Cleveland really does rock!

August 5, 2024August 5, 2024 / Greg / Leave a comment

In my pursuit of seeing a baseball game in every major league stadium, I had paired Cleveland with Detroit on the same trip last summer. A couple of hours after picking up a rental car on the outskirts of Detroit I was in Cleveland, a city I’d otherwise never get to visit. It is a really great city with a picturesque downtown and beautiful architecture. I very quickly got a warm feeling about Cleveland and enjoyed the couple of days I spent there. Some of that had to do with Progressive Field, their beautiful ballpark. On my journeys so far, this stadium is up there with those in San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis and Baltimore as one of my favourites.

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Finding the charm in Detroit

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024 / Greg / 1 Comment

Somewhere along the way of being a baseball fan and someone who loves to travel I had visited enough ballparks that it seemed like an interesting quest to watch a game in each major league city’s stadium. While I’ve knocked off most of the sexy places (Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, New York….) I’m left with some locations that I otherwise may not actively choose to visit. Last summer, the intersection of my work schedule, the ballparks remaining and the baseball schedule pushed me toward a trip to Detroit and then onto Cleveland.

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Time for a rest

June 28, 2024June 28, 2024 / Greg / Leave a comment

It has been a year since my wife and I had traveled to Antigua to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Lots has changed in that year in our lives. After Antigua we’ve been dealing with twelve months of life’s challenges and turmoils including the recent deaths of both of my parents. As I’m writing this, my mind has been turning to the time we spent in Antigua as I think about the need to get away for some time to let my mind heal. I think the time we spent in Antigua is what I need most from a vacation now – peace, quiet, relaxation and my wife at my side.

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Childhood to today

April 6, 2024 / Greg / Leave a comment

Much like what I just wrote about Quebec City, Montreal holds a very special place in my heart. In the early 1980s, childhood trips to the city with my dad were the first experiences I had visiting a big city. Those trips by train to Montreal to take in a few Expos games make me smile to this day and every time I get back to the city it feels like some happy ghosts from those days follow me on my current day explorations.

Montreal trips as an adult usually have a series of touchstones for me that have connections to the memories from my childhood trips. Having amazing meals in the city these days makes me think of getting to eat all kinds of food with dad that I didn’t normally get to have as a child. Touring craft breweries makes me think of dad letting me have a sip of his Budweiser as a kid while we got ready to head to Olympic Stadium. Wandering aimlessly around the old town takes me back to chasing pigeons with dad looking on and laughing at my childhood exploits. And exploring the city in search of public art takes me back to seeing Alexander Calder’s “Trois Disques” and having my mind blown as a seven year old as dad toured me around Île Sainte-Hélène.

Public art along Saint Laurent Boulevard

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A walk down memory lane

March 17, 2024 / Greg / 1 Comment

Quebec City has a very special place in my heart. Any time I get back to that city a flood of childhood memories bring a smile to my face and feel like they are a constant companion as I explore the city anew. Last year a conference returned me to this beautiful city and gave me the opportunity to combine some new experiences with a collection of personal touchpoints that now date back almost forty years.

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More than just baseball

February 19, 2024 / Greg / Leave a comment

My spring training trip down to the Phoenix area last year wasn’t just about baseball. Ok… so it was pretty much all about baseball. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t find some other fun things to get up to over a week of dashing between ballparks in Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale and downtown Phoenix.

Immediately after arriving in the city and with a few hours to spare before I could check into the apartment I rented for the week, I popped into Walter Station Brewery and lucky for me there was some live music on their patio. After arriving from cold Saskatoon it was a treat to feel a warm breeze while listening to some country music.

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Getting out of the city

February 10, 2024February 9, 2024 / Greg / Leave a comment

Over the course of many trips I have fallen in love with the idea of the “trip within a trip”. A day trip plunked down in the middle of the longer voyage is something that almost always brings me awe and rejuvenation. Going back to the first time my wife and I traveled to Europe, an expedition to Bruges in the middle of a two city trip to Amsterdam and Belgium is something that got this concept planted firmly in most of the plans I make to this day.

So, a spring training trip to Arizona for a week needed a day trip in the middle of it and after looking at some maps and talking to some friends, I landed on getting out of the Phoenix area for some hiking, exploring and even some wine tasting (yes!) in the general vicinity of Sedona. As I was battling morning rush hour traffic through what seemed like an endless Phoenix urban landscape I briefly doubted the intelligence of my plans. But soon enough, the the number of traffic lanes got down to a reasonable number and the landscape opened up to wider vistas and I felt myself easing into the day.

My first stop was just outside of Oak Creek. I had a spectacularly beautiful day for a morning hike…. the kind of day that gives you shivers of excitement. If I was hoping to feel awe, I had definitely found the place and day for that.

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An early start to baseball season

February 4, 2024 / Greg / 2 Comments

As I get itchy for the start of the 2024 baseball season, I have been thinking back to the jump I got on this past 2023 baseball season by finally taking a long-desired trip to Arizona for a week of spring training baseball. As a lifelong baseball nerd (with a significant pause to recover from the loss of my Montreal Expos in the early 2000s) I had long thought about spending a week of lazy days under the spring sun in Florida or Arizona, going from park to park to get a close up view of the game I love. With my move to Saskatchewan eight years ago, Arizona became a more obvious choice for this trip and last year at long last I made it a reality.

Cubs-Brewers game at Sloan Park in Mesa, AZ

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Looking back on 2023

December 30, 2023December 30, 2023 / Greg / Leave a comment

This past year was a lot of things, many of which to be honest, weren’t great. I had to say goodbye to my dog and I can still feel the empty spot on the sofa beside me. People I love dearly fought through challenges they didn’t deserve, and while I was privileged to carry some of their weight through the year, it took its toll. I also had a near death experience while traveling – you’ll hear about it in #5 below – that haunted me for a spell this year.

I fancy myself an eternal optimist and while that was put to the test repeatedly in 2023, something that helped this year was a more normal return to travel post-pandemic. Baseball trips. Visiting Europe. Getting back to old stomping grounds. East coast, west coast. New tastes. New people. New experiences. In no particular, here are the things that I’ll remember the most from getting back out on the road in 2023.

#1 – Mascot encounters

My not so subtle love of sports mascots is something people who love me find endearing if a touch odd. On my travels this year for my love of baseball, I got to say hi to the Chicago Cubs mascot, Clark, at spring training in Mesa, AZ. I also got to visit with Slider, the Cleveland Guardians mascot and Paws, the mascot of the Detroit Tigers. To put an end to the speculation, I do travel to watch baseball. The mascots are just a bonus!

With Slider, the mascot of the Cleveland Guardians

With Paws, the mascot of the Detroit Tigers

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Murals of Mount Pleasant

August 12, 2023August 9, 2023 / Greg / Leave a comment

Among my favourite neighbourhoods in my favourite cities, Mount Pleasant in Vancouver stands out. On just about every trip, I will spend at least part of a day hanging out at one or more of the excellent craft breweries (Brassneck, 33 Acres, Faculty Brewing, Main Street Brewing, Electric Bicycle) and combining that with some exploring of the murals that decorate the buildings and alleyways up and down the hill.

On my most recent trip, armed with the excellent Vancouver Mural Fest map, I dug deeper into this neighbourhood’s art than I had previously and came away with some new favourite murals….