COORS FIELD in Denver, Colorado

So we finally made it to our first MLB ballpark of our vacation: COORS FIELD, home of the Colorado Rockies.
We arrived at 3:30pm, approx 2 hours before the gates opened (slightly early, but arriving before rush hour started) and found a parking place right outside the gates which was empty. We soon found out why! If you go to a game here, don't arrive before 1.5 hours before the game. Signs warned that all cars still in the up close parking lots would be towed prior to the scheduled "opening of the lot" at 1.5 hours before gates open. Luckily Julie saw the sign and we moved to a "legal" spot. We decided to spend the time browsing the Rockies Gift Shop till the gates actually opened, but found out that they temporarily close the gift shop before the game. (You'd think they'd want visitors before the game) So we made the best of the situation and went down the street to The Breckenridge restaurant and ate dinner there, rather than pay exuberant prices at the ballpark. It was well worth it. Our bison burgers were delicious and reasonably priced.


Bellies full, we finally got inside the park to watch batting practice.I tell you, the thin air sure does let the balls fly. There was an exhibition homerun derby contest by some pro softball players and they hit balls that would make any MLB player proud. Fun to watch.


Of course, part of the reason to get to the ballpark early is to attempt to get an autograph. We were lucky, and got 3 Los Angeles Dodgers to sign for us. They were Reed Johnson, Jamie Carroll (shown at left) and Casey Blake.







The ballpark itself was beautiful, with landscaped bullpens, and excellent views of the Rocky Mountains.
One of the interesting features of the ballpark is the row of purple seats found circling the ballpark in the upper deck. If you are familiar with the city of Denver being the mile high city, then it makes sense that those seats sit exactly 5,280 ft above sea level. I wanted a picture of myself in those "mile high seats", but wasn't expecting to have to fight the seat nazis (which are worse than at Safeco Field) for the right to go up and take a picture in a cheaper location. Luckily, getting a picture of Dinger, the Colorado Rockies mascot was alot easier.