Weekend trip to Florida

Well, plan and simple, we're just kind of glad to be out of Florida. The weather was either way too hot to support any life forms or an unwelcoming blend of thunder and lightning. And then the baseball games down there were...well...this quotation of Dan's kind of sums it all up for you. "I don't think I could ever become a Devil Rays fan, because I like baseball too much."

It was Don Zimmer "Turn Back the Clock" Night in Tampa Bay, which was a fun event actually. But that's exactly what it was, an event, not a baseball game. We walked into Tropicana Field, which looks strangely like a circus tent, and were greeted by girls in poodle skirts on roller skates dancing to the tunes of Elvis Presley. But even without the 1950's, we were astounded to find that there was an incredible amount of things to do at the game. Yes, there was the Batting Cage, the Speed Pitch, and the Personalized Bat Center. All of those are normal stadium hot spots. But in addition to all of those, Tropicana Field also sported their very own Feel of the Game, replica baseball field section, a Make Your Own Baseball Card station, a Baseball Trivia game show, the Ted Williams Museum, and the Rey Cuesta Cigar Bar in the Upper Deck. You may be wondering why there is so much to do in the stadium, and the only logical reason is that just watching the Devil Rays isn't entertainment enough. Go figure.



Then we drove down to Miami where we found that you can do a lot of things at Dolphin Stadium as well. You can get a tan, sweat off a couple pounds in the sauna and watch a game all at the same time. Everyone wears a circle of sweat around the lower back area like it is a fashion statement there. And by everyone I mean the under 10,000 at the baseball game.

We left a little early to drive the 350 miles up the coast to Jacksonville where were so kindly greeted by the Best Western Inn at 10 pm.