9 July - Mariners Baseball Game

9 July
We rolled out this morning and headed north on I-5 towards Seattle and Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners baseball team.  Thanks to a tip from an Air National Guard compadre, Tim Tyvan, we were able to park the big ol' RAM pickup in the Seattle Coast Guard Station for free.  A little delay going up on I-5 but overall the drive took us about an hour.

From the Coast Guard Station we walked up the street a couple blocks, under the viaduct and within minutes we were at Safeco Field.  Out in front of the stadium was a statue of one of the most famous Mariner's, Ken Griffey Jr.

We quickly made it through security and the ticket-checker, and made our way to fan services where they stamped Doreen's MLB passport and issued our first game certificate.  

After that we headed to the Mariner's Hall of fame.

It was filled with pictures and artifacts of Mariner's History. A couple players highlighted were Ken Griffey Jr and Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson

A glove very similar to my dad's on display here.

Interactive areas for the kids.

Pre-Mariners baseball history.

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and former Mariner's Manager Lou Pinniella

  Leaving the Mariner's Hall of Fame one of the Safeco Field usher's, "Dave" struck up a conversation with me.  Long story short, he told Doreen and I to head down behind home plate after the second inning and he would "upgrade" our seats!!  Cool!  Dave also gave us some tips on what to see here at Safeco and what to eat.  So we continued our walk around the stadium and headed for Edgar's where I dropped $4.00 and bought some Chipotle and lime flavored grasshoppers!  They were cooked to a point of being crispy, and were quite tasty!

Heading further around the field we found a great view of the Seattle skyline.

The cranes that load and unload the containers and other cargo from the ships

 

Containers being loaded and unloaded.

The Space Needle in the background.

Safeco Field is a really nice ballpark and the staff was very friendly.  Everyone was very helpful.  .We made our way to our seats in section 334.  This provided a nice view  of the third base side, our preference.  

Edgar's in left field where I bought my grasshoppers.

Marty Moose, the Mariner's mascot.

My Hawkeye shirt always gets a lot of comments and "howdy's" from Iowans.

All the field lighting is LED.  The roof is retractable and it was open today as it was a beautiful day.

At the end of the second inning we headed down to section 125 and met up with the usher we had met, "Dave".  Dave hooked us up with some nice seats where we enjoyed a few more innings before we had to leave.  

Dave, controlling access to the section during the inning.  Doreen and I waited until there was a break in the action, then Dave escorted us to our new upgraded seats!

We had left Liberty in the RV and she is good for about six hours max.  So we departed Safeco before the end of the game and headed back to the Coast Guard Station to get the truck.  The Mariners would go on to beat the A's 4-0 scoring the in third, fourth (2)  and seventh innings.  The two runs in the fourth were from a line drive homer over the center field fence by the Mariner's 2017 All Star Nelson Cruz.  He really crushed the ball!

Heading back on I-5, the northbound traffic (heading towards us) was a gridlock,  Glad we were headed south.

 

 Doreen captured Mount Rainier through the windshield as we drove.  Hopefully we will have the opportunity to get some more pictures of it while we are here

We plan to see some more of Doreen's relatives here, the Space Needle, lighthouses, the Boeing factory tour, the Olympica National Park, and other sights.