Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.

If you're a fan of the classic Americana baseball movie, Field of Dreams, you know this line. Perhaps there's no better definition of heaven than the simplicity of family, sunshine, a great game of baseball, and ... a cornfield. After a long weekend in the Midwest, I have to agree.

My trip started out as a weekend visit to Milwaukee to visit Dr. Charles and catch up with him before the school year started. He now works at the MLB level and is at the drawing board stages of some national initiatives for MLB charities that benefit public schools. We planned to brainstorm some ideas based on my experience and the experience of my peers in TFA. My friend David, an old coworker from my Dodgers days and now a senior at Penn, is working at the Chicago Cubs this summer. He's also interested in public education, so we decided to make the trip together.

I wasn't sure what to expect out of the weekend, and it spun itself into quite the adventure. I figured: it's summer, I'm in the midwest, who knows when I'm coming back... so might as well make the most of it! We had plenty of dinner conversations about baseball, careers, charities, and teaching- but decided to turn the trip into a vacation as well! We took an impromptu trip to the one and only Field of Dreams in Iowa, and played catch with some major leaguer's gloves. (See photo album.)

After our trip to the cornfields, dinners at Ryan Braun's, and all the checking out downtown Milwaukee (which is actually a very cute, very friendly town) David and I took a bus down to Chicago to do a little sightseeing. This was my first time visiting the city, and like most people, I was impressed. I was even spoiled with some 2nd-row Cubbies tickets on my first trip to Wrigley park! I think I was most surprised at the total and complete lack of advertisements at the field. Even Wahconah park is covered with ads- it was a field lost in time.

Overall it was a delightful trip and I was so happy to visit with Charles and David. Enjoy pictures from my midwest adventure here:

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