Summer 2k10 Plans

This summer, J.D. and I already have some travel plans in the works.

As I've already blogged, we're going to be spending one week in June in the midwest for my first time on a trip that promises to be jam-packed with baseball at all levels: professional, minor leagues and college playoffs.

Then on the 4th of July weekend, there will be a CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Convention in San Francisco. Since J.D.'s a member, he'll be making the trip an hour west and I figured I'd come along for the ride :) We haven't really decided if we're going to stay in a hotel in SF (for the second time this year), or maybe just stay at my parents' house for the weekend and hang out in the East Bay as well as San Francisco.

And finally, I still have an itch for a beach weekend somewhere! San Diego, Orange County... who knows! Maybe we could find a dog-friendly hotel and bring little Woody along with us :)

But I haven't mentioned this yet. Our women's soccer team starts the year out in Hawaii this August. But a week before that, they're taking a trip to COSTA RICA! Which is one of the top 10 places I want to see in my life!! So if I am comfortable with shelling out the money.... I, too, could be on that trip. I'm too afraid to commit to spending that right now, but we'll see I guess.


As for next year, I think we're informally planning a big trip somewhere. Last summer both of us really wanted to go to Belize. Now I'm entertaining him with ideas of going to Sweden - homeland of his family! But above all, I really want to go on a tropical cruise somewhere :)

CRUISESWEDEN

What's your favorite summer travel destination? Do you prefer cruises, flights or road trips? Do you have any plans this summer??

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 :)

Why I've been living in a cave

Tomorrow is my last day of grad class!!!! All I have to do is turn in my paper, present for about 5-10 mins., then I'm on my merry little way for the summer. That means, however, that I need to finish my paper (I'll get it done after lunch at work, nothing else today anyways).

And then I get to start thinking about moving THIS WEEKEND! I have to put up pictures of the new place soon, it's kind of cute really :) I'm very excited for my own place finally, for the first time in my life!

And then J.D. and I were looking at where my Delta/American Air/United sky miles could get me this summer. Belize is actually really cheap, fits in with my miles, and after watching a documentary on the area, looks like a wonderful plan! Especially since I promised myself that after living in France twice and visiting lots of Europe, the next place I'd like to visit in my life is South/Central America. It's not actually going to happen, but a girl can dream right?! :)

Other than that, when I'm done with grad school tomorrow, I have three more weeks of baseball until the year is over. Then the final week of May, I'm going to move Aimee out of her apartment and spend a few days in Newport/Huntington again -- we're thinking about going to California Adventure in Disneyland this time. Then the weekend of June 6, it's Laura's wedding at Lake Tahoe! And then my weekends are free free free until work starts back up again in August. That's also when I get to make the trip up to Eugene, Oregon, for Jenn and Eric's wedding.

Oh yeah, and did I mention, I'm getting a job promotion that should start by mid-May?! Lots of exciting things to look forward to this summer, maybe Belize will be another one?