Family and Baseball: Day 2

Day 2 (8/13/21)

Washington DC → Durham, NC (269 Miles)

Game: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (AAA Miami) vs.

Durham Bulls (AAA Tampa)

Shout out to all the Virginians going to their beach destinations this morning for

adding almost two hours to this morning’s ride!

Today we hit the first family portion of the trip. When people who know me hear about my family, they default to my father’s side. This is with good reason as it’s more of a redwood than a regular tree. While the McCaughey side is large the equally important Coughlin side is quite small. My mom had one sister who had three boys: Michael, Thomas and Hank. Michael passed in 1993, Thomas and his wife Cindy live in Virginia and Hank and his wife Linda live in Durham. Their house was our destination.

We had a wonderful lunch with them, my cousin Beth and their puppy Nellie

(GREAT name for a dog). It was wonderful to catch up with them, hear about

their lives in retirement and Hank’s adventures as he attempts to hike all 2,200

miles of the Appalachian Trail. We are looking forward to visiting my Aunt Eileen

in the latter half of our journey.

Family

Onto the baseball...

We’re back in the place we love the most: the minor leagues. While the big

league parks are fun there is nothing quite like a minor league baseball experience

because you truly never know what you will get. For example: there’s a team named

the Jumbo Shrimp?? Absolutely!

As is the case with the AAA stadiums we’ve been to, Durham Bulls Athletic Park was a

beautiful, updated facility (this is one step from the Show of course). 

Ballpark Thoughts

The Good

There is no other place to start than Ripken the Bat Dog. I’ve been to a lot of

games and have never seen anything as amazing as Ripken, the dog who

collects the bats from home plate after the hitter makes an out or reaches base.

I clearly miss our Nellie, but Ripken made the night. Watch Ripken via his GoPro here

Ripken ready to roll

                                                                              

Ripken at work

Beautiful stadium. A Green Monster style wall with the bull on top (reachable at a paltry

303 down the left field line), 360 degree walking and a beautiful exterior all make the park

a great spot.

    303 down the line

From the Batters Eye

First Base Dugout

Walking Out

Excellent food including Carolina style BBQ and a great range of beers. Mobile ordering

from the seat made it that much better.

The Bulls and their fans fully embrace their movie name sake. From the T Shirt Squad

(the Lollygaggers) to a replica of the giant “Hit Bull Win Steak” the team does a great job

incorporating the movie into the game experience.

The Bad

Honestly? Nothing bad. I was a little confused as to what all the buildings are around the stadium as it

would've made sense if they were apartments but most seemed to be office space. Also seems like a

missed opportunity for bars and restaurants I’ll save my criticism for…

The Ugly

As someone who has now been to a dozen plus minor league stadiums with two kids, the value of accessibility is immense. You can sit close to the field for cheap, be near the players and meet the mascots. This is super important for Eoin who can be an absolute brute at times (like most times) but has a soft spot for stuffed animals and sports mascots (and the combination which he gets at nearly every game, the stuffed mascot) After missing out on mascots at our last minor league games we were happy to see Wool E. Bull making the rounds. Unfortunately this anthropomorphic bovine straight blew us off for a photo with the boys not once, but twice. Needless to say, I almost won a steak.

Had to settle for a fake Wool E. (Eoin disapproves)

Long day but great day.

Tomorrow: Asheville, NC