Exploring Ripken

Well this post really doesn’t have anything to do with Food or Fitness, but it has to do with my vacation so here it goes…  

As you probably know my little brother Philip is a big baseball guy. He plays baseball for a recreational team and a travel team, in addition to practicing almost everyday in our backyard. To put it plainly: He ♥’s Baseball.  

Phil's Travel Team

 

Last year his travel team won the Cal Ripken Under Armour Ignite tournament in Aberdeen, Maryland and won a gift certificate to play at the Ripken Fields in Myrtle Beach. Since, we were going on vacation in Myrtle Beach we told the team we would check it out.  

So we did…  

  

But first…a little background on the Ripken Family:  

Cal Ripken Jr.  

Cal and brother Bill remain the only set of brothers to be managed by their own father (Cal Ripken, Sr.) in Major League history. Teammates for seven years, Cal and Bill were the Orioles double play combination.   

While Cal and Bill were teammates in Baltimore, the Orioles compiled a record of 528-604.  In 1996, the Orioles won the American League Wild Card with a record of 88-74 and defeated the Indians in the first round before they lost to the Yankees in the America League Championship Series, 4 games to 1.  

In a storied 21-year career, Cal earned many awards and accolades.  He is perhaps most famous for besting Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, which Cal broke on September 6, 1995 against the California Angels.  

 Retired since 2001, Cal will be on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame this December for the first time.  

Bill Ripken  

An 11th round draft pick out of high school in 1982, Bill made his Major League debut in 1987 at the age of 22.

Bill played 912 games in 12 seasons, including seven years with the Orioles, three years with the Texas Rangers  and a year each with the Cleveland Indians  and the Detroit Tigers.

  

Known mostly as a utility player, Bill ended his career playing games at every infield position and he owned a career fielding percentage of .985.

 

In 1990, Bill led the American League with 17 sacrifices.

 

While Cal is found extensively in baseball’s record book, Bill Ripken owns a baseball record all to himself. On June 12, 1997, Bill was playing SS for the Texas Rangers against the San Francisco Giants in the first regular season  game in baseball history. In the bottom of the second inning, he singled with Damon Buford on second and collected the first RBI in MLB interleague play history!

  

(Note: This is straight from Google – These are NOT my own words.)

Alright now that you know about the Ripken’s you can explore Ripken.  

Welcome!

 

Every year I look forward to going to the Ripken tournament in Aberdeen because the facilities are so nice, the Myrtle Beach facilities are not as nice (in my opinion), but still pretty impressive.  

  

Playgrounds

 

Phil pretending to pitch

 

Dad & Phil

 

Mom & Me

 

Alright, alright, enough pictures of my family. Here are some pictures of the fields and facilities. ↓  

  

  

Some pretty nice bleachers!

 

  

That’s all I have! In case you were wondering, Philip’s team is going back to Aberdeen to play in a tournament in about 3 weeks. I can’t wait! Aberdeen is one of my favorite tournament destinations because the facilities are so nice, the hotel is nice, and there is a Golden Corral 15 minutes away! Haha!  

I hope you enjoyed a little change-of-pace from the usual food/fitness stuff, because I am coming home today! The food posts will be back!  

Question of the Day:  

1. Have you ever played baseball or softball?        I played softball for one year, not my greatest idea.

Hot Stuff

Wow, this is the first foodie-like post I have done since I left for vacation!   

As many of you guys know I love anything hot – hot sauce, hot mustard, hot peppers, etc. So when we were walking through Broadway at the Beach (a big shopping and entertainment center) and saw a sign for “The Pepper Palace” I knew I had to go there.   

   

 The Hot Pepper Palace‘s gimmick is a huge hot sauce bar complete with tortilla chips, so you can taste all of the different sauces. You wouldn’t believe how many different kinds of hot sauce they had! I was in hot sauce heaven! ♥   

Hot Sauce Bar

 

HOT SAUCE! This wasn't even half of them!

 

Oh, and check out this peanut butter I found ↓  

  

Doesn’t PB&Co. make something like this? I think I saw it somewhere…  

…Maybe on Janetha’s blog? 

Anyways, after looking around the store (and tasting everything at least twice) I finally decided on three things. A Buffalo Wing Sauce, Bone Suckin’ Mustard, and Tabasco Brand Coarse-Ground Mustard.  

I can’t wait to use the mustards on my sandwiches!   

Bag of Goodies

 Alright it’s decided – when I get home I am busting into the hot stuff right away! 

Question of the Day:  

1. Do you like spicy foods? If so, what kinds are your favorites?          I put Tabasco on almost anything, but I also like horseradish and wasabi.

Another Buffet

Yesterday we went to yet another buffet! This time we met up with our cousins and went to a place called The Giant Crab.  

The Giant Crab

 

 You’d think I would have used my own tips about buffets, but I didn’t. I guess I was caught up in the fact that I was never there before because after the buffet I was stuffed.    

You don’t even want to know how many plates I got…  

Plate #1   

  

↑ The crab cakes  were really good! 

Plate #2   

  

Plate #3   

  

↑ I found this when I was ready to get dessert…they actually had a hibachi table where you pick your meat, veggies, and sauce and the guy behind the table stir-fries it up for you. (While I was battling with my ready-to-explode stomach I told my Mom that I should have stuck to the stir fry and not all that heavily breaded seafood.)  

Bowl #1   

  

↑ ¼ bowl of Gumbo 

 Bowls #2-3  

 

↑ Chocolate and Vanilla Soft-Serve with rice pudding (Is it just me or does buffet soft-serve have a really weird texture?)  

________  

After eating all that food I was stuffed! All I wanted to do was come home and lay on the couch and be lazy, but I couldn’t because after dinner we hung around for a bit taking pictures.   

The Family!

  

  I had a great time with my friends and family, but I clearly have to work on portion control.    

Question of the Day:  

1. Do you over-do it at buffets?           I do sometimes, but not all the time.
2. Do you have any tips for surviving buffets?        I like to scope out the buffet first to see what I am going to take and what I am going to pass on.

Feelin’ Crabby

Yesterday was the definition of compromise.  I wanted to go to the beach and relax by the pool, while Philip wanted to go fishing and crabbing. All in all, my very smart parents decided to spend half of the day at the beach and pool and the rest of the day fishing and crabbing. (If they had chosen one thing over the other it would have been an all-out war between Philip and I.)

We decided to go to the pool first. You wanna know why? Because the ocean looked like this ↓

Everyone out of the water!

No one knew what was going on! We had a few guesses as to what was happening, including:

• SHARKS!
• A rescue
• Lightning (Unlikely, it was blue skies!)
• Jellyfish
• Rip currents
• Crabs
• Someone got sick
• Fish

We had a hunch it was the last one after we saw this in the water. ↓

Do you see the U-shaped formation of bubbles in the water? We figured it was a school of fish, but who knows? (I don’t that’s for sure. *wink-wink*)

Anyways…

We swam for a bit in the hotel pools (Yes, pools they actually have 5!) and once we saw everyone was back  in the ocean we headed over.

The waves were huge – we were jumping over them, dunking under them, and wiping out…a lot! It was so much fun! (Although, once we went out too far and could really feel the current – it was dragging us out!)  Eventually, the beach fun had to end and the crab fun had to begin, so we packed up, got changed, and headed out to the fishing spots.

Mom and Dad

Philip

A crab that was too small.

After going a while without catching any ”keepers” we decided to start fishing. (And by that I mean Philip fishing, giving up, me fishing, then him wanting his pole back.)

I caught a flounder on the first cast!

Me and My Flounder

I had to throw the flounder back because it was only 12 inches and the minimum length to keep them is 14 inches. I was still pretty proud because I was the only one in our family to catch any fish.

At the end of the day we left with two 5-inch crabs which we boiled up and had for a snack. I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly looking forward to fishing and crabbing, but once we got started I didn’t want to leave! What a great decision by Mom and Dad!

Greetings From Myrtle Beach!

I really wish I could stay in Myrtle Beach forever! There is so much to do and so many sights to see! Yesterday we checked out possible fishing and crabbing locations.

Even fishing holes in Myrtle Beach are beautiful! ↓

He must be Mr. Seagull’s cousin!

In addition to beautiful sights, we also saw some beautiful critters…

↑Some blue claw crabs – over 5 inches from tip to tip. (In NJ the minimum length is 4.5 inches, but in SC it is 5 inches.)

You should have seen the crowd of 10 adults playing around with this baby crab. You also should have seen how many people (like me) were giving this crablet a photo shoot.

↑ My Mom poking the baby crab.

↑ A very sick pelican. It kept eating (and…um…upchucking…) various types of bait. I got away from him ASAP.

↑ Little sand crabs. I saw them at a bait shop – I guess some people use crabs for bait? For what, I have no idea.

_____

There are still a lot  more places to be and more sights too see! Now I am going out to breakfast with the family, then to  the beach, and then we are going fishing and crabbing. Woohoo!

Questions of the Day:

1. Have you ever been to Myrtle Beach? Any good restaurants/shops you have been to?
2. Have you ever been sea fishing?