How do you know when the universe is working in your favour for a change?
When you go to a Seattle Mariners baseball game at Safeco Field and find out the hotdogs are $3 each, which is about half price.
So let’s see if I’ve got this straight, I said to myself as I crossed from the fifth level of the parking garage directly to the section we would be sitting in for the game: I’m about to watch a baseball game in one of the most beautiful settings I can imagine; it’s a very nice evening; I have two great buddies to sit and talk baseball with during the game: AND hotdogs are half-price?
I should have gone out and bought a lottery ticket.
We watched two games between the Mariners and the San Diego Padres. The Mariners lost both, and the baseball was what you would expect in mid-September from two teams not in the playoff hunt.
But it was baseball. We talked about the strategy (or lack of same) from the managers; tried to determine whether we had even heard of half the players the teams were using (especially the Padres); chatted with fans around us about the game, Seattle and everything under the sun.
My friend Al was wearing a jacket with a Prince George logo on it, and one of the Seattle people asked if he had Cougars tickets. Al said he used to, but not any more. The other fellow allowed as how he had Thunderbirds tickets, and really enjoyed the games.
We went down mid-week for a change, and really noticed a difference. The two border crossings took about five minutes total. No lineups either Monday afternoon or Thursday morning, and the border officials just took our passports, asked us the basic questions, returned our passports, and wished us a nice day.
And to top it all off, I got a Modesto Nuts and Arkansas Travellers baseball hats. Those are two of the Mariners farm teams, and I started picking up the farm team hats some years ago. The Mariners store (there’s about five of them around the city) usually have them, and I don’t even worry about the size too much, since they’re not for wearing.
The only bad thing about the trip?
Knowing it’s going to be another year before I get to do it again.
