17 June - Athletics Baseball Game at the Coliseum

17 June
Got up this morning and headed down to Dublin CA which is on the east side of San Francisco Bay.  Why Dublin CA you ask?  Well, only a small percentage of the Petsmart stores have a Petsmart Hotel.  The store in Dublin has one.  Oh by the way, the BART (Bay Area Regional Transit) train station is within walking distance from the Dublin Petsmart, plus there is a tone of parking there so we can park the truck away from everyone else yet feel comfortable about security.  We can hop the BART and get to Oakland Coliseum within 42 minutes, painless.

We have found Petsmart Hotels to be a reliable place to board our dog Liberty as we travel cross country.  They offer overnight boarding as well as "doggy day camp" services.  Plus we also like the grooming services available there, so while we are out gallivanting around, Liberty can stay overnight and even get her ears lowered!  But today all we need is a doggy sitter for a few hours while we go to the A's baseball game.  Perfect.

So after about an hour drive down to Dublin we found a nice out-of-the-way parking spot for big bertha, right around the corner from Petsmart.  We went inside and quickly checked Liberty in to doggy day care and then walked to the BART terminal and got our round trip tickets for $7.60 each.

The BART process was painless but I am glad we were early and am glad we were able to but round-trippers so we did not have to mess with ticketing after the A's game when 25,000 other people are trying to get to the train.

We boarded the train and after a 40+ minute ride we arrived at the Oakland Coliseum, home of both the Oakland A's and <current> home of the Oakland Raiders at least until they move to Las Vegas which is planned for 2019 or 2020.

We arrived at the Coliseum and walked around the outside since they did not open up until 1105 hrs.

A short walk from the BART station to the Coliseum

Home of the A's and the Raiders

The field has been renamed Ricky Henderson Field in honor of the late #24 Hall of Famer Ricky Henderson, what was a left fielder for the Oakland A's .

Nice sign over the Coliseum.  Huh??

After the gates opened we processed through security and proceeded to Fan Services where they stamped Doreen's MLB passport book and gave use "first game' buttons and certificates (they even made it back to the RV without being crumpled!).  It's obvious from the attendance the A's are not having a great year.  As I say routinely, "We owned the place."  Attendance was very light which is a good thing for us.  All the concession stands were virtually empty.  So, time for a cold beer and make our way to our seats, at least find them.  We were in section 223, row 4, seats 19 and 20.  Great seats, nice view of third base side which is normally our preference.  There was NO ONE in the whole section!! So, we took a couple pictures and then headed out to walk the concourse to see the remainder of the stadium.  

On the way back we grabbed lunch which was a Louisiana Hot Link with grilled peppers and onions for me, and a colossal bacon-wrapped hot dog with grilled peppers and onions for Doreen.  Gut bombs for sure, but what the heck!

 Doreen prefers Mike Hard Lemonade or better Cranberry, but none to be found so she got a souvenir cup full of root beer and I had a local IPA beer.

We headed to our seats and the sun was relentless.  Since there was no one in our entire section we moved up to the top which was in the shade, and the temperature dropped probably 20 degrees!  Many others followed suit.  Attendance is so light that no one challenged our seats and we were able to stay there the entire game.

"FAN"tastic seats!!

We had a great view of the field and the game.  The A's dugout was right below us.

Attendance was low.  Many empty seats!

One of the television camera stations right in front of our section.

Pre-game warmup

Above sections were almost empty

 We watched a great game and Oakland would go on to beat the New York Yankees 5-2.  We bugged out in the 7th to get to the BART terminal before the crowds.  The train ride back was uneventful, but full of tired, hot fans like us.  We got the puppy picked up and motored back to Travis AFB Famcamp.  Liberty was glad to see her mom.  The drive was not bad at all, but Gramps was glad to get back to the RV and relax a bit.

Tomorrow we will wrap up last minute items, last minute shopping and prepare to depart to Petaluma Coast Guard Station, our next destination.  We will "attack" San Francisco from the north including a Giants game, Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, and other SF attractions.  Heck, I might even have some Rice-a-Roni!!  (Some may get this LOL)