A Baseball Game!!
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Up this morning about 6, and down for breakfast about 7 am. Nice big breakfast room, and while there were lots of choices, no bacon for Robert, which was a bummer! However, he made do with a bagel, and I had a waffle – unfortunately, no idea if there was any Maple whatsoever in the syrup, but possibly I am more than a little picky when it comes to syrup…
As we were leaving for the baseball game at 11, Twins vs. Cincinnati Reds, we decided to just hang out here at the hotel for the morning, as we did not want to have to 1) find the car, 2) find our way back into parking, considering that both the Vikings and the Twins were playing at the same time today!
So … out at 11 for the 10 minute walk via the Skyway directly from our hotel (2nd floor) right into the ball park! It was amazing! The Skyway is lovely and air conditioned (and I’m assuming heated in the winter!) and entirely enclosed. It passes Target Center, where the Minnesota Timberwolves play basketball, as well as a concert venue, and connects a huge parking facility as well as other places in the area. It’s truly an amazing concept! I know they have something similar in downtown Toronto, because of the weather, but this is really, truly efficient and well laid out!
 |
| On the Skyway to Target Field! |
 |
| Looking toward Target field |
 |
| Target Field from the Skyway! |
 |
| Lots of families and things to do when entering! |
Target Field is a truly lovely ballpark! It was opened in 2010 and is really fabulous! I loved the entrance area, as it is very much geared to kids and families, and there were lots of folks taking advantage of lots of baseball-related activities. Also, they allow small single chamber purses in, which was GREAT, considering that I had forgotten to bring my “clear” bag with us! No problem at all getting through security; in fact, I’m not sure we went through it at all, as it didn’t seem like it!
 |
| R's place for Polish sausage! |
 |
| View from our seats! |
The food choices were interesting – we had read about the wonderful brats and Polish sausages by Kramarczuk’s (a local company) and R tried their Polish, and he said it was great! I had their “Big One” hot dog. It was grilled, and fine, and came with chips. No onions (except grilled) in sight. They also had a variety of Mexican food and even Indian food, which we found surprising, but didn’t try. Turns out today was Roberto Clemente Day, and they were celebrating Hispanic culture. There was a group from Peru who danced and played music, and they also brought their drums – which they used throughout the game, which did get a little tedious! We were also gifted with a Sugar-Skull Bobble-Head, which I am bringing home with us…R wonders why, and I don’t really have an answer for him, other than I’m sure nobody else in Tucson probably has one, and you never know when one might come in handy!!
 |
| Our new Bobblehead! |
Our seats were, fortunately for us, in the shade, because when the sun came out, it was scorching HOT! Gone was the blustery weather from yesterday, and it was balmy and in the low 80’s today! And, when the breeze came through, it was ideal – although it did get a bit clammy when it didn’t!
Good game, albeit a bit boring at first, until the Twins blew it open in the 6th inning with 3 runs and then 5 more in the 7th for a final score of 9 – 2! Turns out it was also a good day for the Vikings just a mile or so away, who defeated the San Francisco 49’ers, 23 – 17, so a great day for Minneapolis all around!
Back to the hotel fairly quickly, in time to see the Las Vegas Raiders defeat the Baltimore Ravens in overtime, so it’s definitely an odd football kind of day! Chiefs/Bengals on TV now.
Heading out at 5 for dinner, and hoping to be able to go back to Parlay and see what their sharing plates taste like! So, more later!
m
xxx
Well, to all good plans … headed down to Parlay at 5 pm, and … well … the noise level in that place was even louder than the Grupo Ferme concert in Mexico City when they were playing for 100,000 people. It was unreal! We asked if they could turn it down, but the lovely hostess was told an absolute NO! Obviously, we’re not the demographic they are aiming for – I predict they won’t be in business long, as truly you can’t have a meal inside at all! As there weren’t any other places right in the area that were open for dinner then, we headed back to the hotel and consulted with the lovely Victoria, the gal at the front desk, for suggestions.
She came up with two places: Khaluna, a Laotian place, and Owamni, a Native American place … well, we looked at the menus … let me put it this way, Khaluna served a mix of Asian and Indian cuisine; Owamni served fried crickets and bison. We opted for Khaluna. I was able to get a reservation at 6:30 on the patio and took it. Headed back up to the room for a bit, and then back to the lobby to summon Uber to take us to wherever Khaluna was. It was about 15 minutes away, in a lovely, older Minneapolis suburb.
The restaurant was truly lovely! A calm, discretely lighted large room with tables well placed; very quiet. We were seated on the patio (which was actually better than being seated inside, as it was freezing inside!) and Polly, our waitperson, was amazing! We started with a brew of various things, including star anise and lemon and pepper, which was excellent. Then, we ordered two small plates, to share: shrimp rolls and vegetable samosas. Both were excellent, although R preferred the samosas, because they were spicier; I preferred the shrimp rolls. For mains, R had the duck, which he absolutely loved! He normally doesn’t order duck in the U.S. because it’s usually not very good, but this, he says, was exceptional! I ordered their chicken in red curry, with sticky rice, which was also excellent. To wash it all down, we had an Australian Sauvignon Blanc, which paired perfectly with everything!
 |
| Khaluna |
 |
| Excellent Sauvignon Blanc! |
 |
| Our share plates - veggie samosas and shrimp rolls |
 |
| R's duck |
 |
| My chicken red curry |
All in all, a truly memorable meal, and we were so glad that Victoria recommended it to us! Ubered quickly back to the hotel by 8:30 pm and are now in for the night, watching the second half of the Bears/Texansfootball game.
Up early tomorrow and on the road – back out of town and heading to Kansas City for (hopefully!) BBQ and a baseball game! Then on to Detroit for a quick family visit!
Lots of love to all!
m
xxx
Comments
Post a Comment