Last week, my uncle and I made a trip to New York. I mostly just wanted to go to Yankee Stadium before it closed and figured it would be easier to go this year. With next year being the last year before their new stadium opens there would probably be more of a rush for tickets, I figured. My uncle is trying to visit as many Major League ballparks as possible (I think he's up in the 20s now) and this would probably be his only chance to go to the Bronx before they tore the old stadium down.

The drive down wasn't too painful, although, Pennsylvania is really horrible with their 'roadwork'. Huge chunks of the interstate had lanes blocked off with no one seemingly doing any work on them. I-81 on the way back was especially bad, we probably had a 45 minute delay at one point and there wasn't a whole lot of work going on.

Yankee Stadium was about what I expected. Our seats were alright, the 2nd deck is covered by the upper deck and there was a bit of rain during batting practice, so we kept dry, but it had stopped by game time. The atmosphere during the late innings, when the Yankees came back to eventually win, was great, but I could have lived without that. The Jays left so many men on base, the game really shouldn't have been close at that point. Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen is pretty fun and I got to see Roger Clemens pitch. Over-all, it was a great experience, even if the outcome of the game was disappointing.

I took the NBC Studio tour at Rockefeller Center, but I wouldn't recommend it. You're not allowed to take pictures, although the only place I would have liked to was studio 8H where they film Saturday Night Live. That was the highlight of the tour, as seeing some guy sit in a control room wasn't worth the $18.50. The Today Show studio seems weird with all the lights off and blankets covering all the chairs and tables and most of the set. And Ann Curry's desk is made of scratched up wood.

The NBC store is nice if you are a fan of any of their shows. There is so much crap there, so of course, I bought a ton. $4 for a stress ball just because it says 'Dunder Mifflin' on it, I fell right into their trap.

We took a trip down to Coney Island to see Keyspan Park and the Brooklyn Cyclones play. We walked around the boardwalk a bit before the game and got a hotdog at Nathan's. The ballpark itselfballpark itself is really nice and was pretty full, even though the weather wasn't great (it rained a bit early on, but was fine after the 2nd or 3rd inning). I could do without a lot of the usual minor league stuff (stupid contests or whatever between innings, but I understand why they do that).

Air Supply was having a free concert in the park just down the street for the ballpark, and my uncle, being in his mid-fifties, decided we had to go. Thankfully, it was almost over when we got there, but I could have lived without going at all.

So, a good time all-in-all, I'd definitely recommend checking out Keyspan Park, but maybe try getting tickets online, if possible, as the people working the ticket window were quite awful. Yankee Stadium is nice from a history perspective and to say you've been there, but I'm sure there are a lot nicer ballparks out there.