#5 University of Northern Colorado baseball game

May 5, 2018 

 

On a Saturday and on Cinco de Mayo my dad and I headed to Greeley for my first University of Northern Colorado and Division I college baseball game. The UNC Bears were playing the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The day was in the 70s and was hot in the sun, but a bit chilly when it was cloudy and a little breezy. We arrived a little bit early for a 2 o’clock game to a basically empty parking lot and we parked. They have free admission so we went through the gate 

and we found a table that had a pile of roster/stat sheets which were under a rock.  Then we found a place for me to park with room next to me for dad and his lawn chair.  The only problem was there was a bar on the fence that was in the wrong spot but I could line it up with the catcher’s knees.  If I couldn’t see the ball or if it was under the bar it had to be a ball. We were also near the UNC dugout and it was interesting watching the coaches, all four of them send signs in and signal various things. A lot of the time it was to the catcher on just about every pitch then the catcher would read his wristband and give signs to the pitcher. I figured out I’m not very good at stealing signs apparently but enjoyed watching all that.  The game started out not so good for the Bears as they went down three to nothing quick but scored two in the bottom of the first. Then an odd thing happened when a UNC player broke his metal bat down by the handle. The umpires grabbed the bat and then got together to discuss it.  Then one of them took the bat off the field and the UNC coach pointed somewhere near the dugout and put the bat there to keep it for later. Eventually UNC tied it up and in the fifth inning took a 6 to 3 lead.  In the seventh-inning the catcher from Texas was called for catcher interference and probably broke his hand while doing it as he got hit by the bat and had to leave the game.  In the eighth the University of Texas had the bases-loaded when the UNC coach went to the mound and talked to the pitcher and then the pitcher struck out the next batter and kept the lead. In the ninth-inning UNC was still ahead 6 to 4. The first batter struck out making it five strikeouts so all the fans (all 120 of them) got a coupon for five free wings.  Then we had dinner plans.  After two more outs the UNC Bears won the game 6 to 4! Then we headed to our favorite wing place Wing Shack for our free wings.

 This was a great day as we had fun at the game and then went and got chicken wings. You can’t do much better than that for a great day.

#4 Hawaiian food in Mesa Arizona and Windsor Colorado

I have never really had Hawaiian food before and was interested in trying it out. I’ve had Korean Bulgogi before but wasn’t sure how it compared to the Hawaiian version.  So I figured it would make for a good adventure.

Attempt 1

March 16, 2018  Aloha Kitchen in Mesa Arizona which was seen on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and has very good reviews  

 I decided to get Mix Plate #2 which was Bulgogi and Chicken Katsu this came with two scoops of white rice, macaroni salad and barbecue sauce for the Katsu chicken.  I thought the Bulgogi tasted okay, but it didn’t seem like it was very seasoned or marinated, just basically grilled meat. This was also very tough and hard to chew especially for me when I can’t chew very well. The Chicken Katsu was cut into strips and was perfect for me because it was easy to eat.  The outside breading was nice and crispy and the barbecue sauce with it was good, but it just tasted like a regular barbecue sauce not anything very different. The rice was plain as expected but okay.  The macaroni salad was all right and it also had potatoes in it which I don’t know if that’s normal or not but I thought it was the best part of it. Also on the plate was a little piece of pineapple which was good and I wish there would’ve been more of it. They also had fortune cookies I don’t know if that’s normal either and that was my first attempt at Hawaiian food.

Attempt 2

 

 March 29, 2018 Okole Maluna Hawaiian Grill in Windsor Colorado 

This place has a very high rating and a friend suggested we go there. I wanted to try something different than I had my first attempt and after bit of a look at the menu 

I decided on the Kalua pork sandwich with spicy garlic fries. The pork was basically pulled pork and I thought it was okay but nothing too special and it seemed like it needed some barbecue sauce.  Also the hoagie roll was burnt so that didn’t help much. The fries I thought were very good, but a bit spicy and they didn’t hold back on the garlic. 

My two attempts at Hawaiian food didn’t excite me too much but I was glad I tried it out.   

I think I’ll stick to Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza for my Hawaiian food.

#3 The 30th Annual Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival Chandler, Arizona

This Festival was on March 9-11 and we went on Sunday the 11th. I read about this festival about 15 years ago when the Anaheim Angels manager, Mike Scioscia gave some of the players a spring training assignment.  He gave pitcher Jarrod Washburn the assignment of going to the Ostrich Festival. The next day he came in the locker room with an ostrich which sent pitcher Ramon Ortiz into his locker yelling “el Pollo grande”. After I read about it I didn't really think much more about it until recently when I was looking for 30 things to do this year. The more I read about the Ostrich Festival the more I wanted to go and since it was the 30th annual I just had to go. 

On Sunday morning we wanted to get up early to get there, but we were tired and didn't get up so early, but since the event lasted all day it was okay. We got there just around lunch time and when we arrived the parking was nice how they just had the handicapped section in with the VIP section and was not very crowded at the time we were there. We bought tickets which were $15 for adults and my parents got the senior rate of $8. Once we entered we walked down the main road through the event where all the vendors were selling just about everything, ostrich this and ostrich that but I was in search of an ostrich burger.   

 

Once we found the food area there were so many choices including barbecue on a stick, fried items and just about everything you can imagine but eventually we found the ostrich burger stand.  I ordered mine with cheese and it also came with grilled onions and pickles. They had condiments out on the table in front of the stand but I thought I should try it without. We found a nice grassy area next to the stand to eat. The burger was kind of like red meat like a regular beef burger, but there was a rather odd taste to it and I wasn't so sure if I liked it.  My dad ended up eating the other half. 

After this we went to watch the pig races. This I thought was not too exciting and a bit hard to see sometimes when oblivious people lean over in front of you to take pictures and block your view. But the pigs were racing around a little fenced in area and the winner gets an Oreo cookie and the losers get the crumbs that were laying underneath. 

Once this was over we had time to get to the main attraction the ostrich races! We got there about an hour until the races, but so did a lot of other people. 

 

When we got to the arena area the ostriches were out and about. One was just walking around and looked rather odd with real skinny legs and neck and the midsection area bouncing around a bit and this just made me laugh. Another one was sitting down and resting until there was a kid that was pestering the other one. He came over by the fence to defend his friend and the kid was lucky to not lose a finger.  

 

 After a while they got all the ostriches rounded up and ready to race they had three racing at a time with rider on top of each. When they took off they looked even more ridiculous than before especially with the riders on top. The crowd’s main reaction was just laughing about it and I can't tell you which ones won any of the races, if it was the red white or blue rider. They also had kids running with the emus and chickens and even a couple camel races.  All these things were kind of interesting but just not the same as the ostrich races. Once the races were done most of the crowd immediately got up and left. Right after that they let the ostriches out again.  The whole group of them ran right up in front of us and we could easily see them since everyone had left.

After all this I was kind of tired, so we decided to head out but I had one last thing to do which was to get an ostrich cup. They were selling these right next to the ostrich burgers. When we were done with that we left.  This was quite the adventure and I had a lot of fun watching all the ostriches.  There was so much going on and I could’ve easily spent all day at the Ostrich Festival.