Sunday, May 24, 2009

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: Flaming Dodgers




My ball from the Dodgers is not all that interesting to me, but Mik for once was the one that cool thing in my opinion. He got a Dodger logo bat with a flame design on it. They also had a cool gold colored mini bat, but he said the logo on it was bad (I did not get a close look at it, but perhaps it was the LA logo). The flame one had the good logo in his opinion plus the cool colors of the flame.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Dodger Stadium



Yesterday at Dodger Stadium I got a ball that has a partial view of the field at the stadium. It also has the Dodgers logo with a baseball with stripes coming from behind it to show movement. It is better than no ball and in fact I do kind of like it, but it is not all that special and certainly would have entirely passed on all the Dodgers balls except this one is sort of of the stadium. The photo is just a rather odd view of just the outfield.

Day 5: Chocolate Croissant for Breakfast

Mik is happy for Disneyland today. He says it is the only good day all summer. First thing at Disneyland was stopping for a chocolate croissant breakfast for Mik on Main Street, which is his favorite way to start a Disney day.

Next up is Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise.

Happy 50th Birthday to Dad!!!!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Game 3: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 4 @ Los Angeles Dodgers 5

We are just now leaving the massive parking lot from the game at Dodgers Stadium. The game was not too bad, but we certainly were not impressed with the park due to our seats. I did not mind overall, as the seats were right were we entered the park and the handicap parking was literally right in front of the entrance to the area we sat in.

The main issue, though, was it being a cross town game and the crowd being louder and more over the top than usual, which really pissed Mik off. He is barely into this trip in the first place, so it really does not take much to make him throw a fit about us staying until the game is over. It certainly did not help the game did not end with 9 innings. At least it was only 10 innings, but it was kind of a pathetic ending with them winning with a walk bringing in the winning run.

Despite the less than dramatic actual end to the game it was a good game. The Dodgers took an early 1-0 lead in the first. The Angels later tied it up with a home run in the fourth. They then scored three in the fifth to lead 4-1. The Dodgers quickly closed to gap to 1 with 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth. They then tied it up in the bottom of the 8th.

Mik might have hated the extra inning of the game and well actually kind of hated the last three innings once he stopped playing his DS and let the noise get to him. I on the other hand liked seeing an extra inning game, but would rather have seen the Angels win. Mik would have liked that, too, since the Dodgers in the lead in the division his Dbacks are in, but he was just relieved to have the game over in the end. At least borrowing my phone learning his Dbacks won while the 10th inning was going on got him to behave the last few at bats of the game.

Tomorrow should be a good day for him with no baseball. Of course, I love Disneyland, too, but I am also loving the baseball games despite the poor handicap seats at Dodger Stadium.

Update May 24, 2009: I now have the photos from the game uploaded here.

Day 4: Mik Chilling Before We Leave for Game

We left San Diego around noon today after Mik had to go to Best Buy to
get the movie Cars, which ended up being on sale with a free poster.
Drive up to Anaheim was good with only one little slow spot on I5. Mik
enjoyed stopping at Del Taco for lunch.

We got checked into our first of only two hotels we are staying at
during the trip. We can see Angel Stadium off in the distance from
our room, but that stadium is not on the plan until Monday. We are,
however, seeing the Angels at the Dodgers tonight. We are chilling in
the room for now and plan to leave for Game 3 in about half an hour.

Will try to get the posts for today's ballpark and game tonight done
on the drive back to the hotel. There will not be any time for it in
tomorrow morning like there was today, as we are heading to Disneyland
early to celebrate Dad's 50th birthday tomorrow.

Car Stickers Update: San Diego Padres



At the game last night we got a Padres sticker to add to the National League side of the car. Dad put it on right after the game before we even left the parking garage, but I did not get around to taking a photo of it until this morning. I still forgot to take a photo of the lettering on the back of the car, but it is basically just the All the Ballparks 2009 Road Trip lettering because Dad messed up on one side and when he ordered new lettering it came with two sets of it.

Update: I now realize it is kind of hard to tell with the little thumbnail photo that it is there above the red Dbacks one. It is clearer if you click on the photo to see the larger version of it. The Padres one is actually pretty fancy in comparison to the simple Dbacks one.

Accessibility Review: PetCo Park



PetCo Park can be a pain in the butt with a wheelchair if you do not know where you are going. Last summer we ended up having to go up and down a bunch of elevators before finally go up one of the long ramps to the section. That section happened to be one over from the one we sat at last night. This time we had no problem, though, because the ticket taker actually asked us if we knew where we needed to go and when we said no she gave us very clear instructions.

To get to 229 we just had to walk straight along the Park in the Park area behind the outfield to the first elevator under the stands. It is actually a very straight shot from where we entered the park by the Team Shop. Last time, though, we ended up in the first elevator by the Team Shop and then on a Club Level, where you cannot go through if you do not have tickets for that level and just keep getting crap round and round directions to our seats.

The seats in 229 were good. They are up above some rows in the section, but you cannot even tell there are any below you. The view of the field is also very good since the bar in front of the seating is low enough not to be in the line of sight. Plus the location was great for being on the other side of the wall from the bathrooms and the concession stand, which being an All You Can Eat section we kept sending Dad back to to get food and soda.