Tag: Texas Rangers

Travels With Charlie Day #2 “A Perfect Day”

by reissmd, posted in Dallas

This morning we were greeted at our hotel by the celebrity I spoke about yesterday. No, it wasn’t Dusty Baker like yesterday but rather someone much more special. It was Uncle Marc who is Charlie’s mom’s younger brother. Marc has relocated to Texas after living in LA for a while. I really miss him because he has a great laugh and he kindly laughs at all my jokes. [Patrice here, Marc is a dear person but does he really have to encourage Robert by laughing at all his dumb jokes?].

Today was a baseball day and Marc volunteered to be our chauffeur. We went to see the Houston Astros play the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. The count is now 20 stadiums down with just 10 more to go.

Patrice, Uncle Marc, Charlie and me, waiting for the game to start.

The stadium is beautiful and the fans were great. Charlie did have a question. See below.

Charlie wanted to know why Santa Claus was singing the National Anthem.

It was a great game with the Astros winning 5-3. We had 4 Astros fans sitting in front of us. One was a gentleman who said he flew up from Houston the others were his 3 female friends who drove up for the game. They were wild. They got excited any time the Astros did anything good but the special moment was every time second baseman, Jose Altuve came to bat. They would go crazy and sing the refrain from the Ricky Martin song “La Copa de la Vida” which you might know is “Ole, Ole, Ole” but instead of Ole, they would sing “Jose, Jose, Jose”.

La Copa De La Vida (The Cup of the Life) by Ricky Martin. OLE, OLE, OLE

In the 9th inning, Altuve hit a solo home run and I thought they were going to tear the stadium down. They were jumping up and down and screaming. I finally thought I should video but by then they had calmed down a bit. I did manage to get a picture of one of their shirts. See below.,

So clever, don’t you think? But wouldn’t that be better placed lower down on the body?

After the game, Marc drove us back to the hotel and we arrived at the same time as the Astro bus. Lucky for me the team has a private entrance and enter the hotel at a different location thus avoiding my having to deal with Super-Grandma again.

Tomorrow is travel day. We head to Chicago where will see the White Sox play the Toronto Blue Jays.

Until then………. Jose! Jose! Jose!

Travels With Charlie Day #1 “Super-Grandma”

by reissmd, posted in Dallas

Those of you who are familiar with John Steinbeck might have read his book “Travels With Charley”.   In it, the author describes a road trip he took in a van with his faithful dog, Charley.  Steinbeck was ill with heart disease at the time (he shouldn’t have been a life-long smoker!) but completed the trip and wrote a very famous book about his trip around the USA.  Well, this will not be a trip around the USA and we won’t be with our dog.  No, our travel buddy for this trip will be our grandson, Charlie.  Followers of this blog might recall we took our oldest grandson on trips to Canada and Panama.  Now it’s grandson #2’s turn.  Charlie was put on this Earth for his grandpa. Unlike any other Reiss, Charlie is a baseball fan just like his grandpa.  With that in mind what better trip than to visit some more baseball parks. My current count is 19 down with 11 more to go in order to complete my quest to see a baseball game in every MLB park.  

Today we left for Dallas with plans to see the Astros vs. the Rangers on Sunday.  Those of you who follow the news are aware that our planning hasn’t been the best.  Texas is currently suffering a horrendous heat wave.  The expected high in Dallas today is 97 degrees.  That’s down from 102 a few days ago.  

Our flight here was uneventful as was the trip to the hotel. The hotel is amazing and it happens to be the same hotel where the Astros are staying. Grandma Patrice wanted to hang out in the lobby hoping to see one of the Astro players and get an autograph or two for Charlie. The thought of that made me sweat thinking how embarrassed I would be. I couldn’t let them venture out without me so I took a deep breath and headed downstairs. I was much relieved when I didn’t see any players around. Patrice asked various employees about when the Astros would return from the stadium, how can we find one or two, etc. To say I was uncomfortable is a major understatement. Lucky for me the hotel employees were, hmmmm, how do you say it…………. yes, professional. They wouldn’t even admit the Astros stayed at the hotel which convinced Patrice to give up her search.

With our Astro hunt coming to an end we decided to venture out to look at the town. We first took a trolley but then got off and walked around. Patrice was loving the warm night air while I was thinking about calling for paramedics. Upon returning to the hotel I spotted the Astros manager Dusty Baker. I whispered to Patrice, “I see the Astros manager”. Immediately she went into Grandma-Mode, “Where is he, where is he?”. We had passed the group and I told her “The guy in the flowery shirt is Dusty Baker”. She took Charlie and off they went while I looked for a hole to climb into. I was within earshot and could tell that Dusty was being quite nice to the duo. I grabbed a picture and then approached the group. Patrice introduced me (she and Dusty were pals by then) and she then asked Dusty, “What do you do with the team?” WHERE’S THAT HOLE?

Tomorrow we will see the Astros and their manager, (Good old what’s his name). We will have another celebrity joining us for the game and he will be our chauffeur. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see the celebrity but hopefully, a picture of Dusty will hold you for now. See below.

Super-Grandma, Charlie, and Dusty Baker
A boy who loves his grandma.

Hey, do I get some credit for recognizing Dusty?