America's Pastime

 Los Angeles, CA

Catching A Day Game

The Stadium sits on hill overlooking Downtown L.A. and Chavez Ravine

While in L.A. I had hoped to catch a Dodger Game.  We are about a mile and a half from the stadium (still called Dodger Stadium) and I figured I would walk up to the box office and buy 2 tickets and we would be all set.  NOPE!  Jon this is 2022.  It's the future and we do things differently, all tickets are sold online, and we charge fees for EVERYTHING!  When I saw 2 $25 tickets quickly turned into $71 I closed all of my browser tabs and told Donna we aren't going.  I had hoped to spend about $40 to see a game plus the cost of a Dodger Dog.  Donna quickly tried to recover the situation by talking about how much I wanted to go and about how nice the day was.  This prompted me to look for other avenues.  Scalping isn't a thing anymore because there are no physical tickets.  I looked at Ticketmaster day of tickets and they didn't have any listed.  I guess it was too close to the start of the game.  I ended up looking at Sub Hub and I ended up getting 2 tickets for just under $40 with the fees.  The Stub Hub fees are less than half of the fees that were going to be charged buying tickets direct through MLB.

Okay, we have our tickets.  Now how to get there?  We aren't driving because parking is $25.  A Lyft would be $7, the bus would be $7 round trip for both of us, and walking is free but Angelinos tell tale about the impossible walk.  We decided to do our own research.

Donna figuring out how to walk to Dodger Stadium

Donna found the perfect route through Angelino Heights and up Vin Scully Ave.  It looked easy and there appeared to be sidewalks most of the way.  This prompted us to take on the challenge that few actual Angelinos take on, walking to Dodger Stadium!

The walk took us by Echo Park and through Angelino Heights, an area we had walked the day before,  

We aren't actually staying in Echo Park :)

Approaching Vin Scully Ave.

Apparently Hello Kitty is a HUGE Dodger Fan

The Iconic Dodger Stadium Sign

The walk was great.  It was a partly cloudy day in L.A. and it was about 66 degrees the whole day.  

We arrived at the gate and I fumbled with my phone to pull up our tickets while we put our things in the metal detector.  The tickets scanned and we passed into "Blue Heaven on Earth", a nickname Tommy Lasorda gave the stadium.

Dodger Stadium is the 3rd oldest baseball stadium in The US and opened in 1962.  We can do the math and see that it is the 60th Anniversary this year!  They had murals like this up all over for many of the anniversaries.  I didn't get this years mistakenly.  

The Stadium was 40 years only 20 years ago!

I really like how they have embraced the 60s and kept the retro theme alive.  Everything feels like it all fits within the 60s vibe (except the prices).  

The stadium worker saw me snapping a photo

I really like this and it fits with the whole theme

Normally I order 1 beer wherever I go (when appropriate) but not this time!  I couldn't justify paying this much for a domestic beer.

If I had gotten a beer, I would have gotten the Michelada Upgrade for sure

We moved up higher to sit in the shade

Donna's Social Distancing skills are professional grade

The obligatory selfie

The view from our cheap shaded seats

The game was great!  The game was The LA Dodgers vs. The Atlanta Braves.  The Dodgers came out swinging in the first inning.  Freddie Freeman hit a 2 run homerun.  That was great because he had recently been acquired by LA from Atlanta.  In addition to watching the game we were able to watch, people moving seats to suit their needs, different groups of people taking selfies and posting to The Insta,  venders trying to sell overprices popcorn in a giant plastic bucket, and all of the LA fashion.  A day game is the perfect thing to do when you are retired.  We didn't have to waste a vacation day or go on a crowded weekend.  Being retired makes every activity more enjoyable in our opinion.  

A few innings in it was time for a World Famous Dodger Dog!  Coming in at $6.75, it was actually cheaper than I had expected.  I was prepared to pay $10 so this was a nice surprise.

No ketchup as God intended

Mid game Atlanta got a hit so the No Hitter and Perfect Game were no longer a thing so we were just looking for a win.  There were multiple Double Plays, 2 home runs, singles, doubles, a triple, and many meetings to discuss pitcher changes.  In the end The Dodgers Won!  The score was Dodgers 5 Braves 1.  We missed getting a free California Pizza Kitchen pizza by 1 run.  If the Dodgers score 6 runs you get a free pizza but I imagine the fine print proves that the pizza was anything but actually free.

Winning!

The walk back to the Airbnb was just as enjoyable as the walk there.  We ended up in a small pack of Dodger Stadium Walkers.  We took a slightly different route "home" to continue to get familiar with the area.  It feels like we have done so much and we still have like 27 days left here.  

I felt the need to make a creepy "Yes Yes Yes" gif

Our walking pack

This sign is about halfway home so the end actually wasn't THAT near

It's hard to see but this is a new kind of street art for me.  
Someone made a detailed wire sculpture and hung it from
the telephone lines.

When we got home we had happy hour and watched The Great British Baking Show.  We continued the evening with making Black Bean Taco Bowls and continuing to watch The Great British Baking Show.

We did some walking yesterday.  Read about the walk here.