Day-02: Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

Friday, September 27, 2013

The day began between 3 & 4 AM this morning, at least for one of us, the other sleeping or some semblance thereof until closer to 7. After officially awakening we proceeded to empty and rearrange our suitcases and bags, after all we had been gone from home for over 24 hours. That chore being done we packed into the car and headed into San Francisco in search of Oracle #17, the winning boat of the America's Cup. Three days after the great victory, little was to be seen other than signage and workers disassembling the venues along the Embarcadero.

Following the unsuccessful boat search, we headed east over the Bay Bridge toward Oakland; this trip was solely to see and ride across the new bridge that had just recently opened for service. The new span replaced the old trestle style bridge that was damaged during the October 17th, 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. I suppose 24 years wasn't too long to wait. The bridge is a single anchor suspension design. 

Returning to San Francisco, for some reason we decided to get mixed in with the downtown traffic and construction, after what seemed like two hour of turns and detours we headed to the hotel but en-route stopped by the local Red Robin for a late lunch. The Whiskey River BBQ Burger with Mac & Cheese and a beer on the side was excellent.

After a brief stop at the hotel, we again loaded into the car and headed to AT&T Park to see the Padres vs Giants baseball game. Baseball at AT&T Park ain't like baseball at "The Trop". First of all can you believe $35 to park on a boat pier?

From the car we walked to the park via the bridge over McCovey Cove and eventually circled the perimeter of the park arriving at the Willie Mays Gate. 

Here we were observers to a local protest demonstration with the pickets chanting something like "Enjoy the game, don't eat the food!" Seems to be some issue with Giants players making gazillions while the concession workers haven't had a pay raise in years.

 

Once inside the park we proceeded to our seats via a purple haze transport tube where upon we saw before us the AT&T Park scoreboard.

Realizing that we were 3,096 miles from Fenway Park in Boston one would not expect to find too any people from Massachusetts. This was not to be the case. The 30-something woman to my right was from near Boston and the usher for our seating section was none other than "Bob from Boston", they're everywhere. Bob from Boston and Sheila had a delightful evening of discussion.

It was good to see D.J. Kitty at the stadium cheering on the Rays and hoping for the best for the Giants.

Here are a few sights from McCovey Cove.

Good picture of Sheila on a warm night at AT&T Park; yes that's a scarf, mittens and a hot chocolate to be used as a hand warmer.

So, in the end, the Giants prevailed over the Padres by a score of 7-3; there was plenty of action throughout the game to hold our interest.

Lastly, during the final couple of innings, the sea gulls begin to arrive. They get in for free and apparently after the game there is prime gull food strewn throughout the stadium. In this image yu can faintly see the gulls lined up on the upper deck roof, waiting for the final pitch.

It was a nice evening, a good game and an opportunity to visit one of the nations newer stadiums. 

We arrived back at the hotel around 11 PM, and were soon asleep.