May 6, 2021 – Oakland A’s vs Blue Jays
Yesterday, when we went to San Francisco we talked about how it would be fun to see a live baseball game. On the drive back to our Flag City RV Resort, we looked up games at the Oakland Coliseum. We couldn’t believe it, but the Toronto Blue Jays were playing at 12:37 the next day. Of course that meant we would be heading back to this area today because we couldn’t miss this game.
We all got up early, got breakfast made, and then hit the road. It was about 1.5 hours to get back to Oakland, CA. We got there a bit early, but we knew everyone needed hats if we were going to be in the sun all day long. Since we came from Canada, we weren’t totally prepared for all this warm summer weather. Our kids grow so fast that nothing fits from last year. John found some swim trunks with the American Flag and he was so excited to get Captain America trunks. Malachi was able to finally get sandals, Lita got blinged out with some cute sandals, sparkly hat and shades.
With everything we do in our life, it is always an adventure. We got to the Coliseum about an hour early which was good, since we couldn’t figure out how to get into the parking lot. We circled once and all the entrances we saw were for the Covid Vaccine site. We circled around and saw a sign that said “Event Parking”, pulled into the parking lot that looked like a sketchy back alley. As we were backing out this guy with an orange vest waved us down and told us it was official parking. We didn’t have a good feeling about it. At that point we kept driving around and then we saw another sign that said “Oakland A’s Official parking”. Kevin thought for sure this one was legit, the guy was wearing all Oakland A’s stuff and had a jacket that said security. The guy proceeded to tell us it was as close as you can get for parking, and there was cameras everywhere and we had nothing to worry about. He reached his hand in the truck and put a small card on the dash saying “event parking” then told Kevin it would be $40 cash only. Kevin pulled out his wallet but, I just didn’t get a good vibe. I was thinking that this wasn’t even in the parking lot. Kevin told the guy we would be back, but we just wanted to circle around first and be sure since it was our first time. We pulled out of that parking lot and then heading into the actual parking lot for the Coliseum. It ended up only being $30 for parking and was in the actual parking lot. I mean maybe the other parking would have been ok but, I didn’t really want to chance coming back and having not tires and our truck broken into. Oakland was a pretty dirty city. Maybe it wasn’t the entire city that was dirty but I can say for sure in the area where the Coliseum was it was pretty sketch.
With parking behind us we now had the full day ahead of us to enjoy the game. We had to take a stop at one of the lower seating areas to get some family pictures with everyone. Then of course everyone needed a hotdog, because you can’t go to a ball game without a hotdog.
We then headed up to our seats. We didn’t realize it was going to be so high up as we ended up buying our tickets over the phone. We had to purchase over the phone because with Covid you are only allowed to seat in groups of 4 and we wanted those seats to be together. It was good though we had the perfect view of the entire game. We did end up being in the sun all day. I brought sunscreen but of course we didn’t put any on. At least we all had hats and sunglasses. We got a little red and luckily we didn’t get burnt much for being out there all afternoon.
Kevin and I went to get some beers, with great surprise they had Kona Brewing Company, Big Wave on tap. To be totally honest I’ve never been much into baseball and was not really looking forward to being in the sun all day. Although I had hesitation, it was short lived once we got there. This was one of the best experiences I’ve had and would defiantly go to another live game if we get a change. The little kids ate fries and hotdogs like they were going out of style. Kevin missed almost every home run while he was running for beer. Malachi and Noah enjoyed some ballpark peanuts and told Kevin about all the play by plays of the game. Of course since we came from Canada we had to root for the Blue Jays and they won!!! Which was pretty cool.
After a long day at the ballgame we started heading back to our campsite. Even though everyone ate all day they were all hungry again. Seems to be the story of our life. On the way back I googled top rated Mexican restaurants and found Golden State Taqueria which turned out to live up to the reviews. The servings were huge and it tasted amazing. I can say I never get sick of Mexican food, I could eat it everyday!!! Right next to the restaurant was Baskin Robins 31 Flavors we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get ice cream before we headed back
We finished the drive back. When we got back we had 25 minutes before the pool closed. Everyone, rushed in got swimming gear on and we headed to the pool. Well everyone except Lita, she was just too tired to even think about swimming. We finished the evening in the spa, and then showers. It was an early night for everyone as that was a long day and we were all exhausted.
