Done?

I started this blog almost three and a half years ago.  The original purpose of the blog was to document how I spent my year not having a job.  Obviously, that year without a job never happened.  So the purpose of the blog shifted to documenting my travels around the country to achieve two goals:  getting to every Major League Baseball stadium (with two exceptions) and getting to all fifty states.  When I started, I had been to ten Major League stadiums and 21 states.  I had a lot of work to do.

And now? I've been to every baseball stadium I set out to get to and I've been to 44 states.  I wanted to thank everybody who helped make this possible by giving me a place to stay.  So thanks (in a somewhat chronological order) Sean, Tom and Erin, Jon (in two different cities), Dennis and Courtney (also two different cities), Uncle Gerry, Wilhelm, Pete and Katie, Nick and Amanda, and John and Liz (also thanks to John for suggesting that I start this blog).  And thanks to everybody who joined me on one of these trips to a different part of the country.  Thanks to Tom and Sean (they came with me on my first trip to Dodger Stadium which predates the blog by a year, Sean also came with me for Notre Dame-Michigan in 2012, he came to Dallas for the Shamrock Series at Jerry World in 2013, and he came to northeast Ohio last year), Andy, my dad, and Adam (he went to Toronto, so not actually a different part of the country).  And I even made a friend who lives in England last year in Detroit.  It was good to meet Rich and good to see him again this year at a Met game.

So am I done?  Not quite.  Let's go over the states I haven't been to from closest to farthest away:

Vermont- I wanted to get there this summer, but that didn't happen.  The idea was to combine it with a trip to the Franklin Roosevelt Library.  I'm not too worried about Vermont.  Hopefully it will happen next year.

South Carolina- I was hoping to get tickets for the Notre Dame game at Clemson, but I lost in the lottery (it was a long shot, anyway).  My brother just moved to North Carolina, but he's not all that close to South Carolina.  Notre Dame is playing a basketball game at Clemson this season, but they haven't announced the date yet.  If it's a Saturday in February or early March, I'll try to make the trip for that.  If not, South Carolina does have three minor league teams.  I combined Alabama and Cincinnati into one trip, so I suppose I could combine one of them with a visit to Tom in North Carolina.

Mississippi- I want to combine a minor league game in Biloxi with a trip to the next state.

Louisiana- If you know me, you know I hate Las Vegas.  I also don't care about visiting New Orleans.  Except for one thing.  New Orleans does have the National World War II Museum.  I don't know if there's a museum in the country that I haven't been to yet that I want to get to more than that one.

Alaska- I really want to get there, but I don't know what I would do there.  I would love to go to the Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks, but that probably would never work with my work schedule.  If everything went my way, I'd get to five of these six states in the next year.  Alaska is the one that will probably have to wait a little longer.

Hawaii- I'm sure there's a ton to do in Hawaii, but the thing I really want to do is visit Pearl Harbor.  And I've always had the thought of combining a trip to Hawaii with a trip to Australia.  I'd still have some really long flights, but they wouldn't be as long as the Los Angeles-Australia flight that most Americans would take to get there.

Besides visiting all 50 states, I've also documented some international travel.  All three of my trips out of the country have been since I started the blog.  I have two (well really three) more countries I want to get to:

Australia- I just mentioned this.  I took Australian History in college and it was one of my favorite classes.  My professor was an Australian priest (my favorite professor in college).  We started by reading a travel book, In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.  A lot of the book was about all the different wildlife in Australia that can kill you, but it still made me want to go there.  I wanted to go there for the start of the 2014 baseball season, but it just wasn't possible with my work schedule.  So I'm saying now that I want to get there next summer (which would unfortunately be winter there, but it doesn't get too cold).  It's not guaranteed to happen, but I hope I am able to do it.

Italy- I really want to get to Rome and the Vatican City, which is of course its own country.  The combination of the history and the Church makes Italy the only non-English speaking country that I really want to visit.  About two months ago, I heard in one of the many Notre Dame podcasts that I listen to that Notre Dame is likely to play a football game in Rome in the not too distant future.  I tried doing some googling and found this article from last year.  The guys on the podcast cover the team and they seemed convinced that it's going to happen, but I haven't heard it anywhere else.  If it does happen and it's Labor Day weekend like the game in Dublin was, I'm there.  Of course, this is all speculation at this point.  So we'll see.  I'd like to get to Rome even if Notre Dame wasn't playing there.  But if Notre Dame does play there, that's the perfect excuse to go.

So I'm obviously not done, but I think I'll be cutting back on the blogging.  Whenever any of these trips happen, expect a blog post.  I'll probably do a blog post about Notre Dame's hockey game at Barclays Center in November (the first time I'll be there for something other than basketball).  I'll definitely do one if I do in fact make it to the Shamrock Series game at Fenway Park.  And hopefully there will be a drunken blog post after the Dodgers win the World Series this year (such an awesome game last night, I stayed up until it ended at 3:39 Eastern).  But I probably won't be blogging about all the Met games I go to anymore.

Anyway, it's time for updated rankings of all the baseball stadiums.  These rankings are how I feel right now and might not match exactly how I had the stadiums ranked last season.  And they might not match what I said about the four stadiums I got to for the first time this year when I originally blogged about them.  But here we go:

32.  Tropicana Field- It's one of two stadiums with artificial turf and it's the only one with a roof that doesn't open.
31- O.co Coliseum- From what I hear, it was nice before the Raiders moved back.  They really need to move to San Jose, but the Giants won't let them.  I had always maintained that I didn't need to get to this one or Tropicana Field.  Now that I've been everywhere else, I'm reconsidering.  Maybe I'll combine the trip I want to do to New Orleans and Mississippi with a trip to Tampa for a Rays game.  And if I'm going to go across the country to visit Pete and Katie again next year, maybe I'll spend a day in Oakland to get to an A's game.  We'll see.
30.  SkyDome- It will always be the SkyDome to me.  I think they want to renovate it.  If they did a good job, I could easily see this one moving up the rankings.
29. US Cellular Field- It's a boring stadium.  I haven't been there in nine years, though.  I want to get back to Wrigley Field so if I do, I'll try to schedule it so that I can get to both Chicago stadiums.
28.  Marlins Park- It's better than playing in a football stadium like they used to, but it's too weird.
27.  Minute Maid Park- They're getting rid of the hill and moving in the fence in center field (the one part of the park where it wasn't easy to hit home runs).  I don't like this move.
26.  Turner Field- I won't miss this one.  Maybe I'll get to the Cobb County stadium at some point.
25.  Progressive Field- It's very similar to Oriole Park and Globe Life Park since all three of those were built around the same time.  This is the worst of the three.
24.  Angel Stadium of Anaheim- This was not built around the same time as Oriole Park, Globe Life Park, and Progressive Field, but it's kind of similar.  It's in southern California, so that's nice, but there isn't really much else that's special about it.
23.  Chase Field- The pool is cool, but it's air conditioned which greatly reduces the desire to be in a pool.
22.  Miller Park- This was one place where I was able to get a really good seat (second level, right in front of the press box) for a really cheap price.  I might have ranked this higher if I went to a game during the summer and the roof was open.
21.  Coors Field- A lot of people love Coors Field, but the biggest problem can't be fixed (the altitude).
20.  Shea Stadium- It was a dump and objectively, it's worse than any other stadium I've been to with the possible exception of SkyDome, but it was my home stadium for the first 20 years I went to baseball games.
19.  Comerica Park- If anything, this is a generous ranking considering it's in Detroit.
18.  Globe Life Park- There was good selection of Texas beer.  I like how the design incorporated some history stadiums, but unfortunately they've gone away from that a little bit.
17.  Citi Field- Citi Field is good, but it could be better.  The food needs work.  Shake Shack is great, but the line is always way too long.  The upper level needs better food options.  The easy solution to both problems would be to put in another Shake Shack on the upper level.
16.  New Yankee Stadium- They definitely need a better beer selection.  I really wish they had just renovated the old stadium.  But of course, Big Stein would never stand for the Mets getting a new stadium without the Yankees getting one.
15.  Oriole Park at Camden Yards- I moved this one ahead of the New York stadiums, but I still maintain that it's overrated by most people.
14.  Citizens Bank Park- They have all these little beer stands that have like two beers on tap (different beers at each one).  I wish every stadium was like that.
13.  Nationals Park- I think Nationals Park is very underrated by most people.  However I found one problem that could easily be fixed.  The whole stadium has this Nation's Capital/Red, White, and Blue theme going on.  That makes sense.  But then the outfield wall is green.  Why isn't it blue?
12.  Busch Stadium- I hate the Cardinals more than any team other than the Giants, but I respect their success.  The atmosphere and the area around the stadium are great, but I was expecting more on the inside.
11.  Safeco Field- It's easily the best stadium with a roof.
10.  Target Field- I went to two games there this summer.  The only other stadium at least that far away where I've seen more than one game is Dodger Stadium.  It's a very good stadium.  I can't think of anything I would change that could make it better.  Most of the stadiums ahead of it have advantages that couldn't be replicated in Minneapolis.
9.  AT&T Park- I hate the Giants.  And if you want to accuse me of being biased against their stadium, that's fine.  It looks great on the inside.  The long wait for food and beer keeps it from being higher on the list.
8.  Great American Ballpark- You could say that it's kind of a homeless man's version of AT&T Park (with the water beyond the outfield).  It definitely doesn't look as nice.  So how does it rank higher?  It had the best beer selection in baseball and there was a very good food selection without long lines.
7.  Kauffman Stadium- I loved everything about the inside of this stadium.  Being surrounded by parking lots is what is keeping this one from being ranked higher.
6.  Wrigley Field- I'm keeping this one where I had it ranked last year.  Is it a proper ranking?  I don't know.  It's been six years since I was there.  The only ones that I haven't been to more recently than that are US Cellular Field and the New York stadiums that don't exist anymore.  And they're in the process of renovating.  So I hope to get back.  I could see this one being ranked as high as number 3 or as low as 12 depending on what I think when I see it again.
5.  Petco Park- This is one I'd really like to get back to.  I'd love to see San Diego when the weather is nice (it was mid-60s and cloudy when I was there).  Maybe it will be combined with a future trip to visit Pete and Katie.  It was a great stadium, but I moved it down a spot last year because of the Bud Selig Hall of Fame Plaza.
4.  PNC Park- Another reason to move down Petco Park?  Atmosphere.  The Pirates have been good for a few years now (amazing) and the Padres have been pretty bad (Why aren't the Padres better with that city and that stadium?).  I think Pittsburgh is an underrated city, but everybody knows the stadium is great.  I'm happy that the Pirates are doing well (I'd be really happy for Pittsburgh if the Pirates made it to the NCLS...and lost to the Dodgers, of course).
3.  Old Yankee Stadium- I have it ranked very high, but I really wish I could go back in time to pre-renovation Yankee Stadium.  It might take the number one spot if I could.  Of course, I'd also go to Ebbets Field and I guess I'd even go to a game at the Polo Grounds.
2.  Dodger Stadium- A great setting, a beautiful ballpark, twelve no-hitters, two perfect games, eight World Series, the invention of the high five, Koufax and Kershaw, Pope John Paul II, and The Naked Gun.  There's still room for improvement, but I love Dodger Stadium.  The fact that my favorite team plays there makes be biased, but still, it's great.
1.  Fenway Park- It's such a wonderfully weird ballpark (unintentionally weird, unlike Marlins Park) that couldn't be duplicated anywhere else.  It was great to get back there this summer (most likely for my last game of the season).  Hopefully this November I'll see my third different sport played there.

And there you have it.  I finally got to the 30 Major League stadiums I wanted to get to, but I'm still not done.

It was a very good summer.  I'm hoping for an even better fall.  It's time for the Dodgers to win the World Series again.  And football season is almost upon us.  As much as I love baseball, I get to a point in August where football just can't get here fast enough.  This will be the first year since I graduated that I don't get back to Notre Dame.  But hopefully a great football season will mean that I do a little more blogging than I'm planning on doing.  Go Irish!