Enjoy the little things in life, because one day, you'll look back and realize they were actually the big things.
Contest Hint:
Oh hey. So here's a hint for the upcoming contest.
All Around The World
Oh hey again. Happy Aloha Friday once again! So here we are now, and I'm going to talk about my travels and what fun things I've done while there. I have some of the best memories from traveling, and I wouldn't have been able to do it if I never played baseball and for my loving parents. These trips were baseball tournaments and some were better than others, in terms of how we did in the tournament and how much fun we had when we weren't playing ball. I was a part of an AAU baseball club and we were comprised of players all over Oahu. The first tournament we went to was held in Kansas. I didn't really know what was in store for me on this trip. First off my reaction to being on a traveling team was pure excitement. I felt like it would be a great experience and who wouldn't want to travel across the US and play ball? When it was time to play, I remember that the fields we played on were softball fields and they were an all dirt field. For our first tournament as a newly put together team we did alright. We didn't win that tournament, but I do remember stuff that happened after we got knocked out. Kansas isn't exactly a attraction heavy state, they did however have Wizard of Oz merchandise in every store you walked into. We did however end up at an amusement park called World of Fun.
I don't know about "worlds" of fun, but it was fun. Roller coasters and games everywhere. It's like a bigger more ride oriented Knott's Berry Farm. It was a pretty big place considering that they probably don't generate a huge amount of revenue. Right next to it was their water park, Oceans of Fun. We didn't get to go there because no one was dressed to get wet, but let me tell you it would have been the best decision to just rush it in jeans cause it was hot as sh*t. You got instant magnet balls and swamp ass. If you don't know what that is don't worry about it. One thing I remember was one of the rides we we're going to go on was called the Mamba. It was a roller coaster with an initial drop of 205 ft. and the thing that sketched me out the most was that it broke down right before we rode it. One of the wheels on the cart was coming loose and so they shut it down for about 30 minutes. At that point I was having second thoughts about going on it. They got it running again, and we all went on it. Another great memory I had of this trip was back at our hotel. It was setup like a small apartment complex and there was a pool in the middle. During our down time we were just hanging out by the pool and no one but our team was using it. Then out of nowhere these two older girls came to the pool and started hanging out with us and talking with us. We kept trying to get them in the pool, and one of them threw caution into the wind and jumped in... with her jeans and shirt. Caught us all off guard and we were all like,
They kept coming around and hanging out with us when we were back at the hotel. One of our teammates was trying to DG (drop game) on them super hard.
The next trip we went on was to Minnesota. This trip was a little different. We had a host family that would take us places of interest and make sure we knew where we were going. They were the nicest people in the world and they had the biggest house and property I've ever seen. The had a two story house and their backyard had a garden, basketball court, 50 yard football field, trampoline, and behind the tall grass past the football field was a lake. Weird thing about it was that the boy in the family didn't have nice shoes. They were all beaten up and had holes in them. I found that to be weird, because they had all this money to spend on outdoor activities, but they couldn't afford new sneakers for the kid, but I digress. The tournament, again, didn't turn out in our favor. We did however win the sportsmanship award for being the nicest team in the tournament. We didn't get crushed in the tournament, but we just didn't win. After we lost, we had free time again. We ended up going to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the world.
It was massive. We didn't get to see the whole mall in one day, mainly because of the size, but also because it had a mini amusement park in the center of the mall. The parents went around the mall shopping while the kids wasted time at the amusement park. It was Camp Snoopy when we went, but upon looking at their website it has changed to Nickelodean Universe. That trip was good fun.
Next up we went to the baseball capital of the world which was by far the craziest trip ever. We went to Cooperstown, New York.
Where the baseball hall of fame lies and let me tell you about the town. Every store in on the main street was baseball items. If you weren't selling baseball cards or autographed baseball helmets, you were selling custom made baseball bats. (Those were awesome) So this tournament was quite different from the other ones were participated in, mainly because we were awesome. We slept on the premises of the tournament in big metal cabins and literally the beds were bunk cots. For it being summer time it was still relatively cold, but manageable. We played a gamut of teams, even another team from Hawaii, which we killed. I will never forget this one team we played against called The Dream Eagles. They were the youngest team in the tournament and they were in our bracket. We ran through them with a score of 30-1. One inning the pitcher on the other team left his batting helmet on because "We were hitting to hard." Bless their hearts they were trying, but you gotta feel slightly bad about it. So the rest of the tournament we run through the competition and make it all the way to the championship game. The crazy thing about it too was the fan base we had acquired during the tournament. During the meal before the game, all the teams met in the food tent, (Where we were served our cafeteria type food) and the tournament director came and was announcing what time the game started and who the two teams were. When we were announced that we were in the championship game, the whole tent erupted in a "Hawaii" chant. They were all rooting for us. Unfortunately the final game didn't turn out in our favor. I can't remember the score, but it was something like 5-2. It was a heart breaking game, but our team however did manage to get into the youth baseball hall of fame. Also we got to visit the real baseball hall of fame. It was a very nice museum with tons of stats and history. I had gotten super sick during the end of this trip, but that couldn't slow us down because we had another tournament right after in Florida.
As soon as we were done with the tournament in New York, we had another tournament right after in Florida. The tournament was held at the Disney World Sports Complex inside the Disney World resort. The fields were amazing and the atmosphere was crazy. Another thing that I will never forget was the deadly humidity there. It was so muggy it was uncomfortable even just sitting in the shade. Also the weather changed so fast. One minute it's a nice day, then the next it's thunder storming. I think we were just a little to burned out from the last tournament and from traveling that we didn't do well. We won a couple games, but got knocked out pretty early. That was cool with me because that meant more free time to explore Disney World. That place is like another country. They is just so much to do and see that it's a little overwhelming at times, but still always fun. We also got to go to the Kennedy Space center which was f*cking cool as Hell.
I'm a huge space nerd and to be somewhere where they actually launch stuff into space was just cool to me. We got to see parts of the ISS (International Space Station) being built and we even got to stand next to a space shuttle. It was an overall amazing experience and I would love to go back there, maybe just go back to Florida to experience it all over again.
I will never forget these travels and I left out a bunch of stuff because there was just to many memories to type out. I'd be happy to tell anyone about the things I left out if you ever wanted to hear them. I'm like a kid with an extra chromosome, down. Well I hope that everyone is having an awesome day, and I hope you also have an amazing weekend. Take care and till next time. Laterz.
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