What I also did on my summer vacation

Actually, this should have preceded the earlier piece.

WARNING: Family vacation photos ahead!

Spent a pleasant few days visiting Boston and the environs earlier this month. Among the highlights:

On Friday, Aug. 5, we took in the Yankees-Red Sox game. It was one of the few nice days, weather-wise, for the trip, so we lucked out there.

Before heading to Fenway, we stopped off at the Panoptic Gallery, located in the Hotel Commonwealth, which is just a few blocks from Yawkey Way.

One of the artists presenting was David Levinthal, who takes big pictures of tiny baseball figures. In a way, it’s kind of eerie, with the shadows and angles he uses.

Other themes included Ted Williams, as photographed by Arthur Griffin, and Ernest C. Wither’s photos of the Memphis Red Sox, a team in the old Negro Leagues. One of the shots featured Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, whose family lives in my town and whsoe grandson attended school with my daughter, Rachel

From there we walked over to the ballpark. The area was already crowded with fans. Rachel, insisted on wearing her Derek Jeter jersey while I opted for a Red Sox cap (perfectly justified since I was born in Springfield). My wife, Faith, split the difference, wearing a Mets cap and a Potomac Nationals T-shirt (the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Since we were so early, we had the chance to stroll around a bit, affording the opportunity to take a few pictures.

: Rachel doing what she loves best.

: Some radio station was giving away these cool “Youuuk” signs. The other side just had a giant “K,” the scorebook symbol for a strikeout.

: Rachel would kill me if she knew I posted these, but she never reads my stuff anyway.

: And a good time was had by all.

We also had the opportunity to get an up-close (but not personal) look at batting practice.

The rest of the photos were taken by Rachel. By the way, the Yankees beat the Sox, 3-2. Kevin Youkilis had a single in four at bats. I was gratified to see such good behavior between the two teams’ fans. Nothing more than good-natured ribbing from what I saw. And none of the “Let’s go (my team,” “(Your team) sucks” call-and-response I heard at a recent Yankees-Mets game. Maybe fans in Boston are a tad more civilized?

: Kevin Youkilis with veteran baseball writer Peter Gammons and David Ortiz.

: The lone red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21) signifies the longest home run ever hit at Fenway. By Ted Williams, appropriately enough.It is also, if memory serves, quite expensive.

: Youuuuk!

: The seats were obviously built for much smaller fans. I’m not a big guy, but the leg room was so cramped I had to get up and stretch every half inning.