Whoops...just noticed I'd started and not finished this bit about the first Twins game at the new field... Here it is, in its incompleteness.

On Friday we went to the Twins first game at the new Target Field. It wasn't the official opener (that's April 12), but it was the first time they played in front of a crowd there. We also went to the open house the Saturday before, where the Gophers hosted Texas Tech.

The wife works downtown, but I'm on a gig in the suburbs, so she got to wait for me a little bit as I wove through the growing pre-game traffic that was merging with the normal early rush hour traffic. There was a threat of rain earlier, and it did actually rain a bit in the middle of the day, so I drove the Jeep to the office. Since the weather had cleared and the forecast was for warmer weather with clear skies, I thought it'd be additional fun to drive the Valkyrie.

I made a quick swap on the way, drove the back roads to the last freeway entrance before reaching downtown, and queued up in the short line on the ramp. As I waited my turn, the car next to me went and the car behind that one pulled forward; suddenly a cacophony of noise erupted from the new car. I turned my attention from the soon-to-be green light to the couple of woo girls who were in the car, excited to see the big Twins logo on the back of my jacket. I gave a quick cheer and jet off down the ramp with the light, suddenly a little more thrilled for the return of baseball.

After a brief wait for the wife to join me, we motored the few blocks to the ball park. The crowd was swelling with Twins red (and the occasional Cardinal red) as we approached. We pulled into the ramp entrance, noticed the $13 event parking signs, and smugly smirked as we pulled through the abundance of police cars to the $5 motorcycle area. Not only is it cheaper, but I suspect that since it's surrounded by cops, it's probably one of the safer places to park, too! We walked across the street, and were greeted with a fantastic throng of people milling about Target plaza and getting into the park. We diverted from the main gates, and like salmon, went up the stairwell, disrupting the flow of people coming down from the parking ramp. At the top we were briefly paused as we had to show our tickets to get to go through the exclusive Legend's Club entrance.

We had been there before so we knew the route, and kind of expected the routine. The Legend's Club wasn't as crowded as the other times we'd been there, which was a relief. Only ticket holders in that section and people with suite tickets get access. Each time I passed through the gate I noticed a few people trying to get in, asking why they couldn't. We went right to our seats and took in the park in all of it's MLB practice glory.

All of the scoreboards were alighted with the pre-game frivolity. The teams were out on the field, doing their pre-game warm ups. They and the fans looked to be having a good time.