Mike Fisher

September 23, 2022

Day 12: 2022-09-21: Albany, GA to Durham, NC

After my late checkin Tuesday night, I let myself sleep in a little on Wednesday. It didn't do much good; I might have gotten an extra half hour, but it wasn't what I needed. On the up-side, I figured out (maybe) why I wanted to visit Albany. Ray Charles is from there, and they put together a nice park and statue for him (with his music playing) -- even including a Braille version of the plaque. Of course, in the Georgia sun, I'm curious whether reading that would count as punishment?

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Anyway, I was a bit cranky during the day and mainly interested in getting to the Durham Bulls game. But not so anxious that I wouldn't stop for a top-off at Buc-ee's!

I stopped for lunch at the H & H Restaurant in Macon. This was apparently a favorite of the Allman Brothers. They had a cool mural outside the building and a wall full of celebrities (many musicians!) who apparently ate there.

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After I checked in on Swarm/Foursquare, I had the realization: I visited Macon years ago, which meant that it wouldn't do me any good on the county-counting game (which I never got around to updating for last year's big trip).

I finally got to Durham, took a quick shower, and headed out to the ballpark. I typically am pretty careful about wearing safety gear, but all I have on the trip is my heavy suit, and it was still 80ºF after 7pm, so I felt apprehensive about kinda changing things up and riding in jeans and a t-shirt.

I didn't pay close attention, so it was kind of news to me that Durham got a new stadium based on the popularity of Bull Durham, so they no longer play in the Durham Athletic Park. Maybe that's why this was as close as I got to seeing Susan Sarandon.

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Anyway, it was a cool stadium. The Bulls play at the same Minor League classification (AAA) as the Rochester Red Wings, and maybe it's just a situation that our park is older, but I thought the new facility (Durham Bulls Athletic Park) had a more fun selection of seating, dining, and entertainment options. There is a massive bull sign over the left field fence, and if a Durham home run is hit, its eyes glow red and it snorts smoke. Definitely better than the light show in Miami.

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About Mike Fisher

Software developer, Rochester, NY. Likes to ride a motorcycle.