Last Weekend, Part 1

Last weekend was a very long weekend. I will focus on the Dodger experience last weekend, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, or so we assume it to be. In case you didn't know, this is the Dodgers 50th anniversary of moving to LA. They played their first season in Los Angeles in 1958. Since Dodger Stadium did not open until 1962, they played in the Coliseum from 1958-1961 (even winning a World Series there in 1959). Until this past weekend, the largest attendance ever at a baseball game was an exhibition game between the Dodgers and Yankees which drew 93,103 fans. This past Saturday shattered that record with attendance at 115,300 (also an exhibition game)! We were fortunate enough to be there, but the experience was less than pleasant.


We made the poor choice of parking at Dodger Stadium for free and taking the free shuttle to the Coliseum from there. We waited in line for 1 hour and 20 minutes after parking at about 5:00 for the 7:10 game. Ultimately, we got into the Coliseum in the bottom of the 1st inning.

Getting into the stadium was an adventure worth forgetting all by itself. We stopped at the porta-potties outside the stadium. They were pretty nasty, not to mention almost overflowing. Once we made it inside, the congestion of people got so bad at one point that we were shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip with everyone else, all the while, the poor girls were walking while holding our hands. It got too bad to let them continue walking so Traci picked up Skyler and my dad picked up Courtney. I was very scared for them as it was very unsafe. Finally we got to our section and hiked up to our seats in row 81. Yes, that was row 81! And to top it all off, we were as middle of the row as we could be. I settled down for minute and then went with my dad back down to get food. Which meant another hike up to our seats.


Since Courtney didn't go to the bathroom in the portables (can't blame her!), she finally decided she had to go. Fortunately, my mom volunteered to take her. So from the 3rd through 6th innings, I was actually able to watch the game.


With all the madness, we decided we better try to leave early. Normally, I detest leaving early, but under the circumstances, I agreed with Traci that it was the right thing to do. So top of the 7th we hike down and out of the stadium to get in line for the bus back to Dodger Stadium...out of the stadium, along the street following the ginormous line, and then nearly back to the coliseum for the end of the line. We get in line at 9:30. Total wait time...1 hour 45 minutes. So we're on the bus back to Dodger Stadium at 11:15, with both girls already asleep (and my back killing me from holding Courtney). Ultimately we get home around 12:30 and of course the slept until about...oh...7:00. Oh well.


So as you can tell it is not an experience I want to go through again. However, it was pretty cool seeing the game in a different place, with a very odd field shape. To give you an idea of our view, as well as the fun we did have, I'm including some pictures here. I hope you enjoy them. And at least the rest of the weekend was beyond outstanding...look for more info in Part 2 coming soon. Enjoy the pictures! Oh by the way, the coolest part of the night was seeing all 115,300 doing the wave. That was certainly a sight to be seen. Extra points to whoever started that one! The last two pictures were our attempt to capture the wave in a picture. And how often do you see the players from both teams doing the wave? That was pretty cool too.