On the Banks of the Miami - Dayton, OH

Wednesday, April 30th

Downtown Dayton's Skyline (as see from the Miami River)

TVFMHRW - Looking east from the Doubletree

Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed being back in the Midwest. It is the land of my people. I know these folks and enjoy them. That said, Dayton is not a great city. It's a rust belt city that's trying to revitalize its downtown, but doesn't have the necessary critical mass yet. They've built a beautiful new performing arts center and a nice ballpark. They have a convention center with associated hotels. There's life on the street during the daytime - there are even food tents on the square at lunch time. There are a smattering of restaurants around, but everyone seems to drive in for the event and drive out after. Lots of the Spamily spent the week complaining about the town, but it didn't seem terrible to me.

The Schuster Center. The building opened in 2003 and is the modern counterpart to the Victoria Theatre (a 1919 opera house) that also hosts the performing arts in downtown Dayton.

The ceiling in the theatre features a view of the night sky as it appeared the night of the Wright Brothers first flight.

I arrived Monday and went straight to the ballpark. Fifth Third field is home to the Dayton Dragons (A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds). The second place dragons (behind the Lansing Lugnuts) faced Midwest League rivals the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the first of a three game set. Fifth Third Field (not be confused with the park of the same name that is home to the Toledo Mudhens just up I-75) opened in 2000 and has hosted 8 consecutive sold-out seasons. Sports Illustrated listed Dragons tickets as one of the top ten hottest tickets in professional sports. The park was full on Monday night with an announced attendance well in excess of the 7,230 fixed seats (there is plenty of lawn seating as well as a party deck). I'm happy to say that many of the fans around me were devoted Dragons enthusiasts who knew about the team as well as the individual players and who were genuinely interested in the game.

Fifth Third Field as seen from the rightfield corner.

That is not to say that there wasn't plenty of between innings fun. Nearly every inning had some sort of game or give away along with antics from the team's two mascots: Heater and Gem (Dayton's nickname, inexplicably, is "The Gem City"). The couple who sat next to me was selected to play the "Fast Food Game". They were each given a giant pair of chopsticks and they had to transport various oversize food items to giant takeout containers. Hilarity ensued. I even caught a soft baseball thrown by a character known as "Roof Man" who scampered along the stadium roof in a cape (I gave it to the boy sitting next to me in full Dragon's gear).

Heater

The game itself was fun, if a bit sloppy. The Dragons fell behind early as they allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, but they blew the game open with a couple of big innings late. A lot of the scoring was fueled by wild pitches, errors and other exciting baseball, but it was an enjoyable evening. The home team won 10-3.

There was more rehearsal to be attended to in Dayton. We welcomed the last new cast member for a while: Sarah Lin Johnson. Sarah Lin will replace Piper when Piper leaves us at the end of the week in Milwaukee. Sarah Lin marks the end of the great long line of replacements we've been working on since Providence. Barring disaster, we now have the Spamily we will be living with for a while.

Thursday I took a group south to see the Reds take on the Astros at Great American Ballpark. We met up with Ken's Mom, Barb - who's a big Reds fan, at the game. Great American Ballpark is a cool place to see a game. Situated right on the Ohio River, we could watch the riverboats with their paddlewheels as they plied the river. Our seats in the upperdeck behind homeplate had a great view of the flied and it was a gorgeous day to sit outside. The Reds couldn't get it done, losing 5-3. Ken Griffey, Jr. hit career homerun number 597 the night before, but didn't light up the centerfield power stacks. (A pair of riverboat inspired smoke stacks in centerfield smoke and fire off fireworks with every Reds homerun.) Aside from the Reds losing the game, it was a perfect afternoon at the ballpark.

A sternwheeler on the Ohio past the right-center seats.


Spamily at Great American Ballpark:

Cuz, Angela, Barb, Patrick, Piper, Berg, Brad, JV, Roy, Scott & Jeff


Great American Ballpark. The naming rights are held by the Great American Insurance Group. The side of the park that faces the freeway (the third base line) is inscribed with the sign-off line of the Reds' legendary player and broadcaster, Joe Nuxhall: "rounding third and headed for home..." I'm not a Reds fan and I never heard the man deliver the line, but that really struck the baseball nostalgia chord in me. The Reds did a great job incorporating all kinds of things like that (bits of their old ballparks, a Reds hall of fame and all kinds of Cincinnati-ania) into their new home.

On the way back to Dayton, I talked my carload into stopping for Skyline Chili. Neither Roy nor Patrick had ever tried this southern Ohio specialty. We all enjoyed a plate of the sweet chili over spaghetti.

There was precisely one roadfood establishment in Dayton. I couldn't let that one get away. Friday, after understudy rehearsal, Graham drove Karl, David and I out to the Pine Club. The Pine Club is an old school Midwestern supper club. The interior transported us back to about 1957. The specialty of the house is steak. We all ordered various cuts of beef that made us grunt happily as we dug in. We also had great salads, veggies and a creation known as Lyonnaise Potatoes: a hash brown cake with sauteed onions inside - delightful. I think we all would have rather napped than gone back to work, but we powered through!

Flyover by David Evans Black. This sculpture sits in the middle of Main Street and tracks the flight of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight on the 17th of December, 1903. It's 120' long and arches ten feet from end to end.

As always, the weekend went by in a flash; four shows and a load-out. Wayne and Ben hosted shot night in Dayton. We all enjoyed soju, a Korean vodka (Ben's wife, Annie, is Korean). The soju came with various condiments: cucumber, strawberries, etc. and took on the flavor of whichever condiment you put in it. I tried the soju with cucumber - it was tasty but VERY strong. Shot night went international!

I left Dayton on Sunday night on a baseball inspired road trip. I drove as far as Lebanon, IN on Sunday night and awoke under sunny skies on Monday morning. Shortly after I passed Lafayette, IN the sky began to darken and before I reached I-90 rain began to come down in sheets. I reached US Cellular Field on the southside of Chicago around 11:30 hoping for a break in the weather so I could see the White Sox take on the Baltimore Orioles. It was clear, though, that they day was going to be cold, wet and miserable so I pressed on toward Wisconsin. As I passed the Loop, it was raining so hard that I could barely make out downtown Chicago and the top of the Sears Tower was enshrouded.

US Cellular Field through my rainy windshield. They ended up playing 11 innings of the game, after a rain delay of more than 2 hours, before the field became absolutely unplayable and the game had to be suspended (to pick up with the top of the 12th inning in August).

The trip wasn't a total washout - just over the Illinois/Wisconsin border I made a stop at Mars' Cheese Castle! I enjoyed a lunch of summer sausage, swiss and mustard on rye along with a ginger ale and piece of homemade apple pie with cheddar cheese melted on top. It was the perfect meal for a cold and rainy day. I also picked up some cheese curds for Francesca to try. I finished the drive across the Nation's Dairyland and was ensconced in my room at the Milwaukee Hyatt by three in the afternoon (the White Sox game had just gotten underway in the rain and snow - I'm glad I skipped it).

JV outside the Cheese Castle

I enjoyed my week in Dayton. I found plenty to do there - I wish I'd gotten out to see some of the Wright Brothers sights - and would be interested to check back in five years or so and see how their downtown is coming along.

An album of photos can be found here.

JV