The Mile High City

Greetings from Denver! I held off on posting until after a good night's sleep. I am well-awake and reinvigorated for my second day here in the Mile High City. However, I want to recap yesterday's events and offer up a preview for today as it is sure to be another whirlwind day.

I woke up yesterday morning at the ripe time of 4:30am to catch the Amtrak train north to Portland. I tried to catch a few winks of sleep on the train, but I was too wound up and excited to get any. After the train, I made my way out to the airport to fly out here to Denver. Again, I tried to get some sleep both in the terminal and on the train, but to no avail.

I got into Denver and met up with my friend at the airport. As we were driving out, I got my first look at the Denver landscape and the country of Central Colorado. I was surprised just how flat it is here. The plains but right up to the sheer Rocky Mountains that dominate the western vistas outside of Denver. There are no foothills here as in Oregon. In a way, it makes the ever visible Rocky Mountains clearer and more visible, but, in another, the flatness from here east gives you a sense of immensity and starkness.

After leaving the airport, we drove down to Coors Field in Downtown Denver. It was still a while before the game started, so we went across the street to a brewery/restaurant and got something to eat. What really surprised me about this restaurant was just how friendly and cordial everybody was. All of the waitresses and servers, patrons and customers all were very interested in baseball road trips and what I was doing here in Colorado.

That experience continued on into Coors Field. Before the game, while we were waiting to go in for batting practice, I got into a few nice conversations with some of the ticket takers about baseball road trips. After I had gone inside, I was amazed at how nice the in-stadium personnel, from the beer servers to the lady in the team store, were to a clear tourist. It makes me wonder if they don't get a lot of people on baseball road trips coming through the stadium.

I was pretty impressed with Coors Field overall. It reminded of a blend between AT&T Park in San Francisco and Safeco Field in Seattle. While the Rockies certainly don't have a rich tradition in MLB, you really got the sense that Coors Field was Colorado's ballpark. The blue line of seats in the upper deck represent exactly a mile above sea level, the attractive Colorado-themed mural on the main concourse, and the ever present rockpile in dead center. I was pleased with the effort that was put in to distinguish where you were and the homage to some semblance of the surrounding area.

While watching batting practice, I noticed the most distinctive feature of Coors Field, the exorbitant amount of home runs. Players were just crushing them left and right out of the park. The thin air of being up a mile-high lessens the wind resistance upon the ball in flight making it travel farther. I didn't catch any balls during b.p., but I stood with my mouth agape at the hitting display provided.

Interestingly enough, that hitting prowess didn't carry over into the game. Not one home run was hit during my first game here at Coors Field. Talk about extraordinary.

The San Diego Padres used two big innings to jump over Colorado Rockies starter Jeremy Guthrie in a 7-1 romp.

Today's activities should be more community based. Here in a few minutes, my cousin is picking me up to spend the day with her. I haven't seen her in a really long time, so I'm just excited to catch up and see her and her family. We'll probably go around Denver and see some of the sites before hitting up tonight's game at around 6:30pm.

I'm having a great time so far and I am really excited for today!

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)