It was a Quid Pro Quo of sorts as this was "our" trip more than a baseball trip,so I traded an afternoon at the Ken Ham Creation Museum for an evening with the Lexington Legends.
I wanted to do the Legends because it finished off the state of Kentucky (after last years trips to Bowling Green and Louisville) and because it checks off one more SAL team (trims the league to six and after planned trips to Kannapolis and Augusta later in the year-four) on my list of that league.
The day started at 3;30 AM with a low tire and struggling to find a place to pump it up.
The rental car turned out to have a slow leak in the rear tire and I would have to pump it up later in the trip.
I don't eat like I used as I try to drop down in weight,so there isn't quite as many food stops on this trip,but there were a few interesting places.
The first was Gold Star Chili,which is the challenger in the Cincinnati chili market to the better known Skyline Chili and I've never tried them before,although I've seen some commercials when watching Reds games.
It was good,but here's the behind the scenes scoop on Skyline vs Gold Star-There isn't any difference!
You either like the thinner style chili with a hit of cinnamon or you don't.
You either like the thinner style chili with a hit of cinnamon or you don't.
I do,but I'm not sure that I would eat it as much if I lived in the area.
I'll stay off the Creation Museum.
It really wasn't my type of place,but I slogged my way through it with as minimal snark and sardonic wit as I could hold back.
These things happen when part of a team and Cherie was able to do something that she wanted,so I was pleased to be able to make that happen for her.
After leaving the museum and a quick stop at the Ark Adventure (about 45 minutes away),where they are building a to scale Noah's Ark,so Cherie could take some pictures from a distance (40 dollars per person and 10 bucks to park!), we checked into our hotel,which was good enough and provided a laugh from "Mike" behind the counter.
Mike seems exasperated with the person in front of us and when he asked me how I was with my response being "Fine,how are you"?,his response was an eye roll and "I've been a LOT better" with a deadpan monotone voice...
Next stop was Whitaker Bank Ballpark,home of the Lexington Legends and the main reason that I selected this area for our trip.
Whitaker is located in an area that is tucked in between a strip mall and a residential area and wasn't difficult to find for us even using a GPS.
I brought very few cards to attempt to get signed with us to Lexington,so few that I didn't even bring the briefcase into the park.
The opposition was the Hickory Crawdads,who had been to Hagerstown two weeks before,so the main card was Leody Taveras on his top 100,since I didn't have the set when the Crawdads were in town.
The graphing there wasn't hard,but you do need to pick one side or the other as the players enter from right-center field and cross to their dugout.
With the graphing finished,we moved to the souvenir stand,where I was able to buy Rachel a Legends sweatshirt,Derreck some clearance bobbleheads and Doug Hopkins a Legend player sign that was displayed outside the stadium last season.
Not a bad team shop at all with plenty of space and items,although I didn't buy anything for me.
Lexington doesn't allow you to return to your car,but as we walked along the concourse,a very nice lady asked us if we would like to keep our packages with her in fan services and we accepted.
I suppose there is something to southern hospitality.
The Legends employees were super nice and accommodating as they helped us to our seats,talked a bit about how they do things and told us we could sit elsewhere as long as we didn't upgrade our seats too much.
As those of you that go to games with me know,I like sitting all the way at the top,I like the solitude and the sightlines,so we went further up.
As we watched the first two innings of the game,we could see storm clouds rolling in and it was just a matter of time before they arrived with the question then being how much rain would fall.
Answer: A lot and we left after an hour rain delay (the game was eventually cancelled).
Too bad as I really liked the park and employees and Cherie commented the same.
I'd return to Lexington,if I was in the area and I'd recommend it to you too.
You might want to hurry though as despite the park being just 16 years old,there are already rumors in the area of a new stadium located in wait for it-downtown Lexington.....
Through the pouring rain back to our hotel,we decided to stop at the sponsored chain advertised on the scoreboard-Cane's Chicken Fingers for dinner.
It was OK,not great but decent enough.
The fingers weren't the biggest,but tasty enough and the sides were OK.
After that,it was back to the hotel to catch the second half of the Cavaliers and Celtics before ending the day.
Back soon with Cincinnati and the other day of our trip.
After leaving the museum and a quick stop at the Ark Adventure (about 45 minutes away),where they are building a to scale Noah's Ark,so Cherie could take some pictures from a distance (40 dollars per person and 10 bucks to park!), we checked into our hotel,which was good enough and provided a laugh from "Mike" behind the counter.
Mike seems exasperated with the person in front of us and when he asked me how I was with my response being "Fine,how are you"?,his response was an eye roll and "I've been a LOT better" with a deadpan monotone voice...
Next stop was Whitaker Bank Ballpark,home of the Lexington Legends and the main reason that I selected this area for our trip.
Whitaker is located in an area that is tucked in between a strip mall and a residential area and wasn't difficult to find for us even using a GPS.
I brought very few cards to attempt to get signed with us to Lexington,so few that I didn't even bring the briefcase into the park.
The opposition was the Hickory Crawdads,who had been to Hagerstown two weeks before,so the main card was Leody Taveras on his top 100,since I didn't have the set when the Crawdads were in town.
The graphing there wasn't hard,but you do need to pick one side or the other as the players enter from right-center field and cross to their dugout.
With the graphing finished,we moved to the souvenir stand,where I was able to buy Rachel a Legends sweatshirt,Derreck some clearance bobbleheads and Doug Hopkins a Legend player sign that was displayed outside the stadium last season.
Not a bad team shop at all with plenty of space and items,although I didn't buy anything for me.
Lexington doesn't allow you to return to your car,but as we walked along the concourse,a very nice lady asked us if we would like to keep our packages with her in fan services and we accepted.
I suppose there is something to southern hospitality.
The Legends employees were super nice and accommodating as they helped us to our seats,talked a bit about how they do things and told us we could sit elsewhere as long as we didn't upgrade our seats too much.As those of you that go to games with me know,I like sitting all the way at the top,I like the solitude and the sightlines,so we went further up.
As we watched the first two innings of the game,we could see storm clouds rolling in and it was just a matter of time before they arrived with the question then being how much rain would fall.
Answer: A lot and we left after an hour rain delay (the game was eventually cancelled).
Too bad as I really liked the park and employees and Cherie commented the same.
I'd return to Lexington,if I was in the area and I'd recommend it to you too.
You might want to hurry though as despite the park being just 16 years old,there are already rumors in the area of a new stadium located in wait for it-downtown Lexington.....
Through the pouring rain back to our hotel,we decided to stop at the sponsored chain advertised on the scoreboard-Cane's Chicken Fingers for dinner.
It was OK,not great but decent enough.
The fingers weren't the biggest,but tasty enough and the sides were OK.
After that,it was back to the hotel to catch the second half of the Cavaliers and Celtics before ending the day.
Back soon with Cincinnati and the other day of our trip.
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