You've probably seen lots of different people over the past 10 years embarking on these baseball road trips. You know, the ones where they try and go to all 30 MLB stadiums in one summer? Or the Stadium Journey, where they've taken it upon themselves to review every stadium in all the big professional leagues?
Well, it strikes me that the perfect way to escape the collapse of this Astros team for the second half of the season is to take a trip. You can either go to the minor leagues, as the wife did last weekend. Or, you can go see the Astros in one of the many fine stadiums around the majors. Having seen the Astros in both Wrigley Field and Busch Stadium, I can vouch for how cool an experience it is, even if Houston lost both those games.
Why do I bring this up now? There is a point (as there usually is). Holiday Inn, the Official Road Trip Partner of Major League Baseball, is sponsoring a contest called the Ultimate Baseball Road Trip. If you're watching the All-Star Game tonight, simply text "AL" or "NL" to "88222," picking which team will get the most hits in the game. If you're right, you'll have a chance to win two tickets to any MLB game, airfare to the game and a stay in the (you guessed it) Holiday Inn while you're there.
The question I have for you is this: would you rather go see the Astros play in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco or any of their other road trips this season, or would you go see Corpus Christi, Lexington or one of the other minor league affiliates instead? Has this team fallen so far that you'd pass up a chance to see major leaguers to go see Jonathan Villar or Kody Hinze?
As an Astros fan, are there any stadiums that you'd really like to see one day on a road trip? For me, it'd be Pittsburgh, San Fran and Fenway as the top three I'd want to see next. I'd like to get to all 30 of them eventually, but those are the ones right at the top (though I've also heard great things about Petco in San Diego). For those of you not living near Houston, how far would you travel to see the Astros?
This post is sponsored by Holiday Inn, the Official Road Trip Partner of Major League Baseball.