Year 2, Day 3: 9/14/12 - "Nobody Wants To Be Lonely"

"There you are
In a darkened room
And you're all alone
Looking out the window
Your heart is cold and lost the will to love
Like a broken arrow...

Nobody wants to be lonely
Nobody wants to cry..."

-"Nobody Wants To Be Lonely" by Ricky Martin

Go Marlins!  I decided that my final adventure for my birthday week would be a trip to the Marlins' ball park.  I did find the park itself to be very nice.  It is domed, so it was very comfortable (and I wasn't worried about any threats of rain). But I also felt that it was a little on the small side.  Maybe it was just me, though.  Here is what I liked about the park:

• You could get in easily and walk right up to the area where your seats were.
• Most of the seats keep you right near the action.
• Lots of restrooms near each exit.
• Lots of different food choices.

Outside of the stadium

These giant letters were out there - I never did find out if they spelled something.

Bobble head display

I took a picture of the Cubs section - there's Starlin Castro!

Just a pic of the players warming up.

A view from my seat.

Here is what I didn't like:

• Food service was terrible!  I stood in line for nearly 10 minutes because someone had made a mistake with the previous order (the people or the staff member, who knows! and the rest of us had to sit there and wait until a manager finally came out to help and asked the people to step to the side so that others could be helped.  I ordered a Cuban dish and for $10, it was the worst meal I've ever had at a ball park.  Small portions, hastily thrown together, and my chicken was cold. :-(
• No real security: I'm used to having my bag checked when I go to sporting events.  I walked up to the gates at the Marlins' park and they only scanned my ticket and let me in. No one asked to check my bag.  No one handed me a program.  It was a little off-putting.
• Only one big screen visible from my seat and it was almost too far to be very useful to me.  Luckily I could see most of the action on the field easily. 
• Going to the game by myself.  I felt as if there were people just staring at me, wondering why I was there by myself.  

I also took the Metrorail, so I had two experiences in one.  I definitely thought the train was disgusting and there were some shady characters riding it later at night.  Even worse, there were a large number of homeless people just camping out at the final station point and it made me feel a little unsafe as I got back to my car.  But at least I saved money and gas by not driving to the stadium.