By Tyler Melito for PeterGreenberg.com

It happens every spring. Thirty Major League Baseball teams take the field to start playing more than 4,800 games each season. A staple at baseball games are the fans. Some might see a few games of their favorite team in their home stadium. Then there are the season ticket holders who are determined to see every home game of their favorite ball club. And finally, there’s a growing number of uber die-hards –– the fans of the game –– not necessarily of a particular team –– but who are determined to travel –– and see a baseball game at every single major league stadium each year.

My family did just that, and I got to go along. It was not just a great experience, but also it was a great way to see the country, and immerse yourself into a never ending parade of diverse cultural experiences.

Here is how we accomplished this feat, and how you can do it too:

Tackle Multiple Stadiums In One Trip:

This strategy makes it easier to cross a good number of stadiums off your list, especially those that may be further from where you live. If you are concerned about buying plane tickets from city to city getting too costly, rent a minivan (or a car) and drive instead of fly.

A lot of Icees and laughs were shared in the minivan going from city to city. 

This was an underrated part of the journey, but was enjoyable at the same time. We drove from one stadium to another, stopping along the way to see an interesting sight. For example, we drove 8 hours from Kansas City, MO to Minneapolis, MN, stopping in Des Moines, IA for lunch and explored that city, a place we probably would not have visited otherwise, but glad we did. Driving also provided a lot of time to talk to each other, sharing a lot of laughs during those long car rides. Part of this whole experience is to make memories, so why not increase your memory making opportunities?

Find Things To Do In Each City/Region You Are In, Other Than The Ballpark:

If you are going to embark on the journey to see all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, odds are you will not fly into a city, see a game, then leave all in one day. (This is not advised, because you never know when you may encounter a rain-out.) You will be most likely staying in that city for at least a day or two, so you will need things to do. With baseball games happening mainly during the summer, a great thing to do is attend a State Fair. When my family went to Millwuakee to see the Brewers at Miller Park, we spent a day at the Wisconsin State Fair which is just 10 minutes away from the ballpark!

There are so many food options at the Wisconsin State Fair, and any state fair for that matter, you’ll feel like you went to heaven.

Some of the other activities you can try include; in Arizona, going to the Sedona Red Rocks for a Pink Jeep tour. In Denver, going white water rafting through the Clear Creek mining valley. There are a bunch of things in Tampa Bay (which you can read about here).

(Yes, I did fall out of the raft, and that’s me trying to get back in.)

There are so many things to do in each city and in the surrounding area of each MLB ballpark, the sightseeing opportunities are endless. A mini-tip for the planner of this trip, keep in mind who is joining you on this endeavour as everyone should have the chance to do something they find fun.

Try The Food At The Ballpark:

This may be somewhat obvious and trivial but this is very important. At every stadium, you can get a plain hot dog, a slice of pizza, chicken nuggets, or ice cream in a helmet. What you may not know is that every stadium has other menu items that are to die for. St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, for example, has awesome nachos with all the fixins, as well as homemade donuts for dessert, both served in a home plate shaped box.

These are the nachos from Busch Stadium in St. Louis. 

Other notables include the Dodger Dog and Chicago Dog in Los Angeles and Chicago respectively taking the traditional hot dog and putting a twist on it, Ghirardelli’s famous hot fudge sundae at Oracle Park in San Francisco, the underratedly delicious Lobster Rolls at Fenway Park in Boston and many, many others. The food options are endless and Major League Baseball does a very good job showing you the options each stadium provides via their MLB Ballpark App.

You Don’t Have To Do It All In One Season:

If you only take one tip from this piece, this is the one you should take. The way my family accomplished this feat was to go to a few stadiums a year, starting in 2011 and ending our journey in 2017. The first three years of our journey saw us going to stadiums that were within driving distance from our home, or stadiums that were in close proximity to a vacation we were taking. The final three years saw a big trip in the middle of the summer to capture games in a specific area. Summer 2015 featured the West Coast and all five California baseball teams over a three week stretch. In Summer 2016, the Midwest during the month of August. And finally, in 2017 it was the final five stadiums, all in one trip (Seattle, Colorado, Arizona, and the two Texas ballparks). Is it possible for you to visit all thirty stadiums in one season? Yes, but you don’t have to and extending this journey over a longer period of time gives you the chance to see so much more of our country than just the ballparks.

For me, this was an opportunity I would not trade for the world. Not just because I am a huge baseball fan and I got to see a game at every single MLB stadium (although that was really fun), but because I got to do it with my four best friends. Yogi Bera once said, “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” This couldn’t apply more for me and my family when it came to this endeavor. We not only strengthened our love for baseball, but more importantly we strengthened our love for each other. It is from this journey that we now have aspirations to accomplish other travel feats together and I can’t wait to get started!