What I Did on My Summer Vacation

At last, the long awaited Seattle post. And my apologies to all 2 of you who have been waiting for it.

This was my sixth trip to Seattle since 1988, when my aunt and then uncle moved out there. My aunt is still there as is my cousin, whose wedding was the reason for the trip. She had set the date last summer and by some dumb luck the Yankees were scheduled to play the Mariners during the same week. Since I don't have much vacation time due to my job being fairly new, I could only go to the last game of the series on Thursday. So I took a late flight on Wednesday (armed with a box of Tastykake treats and a bag of Wise potato chips for my aunt, and some black and white cookies for my cousin. Things they can't get in their neck of the woods) and met up with the rest of my family who was already there.

On Thursday morning we walked from the hotel to Pike's Market (that's the place where they throw the fish around). I went to the aquarium with my brother and his family while my parents walked around the market. The market is nice and all, but I wasn't in a shopping mood and I'm a sucker for aquariums and zoos. I wasn't disappointed, as there are shitloads of my favorite marine mammals there... otters. And they were quite playful. We hit a restaurant near the market for lunch and hitched a shuttle van back to our hotel to get ready for the game.

My brother and his family took a quick trip to the Space Needle while my parents and I left for the game early. We decided to take a bus, since we really didn't know where to park (there's only one deck attached to the stadium and the pre-paid parking was already sold out). Plus, it's just less of a hassle trying to deal with unfamiliar traffic. It was a wise decision, since there was a bad accident on I-5 that was backing everything up. We also lucked out with a really good bus driver who knew how to avoid some of the back ups. She was more talkative than most bus drivers that I'm used to, but it was a welcome change.



Thursday, August 24, 2006
Away Game 64
Mariners 4 Yankees 2
Hydroplane Race Winner: green
Hat Trick Game: #1



In the summer of 1998 (the first summer in which I had a full time job) I had planned to go out to see my aunt and cousin in Washington. I saw that the Yankees were going to be out there in the beginning of August. So I made sure that my cousin would be able to get tickets and planned my vacation around the series. We went to the August 1st game, 1 day before my cousin's birthday and the 19th anniversary of her favorite player's death. (Munson was even the answer to a trivia question on the scoreboard during the game.) The day before the game, the big baseball news in Seattle was the trade of Randy Johnson to the Astros for Carlos Guillen, Freddy Garcia, and a player to be named later (turned out to be John Halama).

Our seats in the Kingdome were about 2 rows from the top on the first base side. The players looked like ants, but I didn't care. It was the first time I got to see the Yankees outside of the Bronx. And to see that magical '98 team made it all the better. I had gone down to get some beer and pretzels between innings, but I ended up missing part of the 3rd. As I was climbing up the long flight of stairs to my crow's nest seat, Tino homered. I, of course, had my grey #8 road jersey on and was fully expecting to hear a rash of boos and profanities in the enemy territory. But the only thing I heard was 1 guy who softly said "boo". And that was it. It was my first taste of the "latte" crowd. There were a good amount of Yankee fans there too, so that may have helped drown out any insults. But still, the home crowd was rather meek.

In 2000, I went to an archery tournament in Darrington, WA, and I was able to spend some time with my family. My aunt's boss had season tickets to the new Safeco Field (it was its first full season of use), so we were able to catch this game between Oakland and Seattle. It was the first time I was in a modern stadium, so I was a little taken aback. I thought the sightlines were great, and I liked how you could see the field from the concourse. What I didn't like where all the distractions. There are way too many scoreboards at Safeco. And I'm not too fond of mascots at baseball games either. If I remember correctly, at one point the Moose was riding a mechanical bull in the outfield. But, it was a baseball game, so I of course enjoyed myself. Once again, the crowd was a bit lacking. The ladies that sat down next to me warned me that they can get a little rowdy. I told them I was a Yankee fan from Jersey, and they didn't have to worry. When Seattle favorite Edgar Martinez hit a home run, they got rowdy alright, rising to their feet and clapping their hands furiously. yay. Ok, maybe I'm just spoiled. I really don't have anything against the fine people of Seattle. I just wasn't impressed with their enthusiasm during my first 2 games there.

So, now I'm at my second game at Safeco. I wanted to get there early because the first time around I didn't get to see too much of the stadium. We arrived just as the Yanks were starting their batting practice. We walked around to the bullpen area and jockeyed for position behind the fence. At Safeco, you can look down on the bullpens (you can also watch on the ground level.) It was Karstens' throw day, so we got to see him throw in the pen, with Guidry looking on and giving pointers. Bruney was in the outfield yelling to some guy that was standing next to us, asking if his folks were here.

We made our way to our seats on the first base line. I got the tickets the day they went on sale, and I was able to snag 6 seats in the Terrace Club. It's a closed off section with lounges, Kobe beef burgers, and meal service at your seat. They have something similar in Baltimore, but I thought this was nicer because you can watch the game from inside the corridor. They also had TVs hanging from the roof. I guess it was the Seattle television broadcast. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of replays shown. But all in all, it's a really nice ballpark. The food was good. The beer was good. The views were great.

There were a good amount of Yankee fans in attendance. We saw a lot earlier in the day around the market and aquarium. Some from the east like us (we met a family from Brooklyn), some from the west (a couple from Alaska). But the game itself was rather disappointing for Yankee fans. Randy had one bad inning, but that's all that the Mariners needed. The Yanks just couldn't get anything done on offense (a rally-killing Ichiro catch didn't help matters either.) Despite the fateful 3rd inning, I thought Randy pitched well, going all 8 innings for the loss. This time, the home crowd was a lot more into it than my two previous experiences. Maybe it was a "we beat the hated Yankees" thing. When A-Rod came in to pinch hit in the 9th, the boos he got put those he hears in the Bronx to shame. I thought they would just do it when he got announced, but he heard it every single pitch. Some guys were waving money at him too. I have a feeling that if those guys were offered half the money that Alex was, they would leave Seattle too.

After the game we headed for the shuttle bus, which dropped us off about 8 blocks from the hotel, and we hoofed it the rest of the way. In the morning we headed east to Lake Chelan for the wedding.

In attendance record: 26-17



After breakfast on Friday, my parents started off towards the lake. My mom wanted to stop at Leavenworth to do some shopping. Meanwhile, I followed my brother to Greenwood Memorial Park to visit the grave of Jimi Hendrix. I had always wanted to go on my many trips out west, but never got around to it. This was only my brother's second trip to the Seattle area, so he made a point of going this time. There used to just be a grave marker, but a few years ago they put up a memorial for Jimi. It's very tasteful, with a shrine-like structure in the middle that features Jimi's headstone. There was a plastic sunflower placed on top, along with a jesus prayer candle and a toy dinosaur. Around the outside of the structure were plots for the rest of the Hendrix family. Most of the headstsones were blank, except for the ones for his father, step-mother, and grandmother. Not far from the Hendrix memorial, was this structure. An inscription on a bench there said it was in commemoration of the 1st Annual Ching Ming Festival. I'm hoping to make it to Bruce Lee's grave site on one of my next trips out to Seattle.

My brother and I then headed towards the lake. They, too, stopped off in Leavenworth, while I travelled on to Chelan. Once you get past the Cascade region in Washington, the landscape becomes much more barren. It's much warmer there, and pretty much like a desert. My cousin and her husband-to-be rented a house on the lake. On the property was another smaller house, where my brother's family stayed. They also had their camper there, which is where I stayed with my parents, my aunt and my cousin's 10-year old daughter. The lake was gorgeous. Crystal clear. You could see the bottom from pretty far out. The only person there when I arrived was my cousin's fiancee. After a while more people started showing up. When one of his friends came, he proceeded to give me a hard time about the Yankees (in a good natured way though). Saturday and Sunday morning I had to thank him for the Mariners beating the Red Sox.

I was still on New York time, so I would wake up at around 6:00am every morning. And every morning I went down to the lake with my parents and aunt before all the kids would wake up. It was rather peaceful at this time of day. The only people on the lake were a couple boaters and some water skiers. There was also a lone, lame duck that came to visit us. Of course we had to get a loaf of bread and feed the poor thing (my mom and aunt are animal lovers, the latter being a veterinary assistant as well). We were able to lure the duck a few feet away from us with trails of rolled up pieces of bread. But she wouldn't come any closer.

The wedding was on Saturday. It was a nice, low-key affair. During the day we all pitched in to help set up. The ceremony was on the lake, but unfortunately we couldn't hear anything because the water drowned out any sound. Luckily it was a short ceremony. The reception was set up in the large yard in the front of the house. It featured the best wedding cake I ever had. It wasn't especially pretty, but it was mighty tasty. It was a multi-layered yellow cake with an almost paste custard filling and white chocolate icing. About an hour after dessert we were in our shorts and t-shirts, drinking and bullshitting the rest of the night. The next morning I went out on the boat with my parents and my cousin's new husband. Unfortunately I had to leave that afternoon and catch a 10:30 flight back to Newark. I wish I had more time to spend with my family, since I only get to see them every few years. We're hoping they can make it out to Jersey soon (where they will no doubt come with an empty suitcase to fill with Tastykakes, Wise potato chips, Bachman pretzels, and black and white cookies.)

So, I made my way back to Seattle and met up with a fellow SpoFite, Steve (aka vito90). He was bartending at the Holiday Inn restaurant. I had a few drinks and we chatted a bit about baseball. When he was taking orders I also chatted with a guy that kinda looked like Sammy from The Wedding Singer. When I got to the airport, I noticed several people in Yankee attire on my flight. A Jet Blue flight to Boston was leaving from the gate next to ours. Despite the poor showing that Yankees had on their West Coast trip, the Yankee fans were in a fairly good mood. Every Red Sox fan that I passed put his head down to avoid eye contact. It seemed like barely a year ago that every Boston fan I would see held his head high, begging you to look them in the eye so they could smirk in your general direction. My, how things have changed.