Babe Ruth In The Papers

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This is the photo that is currently on the front page of the Washington Post’s Sunday Metro section:

Before I go any further, let me make sure that I take time to thank the staff at the Gaylord National Hotel inWashington, DC for their tremendous professionalism and attention to every detail. These people are the standard for their industry. I have, in all honesty, never seen such elan in my life. It was a real treat. With the hotel slated to open in a few days, you could ride on the energy of these folks as they readied their jewel of a hotel.

I would also like to thank Michael Hudson of Gaylord Hotels. He is a throwback to a more civil time in America and in business. He is a true gentleman and a visionary in his field. You don’t run into too many people like him and it was my good fortune to have done so. Thanks Michael, for everything.

This is a shot someone took for me with my camera during the installation.

The Babe Ruth statue is now permanently on display at the Gaylord National Hotel & Resort in Washington, DC at the new National Harbor area.

I went down there on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday and The Babe was installed and well received. The Washington Post came by and did a story on the hotel opening and included a fair amount of interest on the statue. I was not sure how much would run on the statue but I was pleased to have folks in Washington DC call and tell me the good news.

The full story of the statue and everything surrounding it is on the Birrerart.com website:

Click here to open the Birrerart.com website up in a new window

Other things that were noteworthy while I was down there was the fact that the Nationals has declared the sportsbar in the Gaylord as the official sportsbar of the team. Because of this, they had sent over the last home plate used at RFK stadium so it could be permanently installed at the entrance to the sportsbar. Here are a few shots of that and the Washington Post getting their story at the time:

That’s Michael Hudson, Director of Brands at Gaylord Hotels, with homeplate from RFK Stadium.

And here is the laying ceremony while the PR folks take photos.

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The Gaylord National Hotel is so immense that it is difficult to photograph it all in one frame. The atrium that overlooks the Potomac River and Old Alexandria, Virginia, on the opposite bank, is 18 stories high. There is a village of little shops and fountains and trees and restaurants all inside the enclosure. It is so big that you mostly aren’t aware that you are inside.

Here is a view of the upper part of the atrium. These gaslights are 20 feet high. The scale is just hard to fathom.

On the 24th floor, there is a state of the art nightclub and one of the unique features is, believe it or not, the men’s room. Here are the fixtures and the view is outrageous. The Washington Monument can be seen while you are, well…ahem, you know. It’s just one of a myriad of details that make this hotel one of the most amazing in the world.

The Battle of the Bulge

The 28th Pennsylvania : Their Finest Hour

Going through the Europe files last night and I came to Luxembourg. During December 16 to December 26, 1944 in Luxembourg, in a place called the Ardennes forest, Hitler threw his last roundhouse of the war against a stretch of front that was considered impassable due to the rugged terrain. It was felt that no attack would come at this point so Eisenhower was rotating units here for rest and the front was patrolled fairly thinly. My uncle’s division, the 28th Pennsylvania, was put here after 100+ days of straight combat going all the way back to Normandy in June 1944.

Room with a View

The Eiger Sanction

Recently on The Pinetar Rag, I made some remarks about Mrs. Pinetar’s willingness to take risks and I have to set the record straight. Last Summer on our babymoon to Europe, we did a little hiking on the Shreckhorn in Grindelwald, Switzerland. The Shreckhorn is the 2nd mountain in a famous, 5-mountain chain: Wetterhorn, Shreckhorn, Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau.

On one of our days there, we took the Phfinsteigbahn cable car up to a trail head that wrapped around the Shreckhorn. Mrs. Pinetar is a city girl mostly and she was not really prepared for where I was taking her, but she went along gamely until we both chickened out.

Why I don’t Run With the Bulls

Apparently, it’s all the rage. Want to prove your manhood? Run in front these bulls. I’ve no doubt that alcohol is involved. Alcohol + explosives or Alcohol + livestock = trouble, a scar and maybe a story to tell later on about how dopey you were. Here is the link to the slideshow on Yahoo . Thanks to Cincinnati Bill for the tip on this one. –fog

Atomium: Odd Tourist Traps

Ever since the World’s Fair of 1889 in Paris, France, built the Eiffel Tower as a “temporary” exhibition, fair organizers have been searching to recreate the big buzz that the tower created. Here is Brussels Belguim’s entry for their turn in the 1950′s: The Atomium.

Driving with Balloons.

 

Mrs. Pinetar recently coined her own axiom: “It’s hard to drive with balloons in the car”. Amen to that. I mean, you can’t SEE, right? D*** balloons…

 

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Did people notice at the Hone Run Derby at the All-Star game that there were more kayaks in the Bay than landing draft at D-Day? Was anyone besides me laughing that really no balls were hit into the water? Oh well. I guess the wet suit will come in handy on Halloween or shoveling snow. Do they do that in SF?

 

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Ichiro to be signed and announced as signed, likely tomorrow. This makes Hargrove’s mystery, Nixonian resignation all the more juicy. Was the deal to pay off Hargrove and make him go away so that Ichiro-san could sign a long term deal? Boy, oh boy. You know you are a BIG player when you can get a veteran manager dusted, just like that.

 

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And speaking of balloons, take a look at this. Someone emailed me this so I don’t have the credit to cite but don’t sue me, ok? One of the more amazing things I’ve ever read. Makes going over the falls in a barrel seems sensible.

One Part Genius and a Splash of Soda

Tony LaRussa arrested for DWI DUI? Wow, even the genius types have a few pops and then get in the car. You can’t do that. Not ever. Not even down the block. Tony was found slumped at the wheel, George Michael style, asleep/passed out, at a stop-light, with the car in drive and engine on and his foot on the break. Wow. I knew a girl who did that in South Jersey near Philly about 17 years ago. Asleep at the stop light. Tap, tap, tap at the window. Cop knocking. She didn’t get a DUI because, unlike Tony, she had, let’s just say, physical “attributes”.

Did they mean “Dairy”?

In England recently on business, I got an eyefull in the hotel washbasin

A Ginger Fence By Any Other Name…