I would head down to Florida and Georgia for my only solo trip of the season. Stopping in South Carolina (because my mom was nice enough to get me a hotel), I made the two-day trip pretty easily, making it to St. Petersburg much earlier than I had anticipated.
St. Petersburg
I decided that I wanted to catch an extra game with the Blue Jays in town and unexpected extra time, so I set up camp and headed to Tropicana Field. I had been there a few years prior when my Alma Mater, Marshall University won the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl in 2011 (I was part of the band that year), but this would be my first baseball experience in the stadium.
These Blue Jays games were a must on my trip, and catching the extra game led to one of my most exciting games of the trip. The first game was almost a perfect game! We made it 8 ⅔ innings of a perfect game and Josh Donaldson would make a multi-week Top 10 catch in the later innings that I truly had to see to believe. Have you ever seen a player from the opposing team make it about 10 rows back on the baseline and still come up with the ball? It was a great catch, and I got to see it in-person!
Unfortunately, the game happened during a relatively bad storm. So, while I was safe in an enclosed stadium, my tent and camp were getting pummeled. I’d come back to find my tent in an inland lake that evening and sleep in my car for the night while I waited for my tent to dry out. The next day, I spent at camp relaxing and reading. I swear to this day that I saw sharks in the inlet that I was camping on. The Blue Jays pulled out a win in the second game I attended too, and then I was off to Miami.
Miami
My time in Miami was spent with a friend in the West Palm Beach area, who was staying with her aunt for an internship that summer. My first night in town we went out to dinner on the water and then headed to a local saloon to go line dancing. I drove into Miami the next evening for a late game.
Marlins Park would be the only other game I left early that season, though it isn’t like I didn’t get a full ballgame’s worth of baseball in the time I was there. I went into Miami alone, and I had never been before, so I think that the crowds got to my constant anxiety, but I tried to have a good time regardless. When the Dodgers were up 11-2 at the end of the first and I couldn’t ignore how comfortable I was feeling any longer, I headed back to my friend’s house. A storm that evening knocked out the power, so maybe it was a good thing that I left the game early and got back to the house safe.
The next morning I began my trek to Atlanta with an extra day built in. I drove my friend to the Lake Placid, Florida area for a weekend with her family before going on into Georgia. There, I would stay a day at a random campsite and just relax before making my way closer to Atlanta.
Atlanta
I watched my game in Atlanta during the final year of Turner Field. As a person whose family were Braves fans when they were younger, I am grateful to have gotten to attend at this stadium. In fact, all the players I associate with the Braves had long since retired by the time I made my first trip to Atlanta. Most of their numbers lined the stadium by then, in their honor.
I largely took Atlanta as rest time, so I didn’t actually go into the city, just to the ballgame. Still, I got some great shots of the skyline and got to see the 1996 Olympic torch setup. Then, early the next morning I headed toward Myrtle Beach to meet up with my family.
Myrtle Beach
This trip was the last time I was at Myrtle. Though, it has come up as a potential vacation a few times now since then. This is where my family vacationed when we had the chance when we were kids, as it’s a popular spot for West Virginia families. Still, this was the first time I had stayed in a hotel for this type of trip.
There was no baseball for this portion of the trip, but plenty of family time and mini golfing, two things our family still tries to do as often as possible. We had planned on a trip to the amusement park across the street from the hotel on my last night, but a big storm knocked those plans out. I did get a nice sunrise one morning though, which is something I always try to get when I’m on the east coast.
Raven K 