18 Jul - Baseball Game at Washington Nationals Park

 

Great day!  We visited the Washington Nationals baseball park and watched the San Diego Padres play the Washington Nationals.  We also reconnected with a military comrade I served with in Des Moines for many, many years, Doug Benskin.  Doug and his wife Carol moved out here about 20 years ago and now works in the Pentagon.  He has worked as a finance and accounting specialist his entire career, both in the military and now as a civilian government employee.

Literally hundreds of empty parking spaces so plenty of room for the big ol' brown truck.  I always park in the "south 40".

Branch Ave Metro Station is the end of the green line.

About 1040 hrs we departed the campground and drove about 30 minutes to the Branch Ave Metro station.  We parked there and boarded the green line to the Navy Yard/Ball Park station, which took about 17 minutes.  The reason the times are important to us is once we leave the campground the clock starts on the dog.  She has about a 5-6 hour bladder according to our vet and it is not fair to her that we exceed that by much.  As I've said before, she has never had an accident in the RV and is usually sleeping when we get home, so I think she is fine.

After arriving at the Navy Yard/Ball Park Metro station we had a short walk to the Nationals Ballpark.  I've been here a couple times before when I came into Washington DC for the military, but Doreen has never been here.   

The outfield entrance to the stadium

2019 World Series replica trophy

 After processing through security and ticketing we made our way to guest services.  Similar to other stadiums we have visited, they provide a "first game" certificate and they also gave us first game buttons to wear.  

Guest Services under the tent just after you enter the stadium

Then we had to go to the Team Store to get our MLB Passport stamped.  They also offered a wide variety of licensed apparel at premium prices of course! 

Our friend Doug texted and he was in route on the Metro from the other direction but was a ways out yet, so we walked all the way around the stadium looking at the food vendors and the other historical items on display throughout the stadium.  

A view from the family area onto the field

So for those of you that might not know, the Washington Nationals used to be the Montreal Expos for their first 36 years in the MLB.  In 2005 after some reorganization they settled in Washington DC.  The original Washington Senators team became the Minnesota Twin in 1961.

The Nationals have a very nice stadium but they are not filling it right now.  As of June 11th they we authorized to sell to full capacity after the COVID restrictions, but there we a lot of empty seats today.  That might have been influenced by the gunfire that occurred out in front of the stadium last night!  It did not keep us away!  The stadium capacity is 41,339 but today attendance was only 27,221.  Some pictures:.

Because of the gunfire last night, the game was called in the seventh inning and the remainder of the game will be played today before the regularly scheduled Sunday game.  So we watched 2-1/2 innings of the Padres-Nationals and then there was a 25 minute break and Sunday's game commenced.  

Former Chicago Cub Victor Caratini catching for the Padres.

Our friend Doug arrived and because of all the empty seats we were able to sit together and talk. We brought each other up to date and reminisced a lot. Doug is connected via Facebook to many of the retired Des Moines Air Guard folks and it seems like we have lost many of them in the past few years. I gave Doug one of my retirement coins and we shared a lot of laughs too.  We made plans to get back together before we leave so Carol and Doreen could meet and we could continue our conversations.

It was time we needed to be heading back to the train so we rode the metro back to the Branch Ave Station and then drove back to the campground.  All in all we were gone right at six hours and Liberty did great.  

Next Sunday we will travel to Baltimore to see the Orioles host the Washington Nationals.  This week has not been planned yet except for Wednesday when we have tickets for Mount Vernon,  Tomorrow is yet to be decided but we likely will do a few lighthouses.