About this time last week, depending on when you are reading this, I was sick in bed.

Considering that I am fortunate to not get sick that often, and also that on those times when I am sick it really involves being bed bound, this indeed was quite a rare occurrence.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the personal wellness day as much as the next guy but when I am using “sick time” and am actually sick it is a totally different story and far from as fun.

On my sickest day, I spent much of the day in bed sleeping, eating saltine crackers, drinking massive amounts of Gatorade and sipping chicken broth. During my rare waking hours that did not involve eating and drinking the aforementioned items I tried to watch television.

Now, I have a very nice cable package that gives me far more channels than I could possibly watch in a lifetime let alone a day yet despite this fact I found the choices for things to watch very slim.

Of course the television in my bedroom does not have the same channel selections as the television in my living room but it was not worth trading my horizontal position in bed with one on a couch so that I could have a few more channels to choose from.

So with only so many episodes of In the Heat of the Night and Matlock that one could watch I found myself needing to find other ways to pass the time. I of course could have found a book to read but I had just finished a book on the role Galveston, TX played in the Civil War and had not decided what my next book to read should be. And picking a book while sick is not the wisest of choices since what I feel like reading sick might not be the same thing that I want to read while well.

So with television and books failing me my thoughts quite literally began to wander. And these were not fever induced mind wanderings they were more wanderings out of boredom.

While I am sure there are many people who could happily lay in bed all day I am just not wired that way. About halfway through the day I began to get antsy and wanting to not be trapped inside. Of course I did not really know what I would do if I were to go outside but the very fact that I could not go outside was enough to give me that cooped-in feeling.

So with only my mind to entertain me, and less than a week removed from a vacation I did what any normal person would do, I started thinking of ideas for additional vacations.

In particular I thought of baseball ballparks to add to my bucket list to go see and some of my favorite past ballparks that need one of my annual visits. In no particular order the following ballparks were considered with four ballparks that I have never seen and want to and four ballparks that I just can’t seem to see enough.

Let’s start with the four ballparks that are worth visiting again and again.

Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco TX is the home of the Frisco Roughriders, the Double-A affiliate for the Texas Rangers. The Ballpark includes a swimming pool among other amenities and is the only ballpark to include seats on all sides of the bullpens to give fans a truly unique experience. At just over four hours away it is also one of the closest affiliated Minor League ballparks I can get to. As it gets very warm in the Dallas area in the summer it is a Ballpark best visited prior to the end of July.

Bayfront Stadium in Pensacola, FL. is the home of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. The Ballpark sits overlooking the water and combines great views and competitive Southern League action. Of course the proximity to the beaches of Pensacola does not hurt when it comes to making the eight hour drive east.

Lest I leave out the Major League ballparks, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, home of the Tampa Bay Rays is truly a fun Ballpark to visit. I know it continues to get a bad wrap due to perceived issues related to its age but when it is 97 degrees outside and 72 degrees inside where the game is being played it is hard to beat. Of course when not watching the game action one can visit the Stingray touch tank in center field as well as the Ted Williams Museum. And did I mention that all of this can be accomplished with it dry and cool?

And of course one needs to include the hometown ballpark Minute Maid Park. Home to the Astros and the place that I have seen the most regular season games it is also an oasis from the heat and rain like Tropicana Field. It also includes a train above the outfield and a flagpole within fair territory. It is years away from a consistently competitive home team but the Ballpark cannot be blamed for that.

So that concludes our look at four ballparks I enjoy seeing again and again. Now let’s look at four Ballparks that I just haven’t made it to yet but can’t wait to see.

As mentioned a week or two ago I love the movie Bull Durham so it makes sense that I would want to take a trip to see the Durham Bulls play at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Sadly the Bulls no longer play in the historic Ballpark featured in the movie but it would still be nice to see a game there and drive by the old Ballpark as well.

The Washington Nationals’ Double-A affiliate the Harrisburg Senators play at Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg, PA. Metro Bank Park is located on an island. Not a large island like say Oahu but an island that is basically large enough for the Ballpark and some parking. Once I learned of this Ballpark a few years back it quickly rose to the top five that I wanted to see. I mean think about it, an island just big enough for a Ballpark. It doesn’t get much more unusual than that.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD is the Ballpark most credited with ushering in a return to the era of baseball-only Ballparks. Even if it were not home to my beloved Baltimore Orioles I would still want to see a game there just for the fact of all that it inspired. The fact that it is home to the Baltimore Orioles certainly adds an extra degree of wanting to see it though.

Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Watching baseball in another country. Need I say more?

So those were some Ballparks that my weakened self thought of seeing during my recent illness. Now I just need to flesh out the plans to see them again and in some case for the first time.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to replenish my supply of soup and other supplies in preparation for my next illness and also get some road trip supplies just in case the urge to catch a game strikes.

Copyright 2013 R. Anderson