Pickles & Dimes

Last weekend, we had perfect weather. In April. Totally unheard of in Minnesota, especially since two years ago at this time, we had a foot of snow. This year, the snow’s been gone for almost a month and it’s been in the 70s. So we took advantage and did two of our favorite outside activities.

We broke in our new camper and went camping with Jason’s folks and their dog, Tobie:

Shorty refused to believe he wasn’t human. Not sure why I gotta be on the ground, like a dog.

The weather was fantastic. We spent our days doing everything I love: making campfires, hiking, eating, napping and playing cards. Ahhhh. No better way to spend the day.

OK, this not ground, which is better, I guess. (Yep, the dog has his own camping chair because he is spoiled.)

Hey, how comes you guys get to be in there?!? I wanna be in there, too. (Oh, he was, plenty of times, napping on the bed while we played cards with Jason’s parents. And at night, he s-l-o-w-l-y manuevered himself inside my sleeping bag, which at first I objected to, until I realized he was basically a furry furnace and it was only 36 degrees out. Then my attitude was: welcome, heater puppy! We also had a portable heater that kept us nice and toasty; I slept only in a long-sleeved t-shirt and shorts. Nothing like roughin’ it!)

We also went to the first official game at Target Field. The game didn’t start until 3 p.m., but we got there at 11 a.m. That’s how we roll.

I may have had a slight obsession with Scott Erickson in the early 90s. Speaking of which, I wonder where all his baseball cards that I non-obsessively collected went to?

It was pretty awesome when the jets flew over and the fireworks went off. There were people on top of the downtown office buildings trying to catch a glimpse of the action, and two news choppers circling the area all day.

Best Buy has a booth in Section 219 where you can get your picture taken for free. The couple in front of us has prime Christmas Card Material, because right as the automatic timer counted down to zero and snapped their picture, two oblivious guys walked right into the frame. Ha.

After our annual viewing of Major League last night (seriously, some people claim Casablanca or The Princess Bride as their favorite movie, but mine is Major League), we are so excited for this:

This is the little countdown doohickey we got with our season tickets last year. I’m so excited for today that I brought it into work to sit on my desk (it currently says there’s only one hour and 54 minutes to Opening Day 2010). My boss has one at work too, and I couldn’t resist telling him that my counter is eight minutes faster than his for some reason, so I will get to experience Opening Day first. Ha!

We saw our first game at Target Field on Saturday. It was an exhibition game against the Cardinals. The weather was g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s. I overcompensated and wore my big bulky man’s sweatshirt (I even brought mittens), but it was 60 degrees out and sunny. I even got a little sunburnt.

For day games, our seats are going to always be in the sun, which felt great on Saturday (with wind gusts up to 25 mph), but I’m sure in July we’ll feel a bit differently. We’ll just have to be vigilant about sunscreen. No more burned kneecaps!)

You cannot imagine how good it feels to be outside for a baseball game. After the Dome, this feels like heaven. Food tastes better, the air smells fresher, we slept better afterwards – awesome.

Go Twins!

On Sunday, we went to an open house for the new Target Field. To say we were excited would be an understatement; all week long we were practically hyperventilating with anticipation.

As we walked the few blocks from our parking spot, the ballpark’s façade slowly loomed into view. Ta-da!

It was extremely chilly out (plus, downtown Minneapolis has this crazy wind tunnel effect), but as soon as we stepped foot inside the (outdoor) park, I felt something amazing. “Heat lamps!” I exclaimed gleefully to Jason. “They have heat lamps!” So while Jason took photos of everything, I zigzagged my way from heat lamp to heat lamp like a cold-blooded hummingbird.

The first thing we did was walk past dozens of other goofy-smiling people to find our seats, which are awesome, because they’re a) in left field, the same section we sat in the last two years at the Metrodome, b) right next to an awesome bar and an awesome restaurant, and c) very near to more heat lamps. Here’s the view of the skyline from our seats:

The field was still covered with plastic, the dugouts were still covered with plywood, and there was still scaffolding in places, but welcome to Target Field:

This will be the celebration sign that lights up whenever the Twins hit a home run. Minnie and Paul will “shake” hands. Hee!

Former Twin Kent Hrbek has a bar here named after him. Here’s the ceiling:

And Target Plaza features a couple of cool things: this giant Gold Glove and the silver “curtain” behind it that ripples in the wind. Note: We bought our hats at the gift store and I am so fond of mine I wear it around the house for no reason.

Only 11 more days until our first game at Target Field – yay!

This past weekend was the last Twins regular-game series at the Dome. Coming into the weekend, with three games left to play, the Twins were two games out of first place behind the Detroit Tigers. Exciting!

On Friday, we chatted with our season ticket buddies for the past two years, bemoaning the fact that the camera guy who blocked our view all year was finally gone. Bye, outfield-blocking, sunflower-spitting visual annoyance! Now we can take pictures:

These guys were so much fun we got seats directly behind them at Target Field next year.

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