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June 23, 2006
Miller Park
Click here to view the photo gallery.
I just realized, as I prepare for another summer of travel, that not only did I not write about the last few days of the last trip - Going West - but I also neglected my most recent road trip to Milwaukee with my brother back in April. It's a bit too late to finish last summer's travelogue but I felt Miller Park deserved a few words and a photo gallery, so here goes...
I had the sort of crazy idea to drive all the way from Minneapolis to Milwaukee and back in one day to see a baseball game and my brother was willing to go along so we set out very early on April 22nd, tickets in hand, to see the Brewers take on the Reds. My brother was pretty much dead to the world all morning but that was fine by me since I love driving, plus my iPod was loaded with podcasts.
We got to the ballpark, which looks like an alien spaceship, with no trouble since it's basically right off the interstate and did a little tailgating. I use the word loosely because all we had were sandwiches, chips and maybe a banana or two - no alcohol. The people parked around us, on the other hand, had come prepared. They had grills, picnic tables, coolers, and lots and lots of beer. People in Milwaukee definitely know how to tailgate.
As we made a circuit around the stadium were sad to see that the dome was closed - it would have been my brother's first outdoor professional baseball game. The weather wasn't bad but there were a few gray clouds so I guess they weren't taking any chances. Despite the dome being closed, the stadium feels as if it is in the open due to the gigantic sliding wall in the outfield which remained open throughout the game.
After taking a look around the stadium we found our seats which were excellent as you can see in the photos. We had a great view of home plate and, despite being in the second deck, felt very close to the game. The seats allowed me to snag (well, it fell on the ground first - I didn't catch it on the fly) a foul ball which I gave to a little kid sitting next to us. Someone gave me a foul ball hit by Randy Bush at the Metrodome when I was a kid and I wanted to ensure good karma. I'm keeping the next one, though!
In addition to the great view from our seats, Miller Park also offers a fantastic range of food and drink. Everything from mixed drinks to premium beer (including one of my favorites - Leinenkugel's Honeyweiss). They also have a great food selection which we didn't sample much because of our sandwich feast in the parking lot.
The game itself was crazy. The Brewers won 11-0 behind an excellent pitching performance by Dave Bush. He threw a complete game shutout allowing just four hits and striking out nine. The Brewers tied a MLB record when they hit five home runs in one inning. This gave us a good look at the fireworks and also exhausted the mascot who slid down a slide in the outfield every time a Brewer hit one out.
In the end, the crazy amount of driving we had to do to get there and back was well worth it for the quality time with my brother and another ballpark checked off the list.
Posted on June 23, 2006 at 7:35 PM
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