Fenway Park, Home of the Red Sox- Game 2

Our day 2 started off with a behind the scenes tour of the field.  I had obviously looked forward to the entire DestiNations experience, but this was the part I was most excited for.  I’d been on 4 Fenway tours at this point (and had honestly seen something new every time) but this promised things I hadn’t been able to do before- walk on the warning track in the outfield and go inside (INSIDE!!) the Green Monster. It was so cool to be able to see the view that the people who run the scoreboard get to watch from and get to be up close and personal with the Monstah.  I fell even more in love (if that’s even possible), and the best part was that it was just the beginning of our day!

After the tour we made it up to one of the suite areas for the catered lunch.  It was your basic ballpark food, but paying for it at the field it’s basically gourmet food prices, so I wasn’t complaining!  The player we got to meet with was none other than… Steven Wright!  He was heading to the all-star game the following week, so it was a perfect guy to come eat with us.  He did a quick Q&A session (during which I asked a very good question, if I do say so myself) and then signed autographs, followed by a picture session.  About 40ish people did the DestiNations, so he was going through signing quickly and at first either didn’t notice what he was signing of mine or thought it was weird and didn’t comment (probably the second).  I had brought a picture of me in little league baseball throwing a knuckleball, and I thought it was perfect since that was his bread and butter!  I mentioned it when at first he didn’t say anything, and he then thought it was cool/I was less of a psycho having him sign a picture of me.  He even made a comment about it again when we were taking a picture with him about 30 minutes later.  After he left, a guy who wrote a book of poems about the Red Sox came and recited a couple of his poems from the book, which was really cute so obviously I bought a copy and had him sign it.
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And the free swag! Oh my goodness, I knew we were getting stuff, but I had no idea how much/how nice it would be!  The shirt was a nice soft cotton blend material (not your run of the mill mass produced t-shirt) and it’s still one of my favorite shirts today.  We got a David Ortiz commemorative hat, a David Ortiz bobblehead, a vial of Fenway dirt, a baseball and a case (if we wanted to have Steven Wright sign that), and a few other knick-knacks all put into a nice leather drawstring bag.  I was pleased, to say the least.

The Seats
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We technically had tickets for the Coca-Cola Pavilion again, but Joel and I wanted to move around and try a different park of the ballpark, so we sold them to a scalper before the game.  We know someone in Billings who has season tickets that he wasn’t using, so we bought them from him and sat in the middle of the first section up from the field down the first baseline.  The people around us were way more into the game than the people the night before, and it was a great game to sit and watch.  They were playing the Rays again and had it in hand from the start, so everyone was having a grand old time.  We scored in knowing someone to get these tickets- we got them at face value, but I am sure they’d have been worth much more on a secondary market!

The Eats

We ate at the luncheon thing at the stadium for lunch, so after the afternoon game we headed to the harbor to eat at one of my favorite Boston spots- The Barking Crab.  I mentioned this place in my very first post about Boston, but it’s worth mentioning again.  It is right on the harbor, so you get to pair great views with great food.  We got crab again (when in Boston…) and some other seafood for the girls to try out.  The only bummer about this visit there was that we sat on the outside patio and it rained, so we had to run inside so we didn’t get drenched.  When we did, the waitress was pretty rude, which was disappointing.  I’ve been there a couple other times and have gotten great service, so hopefully just a one time issue!

Other Deets

In between the luncheon and the game, we went to a brewery right by the stadium call Boston Beer Works.  They have a really wide selection of local brews, including a bunch of seasonal stuff.  I’m picky about my beer and prefer fruitier brews (with little bitterness), and they had a wide selection.  When I went there with my dad, I got a pint of their blueberry beer, which had actual blueberries floating around in it.  This time, I opted for their watermelon beer, which came with a giant wedge of watermelon as the garnish.  For the less girly beer drinkers, there are plenty of other options, including whatever Sam Adams has out at the time.  Doesn’t get much more Boston than that!