#21. McAfee Coliseum home of the Oakland Athletics
Times visited: 1
Date: 7/7/07 vs. Seattle (L: 4-0)
This story actually starts on 7/6/07 when I arrived in San Fransisco after a very long flight from New York City. It’s a long flight to begin with but for those on the plane with me, we had the honor of sitting on the runway for two hours before taking off. This was not a great start for the All-Star Trip to San Fran. It was nearly Midnight on the West Coast by the time the plane landed and I went down to baggage claim to get my stuff. I waited and waited and after 20 minutes I heard what I thought was my name paged over the loud speaker. I inquired about the name and didn’t find out it was my name they called. I was the lucky person who’s luggage hasn’t arrived yet. After filling out some paperwork, I arranged for the airline to drop off the luggage at a hotel in Oakland I was planning to stay the next night, I took a cab to a hotel near the airport to rest up for the night.
The next day I ventured into San Fransisco wearing the same clothes from the night before. I took the bus into town and was just in awe of the city. It was such a beautiful city and there’s was so much to see. It was nice to see some of the items on the bus route where I wanted to go and what parts of town I wanted to avoid make planning so much easier.
Since the All Star festitives didn’t start in San Fransiso until the next day I went to Oakland on Saturday to see the A’s play. I took the subway into Oakland and upon my arrival, quickly changed hotel plans. There wasn’t much around the hotel I was staying at and I didn’t want to waste a night in Oakland. Luckily, the place where I was staying in San Fran had an opening for that night so I changed hotels. I even notified the airline that was I staying at a new hotel so they can take the luggage there.
I made it to the Coliseum to watch Oakland play Seattle. In this game Seattle pitcher Felix Hernandez put on the pitching clinic as the Mariners easily won. The Coliseum is a huge stadium, it’s built more for football than baseball and has more foul ground territory than most ball parks. It was very easy to get around this stadium which I liked. The one thing that this place lacked though was personality on the outside. This may be because the Stadium is shared with the Raiders.
After the game I checked into the hotel in San Fransisco. Still no luggage. Sunday came and still no luggage, I hit the thrift stores and drug stores to add to my wardrobe. After attending some of the All-Star Festivities Sunday night I came back to the hotel and still no luggage. I called the airline and found my out my luggage had indeed been delivered… to the hotel in Oakland.
Finally on Monday morning I hopped on the subway and picked up my luggage in Oakland. I learned my lessons when you change hotels make sure you can still get your luggage on time or you’ll be spending part of your time shopping at thrift stores. I did end up with a nice shirt though.