Well, sort of. This time, I was trying to knock off a couple more things that I want to do. I’ve always wanted to see a baseball game at Chavez Ravine (Dodger Stadium) and take the Pacific Coast Starlight from Seattle to LA.
My original plan was to take the Pacific Coast Starlight from Seattle to LA on Juneteenth, watch a Dodger game and then fly back. The problem with that plan is that the train leaves in the morning, and arrives the next night (Saturday) after the game starts. This means that I’d have to see the Dodgers on Sunday, leaving no time to fly back until Monday (which would cost me a vacation day.
So, I flipped the order, I flew down to LA on Thursday night (the airlines are more flexible than the trains). I saw a game on Friday night, and caught the train back to Seattle on Saturday morning.
The game was great. Roki Sasaki was pitching and struck out six is the first 4 2/3 innings, The Dodgers jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and unfortunately lost that lead at 3-3, causing Roki to be pulled for a reliever. The bull pen gave up 2 more runs, causing the Dodgers to enter the bottom of the ninth down 5-3. The first batter grounded out. Then, Mookie Betts was coming up with Max Muncy on deck. So, I’m thinking Mookie gets on base, and Max hits a 2-run homer and we’re tied up. It didn’t work out that way. Mookie homered to left field. Max draws a walk, replaced by pinch runner Alex Call. Another batter fouled out. Then, the two 0-fer batters, Ryan Ward and Dalton Rushing. Ward draws a walk. So now there’s runners at first and second with two out and Rushing coming to the plate. Rushing crushes a ball to right field that bounces in front of the right fielder. Call comes home, tying the game. The throw from the right fielder was late but also missed by the catcher allowing Ward to score the walk-off run.
Before the game, I took a tour of Dodger Stadium. This was well worth it. From the trophy cases to the long storied history of the Dodgers, from 1890 to today, there was a lot of content and opportunities for photos. During part the tour, the guide pointed out a “clearance store,” where you can pick up older Dodger shirts hats and jackets for 50% off the original price. I bought two shirts, a hoodie and a 2024 World Championship hat.
Taking an Uber to the Stadium for the tour was easy. The real crowds didn’t show up until game time. But, getting an Uber out of there was chaotic. I had enough cell service to call an Uber, But the Uber lot was not in a good location for cell service. While the Uber driver could send me messages, my messages to him failed. He was still 22 minutes out, and having been at the stadium for 6.5 hours, using my phone as a camera, and watching some World Cup action between the tour and the game, left me with a depleted battery. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get the lane number required to get into the Uber area, I needed a new plan. I heard a stadium worker say that there were plenty of cabs. I paid a cab driver cash to take me back to the hotel. He gave me power cord to charge my phone, but still I couldn’t get enough signal to cancel the Uber. When I got to my hotel, the Uber was still 15 minutes out, and I could cancel it from the hotel’s wifi.
The next day, I decided to walk to the train station. When I travel by train, I usually pack a backpack, so I popped it on my back and walked to mile and a half to the Amtrak Station. This was a great decision, because the hotel valets sent me a little out of the way for a safer route, which was also very scenic.
I’ll discuss the train ride in a future post.