Away Days

This week we travel to another ballpark, as in baseball, as we head west to Chavez Ravine in the city of Angels, L.A. It was a couple of days after my enslavement to the Elster, and me, Jamon and the Boy Dazzler decided, before we left Blighty, that it would be nice to break up our week in Vegas with a trip to see the Dodgers. The problem was the night before. We decided to go down to watch the pirate ship fight at Treasure island. We got there early, and decided to sample a beer or two before the show started. I asked for a round of Puckers, a schnapps like shot, and the bartender, a happy little Cambodian ambushed us. "You like shots, try these," he said. "They called Alaskan oil spill." The first one slid down nicely, but by the third, or possibly fourth, we were all over the place. It sent your vision funny, and by the time we got back to the pirate ship, it had already sunk to the depths, closely followed by our common sense. "I saw a Russian vodka bar last night," I piped up," shall we check it out?" So of we went to the Mandalay Bay. Outside was a statue of Lenin with his head cut off, and inside the bar was made out of ice(we tried all night to get Jamon to lick it, but he wouldn't). We sampled several varieties, got invited on a bucks party to a strip joint, got uninvited for being to lairy and generally caused mayhem into the small hours, when we decided to get something to eat, and retire for our seven a.m. flight. Myself and the Boy manged to fallout with Jamon, he called us idiots and stormed off to another bar, as me and Dazzler had another couple of night caps. "What's this got to do with the Dodgers" I hear you ask. Well I am just trying to paint a picture of the state we were in as we made our way for an early morning flight. We were rough. Dazzler was making noises akin to the Amazon rain forest, and Jamon was spookily silent. We stumbled around Hollywood before heading to the stadium, which was very impressive, if not for the size of its car park, which even had it's own traffic lights. The place is built on the side of a hill, and the climb up the stairs to get our tickets, nearly finished off the Boy. When we stepped through the turn stiles, the ground opened up below, and for a 1960's construction, it is very impressive, with its odd hexagonal shaped scoreboard, and wavy roof over one of the stands. We took our seats, and were hugely amused when Hanson, the teen sensations of the late 1990's came out to do the national anthem. It was red hot this particular, day and as we sat sweating out the gallons of vodka we swilled the night before, we slowly came round. It was also fan appreciation day, and they gave out prizes according to seat numbers. Jamon almost won a weekend in Vegas. Anyway, the Arizona Diamondbacks kicked the Dodgers ass that day, we bailed just after the seventh inning stretch, to head to Santa Monica, before the full capacity crowd descended on the ginormous car park, because Los Angeles is one massive sprawl, and everybody was driving. It is hard to berate the place for not being downtown, as I am not sure if L.A. actually has anywhere that could be considered the centre. A great day out? It would have been but for the hangover. Me and Jamon managed a beer each, and that was about that.

Statistics

• Capacity-56,00
  
• Concessions-Famous for its Dodger Dogs, though Jamon wasn't impressed because I got his smothered in Sauerkraut. Strangely for the USA, there was nobody to bring beer to your seat! I had to get off my arse and get my own! A definate minus point there. It recently opened an all you can eat stand in the right field pavilion. It also has the smallest subway stand I have ever seen (see below).
  
• Did You Know?-The top of a near by hill was removed to provide dirt to level out the enormous car park.
  
• Visited By-Euro Bri, Jamon and the Boy Dazzler.
  
• Rating-Field of Dreams-Although if we had been in finer fettle, a possible Mount Olympus. It is in a great setting, the view is spectacular, and the crowd was great fun, bouncing beach balls and hecklers. Like I say, there isn't much around the ballpark, but LA is a big car town, and nothing seems to be particularly close. Highly recommended.