The Trop

First, a giant thank you to our hosts Brad and Blair! We had an incredible time in Charleston and wish we had a whole weekend to spend hanging out. That said, Day 2 began earlier than summer days should due to the fact that we had to leave with Brad and Blair.Unfortunately for them, real life was calling on a Friday morning. Unfortunately for us, Kahlua had been on alert all night. Despite the fact that Elvis and Nemo were comfortably and quietly crated for the night Kahlua seemed to think that at any moment throughout the night they would somehow find their way out into the living room requiring the utmost vigilance on his part. 


So maybe a little more tired than we wanted to be we packed up the car and headed out on our way to Tampa, Florida. Our plan for the day was to arrive in Tampa, check in to our hotel and then head to Tropicana Field for the night's match up between the Tampa Bay Rays and visiting Miami Marlins. In addition to it being bobblehead night we had the esteemed pleasure of being joined by several members of my family for the evening's game. They were driving up that morning, visiting some relatives on the west coast of Florida and checking Tarpon Springs off of my father's bucket list before meeting up with us. 


The drive itself wasn't too much to write home about. We took a mix of state roads and interstates. Along the way we did see a used car dealership that had probably the highest concentration of Corvettes I've ever seen. This is significant only because I have an undying love for the Corvette Stingray [model years 1971 - 1975ish]. This sighting certainly merited a picture. It's quite remarkable the unique things one sees when traveling the lesser frequented state and local roads. 

Once we crossed into Florida it was pretty smooth sailing. I had picked out a pretty efficient route that would deliver us to Tampa with hopefully enough time to get in a quick shower and change before the game. However, upon reviewing the map Mark discovered that we would be passing remarkably close to Gainesville -- home of the University of Florida Gators. He insisted we make a slight detour to see the football stadium and so we did. 

Upon arriving Mark was determined to see the inside, but I was skeptical we would even be allowed in. Apparently, and I was unaware of this, most SEC stadiums leave an entrance completely open during the day so that students or the general public can make use of the stands for workouts and such. We found said open entrance and walked right in. It was too hot to leave Kahlua in the car, so he came along too. I must say that I am slightly glad UF is one of the only stadiums I have not visited to watch Vanderbilt play. Even completely empty on a random summer day the place is intimidating. Just ridiculously vertical everywhere you look. It feels like you're playing in a pit. Maybe someday I can muster the courage to visit for an actual game. Kahlua on the other hand was ecstatic to be there. We walked through the concourse into the stands and when he caught his first glimpse of that giant grass field it was all I could do to keep him by my side. Because the stands are walled off from the playing surface the closest he could get was the picture below. 

Having had our fill of the Swamp and getting the requisite pictures with Al and Tim Tebow, we loaded the car and continued on our way to Tampa. It was pretty smooth cruising until we hit I-275 and the thunderstorm. Now, being from South Florida I love thunderstorms -- Mark and Kahlua on the other hand do not. However, there was enough lightning in this storm to goad Mark into the belief that he could photograph it. So we spent a good 20 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic with Mark intently watching the horizon trying to capture lightning in a camera. Needless to say it did not work, but certainly made for an entertaining way to get through traffic and lots of pictures to prove that we were indeed in traffic during a very grey stormy day.

Finally arriving at our hotel we unloaded our things and the dog and began to get ready for the game. One note about finding pet-friendly hotels before I start talking about the game. It is very difficult to find a hotel that trusts that your pet will not tear up their hotel room. Most places we called required a pet fee [not deposit] of upwards of $50. Thankfully LaQuinta only required that we sign a waiver stating that if we were staying for multiple nights [which we weren't] the housekeepers would not enter the room to clean it while the dog was there. I get that not all dogs can handle being left in a strange room by themselves for lengthy periods of time, but mine can. In fact he's very good at it. Couldn't you wait to see if my dog causes damage instead of preemptively charging me? It's going to be a rather tough road ahead if we can't find hotels with cheaper pet fees. 


Anyway, enough of my rant and on to the best part of the day -- the baseball game. Most of you who have followed our trips before know that we will watch baseball at any opportunity especially if that opportunity offers the bonus of being able to cross a stadium off of one of our lists. Friday night was just such a night for Mark. I had actually visited Tropicana Field on March 27th 1998 as one of the 26,519 people to see the first exhibition game played between the then Tampa Bay "Devil" Rays and the Atlanta Braves. We were in Tampa because at the time I was playing for the Southside Juniors volleyball club and we were competing at the Tampa Bay National Qualifiers [now Big South Qualifier held in Atlanta, GA]. One of my teammates was an incredibly huge fan of Chipper Jones, so much so that she fought the rest of us for the right to wear the #10 as her jersey, and when she heard we were going joined us for the game. My first impressions were not good. Construction hadn't been completed on the concrete wearhouse and I distinctly remember wires hanging from all parts of the ceiling. I don't remember much about the game, but I do remember my seats having an obstructed view. Not fun. 

As we were arriving two hours before the game in order to ensure we would receive a Joe Maddon bobblehead [which turned out to be the tiniest bobblehead I have ever seen] and have time to tour the stadium, I tried to prepare Mark for what I thought would be an unimpressive venue. I could not have been more wrong. Now, admittedly this stadium cannot rank among the best of the best. It's just not there, but it is certainly miles away from what I remember seeing 14 years ago. While the structure itself is largely the same, they have made every attempt to disguise its warehouse feel. The concourses are painted in bright colors, they have carnival themed sections for little ones and their families to enjoy, the video boards are spectacular, and the concession selections are not too shabby. I do take issue with their attempt at making a "Cuban" variation of almost every main entree (cuban hotdog, cuban burger, etc.) but what we did eat -- BBQ pork sandwich and Cuban sandwich -- were pretty tasty. Truly by the middle of the game you forget you're in a giant dome. They've really found a way to make it a pretty intimate setting for a ball game. 

Probably one of the coolest features of the park and one I was looking particularly forward to was the Rays Touch Tank. [For those of you who have been there before, you can skip this paragraph.] This is a tank in right-center field that houses the teams mascots, several cow-nosed stingrays. Their barbs have been trimmed so there is no danger of being stung plus before you get to begin your eight minutes at the tank there is an in depth instructional session on how to pet the rays and how to feed them. I chose not to feed them as trying to touch a fin as they glided past was challenging enough without having to worry about whether or not they were going to eat my finger accidentally. Fortunately for the rays they would not go hungry this night, there were plenty of families willing to have Dad feed the rays to squeals of delight from his children. I was expecting them to have a sandpaper feel like a nurse shark, but they were completely slimy. 

We settled in to our seats [Row AA behind home plate] about an hour before the game and were joined shortly thereafter by my parents, my sister Michelle, and my cousin Alex. Mark and I taught Michelle how to keep score, but she lost interest in the 7th inning by which time the Marlins were losing quite badly. The final score was 11 - 0 Rays. Now, I am a "Florida" Marlins fan. I have yet to warm-up to this "Miami" Marlins team, so I wore my David Price Rays jersey t-shirt instead. Price was a pitcher for Vanderbilt during the time that Mark and I were there finishing up Masters' programs. I'm a huge fan! 

The fam decided to start their drive back home at around the 8th inning, but we stayed to finish out the game. All in all it was a terrific night. Day 3 has us driving down to Fort Lauderdale to spend Father's Day weekend at home.