom, but I managed to take a picture of the Mississippi river while avoiding traffic on the bridge going over.


The drive to the Field of Dreams was interesting. I apparently didn't go the most popular way. The road that runs past the site is paved in one direction and gravel in the other. My directions took me the gravel route.

Here's the house from Field of Dreams. There was an "Employees Only" sign out front, so I'm not sure if the family still lives there, or if it serves as an office now.


I signed the logbook. I couldn't think of any clever quotes from the movie on the spot, so I just wrote in, "FINALLY MADE IT." Later I added, "IS THIS HEAVEN?"


The field from the first base bleachers.


The left and right field foul poles also serve as flagpoles.


See, I told you.


This message is on the back of the main sign for the Field of Dreams Movie Site...


...and here's the front of the sign.


Another display that talks about the movie.


The corn isn't to high this time of year. That, or Ray Liotta is pretty short in real life.


The view from the right field foul pole.


"RAY LOVES ANNIE." This is carved on the top row of the first base bleachers. Ray and Annie are the names of the characters Kevin Costner and what's-her-face play in the movie.


I don't know - third base.


I did play an inning in the field, but never got to bat. I played at short, sans glove. I had one ball hit to me and misfired to first. The batter-runner tried for second, and I couldn't field a the throw without a glove. Basically, it was just like me trying to play shortstop for my softball team.

The view as I was walking off the field.


It was a long drive, but I did make it to Omaha in time to see the game. Sarah had a pair of General Admission tickets. GA tickets let you sit in the outfield bleachers, and it's first come, first served. They supposedly don't let in any more people than will fit, but of course people didn't squeeze in as much as expected. Sarah and I found a spot to stand until late in the game, where we finally got seats near the batter's eye in center. We watched a good game, as North Carolina came back to beat Mississippi State 8-5. An MSU player did manage to clear the batter's eye with a home run, and it landed less than 100 feet from us.

Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium.


And finally, some action on the field.


What's up for Saturday? More College World Series.