BASEBALL Vacation

For those of you who know, one of my life goals is to attend as many Major League ballparks as possible! I've currently seen: the Oakland Coliseum (Oakland A's), AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants), Angel Stadium (Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles... I hate that name, it's either LA or OC, figure it out!), Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Arlington Ballpark (Texas Rangers) and the former Shea Stadium (NY Mets). That makes eight... out of 30 teams - I've got a lot more to go!

But this summer, I'll set food in another :)

J.D. went to college in Des Moines, Iowa, and he absolutely loves the midwest. My former boss at Pacific recently moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Cool, so how does this all fit in???

Well, the College World Series has forever been held at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha and is rich in history, stories and above all - college baseball playoffs. 2010 will be the final season the CWS is held at Rosenblatt so I guess they're going ALL OUT this year. I've been told to do so by about five different people, so this summer I will be volunteering at the College World Series in Omaha! I can't wait to be a part of all of this, make some baseball connections and see some new parts of the country.

J.D., who also does the same thing as I do for a living at Sacramento State University, is also extremely interested in volunteering! The CWS runs from June 18-27 so what we're planning on doing is flying out to Omaha on June 16.

The night we fly in, we'll find a hotel near the airport and explore Omaha. On the morning of the 17th, we'll rent a car (yay, I'm 25 now and can finally do so!!!!) and drive three hours south to Kansas City where we'll explore the city and also catch a KC Royals game at Kauffman Stadium (MLB park #9!) in the evening. Then the plan is to stay the night in KC, get up on the 18th and drive 3.5 hours north to Des Moines, Iowa, where J.D. gets to show me his old college stomping grounds for two days. Maybe we'll even fit in a minor league Iowa Cubs game....

On the morning of the 20th, we're hoping to make another 3.5 hour drive to Omaha in order to volunteer at the College World Series for a few days before flying back to California on the 24th.

Can't wait!! There's going to be so much baseball jam-packed into one week. We started pricing it out last night and are looking to purchase flights and reserve the rental car this weekend!

After this I should really consider making a weekend trip to San Diego to see the Padres play and essentially knock down the last remaining California ballpark :)

Oh and did I also mention J.D.'s fav team is the Mets??? So for his birthday next month, I got him tickets to see the Mets play in San Francisco this July. Third row behind the Mets' bullpen... what a good girlfriend I am :)