We had a nice easy start to the day today. It was in the 70s all day here at the coast but in Lakeland where the Tigers play, it got into the mid-80s. Not as hot as Monday and there was a little breeze which made it a very pleasant day for a ball game.
It's a bit of a drive to get to Lakeland from Cape Canaveral but the route ends up going down I4 just south of Disney and you pass the Power Pole Mickey where World Drive merges into I4.
Dog-n-Suds report #2 from Tigertown: huge disappointment. Average dog ($5), no souvenir beer glass so had to get the souvenir soda cup. The domestic beer I got was a Coors Light which is not my first choice in domestics but Yuengling and Miller Lite were among the other choices. Total was $18.25 and pretty forgettable. Scoring at home I give the dog a 4.0, the beer a 6 for a 5.0 average then subtract 1.0 for having to buy a soda to get a souvenir cup. That's an overall 4.0 and equals an "awful" rating.
The game was actually quite outstanding to watch. It moved briskly, had some starters on both sides, and ended in a 4-4 tie between the the Red Sox (in the red shirts) and the Tigers (in the black shirts).
No, no, wait. That's not where my seats were. I ordered tickets for this game in the first hour of the first day that individual game tickets could be purchased. Nope - my seats were way out here:
As it turned out, not bad seats at all. 8th row down left field line and we saw a lot of action with hits into the corner (several doubles) and a home run that just made it into the fan space. For the earlier Braves game we had been in 13th row behind home plate. But the game between the Tigers and last year's World Series champs the Sox was technically a sell-out. A lot of Sox fans made the trip from Fort Meyers for this game. And the Tigers have a faithful following in Lakeland in this their 83rd year of spring training in that town.
We did, however, have a partially blocked view of the scoreboard.
All in all it was a good day. Drives both ways weren't too bad.
For dinner we followed a recommendation from our poster Jets70 for an italian place that was full when we got there (that's a good sign) and the food was delicious and plentiful. That was Papa Vito's in Cocoa Beach on Hwy A1A.
Thanks for the rec, Steve.
Tomorrow it's the Mets and Nationals down in Port St. Lucie (another 90 minutes each way). Should be sunny and low 80s so hopefully another great fan day. And the long-awaited rocket launch is still scheduled for just before 7pm. I think I'll move down to the ship channel with my folding chair for that one. It's been really beautiful weather wise all this week so far too.
We leave for home on Saturday.
Bama Ed