The start of road trip

I would leave work a little earlier than usual. I got to the Philly airport, and was able to check in on time. Then I would have to deal with a delay, since the plane was late coming in. It was not too long. Also, an announcement was made that anyone willing to give up their seats would be given a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the continental US. Very tempting, but I had to pass, since I was going to a Tigers game that same night.

I got on board, and the plane took off. When approaching Detroit, there was a thunderstorm, and it looked like we would be diverted to Toledo. But the storm did clear out, and we were able to land in Detroit. I was feeling motion sickness, so any longer, and I would probably puked.

After claiming my backpack, I had to go to the bus stop, and wait there for a bit. With the late takeoff and arrival, I would be cutting it very close to game time. I know, it's Detroit, and I should have rented a car or at least, took a taxi to downtown. But I was so cheap, and on a tight budget, that I was willing to wait in the hot sun.

The bus came, and I hopped on. It would take me 90 minutes to get to downtown, taking me through some rundown areas. I did sleep part of the way, so it did not feel too long. When finally in downtown, it hit traffic, and only moved inches at a time. I had to get off, and called the hotel to get directions to their location. Naturally, I got confused, seeing that I've never been there before and I didn't have a map. I kept calling the hotel for exact directions, getting lost and having to see Tiger fans going to the game.

I did find the Milner Hotel and checked in. It took a little while, because my online reservation apparently did not go through. Plus the charges seemed a bit more than what I was told. I did not feel like disputing them now, but would later. I was able to get a room, and dropped my things off, taking along only a daypack and a few other things.

I walked to Comerica Park, which was only a block away. I had to pick up my ticket at one of the windows, then went to one of the gates. The first and obvious thing that I would notice, is tiger statues everywhere. At the one entrance, there are 2 tigers that look down, as people enter the ballpark. When trying to get a picture, I had to deal with some crazy guy (probably homeless), wanting to be in the picture. I did not take it too kindly, and pretended that I did take a pic of him.

I entered the ballpark, and went towards my section. Along the way, there are displays of a different decade in various parts of the concourse. I got to my section, and saw that the game was in the 2nd inning, with the Tigers leading 2-0. More on the game later.

I decided that I would go to next night's game, since I wanted to be at the ballpark from start to finish. So I had to buy a ticket at one of the windows, but I had to exit the ballpark to do so. One of the ushers "unscanned" my ticket, which allowed me to reenter the ballpark. I got the ticket for the same area, and went back in through a different gate. This gate had a huge tiger sculpture in front of it. When I got inside, there was the statue of Ernie Harwell, long time announcer of the Tigers.

There was the Big Cat Court, and thought about getting food, but decided not to. I would take a better look at it, along with other parts of the ballpark, on Saturday. Then went back to my seat. There was the huge scoreboard, with 2 more tiger statues on top of it. And the General Motors fountains, which set off whenever the Tigers score, and when the game ends. There are 2 vehicles on top of it.

As for the game itself, it was an interleague game between the Detroit Tigers and the Colorado Rockies. The Tigers scored 2 runs in the 1st inning, to go up 2-0, which I missed. Eddie Bonine was the starter for the Tigers, and did not allow a hit until the 5th inning, when Garrett Atkins hit a pop single to right-center field, which Magglio Ordonez made a diving catch attempt, but just short. I was hoping that I would be seeing a no-hitter, but it was not to be.

The tiger roar can be heard whenever the Tigers scored, and I would hear it first, when the team scored to make it 3-0. They would go up 5-0, before the Rockies would score in the top of the 7th inning, avoiding a shutout. The Tigers scored 2 more, and would win the game 7-1. No home runs in the game. After the game, there was a fireworks display, which happens at almost every Friday home game. This was the great way to open up my road trip.

After the fireworks, I went back to the hotel. And I tried to figure out the charges, but no luck. The staff was helpful, and tried to give me some information on some attractions, like Dearborn, and how to get there by bus. They didn't seem to know at all, so they had to look it up on their computers. After a while, I just went back to my room and relaxed.

What started out a little rough, it ended up being a good day overall, with more to come.