28 May
Our last day at Buckley. Took care of some packing up this morning in preparation of departure tomorrow morning. Reviewing maps, checking geo coordinates for our next stop, stowing the barbecue grill and table...
About 1100 hrs we left for the ball game. Yesterday at Barbie and Jake's we figured out a location where we could park our truck and then car pool in with them in their small sedan - much easier to find a place to park.. So we drove there and moments later there they were, and about 20 minutes later we arrived at Coors Field.
As expected it was hectic! The Rockies are in first place in their National League division, so attendance at their games is heavy. Even at that, we got right in and after checking in with Fan Services we headed to our seats. We had not even sat down yet and there was Jim and Vicki Freese! Jim is here from Des Moines working a Veterans Hiring Fair in Colorado Springs, and the Cardinals just happen to be in town, so what an opportunity.
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| Vicki and Jim Freese, Ed and Doreen Schellhase |
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| My Wingman from our Iraq deployment. Jim and I served together for many, many years with the Iowa Air National Guard. |
Jake and Barbie's neighbor provided our tickets, and they could not have been better seats! We were directly behind the Colorado Rockies dugout and there was just one row of seats between us and the field! WOW! We could almost hear the grass growing!
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| Pre-game activities on the field |
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| Too close to receive a tee shirt! |
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| Grounds crew puts on the final touches as the United States Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team performed in the outfield. Video below taken by Jim Freese |
This is the final game of a three game series with the Cardinals. So far they have split so this game decides who wins the series.
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| We were hoping to see Yadier Molina behind the plate for the cardinals but he was off today. |
The weather was fantastic, probably the nicest day we've had since we arrived in Colorado. It was 66F at gametime and sunny. Sunscreen was the order of the day. Attendance was announced at 48,372 so as mentioned before, the stadium was packed.
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| Our great seats provided a field level view! You better be paying attention, though as foul balls could come flying at any time. There was no screen between us and the batters. Here we see former Chicago Cub Dexter Fowler stepping up to the plate. |
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| A great view!! |
Last year we sampled a hot dog at each ballpark and rated them. This year we are mixing it up a bit and not limiting it to just hot dogs.
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| Why have a hot dog when you can have an elk brat?! |
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| Nicely cooked, fresh bun, provided with sauerkraut, grilled peppers and onions. I held off the mustard and ketchup so as not to mask the flavor. The elk meat was delicious as it had some spices added which gave it a bit of a zing. |
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| Great game and the Rockies would go on to win 8-4. All four Cardinal runs were solo home runs, but that would not be enough. The Rockies had one three-run homer by Parra. Each team had 10 hits and neither committed an error. Great baseball! |
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| Ed, Doreen, Barbie and Jake |
It was a FANtastic day at Coors Field! Thank you so much to Barbie and Jake for arranging the ball tickets, for their hospitality and for their friendship! It has been a great visit to the Colorado Springs and Denver areas, and tomorrow we head west to Grand Junction CO for two nights.
Looks like the weather was good! Glad you were able to visit another ballpark! Hope you were able to get your ballpark book stamped?!
ReplyDeleteYep got it stamped but instead of the certificate for first game we each got a button!!
ReplyDeleteDid you holler at Fowler and offer to hold his World Series ring while he was up to bat? What did nana eat? Elk too??
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