Once at the hotel, we got connected and looked to buy tickets online. However, once you added the various different fees we decided it would be cheaper to head to the ball park - which was only a few blocks away - and buy tickets from one of the ticket machines. Ticket prices varied, and we chose seats in quite a decent location for about $30 each.
We headed back to the hotel for the free drinks hour, but it was so busy with (American) football fans that we only grabbed one before heading back to the ball park.
As soon as we arrived, the vibe was very different from the Padres game we had been to. The sheer number of eating and drinking outlets within Target Field meant that a lot of the people were spending time not in their seats, but wandering around these areas. Many of the bars had views out onto the field, so there wasn't really a reason to stay in your seat.
We did take our seats for a while, but the early innings were a bit slow-going, so we decided to do what a lot of others were doing, and bar-hop around inside the stadium. Every now and then we would check in on the game for half an innings before continuing our exploration.
Unlike football back in the UK, there is no segregation in the stands, so we were free to walk around the entirety of the stadium. After some time we were back to our seats, so watched the end of the game. It seems I am a bad luck charm for the home teams I watch - the Twins ended up losing 4-1. I do hope that when I eventually get to see the Cardinals in action, either my luck would have changed, or I'd be watching them away from Busch!
On leaving the stadium, we spotted the outside broadcast setup of Fox Sports doing their post-match analysis. We stood and watched for a while, and then got talking to a couple of Twins fans. Like many of the Americans we have met, they loved hearing about our travels and we were soon heading to a bar together to continue chewing the fat over more beers and some food. Sam had a pretzel the size of her head, complete with a cheese and beer dipping sauce, and I had chicken wings. Sam fully expects me to turn into a chicken wing before the end of the road trip.
We had a lot of fun meeting Eric and Dan that night, and as we staggered back to the hotel, we got a text from Eric asking us if we were interested in a tour of Minneapolis and some dinner with him and his wife Cheryl the following evening. We couldn't possibly decline :)
The outside of the stadium looked pretty cool and just from the initial footage, there appears to be so many food stands, so much more than Wembley.
ReplyDeleteBig Ginger, yay, hope that was a nod to me although not sure why Target Field is my home.
The stadium looks great, I think I like it better than the other stadium you went to, the initial view of the field is excellent. Water cam is a great idea, very funny. Great that you could get around the stadium and Lee appears to enjoy the opportunity for a bar crawl more than the low hitting game. Some great pics with different views of the Stadium. Kiss cam was funny and I love being able to hear your reactions as well. That said, you DIY kiss cam was the best, good work, very funny. The dancing cam was cool too, it seems like it is more about the whole day out/experience rather than the game itself.
The food looked good and that was one giant pretzel, I loved that they put a little German flag in it too.