Our weekend getaway to Boston

What a way to kick off my Red Sox season this year by spending the weekend in Boston to see three out of four games of the series against the Baltimore Orioles. We headed out of Charlestown, NH by 9:30am on Friday morning and arrived in Boston just before noon. Upon checking into our hotel we learned there was another night available and extended our trip to Sunday. We decided to head over to Ace Tickets to see if they had any games for Sunday available since we would be here anyways, and luckily enough they had some great (and very affordable!) seats behind the Visitors dugout... about 6 rows back.
When I go to Boston I like to hang out by where the players come in. In times past the players would wave to the crowd or sign various items people brought with them. It's a little disappointing to be ignored these days, but with times like they are and big card contracts dictating when and how certain players can give autographs I can understand. I feel very lucky to have been a fan down at the Fen in better times and have my fair share of photographs taken with players and to get their signatures. Of course it is still a thrilling anticipation when you see a shiny blacked out vehicle pull down onto Van Ness Street.
The weather couldn't have been better for that Friday night game... our seats were way high into the right field grandstands but our view of the field was good and my wife and I were both excited to see the Sox play for the first time this season.
It was a great game as the Sox made their come back against the Orioles! It was a good feeling walking out of there that we didn't have to fight traffic, and we could just relax and walk over to our hotel. From our room we had a birds eye view of the players as they left the garage at Fenway. Happy fans littered the street and even though we were tired, we were excited for Saturday nights game!
Saturday morning we woke up, and headed out to the streets of Boston to look around before it was time for the players to come in. As usual they headed right into the park and left the fans wanting more. We decided we'd take in some of the sites around Fenway. Our first stop was Game On for a few drinks. I ordered some Buffalo Chicken strips and while they were fantastic, the service was not. If you like good food and don't care about services, this is the place for you. After we got out of there we headed to Boston Beerworks. Not really a fan of the microbrew, but thought we'd check it out anyways. Didn't stay there long and we were off again and decided to stop in at Who's On First? since you can enter the park with your ticket without having to stand in those long lines at the gate.
As every other time I've been to Fenway, it's a mad dash down to the dugouts to watch the Sox at batting practice. The rain had been threatening so batting practice was inside, not out. Not to be deterred, I still went down to the dugout to snag some pics for the website. That's when my wife pointed out Heidi Watney to me. Oh yeah! I yelled to her and asked if I could have my picture taken with her. She agreed, but as I tried to get down to her security stopped me. I was so disappointed, and then Ms. Watney came thru the stands to me, and my wife snapped the pic I now use as my default on myspace. It was so awesome... definately the highlight of the trip! Nothing was going to top that so we went back to Who's On First? to grab another beer or two and wait for game time. Our seats were phenomenal. Definately worth every penny we paid. As we made our way down our aisle towards the front row, we got some direction and finally sat down. The man who helped us turned out to be our server. He handed us menu's and told us if we needed anything he would help us. That's just crazy to me! If that wasn't enough, the home plate Umpire for the night, Doug Eddings, tossed me the ball Varitek and Beckett had been using for warmup. Unfortunately it glanced off my fingers and fell in the dirt in front of me. He looked at me and mouthed "what happened?" and walked over and tossed it again. That was only the beginning.
Everytime a batter came up and was on deck, guess where they stood? Right in front of us.. we were so close to Ellsbury, Pedroia, Varitek, Papi, Lowell, Youk... you name them, we shared their air. I got some great shots for the website and to immortalize the best damn seats I've ever sat in. During the fourth inning I got a text from my boss telling me to uncross my arms, I looked mad. We had been on tv! Later we would find out we were on about 6 times that night.
Of course, those remarkable players pulled out another win making it the greatest night I'd ever spent at the Fen. We were pumped up after the game, and more than a little sad to have to give up those seats. We walked back to our room and caught a few hours of sleep.
It seemed like the weekend had flown by when Sunday arrived. One last game and we'd have to head home. We had to walk over to Ace Tickets to get our tix for the game. The sun was shinging brightly and there was no threat of rain. Luckily it was an early game and we wouldn't have to wander around long.
Sitting on the left field side was definately different. While the view was great it seemed the general attitude on that side was not. We were 6 rows from the field behind the visitors dugout so we had a great view of the Sox dugout for a change. Even though the sun was bright in the sky, the wind was cold and we froze worse than the night before. About the seventh inning we decided we were too cold, more than a little tired, and ready to head home. It was a relief to beat the traffic out of the city with the Sox game, Celtics, Bruins, and the Boston Marathon all keeping the city buzzing with people. By the time our friends were leaving Boston, we were 10 miles from home. It was a fantastic weekend all around and something I would love to repeat many, many more times.