"The Boys of Summer" Road Trip & Bald Prairie Peep Meet. Fargo, July 7-9

[Bumper]

Fargo...when it's not baseball season.


Typical Prairie Peep baseball fans after a game and an evening at Paradiso.

Okay, okay, okay...so here’s the plan.

Baseball...the Great American Game...the National Pastime

“Baseball is a slow, sluggish game, with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field. That is what a fan loves most about the game.” - Edward Abbey

“Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the other half is physical.” - Yogi Berra

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” - Rogers Hornsby

“Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.” - Wes Westrum

“Baseball is the only endeavour where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” - Ted Williams

“Baseball is like driving. It’s the one who gets home safely that counts.” - Tommy Lasorda (I hate cars!)

Now, to be honest, for the most part, I consider baseball to be about as exciting as watching a car rust, or listening to grass grow. Purists will tell you that a final score of 2 to 1 is an indication of a great game, well-played, and thoughtfully managed. CRAP!! Gimme’ a final score of 15 to 14, with 7 or 8 errors, and a half dozen double plays. Now that’s entertainment. But I also figure that any enterprise that involves, beer, a sunny day, beer, junk food, oh...and beer, is definitely worthy of our consideration, and I’m willing to give it my active support and participation.

With this in mind, baseball fanatics, and renowned forum folk, YWGDon&Deb will be making a road trip from Winnipeg to Fargo, North Dakota to follow the fortunes of the local Northern League team - The Winnipeg Goldeyes, as they do battle with perennial rivals, The Fargo Redhawks. The Bumpers will be joining our baseball-loving friends for three days of filling the bleachers. Games take place at 7:00 PM the evenings of Friday, July 7, Saturday July 8 and 2:00 PM the afternoon of Sunday, July 9. We’ve already got our seats booked for all three contests. We’ve also arranged hotel accommodations for the nights of Friday thru Sunday, since we have plans for after the final game. We propose to retire to the Paradiso restaurant after Sunday’s match, for a few adult beverages and some Mexican food. Admittedly, it’s not up to the standard of the cuisine in Playa, but they do a commendable job on popular Tex-Mex favourites, they stock Corona, and makea pretty decent Margarita. They also have the advantage of being within walking (stumbling?) distance from our hotel, the Select Inn. We can speak from personal experience on this latter point.

How many people constitute a “Peep Meet?” Is just the four of us in attendance enough to attain that status? Do we have to wear our beads? And the question of the hour...would any of you Prairie Peeps care to join us, either from Winnipeg, North Dakota, or Western Minnesota? Don has thoughtfully provided a web site where you can look up baseball ticket information.

http://www.fmredhawks.com/tickets/

I rather suspect YWG Don and I will be finding a watering hole to patronize on Saturday afternoon, as YWG Deb and Mrs. B will be otherwise involved. Fargo offers some dandy shopping opportunities, so we’re pretty sure we know where they’ll be found.

Anyone care to connect with us during our Prairie Pilgrimage? No “Sign Up”... just show up, drink up, throw up.

“Put me in, Coach, I’m ready to play today. - John Fogerty

“Build it, they will come.” - Field of Dreams

[playabum17]

Hey Bumper, Fargo is only 4 hours from where I live and it looks like a very easy trip up there, mostly interstate. I'd say it's a definite possiblility.

[Nerak936]

Wow... that looks like FUN. And it's a sport I could actually enjoy with some Canucks. (I HATE hockey!)

EDIT: With airfare in the high $400's, I don't think I'll be making it happen. Darn it......

[MN Annie]

We'll be camping at Cross Lake then. If the river is high enough, and the weather is nice, we will be tubing the Pine River . Anyone care to join us?
I was going to attach pictures, but the lawnmower is calling me

[jmac]

Our town's 125th homecoming is that weekend. And the small factor of funds. I'm booking next year's trip to Playa hopefully Monday. Love to see ya there but no offense, I'd rather go to Playa Have fun & go Goldeyes. If ya decide on one in the 'Peg, let us know.

[Bumper]

Originally Posted by jmac

Our town's 125th homecoming is that weekend. And the small factor of funds. I'm booking next year's trip to Playa hopefully Monday. Love to see ya there but no offense, I'd rather go to Playa Have fun & go Goldeyes. If ya decide on one in the 'Peg, let us know.

Sorry you can't make it, as we'd love to see you guys again, but we completely understand. Don & Deb and us were talking about trying to get a meet together in Winnipeg later in the summer, Jackie, and we'll be sure you and Glenn hear about it. Hope you're in Playa the same time as us next year.
Bring your hat.

[jmac]

Not to sure on being there at the same time although I would love to. Will know tomorrow whether we have any of our son's friends going with us, if that's the case, it's Spring Break, if they don't, might try & go sooner, maybe. It would be fun to see all of you guys again. Later in the summer would be cool for a Winnipeg Peep Meet.

[btodd]

I would love to have a Winnipeg meet!!............. :p

[thisoldhippy]

GO REDHAWKS!!!.....I'll be at at least one of the games that weekend....where ya'll sitting?...And Paradiso ain't bad for relaxing and imbibing either!:p

[monte]

Darn, another peep party I'll miss.

[thisoldhippy]

do ya have to be bald to attend?:p

[Rissask]

Fargo??

Now, if you going to be at Riding Mounting/Wasagaming....we might come.

What is with the dead rats? I thought they were gophers at first... but them're rats!

[thisoldhippy]

prairie dogs......not rats!:p

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by thisoldhippy

prairie dogs......not rats!:p

I dunno....I have shot my share of gophers, and they didn't look like that! Way skinnier!

I did some digging on where Bump got that pic, and they are something called 'pocket gohers'- what fugly creatures!!! They do look more like rats than your typical cute gopher.

http://weblogs.eos.net/WoodyAg/stories/storyReader$105

Sorry for the thread highjack Bumper.

[Bumper]

Originally Posted by Rissask

I dunno....I have shot my share of gophers, and they didn't look like that! Way skinnier!

I did some digging on where Bump got that pic, and they are something called 'pocket gohers'- what fugly creatures!!! They do look more like rats than your typical cute gopher.

http://weblogs.eos.net/WoodyAg/stories/storyReader$105

Sorry for the thread highjack Bumper.

Them're gophers alright. I've had plenty of experience with them in my time. When I was a youngster (a time just slightly before the invention of the wheel, you're no doubt thinking) the municipality I grew up in had a 25 cent bounty on gophers. You just took the tail into their office, and they paid on the spot. (No "paying for tail" jokes required...too easy) Anyway, we'd gather up as many neighbourhood kids together as we could and head off to the railway embankment, which was invariably riddled with gopher holes. One kid would get a bucket of water from the railway ditch, which always seemed to have water in it, even in dry years. Then they'd pour it down a gopher hole, causing the residents to head for the exits. We'd have a kid posted outside every hole we could find, and when the little buggers would stick their heads out, we'd whack 'em with a stick. A tad blood-thirsty, I suppose, but I guess we grew up in more primitive times, and what the heck...a quarter's a quarter. This activity, by the way, was not in the slightest gender specific. I've seen little girls in dresses with a forehand that would separate a rodent's head from its shoulders like a Ginzu cleaver. Those quarters were put to good use too. 10 cents got you into a Saturday afternoon matinee at the local movie house (two features, a Buck Rogers serial, and three cartoons) A nickel got you about a bushel of popcorn, another nickel purchased about a quart of fountain pop, and the last five cents yielded a slab of MacIntosh toffee about the size of two decks of cards, wrapped in wax paper, inside a tartan cardboard box. And if we didn't go to the movies, a quarter at the corner store would buy enough penny candy to get about 5 kids sick. Licorice plugs and pipes, mint leaves, red licorice twizzlers, African-American babies (or is that "persons of colour" babies? That's not what we called them, but like I said...more primitive times.), marshmallow strawberries, black balls, cinnamon hearts. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.