Eh?

Greetings from north of the border!

After a very long day of travel, I am now resting comfortably in the beautiful city of Vancouver. Tonight, I went to Nat Bailey Stadium to see the Em's play the Canadians.

First off, Vancouver is a very, very lovely city. It is by far my favorite city I have been to. While I have not gone into downtown, the area surrounding the stadium is very residential and is criss-crossed with "bike boulevards" (streets that parallel a main arterial that are designed specifically for bikes). It made for traveling around very easy.

There has been a little culture shock in a way. Everything is in kilometers and Celsius. American money isn't always accepted. I don't think I'll get used to it.

As for the ballpark itself, Nat Bailey Stadium is really nice. It is the second best ballpark in the Northwest League behind Civic. It abuts a tree-covered hill on the outskirts of Queen Elizabeth Park. It is bordered by the Quebec Ave. bike boulevard, which means that a lot of people ride their bikes to the game.

The stadium is pretty small, especially considering that Vancouver had Triple-A baseball at one time recently. The seating section is split into box seats and general admission above those. There is a roof that covers the majority of the seating in GA. It almost reminded of a larger version of Burlington Athletic Park. It just kind of had that same type of intimacy and atmosphere.

I do have some complaints. Concessions were a little too expensive for my taste, and they didn't carry shot glasses! I did get a key chain.

Eugene got a 4-5 night from Jason Hagerty and relied on a solid bullpen to squeak out a 6-5 victory over the Canadians.

All right, here's the plan for tomorrow. I'm going to get up early and ride into downtown and check out things down there, especially the Olympic countdown clock. I will then ride into Stanley Park and ride the seawall. If the weather is nice, I might soak my feet in some of the beaches along there. Then the fun starts. I have to catch two buses down to the ferry terminal and hop on the ferry to Swartz Bay then catch another bus into Victoria. If that all works out, I would like to take a tour of the British Columbia parliament buildings in Victoria. After that, I'll make my way to Royal Athletic Park and see the Calgary Vipers play the Victoria Seals.

I will try and update before the game from my adventures here in Vancouver. I will most certainly update after the game in Victoria.

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)