25 June - Giants Game and Last Trip Into SF

25 June
Early rise this morning and headed again down to Vallejo for the ferry to San Francisco.  Very busy here starting with the NASCAR race in Sonoma CA which is not far from here.  We had advanced warning about the NASCAR event which has lasted three days.  All routes to Sonoma will be bumper to bumper but especially route 37, so we found an alternate route using back roads.  So we are not late for the ferry and therefore for the Giants game, we left earlier than normal.  Traffic was not bad at all and we got into Vallejo and got parked shortly after 0700 hrs.

So, NASCAR today and also the Giants are in town and play today at AT&T Park which is where we are headed.  Many Giants fans at the ferry terminal and as we lined up about 45 minutes in advance, we were standing next to another couple with whom we struck up a conversation.  Roger and Gail from the Vallejo area, also headed to the Giants game.  So we talked to them about how we planned to get from the main ferry building to AT&T Park, and they offered to walk with us ad show us the ropes.  We had planned to take the "E" cable car and they usually take the "Muni" train, a bit cheaper and quicker.  Hey, sounds good to me!  We spent the next couple hours talking to them.  Roger was in the US Navy in the 60's and served during Vietnam and near Vietnam on ship. We talked about the VA system and his Agent Orange case, etc.

Besides NASCAR and Giants Baseball, there is a HUGE Gay Pride event in downtown San Francisco.  A parade will engulf Market Street which is where the Embarcadero train terminal is located, so we will have to navigate through the sea of "colorful folks" to get to the train to the Giants game.

Motorcycles preparing for the parade

Costumes of every kind.

Colorful regalia

Booths and vendors

Had "Trump" tatoo'd on his derier and gold foil on his thingy.

No words.  Doreen is still laughing about this guy!

It was quite a spectacle, to say the least.  Roger and Gail, our new-found friends from the ferry led us through the crowd and we found the Embarcadero Muni terminal where we boarded a train for AT&T Park.

We got to AT&T Park about the time they opened the gates.

Willie Mays  entrance

Statue of Willie Howard Mays  #44 in front of the stadium

We entered the ball park and found Fan Services where Doreen got her MLB Ballpark Passport book stamped and they gave us a "first game" certificate.  They were also proudly displaying their "bling".

We also received a couple pride blankets upon entering the ballpark.

The blankets still folded up in the wrappers.

Heading for our seats we grabbed a snack.  Doreen could not pass up the loaded tater tots, and I opted for the broasted brussel sprouts, and they were delicious!

Roasted brussel sprouts.  The other item in there is a thin slice of lemon that had been roasted.  Does not sound very appetizing, but it was delicious!

The tater tots, with sour cream and bacon.

Our seats were high above the third base line with a great view.

AT&T Park outfield seats with San Francisco bay in the background.

Beautiful ballpark.  The sail boats gather in the water just outside the park to receive home rum balls.  I was surprised to see the patchwork sod in the outfield.  I've never seen this so noticeable.  Usually the grounds crew can blend new turf and treat it so this is not as noticeable.

Good crowd today.  41,137 attending.  63 degrees and party cloudy with a moderate 13 mph wind out to right field.

The boats gather in the bay.

The New York Mets would go on to beat the San Francisco Giants 8-2.  We bugged out a bit early to beat the crowds to the train on our return trip to the Embarcadero terminal and made our way back to the main ferry terminal just in time to catch the next boat north.  It has been an exhausting couple days and the ride back was relaxing indeed.

After arriving back in Vallejo we got out truck and headed north via our back route to avoid the NASCAR traffic.  WOW!  after a few miles we met bumper to bumper traffic at a standstill all trying to get out of the NASCAR area.  Luckily, again, we knew about this in advance and planned accordingly.  This picture sums it up.  Nothing moving for miles!!

Nice to get back to Petaluma and we picked up Liberty from the doggie place.  She was very glad to see her mom!!  Upon return to the Coast Guard base where our RV is, we were greeted by the usual turkeys, strutting their stuff around the grass!

Tomorrow is a down day from a tourist standpoint.  We will head into Petaluma and do some laundry, and get a few groceries in preparation for our departure on Wednesday morning.