Coaster Palooza

We left for Gettysburg around 11:30am. It is a long 3 and a half hour drive. We took the 2 hour driving tour and then headed back. Gettysburg is much bigger than I thought it was. This is a definite must see for anyone. We wanted to have dinner at a restaurant/brewery, but the hostess was extremely mean. She put us on a table of 8 with 4 other people already sitting there! We saw a table of 4 empty and asked to sit there. She rolled her eyes and Dan said, “How about if we sit nowhere!” We headed out the door and stopped at some other place on the 30. Ted’s band, The Makeshift All-stars, was playing in Toledo, Ohio from 10pm-2am. We/I thought we could definitely make it. The guys were great and sucked it up to make the last leg of the trip. We spent over 12 hours in the car today, but we were able to see Ted and Catrina. The next day we were telling the other guys what we did and Jim asked, “We went to Ohio last night?” Yep and went through West Virginia to get there. Thanks again for reading! My camera's batteries died here. There are many monuments throughout. I will let the pictures show what's happening. This is the first leg of the tour The visitor's center had so many interesting items from the war. On our way out of town, we noticed this used car dealership. It was closed and we couldn't figure out why.......

The Steelers game was awesome. I will be posting the TR for Gettysburg and seeing Ted today. Hopefully I can get to the Championship game and Steelers game today too. This is taking forever!

^I was thinking about going on Friday, but we decided a quick trip to Gettysburg would be better. Gettysburg is a 3 and a half hour drive and Cedar Point would only be 3. No convincing!

The winner of Thursday's games either went into the Championship on Saturday, or if it was their first lost, we would play "if" games on Friday. The two teams that won didn't have a loss, so there aren't any "if" games on Friday. The pics below are from the games. I will comment when needed. Thanks again for reading all this. Maybe later all the TRs can be combined. It must be bedtime... Home team No one found it though. The tradition is to get the baseball back to the player and you will get a brand new one. Everyone looked for this one, even a mom in a mini skirt! I almost got hit by a homerun right after this pic. Everyone was yelling "LOOK OUT!" See.... Washington was playing Simi Valley, CA. The crowd was huge for the home team. Running so fast, it's a blur! The next few pics might be fuzzy, but it ain't easy from the outfield. National Anthem They have a PONY princess contest every year. This was the only picture I could get because we were up talking with the umpires. Jim is happy because he doesn't have to work anymore. Steve chose the grass knoll (sp?) All the tournament directors are sitting here with their significant others. Here's Dan looking at some pictures from the tournament A little dejection CRACK!!! or PING!!!! Here's Lou, the ball lady. She is the tournament director's wife. Here we are. After a little nap from the day's events.

^^Wally, sorry to hear that dude. I hope everything turns out alright.

Here's the link to the Washington County Fair. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28292

Finishing up our Trolley Museum tour Steve needed some rest back at the hotel before we continued onto the ballgames. See you in the PONY thread! Bye! Steve is under the opinion of Kill me now!!!! Interesting stuff he is talking about Our next conductor! and so is this car! Here's the LIFE article about the Streetcar Named Desire. It is actually number 832 All aboard a Streetcar Named Desire! Hi neighbor! Come along, Come along... Dan is going with the kill me now look, Steve actually found this! More Trolley cars

Onto the Fair! Dan asked for 3 adults and one child, oh I mean Senior Citizen. The price is $6 to get in. The lady's response was, "That will be $24." We all started to laugh. No discount for a senior citizen. That could hurt We won't be riding you today WEEEEEE That turn hurt. Look at all the kids, and then me. I think it's great that I have the TATSU shirt on. Thanks Robb! I told you I would be back to ride this. I am sitting in it sideways. I don't know why I am riding this. Awesome! Sweet The trolley museum is the burgundy building. See, it is really close. They also had a car show going on. It doesn't look like the front end of the school bus made it. They were having some horse racing going on today. Ferris Wheel. Those are the school buses that were in the smash em up derby last night. Sorry, but something didn't look right there. Let's leave this area. How about the petting zoo Dan. Yep, we all ended up at each other Uh oh... Leave the girl alone Steve. This doesn't look good. I think Steve blocked for Dan here. 3 big kids taking on the world.... It's a smash 'em up It's not a race! Steve, let the kid ride in that car! Bumper cars are next. and Steve decided not to get on it at all. I think Jim has concerns Yep, I'm happy A swing ride, YAY No comment PLEASE ride me PLEASE! Maybe later No need to worry, I will just take my smoke break during the ride. Hey guys, did you forget to use ALL of the bolts? Uh oh, and down the lift WEEEEE, up the lift I don't know about these Carny people. Yep, I conned each of them onto this ride. Yeah, a ride! That person with the EMTs back there already had a boiler buster. Jim took on the boiler buster Couldn't really decide So much to choose from First stop, food... Nice bike

Here we are at the Trolley Museum before we go to the County Fair. and they shifted to the other end of the trolley Here is one of our conductors Just an attempt at getting myself in a photo. Steve does like trains and trolleys This is actually a Streetcar Named Desire. So many trolleys Steve had to have a picture with Fred Rogers. Come along, Come along to the castle Hug and Song That's the lightrail to Pittsburgh. We thought about taking that to the Steelers game on Saturday. So many things to see Jim and Steve look interested

This is a continuation of our trip to the PONY World Series. The main thread is here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28236 Thursday – 8/17 – Plans changed. We planned to fly to Philadelphia today, go see the Liberty Bell, hit Sesame Place, go to Hard Rock Café, and catch a Phillies game. Jim got injured the night before and pulled his groin really bad. We decided to stick around Washington, PA for the day just in case he needed to go to the doctor. Our day starts off with a little bit of sleeping in and doing laundry. We decided to go to PONY headquarters after we finished laundry. They just built this new facility right next to Falconi field, home of the Washington Wild Things. PONY headquarters is really nice. They have a Hall of Fame and a great Board Room. Inside the board room were many mementos and articles of years past. We went to the Trolley Museum next. It is really close to the Washington County Fair grounds. We decided to take the $2 trolley ride to the fair (about ¼ of ¼ of a mile!). We also looked around the museum after the fair and took another mile ride out and back on a Streetcar Named Desire. Yes it is the same streetcar from the Life magazine article. The Washington County Fair consisted of food, more food, games, livestock, live music (at night), demolition derby, and rides. Once we were done with the County Fair and the Trolley ride, we went back to the hotel for some rest before going out to watch the last ballgame of the night. Thanks for reading this! Here are the pictures. Ballpark next door. My dad's name is Harry Moore Board room I don't know.... We thought these chairs were neat. We are in the President's office. Lew Hays field, the home of the PONY World Series The following pics I won't make too many comments unless there is something for me to comment on. It was much needed and a welcome change. This place is so nice. Here's the entrance! Dan wanted to bat, but Jim called him out on strikes! Jim's leg is still hurting from the night before, so he took a knee. Dan is ready to call balls and strikes. The front entrance has this area where you can buy a brick and put a statement, or name, or anything on it. First stop, PONY Headquarters. We took a wrong turn and drove through some mud to get here. Dan has his morning coffee and says it's time to get out of here. Hey Jim, wake-up, it's time to go to the PONY Headquarters, Trolley Museum and the county fair!

Just a couple of pics. We really didn't do too much today. We worked both games at 5:30 and 8pm. Jim McAuley got hurt pretty bad in the first game around the 3rd inning. I had to take over behind the plate for him. We do have pics of his injury later. I would like to have some stupid comment for this, but I don't. It was just doing something random. It is right off the freeway This is our hotel

^I believe there is quite a bit to being an ump at any level. I started when I was 13. To get to work this World Series was an honor. You get on a 4-5 year waiting list. They pull in two 4-man crews from different areas. I have worked quite a few big games and a few World Series, but they were all in my area. This is the first one I really had to travel to and I didn't have any of our local Tournament Directors out there. You kind of have to earn your stripes all over again.

It will never end!!! and we're walking.... Thanks for reading! The end of this day will be in the PONY World Series thread. Time to clean up the field and go home. Game over. The whole crew got down here. Pirates just hit a homerun and I missed the fireworks, but you can see on the scoreboard what happened. mmm, Iron City Light in the Jerome Bettis aluminum bottle. There's Laz at 3rd Man we're close now. We moved down further after this Incredible view I don't think it's a sell-out Gotta get a shot of the scoreboard There's the Clemente statue and still walking... and we're walking... Great view. I ran in front of everyone and walking... and we're walking... Oh well, looking across Roberto Clemente Bridge at PNC The girl on the left told us we missed the last ferry, so we had to drive. We're on our way to the ferry to the game Why does everyone look so happy? Here she is They had the spirit of ecstasy The classic shot Here we are at the bar. Looks like we made it!!!!!

The trip continues... I had to do mine too. Yep... I promised my friend that I would get his terrible towel grass-stained form the experience. Actio photo. and Duece and Willy..... Hey, there's Ben. I was able to get pretty close from the side. See... A pretty good disctance away, but I am still happy. Latrobe Pennsylvania

Here are some links to the other Trip Reports. Idlewild, Lakemont, DelGrosso's http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28232 Kennywood http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28234 PONY World Series main thread http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28236 Tuesday – 8/15 – NFL Hall of Fame, Steelers Experience, and Pirates Game. This is going to turn out to be a long day! We headed out to Canton, Ohio for the NFL Hall of Fame around 9am. It was just a couple hours later than I wanted to, but we were kind of tired this morning. The Hall of Fame is awesome. It is everything I expected it to be. We went to Latrobe, Pennsylvania after the Hall to see the Steelers experience. I am a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and the guys put up with it. Thanks guys. The camp was well attended and I wasn’t able to get any autographs. I was able to watch them practice for a little while though. We got there pretty late and stayed for around 30 minutes because we were going to the Hard Rock Café for dinner and then to the Pirates game. What can I say, another Hard Rock Café. I definitely enjoy these. The Pittsburgh one is set right there on the Monongahela River, which is really neat. The bartender told us we could take a ferry to the game, but by the time we got to it we were too late. Oh well. We drove over the Liberty Bridge to park and then walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge just beyond the outfield to get into PNC Park. It is such a beautiful stadium. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. My friend, Laz Diaz, was umpiring 3rd base and I was able to talk to him for a couple minutes. It is great to see him in the big leagues. Once the game was over, we headed back to Washington and caught the last out of the 8pm game. The crew chief on the other crew got injured in the first game. We thought they might want one of us to go on their crew to work, but they didn’t. We hit TGIF’s for a late night beverage before getting back to the hotel. Good-bye Steve, you can't use that pump for the footballs. Their next 2, they don't have this past Super Bowl ring in there yet. The first 2 Steelers rings. This was incredible! A most incredible display of all the Super Bowls and descriptions. This is something to experience too. Here are some Super Bowl moments The display actually has his NFL draft card in it. This is his Ranger uniform They have a section for the football players that gave their life for their country. Here is a great man. John Elway for Gyendolynne. 2006 class Lynn Swann All in the family. Here is Art Rooney Best coach of all time, next to Bill Cowher! Franco up top Yep, Terry Bradshaw down low. Jack Ham, first Steeler inducted from their 70's dominating team. Best owner ever! This is for Gyendolynne. She is a Bronco fan. Quite possibly the best running back. The greatest linebacker to ever play! There you have it! One of the first football uniforms Jim Thorpe This picture is up for picture of the year. Hines Ward scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl! These are the 2006 inductees with a great reflection! First entering Just some more pics of the hall coming up. I will comment when I need to. The 2006 inductees. Here's Waldo! Another crew shot. Dan Bertolet on the left, Jim McAuley in the middle, and Steve Ojeda on the righ. Very nice. 79 degrees and we're at the HofF! Dan, I don't think your hand is big enough to throw that football. After just a little bit of a drive and getting a map of Ohio, we're here! This guy's socks cracked us up. I wish you could see them. Our trip to Canton started out a little difficult. You know it isn't good when they are changing the signs and you need the directions for where you're going!

Thanks guys. Here is a link to the main trip report. It is in the Random section. I didn't know what to do with all the different events we did on this trip. PONY World Series Link http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28236

^^Nice photoshop skills Ted. You won't believe this, but we were actually on the same flight as they were from Pittsburgh to Phoenix. Our seats were behind the coach's seats. All three of them sat right in front of us. It was a long trip! We also saw the Puerto Rican team checking in when we checked in. Talk about a tale of two teams. I think the flight to Puerto Rico was a little more exciting than our flight. ^Retiring at the age of 20? How come? You don't have to do Little League. There is always High School, College, etc.

^Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to enjoy everything. It was a quick trip in and then we had to leave. I wish we had a couple more hours there. Next year Gyendolynne and I will stay longer.

^I didn't put 2 and 2 together until now. That is one of the tightest fitting rides that I have ever been on. Including the kiddie ride that I sat on sideways from the Washington County Fair!

^^Hey Matt, off the top of my head I don't remember, but from this link: http://www.ponyworldseries.com/public.html/LHPF.html you can get them. It seems to be 250, 275, 305, 275, and 250 (left to right). They have 80 foot bases. ^All you need to do is get a map at any Cracker Barrel. They show all of their places in the United States. So far there aren't any here in California, unfortunately. I really love the place!

Hey Ted, Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Sunday was a bit of a blur for me. It was a long flight with a tremendous headache. I have been trying to re-size my photos (600) to put them into trip reports. It was great seeing you on Friday (Catrina too!) and Saturday. I thought you might get hit a little by the rain. We saw it from inside TGIFridays and then on the whole trip to the Steelers game. Thanks for putting the baseball in your collection! Here is the last out of the game. A called strike three. It is from the Pony World Series website. www.ponyworldseries.com I don't think the batter liked it too much!

Hey Ted! What's weird is that whichever side the blue train was on, it won! It rotates each time, but it never lost while we watched it and rode it. It was great to see you out there. I hope you didn't get wet on your way back on Saturday. It totally pissed out there around 4pm.

^Wes, I am sure I saw you there too. Voyage is a great ride! ^^Thanks for letting me know about the sunglasses. They are friggin' huge! Here's a link to the PONY World Series Trip Report. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28236

I was assigned the PONY World Series from PONY baseball along with three other guys from my group from San Jose. We took off on a red-eye to Pittsburgh on Friday (8/13) and arrived in Pittsburgh the next morning. The World Series is being held in Washington, PA, which is just a half hour south. I will post a link to the whole World Series trip report later. Our schedule was Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday. The championship game is on Saturday. Our entertainment and work schedule is below: Friday – Fly out Saturday – Arrive in Washington and umpire games at 5:30 and 8pm Sunday – Idlewild, Lakemont Park, and DelGrosso’s http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28232 Monday – Kennywood http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28234 Monday – Umpire games at 5:30 and 8pm Tuesday – NFL Hall of Fame, Steelers Experience, Pirates Game http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28274 Wednesday – Day of rest and umpire at 5:30 and 8pm Thursday – PONY Headquarters, Trolley Museum, and Washington County Fair http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28292 Friday – Gettysburg and go to see Ted’s (CoasterFanatic) band play in Toronto, Ohio! http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28308 Saturday – Championship game at 1pm, Steelers game at 8pm http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28313 Sunday – Fly home Steve, do you want some gravy and biscuits to go with your pepper? Another one of our crew photos Steve's brain is working pretty early in the morning. Did we overpack? Hey Dan, you look tired. Nope, I am just happy to out of that tin can. What else would you do for your first stop at 8:30am? Because I see the immaculate reception! Rick, how can you be so awake? Here we are upon landing in Pittsburgh He was happier to not be sitting next to me. Oh, we're all happy now... I lost too. It might have been quicker just to give my money to Dan. Steve lost, and Jim didn't donate. Must be in Vegas for our 2 hour layover. Dan doubled his money. I bet you wish LAX looked like this! Doesn't everyone get their own personal pre-screener? I had one of the pre-screeners laughing so hard. Look at this line! I can't believe how long this might take. First crew shot. Something tells me we won't look this way a few hours from now... First stop, a couple of beverages We thought we needed to get there early because of the problems from Thursday and the no liquids on planes. We started out on Tuesday by going to the field first. I will add the Hall of Fame and the rest of the day in another thread. There is a bat and ball there and it is the entrance to Washington Park. Now it's time to rest Jim won this monkey playing the pig game against the 3 of us. He won 2 out of 3 games. This sign was actually inside Fridays. I'm still making my decision between Blue Moon and Hoegaarden. I kept switching between them. This is from Monday night's postgame. Jim is calling home to find out if Trouble is okay. Postgame changing. another shot A couple of game photos coming up One of the tournament directors needed some assistance. This is actually Sunday night after our long trip to Idlewild, Lakemont, and DelGrosso's These two were our bartenders for the week Postgame crew photo at TGIFridays Opening night crew photo. Jim has 3rd base, he won't mind one more photo. I think we're losing it Rick with all your damn picture taking! How do you feel after a red-eye and no sleep? One of the groundskeepers. Here's the field. Our nice, spacious locker room Here's a bigger one. The little sign actually says PONY World Series

^My wife wasn't with me on this trip and we are planning on going out there next year. Thanks for the cool TR comments. This one is going to take a while to put together. I have 600 photos and quite a few events!