After 12 days, I left the State of California, the longest I've been out of Michigan since I lived in Colorado. On my way up I-5, I saw a sign painted on a barn -- "State of Jefferson". I don't think much of it, there's wackos in rural areas all the time. But then a few miles later you see who is sponsoring this area of adopt-a-road -- "The State of Jefferson Chamber of Commerce." So apparently it's a little more serious. And, of course, they have a website. They also want a chunk of Oregon, too. If you think this is silly, even Rhode Island has a secessionist movement.

Before I get up to Keizer for this day's ballgame, I stopped in Eugene. Another hippie enclave like Arcata, I will have to say they have one of the most beautiful public libraries I've ever seen. Of course, I wonder if political correctness has gone too far if all of the signs in the place are in English and Spanish, even though 1-the Spanish speaking populace of Eugene is less than the national average and 2-the signs will do you no good since the books will still be in English.

Finally getting up to the ballpark in Keizer (a suburb of state capital Salem), this place gets it right. Even though it was a bit tricky to get to because of construction, the food options were out of this world, including Chinese food items, burrito bowls, a sundae bar and freshly cut garlic fries. Also, unlike all of the other ballparks, it was pretty much sound-effects free. Every foul ball going away from the stands does not need a crash cue, every batter does not need personalized batting music, every half inning does not need some sort of inane contest. Clearly the best experience of the five minor league parks. However, you wonder about the opposition starting pitcher, Eugene's Steve Delabar. He looks like a decent prospect, but in this game he hit 4 of the first 12 batters he faced and ended up surrending nine runs over 16 batters.

Final day was spent driving to, walking around and otherwise doing things in Seattle. On the way up, I saw a sign for Godfather's Pizza in Olympia. I loved the place when I lived in Colorado since I could eat really cheap and could just taste that sweet taco pizza. So, I figured there would have to be Seattle locations. I check on the phone, there are 7. Since I wasn't armed with a good Seattle map, I could only go to locations with a street number. Stop #1, not there. Stop #2, not there. Stop #3, not there. I then gave up and ate at a place off the U-W campus. I have since learned they no longer have any Seattle locations, there are still a few in the suburbs.

After wasting some time on the U-W campus (hey, how about opening up your wireless networks to the public), I met up with some of the Seattle game show geeekry contigent. After an exchange of rare DVDs, I went off to the cheapest hotel I could find near the airport. And it was cheap. Still used keys. Gave you the remote at the front desk. And didn't have an alarm clock. I had a 6 AM flight. I didn't trust a wake up call, and my phone died the day before. So, I quickly programmed an alarm clock on the laptop and safely got up a mere 4 1/2 hours after I got there.

Flight was pretty uneventful on the way home, except for the lady in front of me getting on the plane who wanted an immediate explanation from the flight crew why Delta uses the staggered row entry rather than block entry and causing an ironic delayed entry of the people behind her getting on the flight. Oh, and don't lie to me Mr. Pilot, don't say were about to land, I knew you circled for at least 25 minutes.