Saturday morning we drove the 4 hours to Dallas/Arlington and enjoyed a fun and unbelievably hot day of sports. The Texas Rangers ballpark is actually in Arlington right down the street from the Cowboys stadium so after we checked into our hotel, which was walking distance from the ballpark, we grabbed lunch at Boston's Sports Bar and then walked over to the Cowboys stadium to check out the pro shop while it wasn't overflowing with people because of a game. To our surprise it was still quite crowded with people taking tours of the stadium, but unlike on game days you could actually walk comfortably through the 3 levels of Cowboys goodies :)
We wanted to be at the Ballpark in time to watch the Red Sox batting practice two hours before the game so after our visit at the Cowboys stadium we walked over to the Rangers Ballpark. The recreational area of Arlington including Six Flags, Texas Rangers Ballpark, and Cowboys Stadium is quite nice and everything is definitely within walking distance but there is no shade in sight and that day it was over 100 degrees. By the time we got to the ballpark I was ready for some water and ready for some air conditioning, but unfortunately that wasn't happening. We got to the Ballpark a little early and ended up waiting outside the gates for about an hour before they lined us all up at the only gate they open ahead of game time and had us wait in line for about 30 minutes before they actually let us in. We probably wouldn't have minded the waiting, but Rangers Ballpark is the only stadium I have every been to in my life where there was not one vendor selling water, food, anything outside the park. For that hour and a half there was no water in sight and by the time they let us all in they had a very hot and annoyed group of fans. Next time we go to a game there we will have to remember to bring a cooler full of water, because they are missing out on a huge money maker, by the time they lined us up I would have paid about $20 for one bottle of water.
Despite the heat and the waiting we finally made it into the Ballpark and once we had each had about 4 $4 bottles of water we had a great time, even though we never got the air conditioning because it is an open Ballpark :) We got to get right next to the field and watch the Red Sox batting practice which was exciting, I had never been that close to the field before. And I even "caught" a ball during practice. OK, I didn't actually catch the ball, we had just gotten inside and Marc and I were standing in the middle of the stands when a Ball came our way with no one else around and rolled right to me. It was my first ball at a baseball game, so I was pretty excited! After a couple hours of watching batting practice we headed to our seats which were about 12 rows up right behind home plate. They were awesome seats and we were so thankful they were actually shaded the entire game, because much of the park was not. While we were waiting for the game to start we noticed Clay Buchholz standing in the Red Sox dugout signing stuff and Marc suggested I go over and get my ball signed, thinking there was no chance that would ever happen I ran down and stood there just to see and to my surprise he actually signed my ball! Another first for me :)
We had already had quite the day by the time the game started and it only got better! It turned out to be a great game and the Red Sox won it in the 9th. It was exciting to watch the game so close, it is really a whole different experience, you feel like you are right there in the game. After the game we walked back to our hotel and were so happy we didn't have to make the drive back to Houston like we usually do for football games. We were sunburned and exhausted and getting to head right to the hotel after was quite the treat, ending our fun day on the perfect note.
Waiting outside for the gates to open. Marc decided to take a little nap while I calculated how much longer I could survive without water ;)
A few shots of the Red Sox up close and personal at batting practice
The view from out seats :)
Go Red Sox!
No comments:
Post a Comment