I packed up the car with shorts, t-shirts, flip flops and Charlie for a 900 mile drive to Longboat Key. While I am here to accomplish some business regarding Mom’s home and car, there are Spring Training games and kayak excursions planned throughout. Stacey flies down next weekend after a week of work, and our first ever trip to JetBlue Park in Fort Myers is on the agenda then – GOBOSOX!!! ⚾️
Friday was the longer day, covering almost 600 miles to our hotel just outside of the Kings Bay Naval Station in Georgia. The last 200 miles included extremely heavy rain that had the windshield wipers in overdrive. That kind of driving is tiresome, and once we were in the room, we never left until the sun came up the next morning. We crossed into Florida early Saturday morning and enjoyed a pleasant drive without rain, arriving on LBK at halftime of the Villanova hoops game. Tim is here, and we watched Nova gut out an important win over Providence on the road to hopefully nudge them closer to the right side of the Madness bubble. We had a late lunch at Mar Vista, where the seafood chowder is simply superb. I’ve never seen as much boat traffic and boat customers as we did there yesterday. ‘Tis the season!
Our first game will be this afternoon in Bradenton. The Baltimore Orioles play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the oldest stadium in the Grapefruit League. Amazingly, this will be our first trip there. Tim and I are looking forward to it. Hope Springs Eternal! ⚾️🇺🇸⚾️
I think that maybe Spring Training baseball is my favorite. There is hope for any and all teams. Tim and I went to the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the month, Lecom Park in Bradenton. The neighborhood surrounding the park was admittedly a bit sketchy, but the stadium itself was spectacular! As I noted earlier, it is the oldest park in the Grapefruit League, built in 1923 for a whopping $2,000. Since then, it has undergone many extensive renovations, and only added lights in 2008. The Pirates lost the first night game played there to the Hated Yankees. Tim and I enjoyed a gorgeous day of sunshine and baseball at this lovely park. Definitely add Lecom to your list of Spring Training must-sees! We head to Ed Smith stadium Wednesday night to see those same Pirates visit the March home of the Baltimore Orioles. Play ball!
