Getting to the Game
I heard Atlanta traffic is a nightmare from several people. There is no trains that run out to SunTrust Park.. yet. I gave us plenty of time to get to the stadium. Because of the extra time in we had in Atlanta, we actually checked into the hotel instead of coming from downtown so it was an easy 10 minute drive over to the stadium.
We bought parking ahead of time. I double checked the time that parking opened. The website told me 5:00 PM. Either I looked in the wrong spot or I didn't look hard enough because the lot we had parking for didn't open until 5:30. So now we had another 30 minutes to kill before we could even park. Dinner was McDonald's (again).
Finally we were able to park. Getting back to the parking garage from McDonald's was a treat since they were just starting to direct traffic and close lanes for baseball traffic. The good thing about going to McDonald's was we were on the correct side of the street to get into the parking ramp.
Then we had to attempt to cross the street to the actual stadium as the road is open to traffic and there are no traffic lights... just a police officer directing traffic. We got across the street unscathed. Leaving the game was a different story and a cab nearly ran over a family.
Alumni Parade
Because we were there for alumni weekend, I told the hubby we had to be by the Battery (the Braves version of Yarkey Street) by 6:00 PM for the parade. We actually got there about 5:40 and found a relatively shady spot towards the end of the parade route in the front row.
Former Brave players were in town for a weekend of festivities starting with a parade of Friday. The parade featured roughly forty or so former Braves. Many of them I never heard of before but there were also some of the big names in Braves History...Jones, Smoltz, Uggla, Glavine, Murphy. It was just an experience to be that close to some of the great ballplayers of the 90s.
SunTrust Park
Once the parade was over we headed inside the ball park and to our seats. Instead of sitting ALL.THE.WAY.UPSTAIRS, we opted for the 300 level seats down the third base side. Our seats were great. We could see the whole field. I wish we were a bit closer to home plate but the seats weren't bad.
The stadium itself is kind of boring. It seems like they rushed to get it done and didn't put in too many frills. Sure you have your usually different sponsor-areas and a fancy scoreboard but other than that it wasn't any better than Miller Park.
There is the Braves Hall of Fame down on the Field Level. That is pretty cool. It has 755 balls to commemorate Hank Aaron's Home Run Record. There are rings and other memorabilia from the Braves various World Series wins including the 1957 Milwaukee Braves. It was worth checking out.
The one thing I can say about SunTrust Park is the soda prices are CHEAP! I think it was like $3 for a bottle of water and $4 for a regular soda. Any other ballpark, I'm paying a minimum of $4 or $5 for water. I'm good with $3 water. And being Atlanta, they have Coke Products.
The game itself wasn't bad. It was the Dodgers and the Braves. I got to do the tomahawk chop. The Dodgers ended up winning but we didn't stay to the end like usual.
I am a bit disappointed that this wasn't that great of a stadium. Neither the hubby or I are in any hurry to go back. Since we have many more southern teams to visit, it is a bit disappointing that it was such a let down. Maybe if they ever get a train out that way, it will help and we'd go back. It's still a very new stadium but it's in the middle of a business district. Who knows, things change and maybe a few years they will build another new stadium because this one just doesn't work location-wise anymore.
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