Day Seventy-Two - AT&T Park Rocks!

Before we left on our trip to San Francisco, I expected Saturday to be the highlight of the trip for me.  It sort of was.  Although, the walk across the GGB was terrific and a bucket list moment, this was probably equal to it!  Go figure....  First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge baseball fan and specifically, I love the Rangers and the Astros having lived most of my life in either the Houston or Dallas area.  Sorry, I know that most people in Dallas hate Houston and vice versa, but there it is....  I like both.  Years ago, when Will Clark still played for the Giants, I became a huge Will Clark fan and therefore a Giants fan.  So, if the Giants weren't playing the Astros, I always wanted them to win.  So, here we are, 20 plus years later and I finally had an opportunity to go to a Giants game in San Francisco.  It was just a bonus that they were playing the Rangers.  I did root for the Rangers and cheered when they did well, although on the day we went that wasn't often.

So, we left the hotel and headed in the direction of Union Square stopping for breakfast burritos on the way. In Union Square we got on the HOHO which took us to Fisherman's Wharf for a bus change.  From there we went along the regular route and got off at the Ferry Building where they have a huge market on Saturday's.  I mean, this is like the biggest farmers market type thing I have ever seen.  I am jealous, Dallas needs this.  Our Farmers Market is dirty and can't hold a candle to what they have in San Francisco.

The front of the Ferry Building

And here is an amazing fact that we were told on the HOHO bus, apparently that clock tower in the above picture turned 8 feet during the Series Quake in 1989!!!!!  So it is 8 feet from a 90 degree angle.  That amazes me!  The market starts on the street and goes all the way up to the building.  I thought that was all there was to see, but Jenny wanted to go around back and it turns out that there is much more in the back of the building by the water than there is in the front of the building.  I tasted a super fresh orange slice and the sweetest blueberries ever!  The market even extends inside the building and get this....  clean restrooms inside!  Would you experience that at the Dallas Farmers Market?  I think NOT!!!!

People eating some of the fresh food they bought from vendors at the market while enjoying the view of the Bay Bridge.

The back side of the market.  The building with the arched windows is the Ferry Building so you can see how many vendors there are on the back side!

After we left the Market, we went on to the 3rd Street stop where we had planned to get off of the HOHO bus and walk the rest of the way to the ballpark.  We got off at our bus stop right around noon.  I was hoping to get there a little earlier than this since I wanted to be in the ballpark by noon, but it worked.  Then we walked about 10 blocks to the ballpark.  I bitched the whole way!  My calves hurt and I was pissed because some stupid know-it-all Canadian woman on the bus said it was 4 blocks.  Those busy body Canadians need to just mind there own business.... eh?!!!

So, finally at about 12:30 we got to the ballpark and it was HOT!  Who knew that it would be hot at a baseball game in San Francisco??!?!?!?!   I thought it was always cold at SF games!  We got to our seats and Jenny being the wonderful, kind, person that she is, went to get us beer so that I could "be one" with the ballpark.  While she was gone, a corndog guy came by and I got us each a corndog.  Here's another weird fact.  Beer vendors are not allowed in the stands at SF ballgames.  How do these people make money?!!?!?!

Right after she got back the people sitting next to us arrived.  It was two gentlemen.  The older of the two turned out to be retired from the phone company so we were sort of kindred spirits since I told him that my dad was also retired form the phone company.  It turned out that his granddaughter was a cancer patient who seemed to be doing pretty poorly and she was throwing out the opening pitch!  Apparently, the president of Subway was supposed to throw out the opening pitch and he passed the opportunity on to her instead and also let her take his tickets for the day.  It was a very touching story.  She was diagnosed four years ago and it seems that they have never been able to get ahead of it.   

This is the girl just before she threw out the opening pitch.  I think her grandfather said that she was 13.  I'm sorry, I can't remember her name, but Jenny might.  I thought Jenny and the grandfather were going to exchange emails before the end of the game.  :-)  Seriously, he was very nice and if I had been sitting next to him, I might have talked to him just as much as she did.

I was sitting next to a really cute little boy who cracked me up on a number of occasions.  But the best was when the Giants made an error and he yelled "What the HELL was that??!!?!?"  His mom let him know that this was not acceptable.  But it sure was funny!  About the 5th inning Jenny and I decided to walk around the ballpark.  It is really an amazing place!  

Josh Hamilton batting - notice how all the Rangers starters are standing up watching Josh bat since you never know when you might see history!!!

This is $35 worth of food at AT&T Park.  A crab sandwich to split and 2 beers.

So, the corndogs didn't really last that long and we were both hungry.  My old boss and Jenny's current PAD, Jon Lee, told us we needed to get a crab sandwich at the ballpark.  So, we did.  For $35 we got this sliver of a sandwich to share and we each got a beer.  The sandwich was good, but it was sort of equivalent to crab dip on a tiny piece of toast.  So, the sandwich was gone in about 30 seconds and we took the beer back to our seats.

While Jenny went to the little girls room, I sat down and the grandfather sitting next to Jenny told me that Matt Williams had just walked by!!!!  He said that he had gone down the tunnel that was situated near our seats and would probably be back soon.  So, I spent the rest of the game watching for Matt Williams.  In case you are wondering, back in the day, when Will Clark still played for the Giants, Clark played 1st base and Williams played 3rd and they were both sluggers.  I loved them both.  He never came back.  Probably because someone told him that there was this crazy stalker chick sitting in Row 21 just behind 1st base.

The view from just behind center field.

The boats waiting for a splashdown in China Basin which we saw on the day we were there!

Overall, even though the Rangers lost and it was hot, the game was as great as I expected it to be.  If you ever get an opportunity to go to a baseball game in San Francisco, do not pass it up.  It is total greatness!

Those poor, pathetic people in San Francisco really have to tough it out with ugly views, crummy food, horrible weather and countless other obstacles that they must endure everyday....  Ha!

This is your view if you get SRO tickets in right field.  Fortunately we were on Row 21 right behind 1st Base.  SUCK IT Giants fans!!!!!

We did not leave until the game was completely over since I have a real problem with paying a lot of money for sporting event tickets and then not sticking it out to the bitter end just in case something unexpected happens.  Yes, that is right, I was at the Ballpark in Arlington on August 25, 2001 along with my nephew, Jacob, when the Rangers went 18 innings against the Red Sox and won 8-7 in the bottom of the 18th (the longest game in Rangers history).  You never know when you might see history!  We even got on the Jumbo-tron that night in the left field bleachers.  But I digress....

So, after we left the game, we headed back to our bus stop, 10 (NOT 4) blocks down 3rd St.  All of you Canadians need to just BACK OFF!  The walk didn't seem quite as long in this direction.  But it is probably just because I wasn't worried about missing anything on this walk.  I will comment, however, that when you want to stop and rest, the traffic light is always green.  I have never wanted a red light so bad in my life and I am not sure we caught a single one.  We got to the bus stop and waited 30 minutes or so for our bus (I didn't mind, there was a fire hydrant to lean against) which then took us back to Fisherman's Wharf.  Once we were there, since this was our last night and we still had to pack so that we could leave the hotel at 4:05 a.m. the next morning we decided to just eat dinner and then go back to the hotel.  

We wound up at Boudin Bistro which is the nice restaurant attached to the sourdough bakery.  It turns out there is a cheaper place downstairs.  But I was pleased with where we ended up.  I got clam chowder in a sourdough bowl and was a very happy camper!  Then we did the smartest thing of the week.  We took a cab back to the hotel.

Once we got back to the hotel, we packed while enjoying the last of our wine from our trip to the wine country.  The 3:35 a.m. wake up call came very early the next morning.  But it was a really good trip.  I have been home for 3 days and I think I am nearly caught up on rest.  Jenny is recovering from the worst cold in history.  We should both be back to normal in a few short weeks.  

Tomorrow, back to normal topics.... or as normal as I get.  Have a great day!