San Francisco Day Five: Entertainment Day!

by CajunKate

So on Day Five of City by the Bay Most Excellent Vacay Ever Sponsored by San Francisco Best Friend/Tour Guide Seth (yeah, that’s getting really old now) was a slow day for us. Maybe it was all of the previous days’ busy schedules and all the walking, but Seth and I were definitely on a slower pace by Sunday.

The day was bright and sunny and the “hottest” day of my trip. It was the perfect day to enjoy a classic summer activity, which worked out really well since we had tickets to enjoy a baseball game at AT&T Park. The Giants were taking on the Dodgers. This made the idea of attending the game that much more fun since this is a big rivalry. Now I’m not a fan of either the Giants or the Dodgers, and I really don’t watch a lot of baseball. Basically, I watch the World Series. Sometimes I’ll try to watch the Cubs, my favorite team, on TV, but I usually end up changing the channel. (The only sport which holds my attention less when broadcast on TV is golf. I f**king hate televised golf with a passion. This may have something to do with the fact that I don’t play golf and have no interest in playing golf. Here is what I know about golf…Tiger Woods. He plays it.)

Anyway, I do luuuurrrvvve to watch baseball in person, so I was very happy to be there despite not caring which team won. Also, I’ve heard that AT&T is considered one of the best parks in the nation, and I was excited to check it out.

It is a fantastic stadium. It reminds me a bit of Minute Maid in Houston, but I liked AT&T better because it is open air. Also, I had been told there are no bad seats at AT&T, and I think that may be absolutely true. We had tickets on the left field side in the Arcade. Here’s what we saw:

Outside of the stadium it dawned on us that it was going to be really sunny and so when I heard a lady hawking free sunscreen samples, Seth grabbed some from her. We got free hats upon entrance. (Mine turned into a gift for Alex once I got home...cuz I’m cheap like that.) On the way to our seats, we grabbed beers and an order of the garlic fries. I had been told by BDaigle not to miss these, and Erica from the BBQ the day before told me the same thing. When a loved one and then a local tell you something like that, you listen. They were freaking delicious, too. I offered some to Seth, but he said he’d have some later. The only thing is that when later came I had eaten them all. Oops!

Once we were in our seats, I, um…I began to sweat. Yes, I actually broke into a sweat in SF for the very first time. There was a sea breeze off of the bay, so it wasn’t too bad for me, having just come from Africa and all, but poor Seth was sweating buckshot, and the sun was blazing down on us. I knew it was bad when Seth put on the free hat. He looked at me and said, “When’s the last time you saw me wear a hat?” My reply: “Uh, that would be NEVER!” (I donned mine as well. This would explain why, when I gave it to Alex and he went to put it on, he was all, “Hey! Somebody wore this already!” Whoops!) Seth and I both ended up using the sunscreen, but poor Seth still left the stadium wearing a stunning shade of pink on his arms. Also, there was a big brouhaha among our neighbors and some new arrivers about the fourth inning over seats and mis-marked rows. That was kind of interesting. Also, interesting were the five really drunk guys trying to heckle Manny Ramirez. This might have worked if they hadn’t been sitting a mile up from him in the third level. If Manny heard anything they were screaming (in well-timed unison, I might add) then he spent some of his millions on bionic ears. But I give them an A for effort.

At the top of the seventh, I couldn’t bear to see Seth sweating and burning anymore, so I suggested we go walk around, take some pictures, then beat the crowd out of the stadium. This worked out really well.

When we left, the Dodgers had made a comeback with a grand slam homerun, but later I found out the Giants ended up winning. So, yeah, yay Giants…I guess.

After the game we walked over to the Metreon and bought tickets for The Dark Knight, which Seth had so willingly put off seeing so we could see it together. Isn’t he sweet? My review of the movie: Good. Definitely worth the price of a matinee ticket.

After the movie, we walked around the SoMa area (south of Market Street) and took some pics at City Hall.

Final stop of the day was dinner in Seth’s old neighborhood at Sushi Bistro for some of the most delicious sushi I’ve ever had. We ordered the lettuce wraps as an appetizer. They’re named for the seasons, which I thought was neat. I had the summer which was made with salmon. I think Seth had the winter which was made with barbequed eel. Both were fantastic. We ordered a bunch of rolls, too. My favorite was the Sexy Scallop. I’ve never had scallops as sushi before, and they were soooooooooooo fresh and sweet and absolutely yummy.

Then we headed home, but there was forty minute wait for the bus, so we decided to walk the half-mile or so to Seth’s place. This doesn’t sound so bad, but it was all UPHILL. Quite a walk for a girl from the flatlands. Good thing I do my treadmill workouts on a 6.5 incline.

When we got to home, I realized I had broken Seth. The poor boy was sunburned and had developed two huge blisters, one on each of his feet…on the instep! OUCH! So while we watched the encore presentation of Oprah, we got drunk. Cuz nothing soothes tired muscles, sunburn, blisters, and mind fog better than lots and lots of alcohol. I think this prescription is in all the medical literature. If not, it should be.

Last recap will be a combo of Days 6 and 7. It’ll be coming later today or tomorrow. After I finish watching the part of the Olympics where the Russian women’s volleyball coach screams at his players until they cry, and also once I finish thanking the Baby Jesus that I am not one of those players. Remember, kids, anything screamed in Russian sounds really, really mean and scary.