On the way home

Sort of. We're sitting at the airport waiting for a delayed flight. This after a quick return visit to the mall following another afternoon of baseball.

Today we visited the Tigers' spring home, Joker Marchant Stadium. It's one of the oldest parks left in Florida, and I wish I could say that it's charming as a result. Well I could say that, but it would be a lie. There's nothing wrong with it; it was build during the 60's and has all the aesthetic of other ballparks built during the 60's, like Veteran's Stadium. We were seeing the Tigers play the Yankees, and between the good matchup and the size of the park, which is half of the Bright House Field capacity, it was totally sold out. Our seats were in a bleachers section, which would not be a problem except that the guy sitting next to me was a very large man, who simply could not help but take up a significant piece of my seat. This, in turn, crowded my daughter, who escaped to the row in front, where there was an empty space.

We kept fearing that the spot she was borrowing would become full, but it never did. In fact, it was hot and muggy enough that some of the other attendees moved off to cooler parts and left enough room for us to sit. This was yet another entertaining game, highlighted by a huge home run by MVP Miguel Cabrera, which flew over the batter's eye in dead center field. 450 feet at least.

Before all that, I got up on the late side and decided that I needed to walk on the beach. So I did, and it was worth the effort, which seemed Herculean at the time. The sand in Clearwater is soft and white and lovely to walk on, and the soft lapping of the Gulf water on the shore was soothing. I watched pelicans diving and gulls following them to try to steal whatever they caught. In one case, the gull landed squarely on the pelican's back, which I do not believe was it's intent. It flew off quickly, without being able to pilfer anything.

The hotel was a new, kind of non-descript place right near the end of the causeway. It's a convenient location and the rates were good for the time and place. The hotel is plain. There's nothing in particular wrong with it. The rooms were decent size and reasonably equipped, but with absolutely no character. The lobby was on the fifth floor for some reason, and was adjacent to a place where they had a free breakfast, which was also totally without character. It was a completely neutral experience, which seemed odd, even though there's nothing odd about it.