It’s that time of year again. My buddy and I have laid down the itinerary for our 23rd annual Baseball Trip, and I’m here again to solicit any and all advice on the cities we’re visiting and points in between.
This year’s stops, in order:
Ogden, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Boise, ID
Idaho Falls, ID
Casper, WY
Denver, CO
Colorado Springs, CO
We’re flying into Salt Lake City and home from Denver. Spending one night and seeing one baseball game in each city, with the exception of Casper; we’ll take it easy on the long mountainous drive from Idaho Falls and stay in Casper for two nights, seeing the ball game on the second. (Unless we find a compelling place to stop for the night in between, which doesn’t seem likely.)
In each city, we try to find a hotel that’s within walking distance from the ballpark and some bars for after the game. No drinking and driving. When walking to the game isn’t feasible (it looks like Boise and Colorado Springs fall into this category) we either cab it or one of us stays dry at the game, and we try to find lodging near some watering holes for later.
So, with the preceding in mind:
Where should we stay?
Where should we drink? (Sports bars, corner taverns, small music clubs are our preference – NO dance clubs)
Any interesting places to stop between cities, time permitting?
What else is there in town that can help kill some afternoon hours, also time permitting? (Anything from museums to go-kart tracks to historic sites)
Any fun facts about the local team or ballpark you wish to share?
Do you live there and want to meet us for a beer? (We’re fun guys!)
Thanks for any and all input. We’re going the third week in August.
I’ve never been out that way so I don’t have any advice on that, but you might want to ask a mod to amend the title with something like “Rocky Mountain Edition” or “The Mountain States” to attract people who are not interested in baseball but live out there.
My husband and I (Tripler) are stationed at an Air Force base close to Ogden and have been to the ballpark there a couple of times. They’re always giving away free tickets so it’s very much a family-filled place though no outside food’s allowed and the food’s expensive. There’s a train museum in Ogden, and a military aerospace museum a few miles from that on your way to SLC.
Haven’t been to the ballpark in SLC but I’ve driven past it numerous times; it’s not in the greatest neighborhood but you’ve surely noticed by now **many **ballparks aren’t. SLC has tons and tons to do and for the most part is eminently walkable. It will be very hot and dry in August, be prepared for 100+ days.
Hotel near a watering hole - can’t help you there. We stay in Lodging on base as needed and party there as well.
I’d think the trip between these two would be entirely wasted if you didn’t see either Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons. GTNP may be better for a quick stop. Lunch at Jenny Lake Lodge, ask the desk for advice for a nearby very quick hour hike or take the boat ride across the lake and back.
Edit: Wow - Casper’s team is the Ghosts. That’s fantastic!
Can you imagine the self-flagellation you’d give yourself if, going over your trip when you got home, you looked at a map and realized the opportunity you lost? Not often do people find themselves in the most middle-of-nowhere place in America. Oh, and be prepared for a really bizarre drive from Casper to Denver. It’s like being on the moon. Everything’s high prairie, where very little vegetation grows - lots of rocks, lots of greys and browns.
I stayed at a Mariott Hotel in Ogden and I could see the ballpark from my room. It was only a couple of blocks away. I seem to recall that on the other side of the hotel was a street that had a few private clubs (bars). My general advice for eating in Utah is that if you’re not in SLC or Park City, stick to the chains.
In Denver, you’re golden. Coors Field is right downtown and the park is surrounded by bars and restaurants of all kinds. The only problem is that being downtown, the hotels are kind of expensive. My advice would be to use Priceline and see if you can get a two and a half or three star hotel downtown for $60. You should be able to. SLC is a great Priceline city as well, although I always stayed downtown. I think you can get right near the ballpark by light rail, though.
Truer words were never typed, sadly. There’s this mayo-based abomination they foist on you called ‘fry sauce’. There’s a regional chain called Famous Dave’s who will fill you up w/ BBQ.
The light rail between Ogden and SLC is pretty expansive!
You don’t like fry sauce!? Just kidding, I hate it too. My grandmother calls it Secret Sauce and claims our family invented it. Yup, we invented ketchup and mayo.:smack:
This should work out great, as it happens. From Idaho Falls to Yellowstone’s West Entrance is a 2 hour 20 minute drive. So, say we hit the road by 10, we can get there a little past noon. Then, there’s a route through the park that is 1 hour 15 minutes of actual driving time, but includes lots of things to stop and see, including the Fountain Paint Pot, the Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, and Yellowstone Lake. Sunset is at 8:15, so we’ll have a good 8 hours of daylight to take in all those sights – if necessary. We might get through faster but there’s no need to rush.
We’ll head to Cody (another hour or so east) for the night and have a reasonably short drive to Casper the next day. Sounds like a perfect use of our only non-baseball day!
Of course, you can’t do Yellowstone justice in one day, but I think we’ll do pretty good in the time we have.
Thought I’d give this thread a bump since the trip is two weeks away. I appreciate all the previous replies; any other ideas or recommendations are welcome!
As a recent visitor to Denver, I’ll say that Rocky Mountain National Park was beautiful. I had an afternoon to kill, so all I really had time to do was drive through it, but since I hadn’t been in the mountains for a few years, I had to take my chance. But since you’ll have been through UT, ID, WY, and CO, it may not be worth it if you can’t spend time there. In Boulder/Longmont/Fort Collins, there are some really good breweries. We just went to tasting rooms on my last trip, but Avery and Upslope were excellent (both in Boulder, I believe), and there’s New Belgium in Fort Collins.
I picked up some of those promo General Admission tickets for you when you get to Ogden; they’re good for the home games from 8/22 - 8/28 against Helena and Missoula. I have 10 and Tripler and I can either bring them to meet you for a game or I can mail them to you this week. Thoughts? We can see if the other Utah Dopers want to come up to Ogden…
Thanks! However, we’ll be in Ogden on the 13th, and our tickets are bought and paid for already. (Been burned by a “just show up” approach in the past, so these days we tend to overplan.)
Still, I’m happy to meet up with any Dopers along the way. Anyone interested, feel free to send me a PM.
We saw the Dukes back in '98. I think the 'Topes are still playing in the same stadium? Nevertheless, I’d love to get back to Albuquerque some day. It didn’t work into the schedule this year.
Oohh, coming to see them play the Chukars I see! If he’s back from Afghanistan by the 13th I don’t know how excited Tripler will be about noisy crowds quite yet. We’ll play it by ear!