We left Vegas on Wednesday night for our quick flight to SFO. After we got to our gate in the airport, they were taking volunteers to bump themselves off the flight as it had oversold. We didn't really have a pressing need to be in SFO that night, so we got in line at the counter to see if we could be bumped. In return, they were offering a voucher of $300 plus the travelers full one way fare to be put on the following flight out, which was only an hour later. We were the lucky one's chosen, so in the future we have the ability to go anywhere that Southwest flies, on Southwest! Thank you!!!
After we got into SFO a little later than anticipated, we found our hotel, and rested up for our vacation. The next morning, we set off on foot to AT&T Park. The walk was a little over 2 miles, but when we are in a new city, we like to actually see it, and what better way to do so than walk! Once again, we got to the Park well before game time, which allowed us plenty of time to see the grounds. This Park is cool for several reasons. One, it is built on a cove and marina. Literally steps outside of the park is the Bay. There actually are passenger boats bringing fans right up to AT&T Park to and from Oakland!! We walked down a little pier right outside the stadium that looked over the marina and Bay Bridge, and back to the stadium from a little ways out. I have never been to a stadium like this before.
Another cool feature of the Park was actually inside the stadium, the giant baseball mitt and Coke bottle. These 2 objects are there just for looks, or so I thought. Apparently there is a slide inside the Coke bottle that any fan can go down, probably at a charge. I would have done it if I had known!!
When we got inside the park, we took it in from the top corner, overlooking the outfield and the McCovey Cove. That was a pretty cool view. Batting practice was still going on at this point, so we moved closer and got a better view from just a few rows back from the visitors dugout. While we were moving down there, we ran into someone who used to babysit for Logan Schafer, who is an outfielder for the Brewers. How cool is that?!
Our seats ended up being in the Levi's Landing section, but that was not the plan to begin with. When we were searching for seats, Robbie really wanted to sit in the section where Barry Bonds hit his record breaking homerun, but for some reason it didn't end up that way. We were pretty happy with our seats though!
The Brewers lost this game 1-4, but it was still entertaining. Tim Lincecum, aka Big Time Timmy Jim, started for the Giants, and he has always been a pitcher I've wanted to see. Brandon Belt hit a 3-run homerun in the top of the first, pretty much sealing the deal from the start. His homerun soared just a few sections to our left. The Brewers had a rough time all season when they were down early in games. Our lone run came off a Jean Segura RBI in the 9th. The optimist in me still thought we had a chance after that. The Brewers ended up splitting the 4 game series with the Giants, so I was pretty happy in the end.
It's always fun going to opposing stadiums when the Brewers are playing. I always feel like I have a target on my back just by wearing a Brewers shirt, and especially for this game being I was wearing a Braun shirt. It was the first time attending a game after his suspension, so I knew I had to support the guy. I joked that Robbie should get a Barry Bonds shirt and then we could be the steroid couple. Too soon?
Game time was at noon, so after the game we still had a good portion of the afternoon to ourselves.
We decided to go check out Coit Tower, with every intention of taking a cab, as the walk was about 3 miles otherwise. We thought that it would be easy to find a cab around the stadium, but it was not. We then started walking away from the stadium thinking we would find one along the way. Nope. We got to downtown, and by that time we just committed ourselves to walking. I'm kind of glad we did because we got to walk right by the Transamerica Pyramid, and other cool buildings as well. As we got closer to Coit Tower, the walk got harder, as it was up-hill, at around what seemed like a 90 degree angle. Not to mention we were climbing stairs all the way up. We were pooped by the time we got there, but the views of San Francisco made it all worth-while. After we got our tickets, we rode up an elevator to a few floors below the look-out deck, so we climbed more stairs (seriously?) to the top. While there, we had a complete 360 degree view of the beautiful city, including seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the skyscrapers, and the San Francisco neighborhoods. It was pretty spectacular.
After walking all those stairs, we were pretty hungry for food, so we walked to a nearby pizzeria. Walking down the hill from Coit Tower was just as difficult, if you can imagine! We definitely took a cab back to our hotel that night after walking soooo much that day!
On our second day in San Fran, we were headed back to AT&T Park, this time for a tour. That's another thing we like to do when we go to opposing stadiums, if our schedule allows for it. Our tour was in the morning, and we decided to hoof it again, being the walk was nice the day before. The Brewers were no longer in town, making way for the Orioles to invade Giant-land, so there were a lot of Oriole fans on the tour with us. The first place we went on our tour was the locker room area. Our tour guide told us that they usually don't allow tour groups to go into the opposing teams locker room on gameday, but I guess he made an exception for us. Or, maybe they tell every tour group the same thing so they feel privileged. Either way, I was excited, especially getting a chance to see J.J. Hardy's locker. J.J. Hardy used to be the Brewers shortstop, and I have never stopped cheering for him since he was traded.
After we milled around the locker room for a while under specific instructions to not touch anything, we made our way to the batting cage area, then into the Giants dugout!! What you might not know about me is that I get excited about things like this, so I was ecstatic about this opportunity!! We then had a chance to walk on the field (dirt only) while listening to the Giants Spanish radio broadcaster give us little Giant-related tidbits.
From the field level, we made our way to the press boxes. From here, the view was pretty sweet. We could see the whole field, including the S.F. Bay, and into Oakland.
We then were granted access into their Virgin America Lounge with pretty sweet views as well. The Virgin Lounge was along the outfield first base line. This lounge is used mainly for groups who want to rent it out at a pretty penny!
After the lounge, we walked around the concourse a little bit, seeing different displays from their history, like their World Series wins, etc. They also had actual bases that were used during the World Series games as well. They were a lot harder than what I expected a base to be.
After our tour, we met up with my old neighbor, Marissa, who now lives in San Francisco. I hadn't seen her in years, so it was nice to catch up with her, and meet her 2 adorable kids as well. After our lunch together, she was gracious enough to be our personal tour guide of San Fran. She drove us to the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, took us by the house where Mrs. Doubtfire was filmed, and showed us how she perfected the art of getting the car moving after stop signs on steep hills! Thanks Marissa!!! ;)
On Saturday, our last day in San Fran, Marissa met up with us again, and took us across the Golden Gate Bridge. Our plan was to walk the span of the bridge, but we had already done so much walking that it was cool to just drive it! The view from the other side of the bridge was awesome! So many photo opportunities for the photographer that I am! We could see the whole city, Alcatraz, and the bridge!
We the drove up to another look-out point, this time a little higher and on the west side the bridge. If you can imagine, the views were even more awesome! We spent a while here, just taking in the views of the beautiful city, and allowing Marissa's wee ones to run around!! Such explorers! :)
After our Golden Gate adventure, Marissa drove us to Alamo Square overlooking a view from where part of the opening credits were filmed for Full House! Talk about nostalgia!! It brought me right back to the 90's and I felt like a little kid again! For obvious reasons, this park was pretty packed! Before taking us back to our hotel, we swung by the actual Full House house, to go along with the theme of the hour! It made me want to belt the Full House theme song!! Thank you again, Marissa, for being our tour guide: Day 2!!
Sadly, our time in San Francisco had to end, but unlike every other trip I've taken, we weren't coming back home. Our trip extended one more day up in Seattle. After getting to the airport, we hopped an Alaska Airlines (they rock!) flight up to the northwest! From the plane, we saw Mt. Rainier, and a beautiful view of the Puget Sound and Seattle skyline on our descent. To make it all the better, we flew as the sun was setting!!!
Our jaunt to Seattle was strictly baseball-centric, and as I said before, the Brewers were also in Seattle playing the weekend series. We got in Saturday evening with tickets to the Sunday noon game. We had also concluded that if we made it to the Space Needle before the game, great. If not, not a big deal. We were going to play the next day by ear.
That night, we got settled into our hotel room, and went out for dinner close-by, concluding we were both too tired to head all the way into the city to eat. As we got to Applebee's, we watched part of the Mariners/Brewers game on TV after taking in the colorful sunset!
Neither of us had any idea how exhausted we would be the next morning, so we easily decided NOT to do the Space Needle. We took their Lightrail right to Safeco Field, and like always, we had enough time before first pitch to walk around the stadium and see the Brewers take batting practice. After BP, we walked through the Mariners Hall of Fame, and to the team store. Robbie started a tradition where each time we go to a new stadium, he buys one of their teams old player's shirts, mostly a player who started their career in that respective city. For example, when we went to San Diego, he bought a Dave Winfield shirt, San Francisco was a McCovey Shirt, and in Seattle, he bought an Alex Rodriguez shirt. I think its a cool tradition, rather than gathering 30 baseballs or souvenir bats. I also wanted to buy a Seattle Pilots shirt. Seattle is where the current Brewers got their start before moving to Milwaukee and changing their name. They didn't have one at the store, nor online...I couldn't believe it!!! :(
As game time approached, we grabbed lunch and found our seats. On one of Robbie's coworkers suggestions, we bought tickets in the upper deck along the first base line so we could see the skyline from there. The view was perfect, and we could even see the Space Needle peeking through the corner of the stadium!
Although we don't do this much, we left the game early to beat the masses on the lightrail back to the airport. It was then that we really felt the vacation coming to an end. Seattle was a really fun addition to our trip, and we will be back to do all the touristy things. As we were waiting for our flight back home, we were looking at the geography of the area, and there are so many appealing areas outside of Seattle that we would like to explore at a later date. Space Needle, we will be coming for you soon!
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