MY LOVE OF BASEBALL

George Springer,  MVP of the World Series  

CONGRATULATIONS to my favorite BASEBALL team,  the HOUSTON ASTROS,  for winning the 2017  WORLD SERIES of BASEBALL.    Because of my love for this team and for baseball,  I just 'had' to share my story today!!!!!!  Here it is:

MY LOVE OF BASEBALL goes back to when I was a child. My Dad LOVED baseball and when a 'farm' league team came to our town one year, Daddy sold tickets and I went with him to almost every game. 

Daddy also love the Yankees. Back then, he would have to go into the local 'pool hall' in Big Stone Gap and check the ticker tape machine in order to get the scores. One time Daddy took me into that 'pool hall' (local bar) to get the score---and MAN--did Daddy ever get in trouble with Mama. She said: "Don't EVER take our daughter into that place again!" ha ha ha... And Daddy, being the perfect husband, never did that again. (TRUE STORY)

Daddy and I had a little game going between us. Since he loved the Yankees, I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan... We had so much fun teasing each other about these teams. Oh--how I loved my sweet Daddy. 

When I moved to Texas in 1988, I became a Houston Astros fan... I even went to some of the games through the years in my 12 years there. My favorite players back then were Biggio and Bagwell.... Recently, I have seen the team get better and better. This year was their year!!! I have never seen a group of guys love each other so much and play for each other... CONGRATS to 'my' team for bringing so much love and joy to me and to the city of Houston. "MY" HOUSTON ASTROS beat the Dodgers last night and won the 2017 WORLD SERIES of BASEBALL.... Wow-WOW--WOOOOOWWWW. I'm still so so so excited this morning.

Happy, Happy Team after their win!

I just had to share the JOY...

Hugs,

ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah 9/15/17

ZION NATIONAL PARK,  taken from the Visitor Center (where we luckily found a parking place --after driving around a bit)

Hello Blog Friends,   How are you?   I am fine --and still going through a gazillion pictures from our West Trip to Utah and Arizona from September 6- 21,  2017.  This is my 4th post from that trip  --and I've only gotten through a few of my pictures....  ha

Today--I will share pictures from  ZION National Park.  We were there on Sept. 15 on a gorgeous day in Utah...  Zion is absolutely gorgeous --and that is why SO MANY MANY people go there.  We love seeing Zion but do NOT like all of the traffic/busses/people, etc.  For that reason,  I never put this one on my list of FAVORITE parks.

Our favorite parts of Zion are NOT the 'canyon' area where we HAVE to ride that darn shuttle bus up and back...   We did do that on this trip ---but we didn't stop and get off at the various places along the way.  We rode the bus all of the way to the top so that we could hike some of the Narrows Trail --which we had read about SO MUCH....    We did that --and hiked all of the way to the end ---where people get in the water (Virgin River) and hike farther into the canyon...  The Narrows area is beautiful and we enjoyed our hike into the beginnings of that canyon.  Needless to say,  I will leave the hiking-in-water stuff to others!!!!! ha

The most gorgeous part of Zion to us is the drive from Mt. Carmel  into the park  on Scenic Highway 9....   We LOVE that area ---so most of my pictures today were taken along that scenic area...  There are many pull-offs ---so we took advantage of that and took many pictures...

The longest tunnel I have ever been in I think is along that route,  about 1.1 miles...   HERE is some info if you want to know more about this unique tunnel.

Hope you enjoy our pictures today of Zion....   Hope you can visit that area someday if you haven't been there....  Go during the OFF-season (NOT in Summer) to avoid a few of the crowds...  AND--go early early early in the morning!!!!

Scenic Highway 9 into beautiful ZION National Park

Scenic Highway 9 --with Zion's beauty all around us

More beauty from Scenic Highway 9

I took this picture of George as we prepared to go through the BIG tunnel.

Once we got out of the tunnel and started heading down the mountain,  we could look back and see one of the openings inside that tunnel which we had just gone through.  (The tunnel is VERY dark --except for a few of these openings.)

While heading down toward the canyon area below,  we could look back at all of the huge mountains around us.

Another view of the vastness of the mountains in this area

A happy lady enjoying Zion!!!

Our hike in the Needles Area of Zion;  That is a very muddy Virgin River  (after the rain from the previous day)

Our trail along the canyon walls,  paralleling the Virgin River

The end of the 'nice' trail;  From here on, one has to get their feet (and probably more) WET....

Wonder if George was pondering whether to get his feet wet?????????? ha

I enjoyed sitting in the Narrows area --enjoying the views around me...   (Don't know why my hands were positioned like that!!!! ha... Maybe I was getting ready to play the piano on my knees!!!!!)

Another picture from the Visitor Center at Zion  (I LOVE see the flag blowing in the breeze.)

Finally,  here is a picture of US taken along Scenic Highway 9 in Zion National Park,  9/15/17

Hope you enjoyed today's pictures....  Zion really is a gorgeous park.  I don't want to discourage anyone from going there because of the crowds....   Just plan your trip during the off seasons (even though it is still busy then --but not AS busy) ---and go early in the mornings....

Have a great week.
Hugs,