Seattle Mariners

We headed into the park, got the obligatory beer as we entered and headed toward ours seats.  First impressions were good.  As we we walking, we could look into the bullpen in left field… The pitcher and catcher were less than 10 feet from us.  Almost too close… I was slightly concerned about their security from any fan who would have too much to drink.  Watch out!

First off that bat (pun intended), you notice that Safeco doesn’t just have a bunch of generic hot dog stands.  As we were walking, we noticed a huge variety of food types, local vendors, and regional craft brew.  Pretty good start!  But we didn’t have time to eat yet… We had to get to our seats to watch the first pitch.

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that it was STAR WARS NIGHT at Safeco!  Yes, that’s right.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  New stadium with the family AND it’s Star Wars night!

And since we were saving so much money on flights and hotel, I splurged to get the good seats.  That’s right, we were in the 4th row right at 3rd base.  Pretty cool to be that close!

After witnessing a leadoff home run on the first pitch and a bit more baseball, we headed back to explore more dining options.  The park had it all.  As we walked by the garlic fries booth, we couldn’t resist.  We got a basket and scarfed them down while standing up.  Then we decided it was time for dinner.  Savannah went traditional with a hot dog, Owen went with Chinese from Panda Express (okay, not so “local”) and I went with some fancy organic pork tacos.  The line was a bit long, but the tacos were excellent.  We then grabbed another local microbrew and headed back to Row 4.

We also headed to the souvenir store and picked up a Mariners pin (as per the usual) and I couldn’t help but purchase one of the last (overpriced) limited edition “Star Wars Night” t-shirts for Owen.  Just too cool not to get!

And after the game finished with a Mariners victory (5-2 over the Astros), there was a Friday night fireworks show… With, you guessed it, Star Wars music.  We had a decent view from our seats (they even let some people onto the infield who would not be able to see otherwise).  It was a great show, and the kids and crowd were thrilled — without having to use a Jedi mind trick

Because everyone stayed for the fireworks, leaving the stadium was a bit of a nightmare.  It took us less than 10 minutes to walk to our car, but being on one of the top levels of the parking structure, it took us over one hour to leave.  Which after a long day of travel, didn’t allow us to get to our hotel until almost midnight.  Which was a bit of a bummer since we had big plans the next morning (like seeing the space needle at 9:30AM!)

Overall, the park was great with the retractable roof and the food and beverage choices.  And besides the parking situation (which I think could be avoided in the future with public transit or an Uber ride), it was one of my favorite ballpark experiences.  Now if only Star Wars night could be every night!