Boston, Day 1

Today started at 6am with a five hour drive into Boston, which unfortunately was completely in the rain. The traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and Mike's friend from Sharks Ice, Dave, warned us it would be. We got in at about noon, got into our AWESOME room at the Hyatt and got situated for about an hour.

After that we ventured out and ate lunch at a place near our hotel, then walked around some more and found a local bar where we could watch more of the Red Sox game (there was a double header yesterday, we went to the night game). At the bar we witnessed some strange goings on. There was this random creeper guy at the bar, and he left while were there, only to come back and go around a corner to get out stacks of cash from his pockets! The bartender then came over, put the cash into this weird gray satchel and gave the guy a beer and some other bills. It looked like some sort of transaction. Very strange. Anyway after the bar we went back up to the room to get ready for our game.

We took the T to Fenway and followed the crowds. Unfortunately we were following the crowds the wrong way because they were leaving Fenway after the first game, whoops. So we turned around and eventually found the Ball Park and the iconic facade at Yawkey Way. We browsed the shops and waited for Mike's friend Dave (who hooked us up with the tickets). We finally met up with Dave and his friends and Dave introduced us to his Red Sox contact. She walked out and let us try on our World Series ring, SOOOO COOL.

We walked around Fenway's exterior with Dave and his friends and saw all the statues, then eventually got let in at a back gate right where all the food was. We were able to grab a table and get some food (and beer for Mike). Eventually we made our way to our awesome seats, about 30 rows up from Home Plate. But man, those seats were TINY. They were originally built for smaller people. Man it was somewhat uncomfortable to be in those seats! We finally figured out some comfortable positions, and proceeded to watch the Red Sox lose.

Notable things about the game: The Red Sox had a triple play, which rarely ever happens (last time was 1994 for the Red Sox) and the Rays had a double steal which was interesting/sad to see. The Sox also hit two home runs and a Rays player hit a home run over the Green Monster.

After the game Dave drove us around Boston, in a bunch of circles because of all the one-way streets. Showed us some of the sites: the rich old money of Beacon Hill, Boston Common, the Public Park, the state house, the U.S.S. Constitution, the bar/restaurant area, the downtown and more. It was fun, but it was late and SUCH a long day at that point. When we finally got up to our hotel room it was midnight and we hit the hay!