Steve Kinley: Labor Day report

We took advantage of the great weather this weekend to take in some of the local attractions that we have been wanting to see but never got around to. On Saturday we went to the Eastern Market where we loaded up on fresh produce. We plan on going back there more often but learned that we need something to carry around our purchases. The fold up carts that everyone had seemed like the ticket but everything would be sitting on top of each other. I am going to look into something else to use. We also bought some sausage at the meat market that we grilled later in the evening. Some of it was a lot spicier than we thought but I liked it.

Sunday I went to church with Sandy and then we headed down to the Toledo Zoo. The older part of the zoo was especially nice with tree shaded walks and lots of flower gardens. All of the exhibits seemed nice and clean and the older buildings are updated. I'm not sure what our favorite animals were, maybe the polar bears with the twin cubs or the hippos since in both displays they were out swimming and would come right up to the glass enclosure. It has been a while since we went to a zoo. Sandy and the boys went to one in Omaha and I was at one in Mexico City. While we haven't been to the Detroit zoo yet I would recommend the Toledo zoo.

After the zoo we headed over to Tony Packo's at the park, across the street from the Toledo Mudhens baseball field. We had tickets for a double header in the evening. There was a huge line snaked around the building and we thought everyone was waiting to get in. It turns out that that the restaurant was hosting a radio station contest winner's lunch with a pro wrestler, Matt Hardy, that happened to be in town for a match. We were able to walk right in and get a table.

When I bought tickets to the game a few weeks ago the only thing they had left were general admission seats in the outfield. Actually they weren't seats, but an area with picnic tables set up above the outfield wall. They were good seats for watching the game but in the direct sunlight for the entire first game. The sun had set behind the stadium by the time the second game started under the lights. The home team came from behind in both games to win. We didn't stay for all of the second game as Toledo was playing a lot of the second string and rookie players, judging from the batting averages 0f .091 and .000.

The ballpark is only about 5 years old and since it only seats about 11,000 there is not a bad seat in the stadium. Plenty of concession stands and easy parking and access to the freeway makes it a nice venue to see a game. Ticket prices are reasonable too.

Today I went out for an early morning ride for a few hours and ended up stopping by to see some of the crit races taking place in Auburn Hills. I don't know if that is something I would take up. I enjoy myself a lot more on the trails than I do on the roads.

Tomorrow I should be starting a new after work activity that will probably keep me tied up a few nights a week and some weekend days. More on that in a later post.

Sandy feeds a lion some Hammer Product