road trip

VFW Ladies Auxiliary District Treasurer Marge Buckley and Post 1602 President Maura Dibble are proud to introduce their first trip to Washington, D.C., for "Wreaths Across America." It will be the local debut of a national event honoring our nation's fallen veterans.

Open to men, women and children of all ages, the trip is being coordinated by "1st Choice Educational Tours." People from outside of Genesee County are also invited to participate.

The bus will depart from VFW Post 1602, at 25 Edwards St. in Batavia, at 6:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13, and is estimated to arrive back in Batavia around 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15. Additional pick-up locations may be added for groups of eight or more.

"Wreaths Across America" is a ceremony in which wreaths are placed on the graves of fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery as well as other cemeteries throughout the country.  Travellers on this trip will get to be a part of the ceremony in Arlington at 8 a.m. on Dec. 14.

Dibble said it gives her "goosebumps" to see many of the wreaths on these graves, especially since some of them belong to unknown soldiers whose families and friends have passed on.

Buckley assures participants that they "will not be riding a school bus." Round trip transportation will be provided on a 56-passenger deluxe motor coach with a built-in restroom.

Price of admission also includes:

• a two-night stay at the Courtyard Marriott Pentagon South
• two breakfasts
• two dinners
• a lunch voucher at the Ronald Reagan Food Court
• a Night Illuminated Monument Tour in Washington, D.C.
• time to explore the Smithsonian Museum
• a 90-minute tram tour of Arlington Cemetery
• a two-hour guided tour of the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pa.

Cost is $399 based on double occupancy, $359 on triple occupancy, $339 on quad occupancy and $525 on single occupancy.

There are 15 seats still available. For more information, call Buckley at 344-1663 by the middle of this week.

A little over a week ago we planned on a road trip to Niles Ohio to see the Muckdogs play.  As things will happen, plans appeared to change and the trip was called off.  That was until Friday afternoon when we decided that we would go.  We left about three hours later than originally planned and not half as prepared as we would have been if plans had stayed as before.  But, that seems to be the nature of the beast, at times.

We already had the directions to Eastwood Field thanks to Yahoo maps.  One confusing direction was how to get to the stadium once we were in Niles. 

'Turn right on Eastwood Mall Blvd."

Turn right on Eastwood Mall Blvd."

Turn left on Eastwood Mall Blvd."

Could the directions be right?  That mystery was explained after we arrived at Eastwood Mall.  The two right turns and the one left took us directly to the parking lot for the stadium ($2.50 to park or $2.50 for walk ins - that is over and above the price of the ticket).

We purchased our tickets online which turned out to be the right thing to do.  We arrived at the end of the ifrst inning only to see a long line still waiting to buy tickets.

The stadium (which is very nice) is one of 350 businesses located at the Eastwood facility.  Once in the stadium you wouldn't believe that you were sitting in the midst of a huge mall complex.  The tree line, visible from the stadium seats, gave the impression that we were sitting in a rural park.

Unfortunately the Muckdogs lost both Friday and Saturday's games. 

On Saturday afternoon we caught the attention of a group of Muckdog players as they were walking back to the stadium from one of the mall buildings.  We hears, "Hey, look!  Muckdogs!", as we drove past the group.  They has spotted the Muckdog cushion in the back window of the car.  We stopped and gave a wave to let them know we were there to see them play.

Sitting in a sea of Scrapper fans was fun.  We even had the people in front of us, on Saturday night, decide to cheer for our guys right along with us.  We did get the oft asked question, "what is a muckdog?" both nights. 

Friday was the perfect day to travel.  The weather was beautiful.  Friday night's fireworks and Saturday's Jimmy Buffett night were nice endings.

Speaking of the stadium.  The electronic scoreboard added a lot to fan participation. Each Scrappers'  picture came up as he came up to bat.  The live pictures of the boys at bat was also nice.

All in all, it was a fun (albeit, hot) weekend.  So glad we went.

Just an additional note:  We ate at a restaurant called Charley's after the game on Friday night.  The menu was typical steak house fare but the spinach and artichoke appetizer was out of this world.  Not the normal frozen, pre-made, throw in the micro-wave and serve dish.  This was fresh spinach, chopped fine and identifiable chunks of artichokes.  The sauce had a hint of garlic, but not overpowering.  While we enjoyed it, I still believe that Larry's has the best chips to go with their dip.