Day 9: Avenue of the Giants

Today we are driving to Crescent City. On the way we are currently taking the scenic alternate path called Avenue of the Giants with several redwood scenic spots and such. Tomorrow was our real day planned for the Redwoods, but we decided to enjoy this other part of the forest farther from the campground today.

Game 6: Atlanta Braves 3 @ San Francisco Giants 6

We were several hours early for the Giants game at AT&T Park. So early that parking was not technically open, but nothing kept you from going in. Ended up with a parking pass from scalpers instead of waiting around for parking staff to come around to collect money. We then went to the Giants team store to get our souvenirs and walked around the outside of the park before waiting another half hour for the gates to open.

We were again in the bleacher section, but this time with specific seats. Mik got another Major League Baseball from someone who caught several during batting practice. The seats were in front of the scoreboard, so not the best in that regards, but pretty cool nonetheless because we were right up against the wall in right field and no fans in front. No cup holders, but Mik did not feel left out because none of the bleachers had them.

Mik rooted for the Braves because the Giants are in the Dbacks division and I rooted for the Giants because the Braves are in the Nats division. Dad just wanted to see Randy Johnson pitch a decent game. It was an okay pitching outing from Johnson, but we have seen better from him as a Dback. So really only I got what I wanted with the Giants winning 6 to 3. The best play to see was the Giants getting a run by stealing home.

Now we are on the road back to the campground in Petaluma. Tomorrow is a relaxed driving day to the campground in Crescent City. Hopefully I can get some catching up on the extra posts then. Mik is hoping for an early evening arrival at the campground, so he can catch up on some of his shows using Dad's computer and the Wifi at the campground and have a campfire to roast marshmallows and have S'Mores.

Day 8: Jelly Belly Factory

This morning we left the campground around 10am and headed to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA. Once there we took the free tour of the factory. It was fun to see the Jelly Belly beans being made. The really fun part, though, was the store with all the varieties of Jelly Belly to sample and make your own mixes to purchase.

We bought 10 pounds of the Jelly Belly flops (i.e. the rejects mostly because of them being misshaped) for $27. I also got a mix of my favorite flavors (Pomegranate, Dark Chocolate, Toasted Marshmallow, and Buttered Popcorn). Mik got a mix of the sour flavors he likes. He also made a mix of sour gummy worms, sour gummy bears, and sour trout. Dad got some Sunkist fruit gems. Lastly we got a Classic Licorice assortment for Mom. See our almost $70 haul below. Now we are all stocked up on candy for the trip.



We also had a great lunch in the Jelly Belly cafe. Will write more on that in a Mik's Food Scrapbook post later. We are now headed to San Francisco for the Giants game tonight. It is the last baseball game for the May part of our trip, as we do not get to the Seattle Mariners game until June 1.

Game 5: Seattle Mariners 3 @ Oakland Athletics 4

Even though we stopped at the grocery store before the game, we still were there three hours before the game. We parked close to the stadium right by one of the entrances in the handicap parking and then walked around the McAfee Coliseum a little. Near the "front" we found the Coliseum Circle World Champions, which is an interesting circle with plaques commemorating the years the Oakland Athletics won the World Series, the Oakland Raiders won the Super Bowl, and the Warriors NBA Champions. The three teams all play in this sports complex area with the Raiders and Athletics sharing the Coliseum and the Warriors playing next door in the Oracle.

The gates finally opened about an hour and a half before the game and we headed to the bleacher section to claim seats. Not that it turned out to be a problem, as there was plenty of wheelchair seating and there ended up being no other wheelchair people. However, there really was only one spot with a place to put Mik and still be able to both sit with him, so it only took one other person getting their first to ruin the companion seating option. There was a guy catching a lot of the balls hit into the bleacher section during batting practice and he gave Mik one of the balls. Mik already has some real MLB balls and he says I can put it in my collection from the trip. Yes, he really can be sweet at times and actually has also been quite well behaved the past few days.



The Mariners took an early lead with two runs in the first. Then it the game went quite quickly until it got to the 7th when the Mariners scored another run. Then in the bottom of the 7th it was exciting with the Athletics scoring four runs to give them a lead and batting through the order exactly. The last inning and a half also went quickly. A nice quick game with an exciting finish with the home team winning, which works for us as we really had no attachment to either team so just sort of rooted for the home team.



Now we are on the road to the campground and will probably get there around 10:40pm. We then have to set up the tent, but at least we have stuff for breakfast already and we do not have to leave to go see the Jelly Belly factory before the Giants game until 10am.

Day 7: Driving from Anaheim to Oakland

Our goal was to leave the hotel in Anaheim for Oakland by 9am and for once we actually left a few minutes early. There was some traffic in the Los Angeles area, but it quickly cleared up as we headed north out of Los Angeles. It has been smooth going and we just stopped at Subway for lunch. Dad's GPS currently says we should get to the Coliseum where the Oakland Athletics play around 3:15pm. That is way early for the 7:05pm game start time, so we are going to try to find a nearby grocery store to get some food for breakfast at the campground the next few days before we head to the game.

Smashed Pennies: Angel Stadium

I almost missed the machine at Angel Stadium. I barely noticed it hidden in the really merchandise crowded Team Store. It is actually right next to the non-game day entrance to the Team Store, but when you come in through the ballpark it is way hidden behind the merchandise you see. I chose the design with the Halo A logo that says The A Team Angels Baseball. Mik chose the rally monkey Go Angels design.

Accessibility Review: Angel Stadium

Parking at Angel Stadium was nice and close like at Dodger Stadium. The parking is not smack dab next to the entrance, but only because the home plate entrance has a large sidewalk plaza. Leaving the parking lot after the game from here also worked out really fast since the area we parked only had handicap and suite type reserved spaces and not just the general parking traffic, which by the way was not much since most left early due to the 17-3 loss or stayed late to watch the Memorial Day fireworks.

The seats at Angel Stadium were way better than Dodger Stadium, but they have their problems as well. Again we ran into the problem of a bar being in the line of site. That was it for the bad at our seats. The only other accessibility bad was the team store was very cluttered with merchandise and the aisles were barely big enough to navigate through. What made it frustrating, though, was that there were way too many people that worked there getting in the way.

So far the seats we had in section 259 at Angel Stadium are the best seats we have had on the trip. First off we could clearly see the entire scoreboard from our seats and could even easily see the one up behind us if we turned around. We also could see the whole field and even got a great look down into the tiered bullpens below our section. The section was also very clearly a standing section, however, the situation was actually handled very well by a red line a good distance behind our seats. Fans seemed to entirely respect that line and stood behind it and there was also a good usher presence to enforce it and just keep a better atmosphere compared to Dodger Stadium where ushers seemed entirely missing from our area of the stadium.

Mik liked that we actually had cup holders, which were annoyingly missing from Dodger Stadium's handicap seating. However, the cup holder situation was not that great. First off, they did not actually have a cup holder for every seat/space in the handicap section. It worked fine for us as we had two cup holders for our three seats/spaces, but it sure would not work ideally if we each had had a drink. Also, the cup holders were up on the high bar that was in the line of sight and caused even further blockage of the line of sight, especially when you put a drink in the cup holder. I had no idea that cup holders would turn out to be such a hot point related to the accessibility reviews, but it certainly has been an issue at the last two games.

Overall a great accessible experience. The bar and cup holder in the line of sight is annoying, but typical. The fact that there is a cup holder and the otherwise clear view of the whole field and scoreboard make up for that minor inconvenience. The elevators are not exactly that easy to find, but there are plenty of ushers around that are helpful.