We went to Omaha this summer with my son's baseball team. None of us had ever been and we were going up to play in the College World Series tournament they had going on. So we packed up our van and Grandmama and Pappy's truck and headed out. Naturally I got window paint for both vechiles so that everyone from Texas to Nebraska knew where we were going and why we were going there. All I can say is that it's much easier to put that paint on then it is to take it off. But it was still fun for the kids to have it on the cars. And it was amazing to see how many people wished us luck going up.
Our intentions were to play games and be done by 4 every afternoon in order to go catch some of the college games that were being played at Rosenblatt Stadium. It never really worked out for our group though. Some of the other players on the team made it to some games but by the time we would get back to hotel the rest of us were just worn out. So we would spend lots of time in the hotel indoor pool. We would then go out in groups of all sizes and walk around downtown Omaha until we found a place to eat at. Whichever place could fit us first is where we ended up. Then we would head back to the hotel and hang out with everyone there in the lobby. In the picture below, I think all 8 of the players with us at dinner that night somehow crammed themselves into that old English telephone booth. Very funny to watch them coordinate that one.
It just so happened we were staying at the same hotel as the UCLA team. They eventually were one of the teams that made it to the finals with USC. It didn't take long for our Viper boys to discover what floor the UCLA team was staying on and that is where they would run off to. That team was so patient with our boys and really made it fun for them. We actually went to Rosenblatt stadium one afternoon after our game and got some pictures of the team there.
Then we went inside only to find out that UCLA was practicing at the time. So we sat down and watched them. Amazing to see how much they can get done in a short practice time. Our boys caught the eyes of some of the players practicing and before we knew it they were passing out NCAA College World Series baseballs to our boys and started autographing them. I don't know who had more fun, them or our boys. But it was just another cool thing for these players to do for our boys.
After the practice was over we went to a local spot which is legendary for it's burgers and ice cream.
All I can say is WOW, that was a huge hamburger and no one was able to finish them, not even the dads. Grandmama thought she would get an ice cream cone to go along with her malt she shared with Pappy. I don't know where she had the room to put it, but she ate it. All 10 inches of it!! And I am not kidding, I've never seen such a huge ice cream as that before. But it was she said and just like the Frosty restaurant in Alamogordo that our grandparents owned for years.
Our boys went up to play baseball and we weren't sure how they would do competing against all these other teams from around the country. They didn't do to bad at all and won enough games to put us in the middle bracket. We were soon out of the tournament and done. But we were so proud of how all those boys did playing their hearts out. So we packed up and headed back home and got ready for the AAYBA World Series Tournament held in Flower Mound a week later. No rest for the weary or so we thought, we ended up getting rained out of a lot of that so I am extra glad that they played so well in Omaha. It was a fun trip and we have some great memories.
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