Friday, August 13, 1999

Friday got off to a late start, but not so late that we missed the Fenway tour. Thanks to the generosity (and lateness of his party) of a 11 o’clock ticket holder, we were able to join the 11 o’clock tour, which was sold out when we arrived at 10:45. Briefly, the tour was very interesting, letting us go into a private box, the 600 Club ($15,000 for 2 season’s tickets), the Press Box and a walk around the field on the warning track. The Green Monster really is that big! We also learned all sorts of trivia and history about the Red Sox and Fenway. We walked back toward the hotel to catch the Old Town Trolley. One sentence about the trolley – a 100 minute tour around the city with a tour guide and 15 stops where you can get on and off. Our original intention was to get off at a couple stops (including lunch) and take the whole tour. Reality was Boston traffic (ask us about Boston’s $13 billion big dig) on a Friday afternoon does not allow this to happen. Our first stop was The Massachusetts Institute of Rock (The Hard Rock Café – Boston) where we had a hearty lunch. As we headed down to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum, traffic really picked up. So we got off, looked at the ship, got a drink, and got back on the next trolley. We then got to see "The Big Dig" firsthand and at length. It was getting late (you are guaranteed a ride back to your original stop if you are on the trolley at 4:30), so we quickly stopped off at The U.S.S. Constitution for some pictures and a snack, but didn’t have time for the tour, the U.S.S. Cassin Young, or the museum L . We hopped the trolley, but traffic was even worse than when we were last on the trolley, so in spite of fascinating trivia from our driver (P.S.), we stopped short at the Boston Common and caught the T back to the Midtown – we had a game to catch!

This is the view from the pressbox. If you were the AP writer covering the game, this would be your vantage.

    This would be about where we'd be sitting that night for the game.

    This is the view from the 600 club. With proper attire and $15,000, it could be you.

    This was the view from our seats.  12 rows back at field level.   Neat!

        Starting on the field, up the left aisle would put in Jason's lap for the game!

            Jason checked out Boston's dugout.

Then we walked the warning track.  Those outfielders have a lot of ground to cover!

The Green Monster looks big from way off.   But from up close, it looks a LOT bigger!

2 people operate the manual scoreboard during the game. The slots that they're looking in is how they follow the game.

For those of you not in the know, Lisa bought these tickets during the snow and ice storms in January because she wanted to sit close (for once!). We were so close, not only could you see the players, you could see them spit (and whatever else you wanted to see them do). This, however, put us without cover from rain or foul balls, which we got to see both closely. Seattle was in town and the game was a sellout. There wasn’t a seat to have in the house. It was an exciting game that saw one ball go over the Green Monster and another go over the Monster and the netting into Landsdowne Street. We got dinner and beer at the game – Jason had pizza from a vendor outside Fenway and Lisa had a Fenway Frank. It was an incredibly long game (the official time was 3 hours and 47 minutes) but Boston came out on top, so most everyone was happy. Although the game went late, there was more of Boston to be seen, so we headed over to the original Jillian’s. For those of you not in the know, Jillian’s recently opened in Youngstown, so we got to compare the oldest and the newest. Jason had the late night munchies, so on the walk home, we stopped at Stevie’s for a sandwich – the Mr. Subb of Boston (inside joke). Then back to the Midtown for some much needed sleep.

Saturday, August 14, 1999

Another late start. Jason thought he deserved it; Lisa acquiesced, knowing that there was NO WAY he was going to move when she wanted him to. We were on the road at 11:30, headed for Springfield, MA and the Basketball Hall of Fame. We stopped for lunch at Burger King in Springfield for a quick bite first. Then the museum beckoned. A fascinating bit of history for a couple of fans like us. We only read some of the displays, but with more energy, we could have killed the entire day and then some. The Michael Jordan quote and pictorial wall was incredible. We could list in detail all of the incredible displays, but we’d probably bore most of you. Jason shot some hoops while we were there (and we have pictures to prove it!). We will definitely return once the new Hall of Fame is built adjacent to the existing site (the 3D representation is intriguing!). We left Springfield around 4:45 and began driving home. It was supposed to be a short (couple of hours) drive, but we had no idea how hard it would be to find an empty hotel room in Western New York. After stopping for dinner in Middletown, NY at the local Ground Round, we kept going until we finally found the one room available in Scranton, PA. Just our luck, it was the jacuzzi suite and as the happy honeymooners, we just couldn’t pass it up.

Sunday, August 15, 1999

We got a good start on Sunday (checkout was 11:00 - we left at 10:59) and after a quick stop at the local Dunkin' Donuts, we were on our way home.  It was rather uneventful till we hit some construction at the end of Pennsylvania, so we jumped off Route 80 and took the back way to Boardman.  We were home by dinnertime, and that, folks, was Jason and Lisa's honeymoon!