Do Not Die Today: Southern California, 2022 (COMPLETE 2/23)

[Captain_Oblivious]

Holy crap!!! A new Captain Oblivious TR! And for the first time in like 5 years, I made it here before page 10!

aboard! Great timing, I was just about to post the first update!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Chapter 2: Pulling an All-Nighter in Broad Daylight

3:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 15, 2022.

This was going to be a long day.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Baltimore around 7:30 a.m. We usually try to get there 2 hours early in order to get bags checked, disrobe and empty the contents of our carry-ons individually onto the TSA conveyor belt, hastily re-pack everything on a tiny bench built for toddlers afterwards, and find our gate (usually the longest walk from the main terminal). That meant we’d try to get to the airport by 5:30 a.m. Working backwards, that meant we had to get up at 3:30 in order to leave by 4:00, drive a half-hour to my parents’ house to pick up my dad, and then drive another 1.5 hours to the airport where he would drop us off.

Ugh. I need coffee just writing this.

The good news was that our morning went without a hitch and we made our flight. I’d tried hard to get a nonstop flight in the morning after reading all sorts of horror stories about the number of flight cancellations this past summer. I figured the fewer legs in the flight, the less chance of disruption. This was especially important since I had baseball tickets for that evening, having apparently learned no lessons whatsoever from the last time I had tickets on the same day as a flight out.

Fortune smiled upon us, and our flight had no issues. Five hours later, we landed in the dense fog at LAX.

Wait, fog? I thought Southern California was supposed to be a nirvana of constant sunshine and perfect weather. What was this nonsense? Outraged, I sent Alison (@franandaj ) a text to ask what the deal was with this weather. She calmly explained that this was the “marine layer” and common in summer—cool humid air is drawn in off the ocean and condenses into a foggy layer over the coast. She said it usually burns off by late morning.

Sure enough, the sun was out by the time we settled into our rental minivan. It’s almost like Alison knew what she was talking about.

I tried to adopt the SoCal lingo where I could. Here on the East Coast, when we drive somewhere we have two ways of giving directions. For freeways, we call it by the route number: take I-95 to Route 1, then turn onto Route 40. Local roads are a different matter. In those cases, we tell people to drive straight until you see the McDonald’s, then turn left, another left at the Wawa, and then make a right at the Safeway. If you see the Wendy’s you’ve gone too far.

But I digress. In California, you don’t say the type of road. Interstate, state highway, county road—none of that matters. It’s just “the” and the road number. So you take the 5 to the 110 to the 405 and somehow everyone there knows what you’re talking about. I had to take a few moments every time to translate it in my head (“so, 110 is the interstate, right?”).

Anyway, from LAX I took the 105 to the 110, which meant I had to drive through this. Alison thought I’d really enjoy that as a highway engineer and…well, she was right. Doesn’t it look like fun?

We parked at Exposition Park just south of downtown Los Angeles. Exposition Park is home to several city museums, the LA Memorial Coliseum, and a rose garden. My original plan had been to visit the California Science Center, which is home to the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Being sports nerds, we had to at least get a photo of the LA Memorial Coliseum. It’s been home to various NFL teams as well as the Olympic Games. I also appreciate the artist who looked at this place and thought, “You know what this needs? A couple of naked human torsos.”

But first things first. We were all a bit hangry after a 5-hour flight. And we didn’t have our PB&J supplies yet, so we had to forage for whatever we could find in the area. The kids were hoping for an In N Out Burger, but alas, there were none in the area. In fact (spoiler alert), we ended up spending an entire week and a half in Southern California without ever visiting In N Out. I feel like this is a trip planning failure. We will perform an internal investigation into the matter.

We ended up at a Chick Fil-A. On the downside, this is technically a violation of our normal vacation rule of never eating in places that are readily available at home. But on the plus side, they have fried chicken. And the palm trees make it look much more exotic than the ones in Delaware.

As I said before, I had originally planned to visit the California Science Center. But when we approached, I found a sign saying a recent change in the state’s COVID policy meant they were going back to a timed reservation system. I checked on my phone and found that the first available ticket was another 90 minutes away, and I really didn’t feel like waiting around that long. We had also visited the National Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport near Washington D.C. earlier in the year and had seen the Space Shuttle Discovery there, so it didn’t feel as urgent to get inside this museum.

We went to plan B and wandered the campus of the University of Southern California.

It’s a very nice campus. David had considered applying here back when he was looking at schools, but in the end decided it would be too far from home. He loved the campus. Wonder if that was making him regret his decision?

We also found that the people who rave about the climate in Southern California are absolutely, 100% correct. The temperatures were just above 80F (26.7C), and every time the sun would feel just a little bit hot on our skin, there would be a cool breeze coming off the ocean that felt about 10-15 degrees cooler and was as refreshing as an ice-cold lemonade. I was fascinated at the cooling effect the breeze had on me—it definitely hit differently there than I could recall anywhere else.

We ended up farting around in the school bookstore for a bit. I have a friend back home (Steve) who is originally from the area and is a die-hard USC fan, so I texted him to see if he wanted anything from the shop while I was there. I figured it would be simple to grab a t-shirt or something to bring home for him.

He gave me a very enthusiastic response and replied that he would love for me to bring back: a football.

A regulation-size football, with the one white quadrant for autographs.

And if it wasn’t too much trouble, could I get Reggie Bush’s autograph on it?

Ok, I made that last part up, but now I had to try and figure out how to make enough room in my luggage to bring a football home. Thanks a lot, Steve.

Moving on, we wandered through the Exposition Park rose garden for a little while, mostly because it was there.

We found a little pavilion to stop and rest for a moment, enjoying the breeze. It was around this time that waking up at 3:30 a.m. was catching up to us. Everyone was feeling tired from being cramped in coach for 5 hours as well.

My original plan had been to head straight from here to Dodger Stadium, where we had tickets for the Dodgers-Angels game that evening. As the crow flies, it was only about 5-6 miles from Exposition Park, which due to LA traffic is about a 4-hour drive.

Ok, that’s an exaggeration. It’s only about 2 hours.

In any case, it was only mid-afternoon at this point, but we again decided to deviate from the plan. We would drive out to our hotel, check in, and then we could all lie down for a power-nap before going to the game. I did a little research on Google Maps and found that I could also stop at a nearby Walmart to pick up snacks, water and PB&J supplies instead of waiting until the following morning as I’d originally planned.

So that’s what we did. And it worked pretty well! We’re getting pretty good at this whole “deviate from the plan and fly by the seat of our pants” thing. We stayed in the Embassy Suites of Los Angeles – Downey, southeast of the city. The nice thing about checking in was that we’d be able to come straight back from the game and just go to bed without any fuss.

We did our grocery shopping, moved our luggage to the room, and then all settled down for about a 20-minute nap. I don’t think I ever actually fell asleep (I do not fall asleep quickly or nap easily), but it did feel good to just lie down and close my eyes. I felt somewhat recharged by the time we left for Dodger Stadium.

We tried to get to the stadium early for a couple of reasons. One, I was afraid of LA rush hour traffic and wanted to give myself as much time as I could. And two, Dave and I love getting to the game early to watch batting practice. My boys have obtained several souvenir baseballs this way. We have a fascination with baseball stadiums because we love the sport, and the stadiums usually have their own little architectural quirks that make them unique from each other.

Dodger Stadium is considered a “classic” stadium, which usually means it’s old. This one is the second-oldest still in use in the National League, having been first opened in 1962. The park definitely has a retro feel to it, When I watch games on TV, it doesn’t seem particularly beautiful. It just looks old.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that I really loved it in person.

The stadium is built in Chavez Ravine, and it takes advantage of the natural amphitheater-type setting in the mountains just north of the city. The open-air setting fits the Southern California vibe.

We had seats high up on the first-base side, where we could watch the sun set to the west as the evening wore on.

For dinner, we’d just decided to eat at the ballpark. After searching the various food stands, Sarah decided to get a bowl of french fries topped with taco fillings – meat, cheese, salsa and sour cream, all served in a miniature batting helmet. The boys and I agreed that sounded really good.

However, we’d been hearing about the world-famous Dodger Dogs for decades now. Anytime you’re watching a game in Dodger Stadium, someone will inevitably bring up Dodger Dogs. So it felt to us like a rite of passage—if you see a game there, you get a Dodger Dog.

My friends, over the years I have given you several pieces of advice for traveling, such as:

• Rope Drop always works.
• Use Costco for car rentals.
• The hotel doesn’t really need to know how many kids you have in the room.

Now let me add this new rule to the list:

• Dodger Dogs suck.

Scott, Dave and I sat down and opened our foil, ready to tear into this legendary stadium snack of lore, and we were greeted with this:

(Price Is Right sad trombone)

It’s an Oscar Meyer weiner. A lukewarm Oscar Meyer weiner.

We were all incredibly jealous of Sarah’s taco fries, which she reported were excellent. She didn’t seem interested trying the hot dog for some reason.

Here’s a little better angle of the stadium so you can see how it fits into the ravine/mountain setting.

We settled in to enjoy the game. The Dodgers are one of baseball’s best teams, a perennial contender, and boast one of David’s favorite players in Mookie (yes, that’s his name) Betts. The Anaheim Angels are not a good team, never contend for anything, but do have two of the greatest baseball players of all time in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Trout has one the MVP award multiple times and Ohtani has accomplished the ultra-rare feat of being both an all-star caliber pitcher and batter.

You may or may not be aware that Los Angeles sports fans have a reputation around the rest of the country. That reputation is that they are not very good sports fans. The stereotype is that the sports teams don’t develop passionate fan bases. Instead, the games are seen as social events by the general population. So, the “fans” will show up an hour late, hang out with their friends, have some food and drinks, and then leave early without ever really paying attention to the game. The National Football League has had a hard time establishing teams there, even though the area has a huge population. It’s just hard to find dedicated sports fans.

Are there dedicated sports fans in Los Angeles? Absolutely. Does the stereotype still fit the majority?

Apparently so.

We had seats right behind a main walkway in the upper level. For the first three innings, there was a constant horde of people entering the stadium and walking in front of me as they tried to find their seats. I kept having to try and peer through crowds so I could see what was going on in the game for at least a good solid hour. At one point I got frustrated with a group that chose this particular walkway to hang out and drink their beers that I remarked, “It’s fine, I didn’t really want to see Mike Trout bat anyway.”

The usher must have overheard me as he was trying to move people along and turned to me and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll get better after the third inning.” He was right, it did get better—but by the time the third inning is over, you’re over an hour into the game.

Eventually I could actually see Mr. Trout, you know, playing.

The game was not super-competitive, as the Dodgers built a 4-0 lead. But it held our interest, because the Dodgers pitcher (Tyler Anderson) was throwing a no-hitter. For you non-sports fans, this is exactly what the term implies—the pitcher didn’t give up any hits. It’s a rare feat to do that for an entire baseball game—it happens on average maybe once or twice every season.

We got deeper into the game and I had by this time struck up a friendship with the usher, an older Latino named Ray who had retired after owning and operating some music equipment supply stores. He loved his Dodger baseball and had gotten the job as an usher as a way to pass the time and see some game as a bonus. He was a pro, too—it was amazing how fast he could look at a fan’s ticket and point out exactly where their seats were and the best way to get there.

We hung out in the cool evening air talking baseball and watching a potential no-hitter. Ray was getting very invested in the outcome, and I was too—I’ve never witnessed a no-hitter in person.

“Watch this,” Ray said. “Anderson is throwing a no-hitter, and as soon as he hits 100 pitches the manager will take him out of the game.” I’m guessing Ray is not a big fan of the analytics and data science movement that has taken over much of the strategy in the game today.

I am saddened to report, however, that most of the Dodger fans were not as stalwart as Ray. Incredibly, even as their own pitcher was throwing a no-hitter, I started seeing the stadium clear out. Wave after wave of cars drove off and left the parking lot. I was stunned. What kind of fan leaves in the middle of a no-hitter?

Anderson pitched incredibly well, and got through 8 innings without allowing a hit. Entering the top of the 9th, he just needed to get three more outs. By this time in the evening, we'd been awake for almost 23 straight hours, but I was feeling energized and excited about possibly witnessing a rare achievement.

The first batter to face him was the dangerous Mr. Trout. Anderson was tiring at this point, and the Dodgers had a relief pitcher warming up in the bullpen. He had thrown nearly 120 pitches in the game (100 is usually considered a full night’s work for a starting pitcher).

But Anderson hung tough and got Trout to strike out. He was now two outs away from history. The next batter was the equally dangerous Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani ended all the drama right then in there by blasting a line drive down the right-field line and ending up at third base with a triple. And that was that. The Dodgers manager immediately popped out of the dugout to relieve Anderson, who got a nice ovation from the several fans who were left.

Ray and I looked at each other and he shrugged a “whaddayagonnado?” gesture at me.

For his own part, Dave was just having a blast the whole night. You need to find someone who loves you as much as this kid loves baseball and baseball stadiums. He has often suggested to me that since we got to all 50 states, the next goal should be to see every baseball stadium in the country.

As we got up to leave at the end of the game, I took a look around at the bright lights, the scoreboard, the ravine and the mountains and felt the cool evening breeze as the PA announcer wished everyone a safe trip home. And I thought: that’s not a bad idea, kid. I could get on board with that.

But I’m not getting a Dodger Dog again.

Coming Up Next: You’ve seen that David really loves his baseball. Now it’s time to cater to Scotty Football.

 

[bennifer]

We were in LA at the same time! Well, I was in Anaheim on the 15th, getting sick with Covid so I need a do over with DL, LA and Big Sur.

Anyway, it looks like a great start! My older son loves baseball and I really like it, so I get the love of ballparks!

Side note. Not to sound too stalkerish, but I did just spend most of my week catching up on your TRs. I feel like we're best friends now and I've watched your kids grow up too quickly!

 

[StarlitNight05]

Chapter 2: Pulling an All-Nighter in Broad Daylight

3:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 15, 2022.

This was going to be a long day.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Baltimore around 7:30 a.m. We usually try to get there 2 hours early in order to get bags checked, disrobe and empty the contents of our carry-ons individually onto the TSA conveyor belt, hastily re-pack everything on a tiny bench built for toddlers afterwards, and find our gate (usually the longest walk from the main terminal). That meant we’d try to get to the airport by 5:30 a.m. Working backwards, that meant we had to get up at 3:30 in order to leave by 4:00, drive a half-hour to my parents’ house to pick up my dad, and then drive another 1.5 hours to the airport where he would drop us off.

Ugh. I need coffee just writing this.

The good news was that our morning went without a hitch and we made our flight. I’d tried hard to get a nonstop flight in the morning after reading all sorts of horror stories about the number of flight cancellations this past summer. I figured the fewer legs in the flight, the less chance of disruption. This was especially important since I had baseball tickets for that evening, having apparently learned no lessons whatsoever from the last time I had tickets on the same day as a flight out.

Fortune smiled upon us, and our flight had no issues. Five hours later, we landed in the dense fog at LAX.

Wait, fog? I thought Southern California was supposed to be a nirvana of constant sunshine and perfect weather. What was this nonsense? Outraged, I sent Alison (@franandaj ) a text to ask what the deal was with this weather. She calmly explained that this was the “marine layer” and common in summer—cool humid air is drawn in off the ocean and condenses into a foggy layer over the coast. She said it usually burns off by late morning.

Sure enough, the sun was out by the time we settled into our rental minivan. It’s almost like Alison knew what she was talking about.

I tried to adopt the SoCal lingo where I could. Here on the East Coast, when we drive somewhere we have two ways of giving directions. For freeways, we call it by the route number: take I-95 to Route 1, then turn onto Route 40. Local roads are a different matter. In those cases, we tell people to drive straight until you see the McDonald’s, then turn left, another left at the Wawa, and then make a right at the Safeway. If you see the Wendy’s you’ve gone too far.

But I digress. In California, you don’t say the type of road. Interstate, state highway, county road—none of that matters. It’s just “the” and the road number. So you take the 5 to the 110 to the 405 and somehow everyone there knows what you’re talking about. I had to take a few moments every time to translate it in my head (“so, 110 is the interstate, right?”).

Anyway, from LAX I took the 105 to the 110, which meant I had to drive through this. Alison thought I’d really enjoy that as a highway engineer and…well, she was right. Doesn’t it look like fun?

We parked at Exposition Park just south of downtown Los Angeles. Exposition Park is home to several city museums, the LA Memorial Coliseum, and a rose garden. My original plan had been to visit the California Science Center, which is home to the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Being sports nerds, we had to at least get a photo of the LA Memorial Coliseum. It’s been home to various NFL teams as well as the Olympic Games. I also appreciate the artist who looked at this place and thought, “You know what this needs? A couple of naked human torsos.”

But first things first. We were all a bit hangry after a 5-hour flight. And we didn’t have our PB&J supplies yet, so we had to forage for whatever we could find in the area. The kids were hoping for an In N Out Burger, but alas, there were none in the area. In fact (spoiler alert), we ended up spending an entire week and a half in Southern California without ever visiting In N Out. I feel like this is a trip planning failure. We will perform an internal investigation into the matter.

We ended up at a Chick Fil-A. On the downside, this is technically a violation of our normal vacation rule of never eating in places that are readily available at home. But on the plus side, they have fried chicken. And the palm trees make it look much more exotic than the ones in Delaware.

As I said before, I had originally planned to visit the California Science Center. But when we approached, I found a sign saying a recent change in the state’s COVID policy meant they were going back to a timed reservation system. I checked on my phone and found that the first available ticket was another 90 minutes away, and I really didn’t feel like waiting around that long. We had also visited the National Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport near Washington D.C. earlier in the year and had seen the Space Shuttle Discovery there, so it didn’t feel as urgent to get inside this museum.

We went to plan B and wandered the campus of the University of Southern California.

It’s a very nice campus. David had considered applying here back when he was looking at schools, but in the end decided it would be too far from home. He loved the campus. Wonder if that was making him regret his decision?

We also found that the people who rave about the climate in Southern California are absolutely, 100% correct. The temperatures were just above 80F (26.7C), and every time the sun would feel just a little bit hot on our skin, there would be a cool breeze coming off the ocean that felt about 10-15 degrees cooler and was as refreshing as an ice-cold lemonade. I was fascinated at the cooling effect the breeze had on me—it definitely hit differently there than I could recall anywhere else.

We ended up farting around in the school bookstore for a bit. I have a friend back home (Steve) who is originally from the area and is a die-hard USC fan, so I texted him to see if he wanted anything from the shop while I was there. I figured it would be simple to grab a t-shirt or something to bring home for him.

He gave me a very enthusiastic response and replied that he would love for me to bring back: a football.

A regulation-size football, with the one white quadrant for autographs.

And if it wasn’t too much trouble, could I get Reggie Bush’s autograph on it?

Ok, I made that last part up, but now I had to try and figure out how to make enough room in my luggage to bring a football home. Thanks a lot, Steve.

Moving on, we wandered through the Exposition Park rose garden for a little while, mostly because it was there.

We found a little pavilion to stop and rest for a moment, enjoying the breeze. It was around this time that waking up at 3:30 a.m. was catching up to us. Everyone was feeling tired from being cramped in coach for 5 hours as well.

My original plan had been to head straight from here to Dodger Stadium, where we had tickets for the Dodgers-Angels game that evening. As the crow flies, it was only about 5-6 miles from Exposition Park, which due to LA traffic is about a 4-hour drive.

Ok, that’s an exaggeration. It’s only about 2 hours.

In any case, it was only mid-afternoon at this point, but we again decided to deviate from the plan. We would drive out to our hotel, check in, and then we could all lie down for a power-nap before going to the game. I did a little research on Google Maps and found that I could also stop at a nearby Walmart to pick up snacks, water and PB&J supplies instead of waiting until the following morning as I’d originally planned.

So that’s what we did. And it worked pretty well! We’re getting pretty good at this whole “deviate from the plan and fly by the seat of our pants” thing. We stayed in the Embassy Suites of Los Angeles – Downey, southeast of the city. The nice thing about checking in was that we’d be able to come straight back from the game and just go to bed without any fuss.

We did our grocery shopping, moved our luggage to the room, and then all settled down for about a 20-minute nap. I don’t think I ever actually fell asleep (I do not fall asleep quickly or nap easily), but it did feel good to just lie down and close my eyes. I felt somewhat recharged by the time we left for Dodger Stadium.

We tried to get to the stadium early for a couple of reasons. One, I was afraid of LA rush hour traffic and wanted to give myself as much time as I could. And two, Dave and I love getting to the game early to watch batting practice. My boys have obtained several souvenir baseballs this way. We have a fascination with baseball stadiums because we love the sport, and the stadiums usually have their own little architectural quirks that make them unique from each other.

Dodger Stadium is considered a “classic” stadium, which usually means it’s old. This one is the oldest still in use in the National League, having been first opened in 1962. The park definitely has a retro feel to it, When I watch games on TV, it doesn’t seem particularly beautiful. It just looks old.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that I really loved it in person.

The stadium is built in Chavez Ravine, and it takes advantage of the natural amphitheater-type setting in the mountains just north of the city. The open-air setting fits the Southern California vibe.

We had seats high up on the first-base side, where we could watch the sun set to the west as the evening wore on.

For dinner, we’d just decided to eat at the ballpark. After searching the various food stands, Sarah decided to get a bowl of french fries topped with taco fillings – meat, cheese, salsa and sour cream, all served in a miniature batting helmet. The boys and I agreed that sounded really good.

However, we’d been hearing about the world-famous Dodger Dogs for decades now. Anytime you’re watching a game in Dodger Stadium, someone will inevitably bring up Dodger Dogs. So it felt to us like a rite of passage—if you see a game there, you get a Dodger Dog.

My friends, over the years I have given you several pieces of advice for traveling, such as:

• Rope Drop always works.
• Use Costco for car rentals.
• The hotel doesn’t really need to know how many kids you have in the room.

Now let me add this new rule to the list:

• Dodger Dogs suck.

Scott, Dave and I sat down and opened our foil, ready to tear into this legendary stadium snack of lore, and we were greeted with this:

(Price Is Right sad trombone)

It’s an Oscar Meyer weiner. A lukewarm Oscar Meyer weiner.

We were all incredibly jealous of Sarah’s taco fries, which she reported were excellent. She didn’t seem interested trying the hot dog for some reason.

Here’s a little better angle of the stadium so you can see how it fits into the ravine/mountain setting.

We settled in to enjoy the game. The Dodgers are one of baseball’s best teams, a perennial contender, and boast one of David’s favorite players in Mookie (yes, that’s his name) Betts. The Anaheim Angels are not a good team, never contend for anything, but do have two of the greatest baseball players of all time in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Trout has one the MVP award multiple times and Ohtani has accomplished the ultra-rare feat of being both an all-star caliber pitcher and batter.

You may or may not be aware that Los Angeles sports fans have a reputation around the rest of the country. That reputation is that they are not very good sports fans. The stereotype is that the sports teams don’t develop passionate fan bases. Instead, the games are seen as social events by the general population. So, the “fans” will show up an hour late, hang out with their friends, have some food and drinks, and then leave early without ever really paying attention to the game. The National Football League has had a hard time establishing teams there, even though the area has a huge population. It’s just hard to find dedicated sports fans.

Are there dedicated sports fans in Los Angeles? Absolutely. Does the stereotype still fit the majority?

Apparently so.

We had seats right behind a main walkway in the upper level. For the first three innings, there was a constant horde of people entering the stadium and walking in front of me as they tried to find their seats. I kept having to try and peer through crowds so I could see what was going on in the game for at least a good solid hour. At one point I got frustrated with a group that chose this particular walkway to hang out and drink their beers that I remarked, “It’s fine, I didn’t really want to see Mike Trout bat anyway.”

The usher must have overheard me as he was trying to move people along and turned to me and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll get better after the third inning.” He was right, it did get better—but by the time the third inning is over, you’re over an hour into the game.

Eventually I could actually see Mr. Trout, you know, playing.

The game was not super-competitive, as the Dodgers built a 4-0 lead. But it held our interest, because the Dodgers pitcher (Tyler Anderson) was throwing a no-hitter. For you non-sports fans, this is exactly what the term implies—the pitcher didn’t give up any hits. It’s a rare feat to do that for an entire baseball game—it happens on average maybe once or twice every season.

We got deeper into the game and I had by this time struck up a friendship with the usher, an older Latino named Ray who had retired after owning and operating some music equipment supply stores. He loved his Dodger baseball and had gotten the job as an usher as a way to pass the time and see some game as a bonus. He was a pro, too—it was amazing how fast he could look at a fan’s ticket and point out exactly where their seats were and the best way to get there.

We hung out in the cool evening air talking baseball and watching a potential no-hitter. Ray was getting very invested in the outcome, and I was too—I’ve never witnessed a no-hitter in person.

“Watch this,” Ray said. “Anderson is throwing a no-hitter, and as soon as he hits 100 pitches the manager will take him out of the game.” I’m guessing Ray is not a big fan of the analytics and data science movement that has taken over much of the strategy in the game today.

I am saddened to report, however, that most of the Dodger fans were not as stalwart as Ray. Incredibly, even as their own pitcher was throwing a no-hitter, I started seeing the stadium clear out. Wave after wave of cars drove off and left the parking lot. I was stunned. What kind of fan leaves in the middle of a no-hitter?

Anderson pitched incredibly well, and got through 8 innings without allowing a hit. Entering the top of the 9th, he just needed to get three more outs. By this time in the evening, we'd been awake for almost 23 straight hours, but I was feeling energized and excited about possibly witnessing a rare achievement.

The first batter to face him was the dangerous Mr. Trout. Anderson was tiring at this point, and the Dodgers had a relief pitcher warming up in the bullpen. He had thrown nearly 120 pitches in the game (100 is usually considered a full night’s work for a starting pitcher).

But Anderson hung tough and got Trout to strike out. He was now two outs away from history. The next batter was the equally dangerous Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani ended all the drama right then in there by blasting a line drive down the right-field line and ending up at third base with a triple. And that was that. The Dodgers manager immediately popped out of the dugout to relieve Anderson, who got a nice ovation from the several fans who were left.

Ray and I looked at each other and he shrugged a “whaddayagonnado?” gesture at me.

For his own part, Dave was just having a blast the whole night. You need to find someone who loves you as much as this kid loves baseball and baseball stadiums. He has often suggested to me that since we got to all 50 states, the next goal should be to see every baseball stadium in the country.

As we got up to leave at the end of the game, I took a look around at the bright lights, the scoreboard, the ravine and the mountains and felt the cool evening breeze as the PA announcer wished everyone a safe trip home. And I thought: that’s not a bad idea, kid. I could get on board with that.

But I’m not getting a Dodger Dog again.

Coming Up Next: You’ve seen that David really loves his baseball. Now it’s time to cater to Scotty Football.

Hi! Loving your TR so far. You and I share a love of sarcasm, so this will be a fun read

That Dodger dog is very upsetting, but in line with what I've experienced at Oracle park for the SF Giants. Although you never hear folks rave about their hot dogs, instead it's probably the garlic fries (which are oily but quite good, for the record). I also had to laugh at your description of Dodgers fans since that's what I have heard about their fanfare my whole life. Nice to confirm that it checks out.

Can't wait to hear about your DLR days!

 

[orangecats2]

Come to Cleveland!!! We have tons to see, do, and eat.

 

[sophy1996]

Enjoying your trip report but as a former Chicagoan, I have to point out that Dodger Stadium is only second-oldest in the National League. Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, opened in 1914. That ballpark is so classic it was a struggle for it to get lights so teams could play at night!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We were in LA at the same time! Well, I was in Anaheim on the 15th, getting sick with Covid so I need a do over with DL, LA and Big Sur.

Man, that's a bummer! So your vacation was ruined?

Anyway, it looks like a great start! My older son loves baseball and I really like it, so I get the love of ballparks!

I enjoy baseball, but I really love football and hockey. Dave is a baseball-first guy, though. So is my little guy, Andrew.

Side note. Not to sound too stalkerish, but I did just spend most of my week catching up on your TRs. I feel like we're best friends now and I've watched your kids grow up too quickly!

Well, I feel like I need to apologize to you for all that time you spent with my ridiculousness. But thank you for reading through them, I appreciate it! Hope it wasn't too much of a waste.

I feel like the kids have grown up basically as fast as it seemed to you. Crazy.

Hi! Loving your TR so far. You and I share a love of sarcasm, so this will be a fun read

aboard! Thanks for jumping in!

That Dodger dog is very upsetting, but in line with what I've experienced at Oracle park for the SF Giants. Although you never hear folks rave about their hot dogs, instead it's probably the garlic fries (which are oily but quite good, for the record). I also had to laugh at your description of Dodgers fans since that's what I have heard about their fanfare my whole life. Nice to confirm that it checks out.

We visited Oracle Park in 2019 but just did a tour, so I didn't get to sample any food. Would love to see a game there someday, it's a neat ballpark.

I was really amazed at Dodger fans. Why spend all that money on a ticket and see half the game?

Can't wait to hear about your DLR days!

Just a few updates away!

Come to Cleveland!!! We have tons to see, do, and eat.

If I'm going to see every ballpark, I'm going to have to visit Cleveland at some point! Closest I got so far was visiting my brother in Toledo. Which isn't close, I know.

Enjoying your trip report but as a former Chicagoan, I have to point out that Dodger Stadium is only second-oldest in the National League. Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, opened in 1914. That ballpark is so classic it was a struggle for it to get lights so teams could play at night!

And oh my goodness, that's embarrassing. Just a total brain fart on my end. I even took a tour of Wrigley Field several years ago. Getting old stinks.

Anyway, I made the correction already. Thanks!

 

[afwdwfan]

Working backwards, that meant we had to get up at 3:30 in order to leave by 4:00, drive a half-hour to my parents’ house to pick up my dad, and then drive another 1.5 hours to the airport where he would drop us off.

Ugh. I need coffee just writing this.

Sounds like you better bring one for your dad to. You owe him.

Ok, I made that last part up, but now I had to try and figure out how to make enough room in my luggage to bring a football home. Thanks a lot, Steve.

Deflate that thing! He requested a football, not the box that it came in.

So that’s what we did. And it worked pretty well! We’re getting pretty good at this whole “deviate from the plan and fly by the seat of our pants” thing.

Ironic to see a statement like this on a site that is geared primarily towards Disney World in 2022.

Dodger Stadium is considered a “classic” stadium, which usually means it’s old. This one is the second-oldest still in use in the National League, having been first opened in 1962. The park definitely has a retro feel to it, When I watch games on TV, it doesn’t seem particularly beautiful. It just looks old.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that I really loved it in person.

It has that retro look that is basically coming back in style. Nice park, with a lot of history. Kind of a shame every time one of those old ball parks leaves us.

It’s an Oscar Meyer weiner. A lukewarm Oscar Meyer weiner.

For the low, low price of $15.

At one point I got frustrated with a group that chose this particular walkway to hang out and drink their beers that I remarked, “It’s fine, I didn’t really want to see Mike Trout bat anyway.”

I mean it doesn't sound like you missed much there anyway.

But Anderson hung tough and got Trout to strike out. He was now two outs away from history. The next batter was the equally dangerous Shohei Ohtani.

A chance to make history. It's late. 9th Inning. 3 outs from a no-no. All you gotta do is face Trout and Ohtani. If' he'd have pulled it off, he'd have earned that sucker!

 

[bennifer]

Man, that's a bummer! So your vacation was ruined?


I enjoy baseball, but I really love football and hockey. Dave is a baseball-first guy, though. So is my little guy, Andrew.




Well, I feel like I need to apologize to you for all that time you spent with my ridiculousness. But thank you for reading through them, I appreciate it! Hope it wasn't too much of a waste.

I feel like the kids have grown up basically as fast as it seemed to you. Crazy.

Silver lining of getting Covid was that none of got really sick and most of our activities were outside anyway. We isolated and then once we were testing negative we masked up in our kn95s and stayed away from people! We were only 4 days into our 17 day trip, too! Fortunately Yosemite is big enough to stay away from people!

Also, my 2 sons are 14 years apart, and I believe time has sped up with my younger son! It always makes me happy to see families making memories like your family!

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Sounds like you better bring one for your dad to. You owe him.

I've already re-paid him. He and mom took a cruise in July, and I was the airport chauffeur for that trip.

Deflate that thing! He requested a football, not the box that it came in.

Hey, good thinking! Wish I would have thought of it.

Ironic to see a statement like this on a site that is geared primarily towards Disney World in 2022.

We do all that ridiculous amount of planning only to see it immediately go up in flames with the slightest change.

It has that retro look that is basically coming back in style. Nice park, with a lot of history. Kind of a shame every time one of those old ball parks leaves us.

I always thought it just looked old and dumpy on TV, but it was much better in person. I like the old classic parks if they keep them updated and renovated. A lot of the new parks are really cool, though. Basically I'm happy as long as we stay away from the 1970's concrete bowls.

For the low, low price of $15.

Ballparks are almost as bad as Disney.

I mean it doesn't sound like you missed much there anyway.

True, but I didn't know that at the time.

A chance to make history. It's late. 9th Inning. 3 outs from a no-no. All you gotta do is face Trout and Ohtani. If' he'd have pulled it off, he'd have earned that sucker!

Absolutely! He was definitely getting tired, too. The odds were pretty stacked against him, but it would have been cool to see him get the no-hitter.

Silver lining of getting Covid was that none of got really sick and most of our activities were outside anyway. We isolated and then once we were testing negative we masked up in our kn95s and stayed away from people! We were only 4 days into our 17 day trip, too! Fortunately Yosemite is big enough to stay away from people!

Well, I'm glad no one got seriously ill. And if you're going to be isolated, I can't think of a better place to do it than in Yosemite! One of my all-time favorite places.

Also, my 2 sons are 14 years apart, and I believe time has sped up with my younger son! It always makes me happy to see families making memories like your family!

Crazy how fast it goes. I tell people that these trips are the best money we've ever spent.

to the party, Randall!

 

[DLHNYC]

Following! Love your trip reports, and this one is already fun (and funny)!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Following! Love your trip reports, and this one is already fun (and funny)!

back, and thanks for reading!

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

 

[franandaj]

Ugh. I need coffee just writing this.

I need coffee just reading it!

This was especially important since I had baseball tickets for that evening, having apparently learned no lessons whatsoever from the last time I had tickets on the same day as a flight out.

She calmly explained that this was the “marine layer” and common in summer—cool humid air is drawn in off the ocean and condenses into a foggy layer over the coast. She said it usually burns off by late morning.

And we love our marine layer because we can get so much done in the cool mornings before the sun comes out and it gets super hot.

It’s almost like Alison knew what she was talking about.

I've lived here now for almost 40 years. Geez thats a long time!

So you take the 5 to the 110 to the 405 and somehow everyone there knows what you’re talking about.

Exactly! Why would they not?

Anyway, from LAX I took the 105 to the 110, which meant I had to drive through this. Alison thought I’d really enjoy that as a highway engineer and…well, she was right. Doesn’t it look like fun?

That's a great aerial shot looks even more impressive than when you are driving underneath it!

Being sports nerds, we had to at least get a photo of the LA Memorial Coliseum. It’s been home to various NFL teams as well as the Olympic Games.

Hey! I was in one of those olympic games, well the opening ceremony, and closing.

we ended up spending an entire week and a half in Southern California without ever visiting In N Out. I feel like this is a trip planning failure. We will perform an internal investigation into the matter.

Yes, I think an investigation is in order.

We also found that the people who rave about the climate in Southern California are absolutely, 100% correct.

Except in a heat wave.

Ok, I made that last part up, but now I had to try and figure out how to make enough room in my luggage to bring a football home. Thanks a lot, Steve.

As the crow flies, it was only about 5-6 miles from Exposition Park, which due to LA traffic is about a 4-hour drive.

Ok, that’s an exaggeration. It’s only about 2 hours.

Oh come on, it's only an hour, unless there's a Sig-Alert.

So that’s what we did. And it worked pretty well! We’re getting pretty good at this whole “deviate from the plan and fly by the seat of our pants” thing.

Who needs any stinkin' plans anyways?

One, I was afraid of LA rush hour traffic and wanted to give myself as much time as I could.

Actually you were going in the reverse of traffic. I'm guessing you went up the 5 to get there and we used to take that way to band. I would see the long long lines of cars going the other direction while we were speeding along at 35mph....

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that I really loved it in person.

We had seats high up on the first-base side, where we could watch the sun set to the west as the evening wore on.

Which is a nice way of saying that the sun was in your eyes until it got dark.

Now let me add this new rule to the list:

• Dodger Dogs suck.

I'm sorry to hear that. The newscasters rave about them.

Mookie (yes, that’s his name) Betts.
Shohei Ohtani

I've heard both of those names, probably from when I don't get it right forwarding through the sports part of the news or when I've run out of forwarding room.

I am saddened to report, however, that most of the Dodger fans were not as stalwart as Ray. Incredibly, even as their own pitcher was throwing a no-hitter, I started seeing the stadium clear out. Wave after wave of cars drove off and left the parking lot. I was stunned. What kind of fan leaves in the middle of a no-hitter?

Also something I've heard from the newscasters. LA people hate to be stuck in traffic if they can avoid it.

But I’m not getting a Dodger Dog again.

Funny, I saw them in a grocery store and they didn't look all that great. I will stick with my All Beef Ball Park Franks!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

to the madhouse!

I need coffee just reading it!

Should I have some delivered?

And we love our marine layer because we can get so much done in the cool mornings before the sun comes out and it gets super hot.

"Super hot", she says. Which for you guys is what, 86 degrees?

I've lived here now for almost 40 years. Geez thats a long time!

And it's been a life well-lived!

Exactly! Why would they not?

I'm guessing you get used to it once you know which number goes where.

That's a great aerial shot looks even more impressive than when you are driving underneath it!

That whole thing was just so big. Couldn't believe how high they had to make it.

Hey! I was in one of those olympic games, well the opening ceremony, and closing.

Oh, that's very cool!

Yes, I think an investigation is in order.

I will hang my head in shame.

Although we have tried it before, so the urgency wasn't as great.

Except in a heat wave.

Which is what, 87 degrees?

Oh come on, it's only an hour, unless there's a Sig-Alert.

I think my strategy worked out for the best. I always expected the worst, and was never disappointed.

Who needs any stinkin' plans anyways?

Yeah, why did I waste all that time?

Actually you were going in the reverse of traffic. I'm guessing you went up the 5 to get there and we used to take that way to band. I would see the long long lines of cars going the other direction while we were speeding along at 35mph....

I did have that thought--I figured it shouldn't be too bad if I was going into the city while all the workers were leaving. That worked out for the most part. The biggest delay was when we got close to the downtown area and had to get on the 110. That was pretty backed up. Luckily we only had to go a mile or so on that to get to the stadium exit.

Which is a nice way of saying that the sun was in your eyes until it got dark.

Well, not directly!

I'm sorry to hear that. The newscasters rave about them.

You saw the photo, right? I gotta call it as I see it.

I've heard both of those names, probably from when I don't get it right forwarding through the sports part of the news or when I've run out of forwarding room.

They're pretty big names in the sport, so good job!

Also something I've heard from the newscasters. LA people hate to be stuck in traffic if they can avoid it.

They have a reputation as not being true fans...the evidence here was pretty compelling.

Funny, I saw them in a grocery store and they didn't look all that great. I will stick with my All Beef Ball Park Franks!

Even Ball Park franks would have been an improvement!

 

[piglet1979]

If I'm going to see every ballpark, I'm going to have to visit Cleveland at some point! Closest I got so far was visiting my brother in Toledo. Which isn't close, I know.

It is only 2 hours at most. Not far at all. Yes, Cleveland has lots to offer with food. Even at the stadium. Though it is expensive. You can always visit the Rock Hall as well and the Science Center.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

It is only 2 hours at most. Not far at all. Yes, Cleveland has lots to offer with food. Even at the stadium. Though it is expensive. You can always visit the Rock Hall as well and the Science Center.

Well, my brother doesn’t live in Toledo anymore. So now I need a new excuse to get out that way!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Chapter 3: SoFi So Good

It’s so much easier to adjust to time zone differences when traveling from east to west. Yes, we were up for almost 24 hours on the previous day. But we went to bed by 11:30 p.m. local time, “slept in” that night, and were still up and about by 8 a.m. on Thursday. Staying up late just seems to help us make the switch to Pacific time pretty quickly.

Coming back east, on the other hand, is usually a bear. Typically airlines like to force you onto redeye flights, which means you have to try and sleep while folded like a pretzel into a coach seat, land the next morning at 5:30 a.m. and then make your way home on less than an hour’s sleep. Because airlines hate you.

But that was a challenge for a different day. For now, the kids and I made our way to the lobby and enjoyed the Official Oblivious Family #1-rated Hotel Breakfast (Embassy Suites).

We ate slowly and tried to wait out the morning rush hour before venturing once more into the breach of L.A. traffic. The strategy seemed to work, as we left at 9:30 and had relatively little trouble reaching Inglewood, just southwest of downtown L.A.

Longtime readers will know that we have spent an inordinate amount of time going to baseball games and touring baseball stadiums on our trips. But this time we were going to be doing something completely different.

We were going to tour a football stadium!

SoFi Stadium is one of the newest and most state-of-the-art arenas in U.S. sports. It was opened in September 2020 and is home to both the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League. The total cost of the stadium is unknown, but it is believed to be the most expensive sports stadium ever built—some estimates put it close to $5 billion. It was host to the 2022 Super Bowl which was won by the Rams over the Cincinnati Bengals.

While David and Andrew are the biggest baseball fans in the family, the rest of us lean more towards football as our first love. This is especially true of Scott, who spent years as a child faithfully lining up his mini football helmets on our fireplace mantel each week in the order of that week’s matchups. We used to call him Scotty Football during every autumn.

(For the record, Sarah is more into football and hockey like me, although I am a baseball fan and she would rather watch paint dry. And Julie is pretty much strictly a football fan. But she really does love football, and I feel like I kind of hit the lottery finding a wife who enjoys it as much as I do.)

You may be wondering if Julie would be upset missing out on this tour. While this was the one activity we were doing without her that she was most likely to be upset about, I did get permission from her to go ahead with this. I’ve learned a few things over the years—mostly that my bed is much more comfortable than the couch.

Our tour was scheduled for 10:30 a.m., and we arrived a little after 10 to get parked, check in and get our tour badges. Then we got to hang out on a concourse while we waited for our guide.

The guide showed up and welcomed us all. Like most stadium tours, she explained that we would be visiting many of the two types of areas that are off-limits to the general public—areas built for the players and areas built for rich people. As we were walking, she promptly began showing us how to figure out which companies sponsored each part of the building. She made sure we called out the sponsors for every room we visited. I wonder if they’re trained to do that?

She also started listing all of the reasons why none of us would ever be able to afford to come to an actual sporting event at SoFi Stadium. Want to park your car on game day? That’ll cost you $80. Want to grab a beer during the game? That’s another $17.

Now that I think of it, it’s pretty much the same thing as visiting Disney World.

The stadium is billed as one of the most technologically-advanced sports arenas in the world. One of the most impressive features is the giant oval ring-shaped scoreboard suspended over the field.

The board weighs 1,000 tons and is complete suspended from the ceiling. It features 4K video resolution and has been built in such a way that every seat can see the full display. According to our guide, there are 4 people who are working inside that scoreboard structure during all events. Sounds like a great time.

We wandered through various luxury boxes and suites which all looked very swanky and all fell under the category of, “if you have to ask what it costs, you can’t afford it”. There are many other items that fall into this category, of course, including my kids’ college educations.

On the western side of the stadium was the “Toyota Patio”, which had a sponsor whose name is slipping my mind at the moment. This was built as an area for larger parties and can be rented out for major events. If you have to ask what costs, etc., etc.

The most interesting part of this area was structural. The guide showed us some portions of the handrails that had been built with fencing that could slide back and forth. It matched up with the long rectangular row of tiles on the floor in the photo above.

This was all part of the structural design to guard against earthquakes. SoFi Stadium is actually three different structures working together as one—the foundation, the stadium bowl, and the canopy are all technically different buildings. We were told that if we lifted up the squares in that line along the floor, we’d fall into a “bottomless pit” separating much of the foundation from the stadium bowl (yes, there are connections but I won’t go into details). For all practical purposes, if there was an earthquake, the three structures would move separately and (hopefully) in such a way to minimize damage. The tour guide claimed that the engineers believed the stadium was the safest place to be in the county in an earthquake.

I don’t know how you go about proving that, but it’s nice that they thought about it.

We moved to the best seats in the house, right on the 50-yard line. Looks like that marine layer was burning off and the sun was starting to show through. From here, we got to see where the owner’s box, press box, and other facilities were located. The canopy above is translucent, which allows natural light, but it’s also full of fiber optics and other gizmos that allow it to serve as a screen showing projections at night. The stadium had to be built into the ground because it’s directly in the flight path of approaches to LAX airport. So they took advantage of that fact and allowed for the roof to project images and advertisements to all of the planes flying above.

We also got our first glimpse at what was probably the best part of the tour: the chance to play on the actual field.

Prior to this one, just about every stadium tour I’ve attended has been rather militant about keeping peons like me off the actual playing surface. Most of them have been baseball stadiums, which will allow you to tread carefully along the warning track on the outer edge of the field. But we were always told that they had a team of snipers on the roofline positioned to instantly take out anyone who even dared to disturb a blade of grass on the field.

Maybe artificial turf is different, or maybe liability laws are less stringent in California (which, given some of their other legislation, I’m not really inclined to believe). But after being led past the Google Suite and LeBron James’ private suite (not even peons are allowed to peek in there), we got to run down the visiting players tunnel and charge out onto the field to the adulation of tens of thousands of screaming fans.

Or we could do a slow trot/walk to a few golf claps. However you picture it best. Whatever, it was cool to be on the field.

At this point, the guided tour was over and we were allowed to roam freely. As you can see in one of the above photos, they had several stations set up where we could test ourselves athletically—we could run a 40-yard dash, do a shuttle drill, throw some passes at stationary targets, and even try to kick a (very short) field goal. We were also allowed to wander into the locker rooms of both the Rams and the Chargers, which were on separate sides of the field.

Naturally, we had to try it all.

Here’s the Rams’ latest first-round pick testing the 40-yard dash.

And here’s the Rams’ newest head coach briefing the media. Come to think of it, he kind of looks like their first-round pick.

This was the Rams locker room, very spacious and featuring a unique lighting arrangement.

While we were in there, we struck up a conversation with the locker room attendant. She was a Dallas Cowboys fan (ugh) who reacted with horror when she found out we were Philadelphia Eagles fans. But while we took turns ripping each other’s teams, she told us to make sure we visited the Chargers locker room, as the attendant there was also an Eagles fan.

As I pointed out earlier, I’m not sure any L.A. sports fans actually exist. Our tour guide was a Denver Broncos fan.

Anyway, we did as instructed and wandered through the Chargers locker room. Very colorful in there, in more ways than one.

The attendant was leaning against the wall, mindlessly scrolling on his phone and not really paying attention to anyone in the room. But when I asked him if he was the Eagles fan, and he confirmed we were from the Philadelphia area, he transformed into a completely different person. Suddenly he was non-stop talking and giving us the VIP treatment. He showed us Justin Herbert’s locker (quarterback of the Chargers), and David even went so far as to search through his locker. We found plastic coat hangers.

We were taken into several other rooms, including the media room, the concussion examination room, and even the overflow dressing area (these last two looked like regular old rooms to us). We even checked in on the new Chargers head coach giving his remarks to the press.

Along one side of the media room was a large window. Through there, we could see a bar and lounge area that was built at field level and accessible from the suites above. Clearly an area for mega-high rollers. The attendant showed us a switch he could use to change the glass in that window from clear to opaque. It was a pretty neat trick. So the people in the media room had the option of allowing the fans to look in or shut them out at the flick of a switch. I’m not sure why any of them would really want drunken fans looking in, but that option is there, I guess.

Our new best friend let us into the lounge area as well, proving once again the old stereotype that Eagles fans are the nicest, most accommodating people on earth.

We made our way back onto the field and made sure to grab a photo at the 50-yard line.

We had fun trying out all the sports stations on the field. My boys and I felt like we couldn’t really leave until we’d each kicked a field goal in SoFi Stadium. It was only a 20-yarder, which is pretty much automatic for an NFL kicker. For us regular folk, it’s about the upper limit of our range. Trying things like this makes us appreciate what real athletes can do.

Anyway, Dave nailed a perfect kick on just his second attempt.

Scotty and I had a little more difficulty. It took us both 4 tries. However, Scotty did pull off the feat of “doinking” his field goal (i.e. hitting the goalpoast).

And mine barely cleared the upright, but it counts just the same as one that sailed through with plenty of room to spare.

The important thing is, we made the kicks. Eventually.

Sarah didn’t bother trying, seeing no need to prove herself with these stupid parlor tricks.

That was the end of the tour. Once again, just like Disney, we had to exit through the gift shop. Overall, it was a great experience, and given the price of events here, it might be the only time we ever enter this place. The stadium itself is incredibly cool, a neat design that seems to be as state-of-the-art as it claims. It might be the most fun stadium tour we’ve ever done, just because they actually let us run around and play on the field. We were glad to have visited.

And I’m sure many of you will be glad when we do something that doesn’t have to do with sports.

Coming Up Next: Something that doesn’t have to do with sports!

 

[melk]

Speaking as a non sports fan (from Boston no less, gasp!) the stadium tours actually look pretty interesting to me. I’ve toured Fenway, which was a lot more fun than the game I went to when I accidentally kicked over my $10 beer.

Nice job on the field goal kicks. Persistence paid off!