Sunday, May 09, 2010

My First Trip to Target Field

On Wednesday of last week I took a half-day of vacation and headed out to Target Field to watch the Twins beat the Tigers.  A colleague of mine has a pair of season tickets and was called out of town, so he gave them to me and another colleague of mine.  Thanks again Jeff!

The weather was cold and rainy so I was a little worried about how comfortable it would be.  It was also very windy.  We parked at the Fort Snelling Park & Ride and rode the Light Rail to the field.  This was also my first ride on the Light Rail.  It was okay, but VERY crowded.

To my surprise, the game was packed.  Announced as a sellout, it was hard to walk around the concourse due to all the people, and the lines of people waiting to buy food.  The gate we entered was on the other side of the field from where are seats were, so it took us a bit of time to make our way to our seats.  Before heading down to our seats, we grabbed a hot dog and drink.  Nothing fancy, just the plain hot dog and chips.  I didn't take the opportunity to look at all the different food options or sample any.  I did notice the walleye fingers and fries, which I might try next time (for $9.50).

Our seats were in section 104, beyond first base, about a third of the way down the outfield line.  They were great seats.  The best thing is that they were actually positioned facing the infield, so you don't have to sit with your head turned to the side to see the infield, like you had to at the Dome.  We seemed to be somewhat protected from the wind and I was pretty comfortable, although I had dressed for the occasion.


The scoreboard/video screen is amazing!  It's like a giant HD TV.


My favorite part of the stadium is the big neon sign out in center field with "Paul" and Minnie".  I'm glad they included a retro feel to the park, which is also evident by the banners along the fences outside that have giant reprints of Twins baseball cards on them.


My younger son went to last night's game against the Orioles and ran into Tony Oliva on the concourse.  He and his friend got their picture taken with him.  They were pretty excited.

My wife and other son have yet to visit the new field.  We'll do our best to get them there later this year.

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