Atlanta Trip Report
I've been back over 24 hours and haven't gotten around to writing in LJ. I need to go to bed, but I'd better do this now before even more time goes by and I forget everything.
Friday we left around 11AM, and with a lunch/gas stop we got to Atlanta around 4. It's pretty much one road all the way there. I live close to 85, and the hotel was just off 85/75. We checked into our hotel, and took MARTA to the game. Sort of. Our hotel, the Renaissance, was a block away from a MARTA stop, which is convenient. But Turner Field isn't on the MARTA line, so you have to get off at the Five Points station and then take a shuttle bus to the stadium. The line to get on the bus was kind of long, but moved pretty quickly. We got to the stadium kind of early, so just hung out for awhile until the game started. Our seats for this game were up on the 400 level, but Row 1, so that was kind of cool, we didn't have anyone in front of us. The highlight of this game was Big Papi hitting a home run. Jacoby didn't play until the 8th inning. His one at-bat was a strike-out, and he ended up going 0 for 9 during the series. The Red Sox won 4-1, and we stayed for fireworks afterwards.
On Saturday, one of Frank's friends from college came and picked us up and we went to lunch at The Vortex with her and her husband. We also went to a store called The Junkman's Daughter, which had some cool stuff (Frank bought a big green bag that says "My reusable bag makes me better than you"), and a bunch of kitties running around! 2 of them looked like little Olivers, and 2 were black & white. After his friends dropped us back off, we had a little time to relax. I also changed my shirt because I was wearing my Varitek shirt, and saw that Wakefield would be pitching, which means no Varitek, and I'm OCD. It was bad enough on Friday night when I wore my Ellsbury shirt and realized he wasn't in the starting line-up. We thought the game was at 4:35, and I had Frank double-check the tickets, and it's a good thing, because the game was actually at 4:10. So we MARTA'ed it to the game and got there just as the game was starting, having missed the starting line-ups and national anthem and all that jazz. Our seats were on the lower level, near right field. It was really, really hot, and the game was not very exciting. The Red Sox won 1-0. We went back to the hotel, and even though it was only 8 o'clock, we stayed in for the rest of the night. Frank had a migraine, and I was just tired. Frank had to call down to the front desk twice because the people in the next room were being loud. First there were kids, like little kids, making noise at midnight, and then later it was the adults.
Sunday we checked out of the hotel, but left our stuff in the locked storage room. We got to the game nice and early, no crowded subway, no line for the shuttle bus. There was a Beatles cover band playing in the stadium plaza, so we listened to them, had some food. The first 2 games I was too hot to eat, and it would be a shame to attend a weekend's worth of baseball and not have a hot dog, so I got one before the heat got to me again. Our seats for this game were near left field (hello, Jason Bay), right up at the wall, next to the field. In fact, at one point, before the game started, I was standing up looking towards the Red Sox dug-out watching some of the players (Pedroia, Youkilis, etc) warming up. I looked towards the field, and realized Jason Varitek had just walked right by me, and I was looking in the wrong direction. Waah. So, this game was hot as hell, too. I had to take a break and go inside for about an inning just to get out of the heat. I didn't miss anything. The Braves won this game 2 to 1.
The highlights of Sunday's game had nothing to do with the game. Our seats were sort of near the Red Sox bullpen. I looked over and realized they'd put chairs up on top of it and some of the pitchers were sitting up there, including Papelbon. Between innings, there's always some sort of game or silly thing going on. A Mini Cooper customized to resemble an airplane (a promotion for Delta Airlines) was driving around the edge of the field, with 2 of the Braves dancers riding on the back. When they drove past the Red Sox bullpen, Papelbon threw his water at them. It was funny; okay, I guess you had to be there. Then, at the end of game, the very end..it was the top of the 9th inning, Ellsbury was at bat with 2 outs and 2 strikes, some guy ran onto the field from our section. He got pretty far out there, and then was tackled by about 5 security guards. Once he was escorted off, Jacoby got his 3rd strike and the game was over.
We waited for the rest of the Red Sox relief pitchers to come out of the bullpen. There was a bunch of us Red Sox fans hanging around at the wall trying to get them to come over. Manny DelCarmen walked past, and we were all like "Manny! Manny!" He kind of gave us this look like, "What do you want me to do?" but he smiled and walked away. Okajima looked over and waved. Then Papelbon came out, wearing his sunglasses, and just walked straight ahead, didn't even look up. Frank was pretty disappointed. He was hoping for some sort of acknowledgment. I think he may be finding a new favorite Red Sox player.
So, after that, it was back to the bus, back on the train, back to the hotel to get our stuff and the car, and back on the road. We got home to the kitties at around 10 PM. I took today off from work, but I'll be back tomorrow for the rest of the holiday-shortened week.
Friday we left around 11AM, and with a lunch/gas stop we got to Atlanta around 4. It's pretty much one road all the way there. I live close to 85, and the hotel was just off 85/75. We checked into our hotel, and took MARTA to the game. Sort of. Our hotel, the Renaissance, was a block away from a MARTA stop, which is convenient. But Turner Field isn't on the MARTA line, so you have to get off at the Five Points station and then take a shuttle bus to the stadium. The line to get on the bus was kind of long, but moved pretty quickly. We got to the stadium kind of early, so just hung out for awhile until the game started. Our seats for this game were up on the 400 level, but Row 1, so that was kind of cool, we didn't have anyone in front of us. The highlight of this game was Big Papi hitting a home run. Jacoby didn't play until the 8th inning. His one at-bat was a strike-out, and he ended up going 0 for 9 during the series. The Red Sox won 4-1, and we stayed for fireworks afterwards.
On Saturday, one of Frank's friends from college came and picked us up and we went to lunch at The Vortex with her and her husband. We also went to a store called The Junkman's Daughter, which had some cool stuff (Frank bought a big green bag that says "My reusable bag makes me better than you"), and a bunch of kitties running around! 2 of them looked like little Olivers, and 2 were black & white. After his friends dropped us back off, we had a little time to relax. I also changed my shirt because I was wearing my Varitek shirt, and saw that Wakefield would be pitching, which means no Varitek, and I'm OCD. It was bad enough on Friday night when I wore my Ellsbury shirt and realized he wasn't in the starting line-up. We thought the game was at 4:35, and I had Frank double-check the tickets, and it's a good thing, because the game was actually at 4:10. So we MARTA'ed it to the game and got there just as the game was starting, having missed the starting line-ups and national anthem and all that jazz. Our seats were on the lower level, near right field. It was really, really hot, and the game was not very exciting. The Red Sox won 1-0. We went back to the hotel, and even though it was only 8 o'clock, we stayed in for the rest of the night. Frank had a migraine, and I was just tired. Frank had to call down to the front desk twice because the people in the next room were being loud. First there were kids, like little kids, making noise at midnight, and then later it was the adults.
Sunday we checked out of the hotel, but left our stuff in the locked storage room. We got to the game nice and early, no crowded subway, no line for the shuttle bus. There was a Beatles cover band playing in the stadium plaza, so we listened to them, had some food. The first 2 games I was too hot to eat, and it would be a shame to attend a weekend's worth of baseball and not have a hot dog, so I got one before the heat got to me again. Our seats for this game were near left field (hello, Jason Bay), right up at the wall, next to the field. In fact, at one point, before the game started, I was standing up looking towards the Red Sox dug-out watching some of the players (Pedroia, Youkilis, etc) warming up. I looked towards the field, and realized Jason Varitek had just walked right by me, and I was looking in the wrong direction. Waah. So, this game was hot as hell, too. I had to take a break and go inside for about an inning just to get out of the heat. I didn't miss anything. The Braves won this game 2 to 1.
The highlights of Sunday's game had nothing to do with the game. Our seats were sort of near the Red Sox bullpen. I looked over and realized they'd put chairs up on top of it and some of the pitchers were sitting up there, including Papelbon. Between innings, there's always some sort of game or silly thing going on. A Mini Cooper customized to resemble an airplane (a promotion for Delta Airlines) was driving around the edge of the field, with 2 of the Braves dancers riding on the back. When they drove past the Red Sox bullpen, Papelbon threw his water at them. It was funny; okay, I guess you had to be there. Then, at the end of game, the very end..it was the top of the 9th inning, Ellsbury was at bat with 2 outs and 2 strikes, some guy ran onto the field from our section. He got pretty far out there, and then was tackled by about 5 security guards. Once he was escorted off, Jacoby got his 3rd strike and the game was over.
We waited for the rest of the Red Sox relief pitchers to come out of the bullpen. There was a bunch of us Red Sox fans hanging around at the wall trying to get them to come over. Manny DelCarmen walked past, and we were all like "Manny! Manny!" He kind of gave us this look like, "What do you want me to do?" but he smiled and walked away. Okajima looked over and waved. Then Papelbon came out, wearing his sunglasses, and just walked straight ahead, didn't even look up. Frank was pretty disappointed. He was hoping for some sort of acknowledgment. I think he may be finding a new favorite Red Sox player.
So, after that, it was back to the bus, back on the train, back to the hotel to get our stuff and the car, and back on the road. We got home to the kitties at around 10 PM. I took today off from work, but I'll be back tomorrow for the rest of the holiday-shortened week.