Globe Life Park - Home of the Texas Rangers

Another great game and Yankees win!

We were concerned about how uncomfortable it would be watching the game since it was so hot at game time.

However, there was a nice breeze and the sun was not beating on us so it was pleasant.  The worst heat we've experienced is still National Park in July 2012.

Unlike so many of the newer stadiums, this ballpark does not have a concourse going around the entire stadium.  The food vendors are behind the seats so you need to rely on TVs when getting snacks during the game.

They have some unusual food too.  Butch ate a fried turkey leg and there is also an all bacon stand.  

One thing I do like about not having the concourse is that you still get that walking through the tunnel onto the field effect.

We had good seats again near the Yankees dugout.

Some guy from Duck Dynasty threw out the first pitch.  We can file that under things-that-would-never-happen-at-Yankee-stadium.  Other unique things they do: the entire stadium sings "Deep in the Heart of Texas," they parade around with Texas state flags when the Rangers score and, instead of the Kiss-Cam, they do "put the X in Texas" with people crossing their arms like an X.

Overall, it's a great place to watch a game.

That leaves 7 more MLB parks to visit: San Diego, Denver, St. Louis, Houston, Miami, Tampa and Philadelphia.  

Until the next trip...

TV Show Tour

We took the scenic tour to Arlington stopping at 2 places made famous by TV Shows.

The first stop was the Gas Monkey Garage as seen on Butch's favorite TV show "Fast and Loud."

After the garage, we stopped for lunch at the Gas Monkey Bar & Grill.

Next up, we drove up to Plano to visit Southfork Ranch.  Really.  It was spectacularly cheesy and we enjoyed every minute of it.  We took the tour.

They filmed all the outdoor scenes of Dallas at Southfork.  We learned that the actual owners of the ranch finally had to sell since they could not stand the tourists just showing up.  For example, they'd wake up to find people swimming in the pool.

Here are Butch and I at the actual table where they filmed all those breakfast scenes.

After the Dallas tour, we drove to Arlington. We are staying at a Sheraton next to the ballpark.  It smells like mildew but it's next to the park and it has a pool.

Next update after the game. Go Yankees! 

Hotel Zaza and Dallas

Promised pictures of the Hotel Zaza

They have a car that will drive you anywhere within 5 miles of the hotel.  It's so hot that you need the car.  Everything we wanted to see is not far from the hotel but who can walk in this heat?

This morning we went for a swim, saw the JFK memorial and visited Neiman Marcus.  We walked from the memorial to Neiman Marcus.  At 10 am, the streets of downtown Dallas are deserted.

The pool at the hotel is chilled.  Chilled... imagine that.  The pool water is perfect.

This statue is in the lobby of the hotel across from the elevators.  The sign says to rub its nose for good luck.  Butch and I rub the nose before each elevator ride.

Hotel mini bar has hair gel.  Anyone surprised?

We are leaving this great hotel soon.  We have some sight seeing to do in other parts of Dallas before heading out to Arlington for the game.  We are staying at a Sheraton in Arlington tonight and then flying home tomorrow morning.

Hot. So Very Hot.

We arrived in Dallas.  The heat actually takes your breath away.

One more comment about Minnesota - well 2 more comments....

Do people actually wear clothes like this?  Not ironically, I mean.

I've finally found an airport in the US with bathrooms equally as disgusting as JFK... Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

We are staying at the Hotel Zaza in downtown Dallas.  I'll post pictures tomorrow.  It's quite the scene here.

We didn't do much today - hung around the hotel pool and bar.  Checked out the Perot Science Museum.  They have a bunch of fun stuff like an earthquake simulator.  The section dedicated to the advantages of hydrofracking creeped me out.  No surprise to see that T. Boone Pickens is one of the benefactors of the museum.

Here's Butch trying to flap his wings like a bird

Had dinner tonight at Stampede 66 with a friend from Brookfield that I've not seen in probably 20 years.   They make a Margarita at the table with liquid nitrogen instead of ice.

Tomorrow, we are going to see the sights and then head out to Arlington for the ballgame.

Minneapolis Bonus

Here I am twirling my fake hat in front of the Mary Tyler Moore statue

Target Field

Great game! A-Rod hit 3 home runs and the Yankees rallied to win it in the 9th. The Twins fans could not drown out our chants of "Let's Go Yankees!"

We had good seats right behind the dugout

Target Field is a great place to see a game.  Like all the modern stadiums, they have a concourse with food stalls that goes entirely around the field.  They did a nice job adding a slightly higher wall so that you can still see the field when walking through the batter's eye area.

I was not very impressed with the food.  Unlike the Seattle ballpark which smells of garlic, we had high hopes for the food since it smelled so good as we were entering.  Unfortunately, the food was nothing special.  Your basic dogs, sausage, burgers and fries.  The only thing unusual were these meals on a stick served in a drink.

Here we are leaving the at the end of the game.  This picture was taken by the friendly people from Iowa sitting next to us. We had to ask them to remind us which state Iowa is.

We fly to Dallas tomorrow.  The heat killed us today. I can't imagine what Texas is going to be like.

Minneapolis

How's Minneapolis?

Besides hot, there are virtually no people here.  The roads are deserted.  The sidewalks are empty.

We did have an excellent meal at Brasa Rotisserie.  It's one of the hot restaurants in Minneapolis.

We also walked over the Arch Stone Bridge that crosses the Mississippi, has views of St Anthony Falls and the locks built to allow ships to pass the falls.

We finished the afternoon with a tour of the Sculpture Garden.  

The game is tonight.  Go Yankees!! 

Definitely not on my bucket list

Everything was going perfect.

No traffic getting to the airport.  Scored a fantastic parking spot. Flights were on time.  No turbulence. The only thing I could possibly complain about was that there was only one First Class seat available between New York and Chicago and I took one for the team and allowed Butch to have it.  It's a short flight so even that is not much to complain about.

Like I said, everything was perfect... until we got to our hotel.  We are staying at the W in Minneapolis.  We checked in and proceeded to get into the elevator and then it happened.  Bang, grind, bang, slam... stuck.  Not just stuck.  Stuck would have been good. I was begging for stuck. The elevator became possessed by evil spirits. We'd shoot up a few floors and then jerk down a few and then sit awhile and then shoot up and so on.  Butch and I were yelling into the little speaker.  They had to call the fire department to rescue us.  We were in the crazy, evil elevator for about 20 minutes. 20 minutes that felt like an eternity. When we finally got out, they rushed us into the manager's office. She asked what she could do for us and I said "How about a room on the first floor?"  She moved us to a room on the 2nd floor.  Needless to say, Butch and I are taking the stairs.  The W is also picking up the tab.  You think?

Here's the sign in front of Christine the elevator now:

The Plan

We are off to Minneapolis and Dallas this year.

The land of Mary Tyler Moore (I can't think of anything else famous about Minneapolis) and the land of the Big Hair.

We have a very tight schedule.  Next update from Minnesota.