I renewed my 20 game season ticket package with the Twins again this year but unfortunately opening day doesn't come with the package. I put my name in a lottery as I did last year (but didn't get picked) and won the opportunity to purchase opening day tickets. I did get tickets for opening day and here's what our day was like.
The game started at 3:10 pm on Friday, April 8th and talk all week was that hopefully the rain coming would be out of the way before game time. Well it didn't even rain all day. The weather was sunny for parts of the day and it the 60's and then it became cloudy and a little cooler. I was able to use the new Twins blanket M got me for the colder games early on in the season. We took the motorcycle down to the game and it was my first ride of the year. We parked in our usual spot, a block away and for free!
Opening day was amazing. The improvements made to the stadium in the off season are great, including the additional video screen in right field and a 100 foot LED tower that stands right next to it. The only thing that was sad to see was the removal of the spruce trees in center field. It's now just a big black background with some small plants/flowers that will be sprouting up soon.
There was an F-16 flyover but the planes flew over the canopy area so we only saw them while they were flying towards the field and then could only hear them as they passed. Here's a short video of them passing...kind of.
We got to see the division champs flag with "10" on it get raised next to rest of the flags. We were able to see Bert Blyleven's quick little speech about going to Cooperstown and they started "Bert's Countdown to Cooperstown" and they unveiled Tony Olivia's bronze statue outside of Gate 6.
The game itself was pretty boring with Pavano pitching and the A's lead 1-0 until in later innings and then we had a quick rally and the score ended 2-1. Twins win! It was a perfect day!
Tony Olivia
The crowds coming into the gate on the plaza
Tony Olivia throwing the first pitch
A huge glove on a building outside of Target Field
Yay!
Started out in short sleeves
Ended up in a blanket
Part of the LED tower to the left. Of course it says Michael
Nervous during the 9th and hoping Nathan would get a save
Michael's new job
We also went to the game on Sunday. It was warm and humid on Sunday and in the 70's at game time at 1:10 pm but in a couple of hours it would drop about 10-15 degrees and it became kinda cold. It would be sunny and then cloudy and it would do that for the whole game. Scott Baker started but the Twins lost 5-3. It was 5-0 until in the 8th when Jim Thome hit his first home run of the season and the first Twins home run in Target Field for the year. It was his 590th home run and it was a bomb at 444 feet. That is about as exciting as the game got. Twins, you need to pick it up!!
Last Wednesday, M and I went to a new place called Rusty Taco. It had just opened the day before and it is the first Rusty Taco to be located outside of the Dallas, TX area.
I guess I would consider this place a taqueria and you order at the counter and there is limited seating. They call your name LOUDLY when you order is up and you pick it up on the other side.
It costs $2.50 per taco, however the tacos are pretty small and you can order either corn or flour tortillas. There are 11 different tacos to choose from. For $3 you get a nice amount of chips and a HUGE cup of guacamole. I had the Rusty Taco with was Achiote Pork with pineapple, onion and cilantro and the Fish Taco with grilled fish with chipotle crema, red cabbage and cilantro. The Fish Taco was dry so I preferred the Rusty Taco. M had the BBQ Brisket Tacos and he liked them. They also serve breakfast tacos until 11 am each day.
The location of Rusty Taco is on Lexington and Randolph, right next to Trader Joe's. We both would go back if in the area, however won't make a special trip just to go there.
Porky's shut down a week ago today and while I had never actually eaten there, it was a signature drive-in restaurant in St. Paul since 1957. On Saturday nights in the summer, people park and drive old cars down the road and cruise up and down University Avenue while many line the streets in lawn chairs and watch the activity right outside of Porky's. But none of those activities will be happening anymore. Porky's despite doing ok and not losing money, decided to shut down and sell the business to a neighboring owner of senior housing. The light rail is also being constructed right outside the restaurant, which would have left little parking and higher taxes.
M tried to go get one last burger on Friday but waited in a line of cars for more than 20 minutes without moving so he decided against it. After eating at the Tavern, we drove by to see many people hanging out and in line to eat for what would be the last open day of the restaurant.
After bowling on Sunday, M and I went and picked up my parents and we brought them to The Tavern on Grand for a walleye lunch. This had been scheduled weeks ago for my mom's birthday but due to sickness and scheduling around my life, we finally got around to doing it.
Both my parents hadn't been there before and I know they both love walleye and I had a major craving for fish. We all ordered the same thing and mmmm, it was delicious. I forgot take any pics of the food for you to see. You've seen fish before. After lunch, we drove around St. Paul just going into different neighborhoods and checking everything out and talking about how much some different 'hoods have changed over the years. We all had a good day!
As per usual, M and I met our bowling buds Greg and Anna last Sunday for what might be one of our last bowling Sundays. It's just getting warmer out and the last thing I want to be doing is bowling in a place where I can't even see outside. It was cosmic bowling this day so we had black lights, disco lights and the lights off. I did fantastic (for me) on my first game with a 138 and then bombed on my second with an 81. We talked about coming up with an activity to do once it gets really nice out and disc golf was brought up. Hmmm....I can't even throw a Frisbee the traditional way consistently so yeah, that might be a challenge.
On Saturday afternoon, I went to a bridal shower for my friend Brenna. Of course I wanted to go to the shower because Brenna is a good friend of mine but I also wanted to go because the shower was going to be held at her matron of honor's parent's house in Bearpath in Eden Prairie. If you don't know what Bearpath is, it's a housing development that is in a gated community with some properties on a private golf course. Just to get into Bearpath, I had to stop at the gatehouse and tell the guard I was there for a bridal shower at a specific address and then he asked my name and saw I was on the list and then I was able to proceed into the community. Fancy! The whole community was definitely private with walls and trees blocking the outside. I guess I was expecting to see crazy-huge mansions but from what I saw, there wasn't anything like that. The houses were definitely nice but they were all so close together to each other and all sort of looked the same. I looked up some houses in Bearpath and they range anywhere from $500,000 to $3 million+. I do know that there have been multiple MN Vikings that have lived in there though. There is one awesome house I did find while researching. You HAVE to check it out and look at all 62 pictures of the interior and 25 pictures of the exterior. They even have a basketball court in their house. http://www.flashprofiles.com/6/18286-Nicklaus/index.htm
Anyways, on to the shower. We started with a light lunch and then started with the games. I'm not a big fan of any bridal or baby shower games but these were fun. One of the games we played was called Celebrity Husband. Before we came to the shower, we emailed Brenna's sister a picture of ourselves as well as who our celebrity husband would be. At the shower was a board full of all the guys we picked and Brenna had to match our pictures to the guys we chose. I think there were around 15 or so people there and she did get a few correct right away. It wasn't until the very last couple was she able to correctly place my hubby. Who'd I pick? Sexiest Man Alive, Ryan Reynolds. No for real, he was sexiest man alive in People. Each one of us picked a different guy and there was only one duplicate for all us girls...yes, Ryan Reynolds. He was also Brenna's sister's choice too.
The games:
Brenna then opened her presents and she received a lot of really nice things, most which came from Bed, Bath and Beyond and it was quite obvious as they gift wrap for you so everything looked the same.
A very emotional gift--A something borrowed/something old gift that was her grandmother's and her mom's
We then ate cake from Buttercream, which was ultra delicious. It was a chocolate mousse cake and so rich. Well, take a look for yourself. Thanks to Brenna's sister Amber for the majority of these pictures.
On Friday, M and I went to the reception of our friends' Beth and Sean. Sean has been a friend of M's cousin Johnny for over 20 years but we met both Beth and Sean on the Cherry Ride two years ago. Sean is a huge part of the ride each year as he helps with the flow of traffic and safety for all our bikes. They've also come to the Cherrie Jones Tailgate Party we have each year and bring fabulous food and drink.
They got married earlier in the day on Friday and we went to their reception at a local bar in St. Paul later that evening. Despite getting married on April Fool's Day, it was no joke. Sean proposed to Beth two years ago on April Fool's Day (wouldn't you wonder if he was joking? Not a funny joke for a girl!) so it was important to them to get married on that day. They are such a nice, caring couple and they deserve nothing but the best. It was a busy night for them so we didn't have a chance to take a picture with both of them together. Congratulations Beth and Sean!
Ummm....backwards "N" and ampersand? At least they got the names right. A few days before, they put "Stan & Beth" in error!
I forgot to write about going to see Patton Oswalt on Thursday, March 24th, mostly because you can't take any pictures at Acme. Because we are Acme Insiders, we were able to purchase tickets to this show before they went on sale to the public. I always enjoy going to see a high-profile comedian at Acme since the capacity is only 290 people.
The show was great. For the first time, probably ever, all three acts were funny!
I love football. I like baseball. I do not care for hockey. I think basketball is fun to watch every once in a while. What I didn't know is how exciting it would be to watch boys high school basketball.
Last Saturday M and I went to the Target Center for the high school boys basketball tournament. It was the finals and it was Columbia Heights against Orono. I probably wouldn't have cared much for either of the teams, however M's cousin (3rd), Zach Lofton is the star player for Columbia Heights and it was the first time that Columbia Heights had been represented in the finals since 1930!
For the weeks leading up to the final game, Zach seemed to be in the newspaper or on the news daily. He was the top scorer in the metro (and all of MN up until about two weeks before the season ended) averaging 30.4 points per game. Of the top 500 high scorers in the United States, Zach is currently ranked 24, however before an injury that left him out for a handful of games, he was ranked 11.
The game started out with Orono ahead and they would be for most of the game, however "Heights" would come back and take the lead a few times. It was back and forth, back and forth until about the last 5 minutes of the game when it started to look not so good for Heights and finally Orono took home the championship, winning 85-76. Now hopefully Zach will get a good basketball scholarship to a big school and then we can still see him on TV every once in a while. He's been approached by many colleges, varying in size and I think he's bound to succeed anywhere.
Last Friday, M and I met Tanya and Chris out as Cause Spirits & Sound Bar to see M's friends' band Seconds Before. They don't play out very often but that night they were opening up for another band's CD release show. While I had never seen Seconds Before live before, we've been listening to them recently and I really enjoy their music, especially the vocals of lead singer Brian Larson. Since Tanya is pregnant, it was baby boy's first exposure to a live concert. I hope he liked it as much as we all did!
We've been bowling every Sunday since about the end of the football season and despite that, I'm not getting better and maybe even a little worse. A couple of weeks ago we went with our regular partners, Greg and Anna and we had Wayne and Tyler join us to watch us. I think my average up until that point was 110 but it has to be lower than that now. My goal is still just to break 100.
Greg and Anna were out of town last weekend so it was just M and I to bowl. We buy our time by the hour so we were able to get in four games in an hour and it was a workout. We were so used to bowling with a group that we weren't used to going up to bowl so often. We both did terribly but we did practice doing Scotch Doubles. Scotch Doubles is when one person rolls the first ball and your partner rolls the second ball. It's fun and we realized that M is better at the first ball and I'm better at cleaning up the pins he didn't get the first time. We planned on going to Scotch Doubles (last Saturday of every month at Flaherty's) this past Saturday but we ended up cancelling for different plans, which I'll write about later this week.
This past Sunday we bowled again with Greg and Anna and Bobby, Jennifer and their kids and Bobby's mom met up with us and bowled in the lane next to us. Again, I was pretty bad and my low score was 85 and the high 104. Anna had two strikes in a row and she was on her way to getting a Turkey (three strikes in a row) but didn't. She actually said instead of a Turkey, it was Tofurkey since she is vegan, which I thought was funny. I didn't take any pictures because it was kind of a lot going on with so many people and kids so next time. There's nothing more exciting than a bowling group photo, is there?!
