Facing fears

For two summers I played a gig at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. Besides being one of the last amusement parks to offer live entertainment, Cedar Point's big attraction is roller coasters. Every couple of years they boast a bigger, faster, leaner, meaner, more upside-downer coaster ride unlike anything the world has ever seen. When I first started work there, I had never ridden any type of roller coaster. I was too afraid to even try. Needless to say, by the end of my time there, I had gotten over my fear by a long shot. I mean, let's face it. There is nothing else to do in Sandusky (a.k.a. The Armpit Of The Midwest) except ride the coasters. It's one of the few job perks we had.

Anyway, it's been a long time since I've been on any kind of thrill ride so you can imagine my trepidation as Ian, Blair, and I made plans to experience the Aquaventure park at Atlantis in Nassau. 

Aquaventure boasts over 7 water slides of various speeds, zillions of pools, a lazy/rapids river, aquariums, various marine life feeding pools, food, sun, and fun. It's part of the GIANT Atlantis resort that I visited earlier with Fran and Mort.

Since Ian owns a small backpack, we loaded him up as pack mule to carry sunscreen, ID, cash, and cameras. The guys a trooper. He didn't complain once…and I went into that pack a million times that day. Catching a taxi from the Nassau port to Atlantis was easy. Feeling comfortable riding in the taxi is another thing. I'm sure this isn't right and I'll have to verify it later, but, it appears that there are no traffic signals in Nassau and very few actual traffic laws. Drivers pilot their vehicles with seemingly no regard for other cars. There appears to be some sort of system where faster moving vehicles have the right of way. It also doesn't help that everyone drives on the left side of the road as opposed to the right in the States like I'm used to.

When we arrived at the resort we quickly found the desk to purchase tickets. We got a hefty crew discount and ended up only paying about 2/3 normal ticket purchase price. After renting a locker to relieve Ian of his pack mule duties, we made our way to the tallest and fastest slide in the park: The Abyss. The sign at the top of the ride said: "Do not participate in this ride if you have fear of dark places, high speeds, enclosed spaces, or heights."

As it turns out, I'm afraid of ALL of those things. That didn't stop me, tho. I'm here to report that I went on every water slide in the Aquaventure park. I'm also here to report that I apparently screamed like a little girl while doing so. BUT…at least I did it them all!

Aquaventure has a "lazy river" area as well. For those not familiar, this is a typical water park ride where guests sit in tubes and relax as a slow current floats them down a man made "river" of sorts. Aquaventure adds to this experience with designating certain areas of the "river" as rapids areas. Here the water flows faster and riders get the pleasure of shooting through the rapids spinning around on the tube. As long as you don't bang your foot or head on the rock walls around you, this is pretty fun. There was an added feature to the "river" that I'd never seen before: a wave generator. While floating slowly down stream, waves are created behind you and come by floating you up in the air and splashing you with water. Pretty fun. Bair, Ian, and I were floating along and a wave passed under us. We survived it fine, but, a woman ahead of us was capsized by the wave. Ian proceeded to point and laugh at this poor woman completely without shame. I've literally never seen anyone have so much fun at the expense of another's misfortune. It was hilarious. She was fine and was laughing about it as well. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

The final ride of the day was the signature slide of the park. Two water slides that take you through a shark tank. The first one we tried, "Leap of Faith" was so fast that I didn't see any sharks whatsoever. The name says it all about that ride. The second one, "Serpent Slide" was slower and ended up splashing down so that we had about one minute floating through the shark tank. Pretty cool to be that close to those animals.

All in all, we had a great day. As they say in Ghostbusters, "We came. We saw. We kicked it's ass!" Actually, to be fair, Atlantis may have kicked my ass a little bit. I definitely left a piece of my butt cheek on one of those slides. A word of caution: when riding a water slide that requires you to sit in a tube…keep your butt above tube level. Enjoy the vid.

New Tradition on Memorial Day?

I don't have a lot of Memorial Day traditions. I know that most people do. Cookouts, parades, parties, and 3-day weekend family get-togethers. I suppose that I used to do all of those of those things on the holiday (especially when I was teaching school band and orchestra), but, I've gotten away from it all recently for some reasons more obvious than others. 

One of my favorite memories from Memorial Day weekend is from when I was teaching school in Michigan. Most band directors in Michigan do a Memorial Day parade on the holiday. Since the villages of Ovid and Elsie share a school district in the open farm land of mid-Michigan, as the band director at Ovid-Elsie High School, the students and I did two parades. One in each small village. We made a day of it, stopping for a complimentary hot dog lunch at the Elsie VFW Hall in-between gigs (thanks again, everybody!). In fact, we did a third ceremony at a cemetery located about halfway between each village after both parades. I would take a small group of students out to perform at the cemetery and usually buy them ice cream afterwards. Needless to say, it was an exhausting day. More so for the kids than for me. They did all the work on the day, I merely helped with the preparations.

After the parades, I typically went over to my good friend (and OE Athletic Director) Rex Peckens' house for a cookout and hang. Rex and I became friends when I started at OE and have remained so ever since. At Rex's farm, there was food, drink, and family. Rex and I would usually find some time after eating to thrown around a baseball. A simple game of catch. Nothing fancy, but, it's certainly something that I can remember doing on warm Memorial Day afternoons and early evenings surrounded by corn fields in mid-Michigan.

When I moved with my family years later to Indianapolis, I remember playing catch (not necessarily on Memorial Day) with my neighbor and friend Robert Stapleton. Rob's a former baseball player and so trying to keep up with him in velocity and accuracy was a challenge for me, but, one that I enjoyed every time we strapped on the gloves to play.

Maybe it's not necessarily the tradition that I miss…it's the act of hanging with friends with nothing else on our collective plates that I would like to continue. 

So, this past Memorial Day I happened to be in Miami at port. My friend from Indianapolis, Jen, was also there on a business trip. She and a friend were staying at the South Beach Hilton turning the work weekend into a belated birthday celebration for Jen. Since I was in port for the day, Jen invited me over to hang by the pool with them for the afternoon. It was an awesome time. Weather was beautiful and sunny. We sat by the pool, sipping champagne mixed with pineapple juice, eating frozen grapes and fruit plates. We swapped stories and swam a little bit spending the afternoon laying around in the south Florida sun. Not a bad way to spend Memorial Day. 

Seems like I got some of my Memorial Day tradition this year after all. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Yikes

So, I'm on the crew shuttle heading back to the ship this week. Now, the shuttle ride is a trip in itself. I do worry if I will make it back in one piece during those rides. The shuttle drivers all drive angry.

Anyway, we screeched to a halt at a stop light on and I noticed a guy doing 3 things simultaneously one spot ahead of us.

1) Riding a moped (no helmet)

2) Listening to iPod with headphones

3) Texting

Incredible. Next nominee for the Darwin Awards, anyone?

Taking stock at the midpoint

It's roughly the midpoint of my contract here on Majesty of the Seas and by coincidence it's Memorial Day weekend (for myself and the other 21 Americans onboard) and with that comes one of the greatest spectacles in all of sports - The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Even though my seat this year is not as close as I was last year (I was sitting with my cousin Jeb in the bleachers of Turn 4 when the leader Hildebrand hit the wall on the final turn of the race and ended up finishing 3rd), the race is on ESPN and so, I'm enjoying it from the comfort of my cabin. Ian has never seen the race, so, I'm filling in the gaps for him with the little knowledge that I do have. Predictably, he's asleep already just after the start. This year I'm rooting for Tony Kanaan. A veteran driver who has led the 500 seven times, but, has never won. Let's go, TK!

I have never been a big fan of auto racing. I have a general knowledge of the sport and can hold my own in a short conversation about racing, but, I'm not a "have to watch the race this weekend" type of person. This race is different this year, though. Seeing these images on tv of the track, the crowd, the race, the weather, the golf course, the city of Indianapolis…it brings back a lot of memories for me. Just one year ago I was living in Indy, married, raising a family, working at ITT, playing gigs at night and on the weekends, playing golf, and had a circle of friends that I saw on a regular basis. It never even entered my mind that my life path would alter drastically.

Wow, how things can change in a year. 

Now my daily view is made up of the sun and surf of the Caribbean. I play trombone for a living, practice all the time, it's been months since I've been cold, and communications with my circle of friends on land happens though strictly electronic means. My role as father and husband has been replaced by someone else and I'm strictly taking care of myself. Some days that's a blessing. Sometimes though, like when I'm watching the Indy 500 today, I wonder what it would be like if I was still living in that other life. That world seems still close to me at this point. I feel like I'm on vacation from that life plan. Still feel as if I might step off the ship and go back home to married life, Ted, ITT, and The Jazz Kitchen somehow. 

Not sure what all this means, really. But, it's part of the ship life for me, so I'm sharing it here. 

So, in summary, I spend this Memorial Day weekend away from family, barbecues, auto racing, crowds, golf, and (perhaps most importantly) junk food. I do miss one thing from Memorial Day last year...the corn dogs at the Brickyard. Heart stoppers, to be sure, but SO GOOD!

Say it ain't so, Joe!

Joe Rodriguez, who signed on the same day as me, has left the ship to pursue other endeavors. He wants to open a recording studio and possibly enter the Air Force. Best of luck to you, Joe! Stay in touch!!

Joe...why are you holding a pen?

Poker night

No Limit Texas Hold 'Em anyone? We play three times a week onboard. It's for low stakes and 2nd place wins their buy in back, so, this game is really all about good times. And occasionally alcohol. Okay, for some people it's a requirement! Check out some pics below.

Briana would tell you that a little JD helps with the "hold 'em or fold 'em" decisions.

A typical result for "Team Jack"

Heads up play for the big bucks!

Our eventual champ (for this game anyway), Andi.

A Comedy of Errors

One of Wynton Marsalis' Rules for Better Practice is "seek out private instruction." I took the opportunity to follow this advice this past Friday by taking a lesson with Dante Luciani who is the professor of jazz trombone at University of Miami. The lesson went well and I came away with several pieces of information that will help me in my practice sessions. However, the process of getting to the lesson was like a drunken stumble through an obstacle course.

Since my lesson was scheduled for noon I woke up at 7:45 am to head down for a good, solid warm up. My plan was to warm up early, leave the ship by 9:15, take the crew shuttle to down town, metro mover to Government Station, and then the metro rail to University of Miami. From there I would walk across campus to the school of music with an ETA of around 10:30. This would give me plenty of time to look around the school, tour the campus, and check everything out before my lesson.

It did not go as planned. Friday is our turnaround day in Miami. Guests from the previous 4 day cruise leave the ship in the morning and new guests come onboard for the 3 day weekend cruise. Guests leave in an orderly fashion by group number (similar to boarding a plane). Before they leave, one of the areas that the congregate to wait is in the theater. So…with people in there…so much for the warm up space.

Undeterred, I decided to abort Plan A and head off the ship to warm up at U of M. After a quick breakfast of 3 hard boiled eggs, I grabbed my trombone and laptop and made my way down to the gang way. In order to get off the ship in the US, crew members need to have any carry on items x-rayed including shoes and socks. After going thru a metal detector, we are then subject to a pat down before putting back on the shoes and socks and continuing off the ship. I know it sounds extreme, but, you get used to it. After getting my shoes off and my bags on the scanner, I heard one of the security officers say:

"Sir, where do you think you're going?"

"Um…University fo Miami?" 

"The ship is not clear. You'll have to wait."

So, back on with the shoes and back with the bags. I went back to my room to wait. When I got to my room I realized that I was $1 short for the shuttle ride to downtown Miami. So, I woke Ian up and borrowed a buck from him. After about 10 minutes (and feeling like a bad roommate for waking up Ian) the ship cleared so I was able to head out.  

After clearing security, I stepped off the gangway and out to the shuttle area of the port. Crew shuttle service runs between the ship and downtown Miami. In a perfect world, shuttle vans would leave about every 15 minutes or so from the ship. However, the drivers wait until the shuttle is overflowing with passengers before leaving. This morning, I sat in the crew shuttle for 25 minutes with 3 other people without moving at all. I was starting to get worried about making my lesson on time in order to get a good warm up in, so, since the driver was going to stay until the shuttle was full, I decided to walk to downtown.

It's not a long walk…on a nice day. This was not a 'nice' day by walking standards. Temperature up high as well as the humidity. It didn't help that I was wearing a black shirt in anticipation for being back onboard very close to boat drill (where I have to be in uniform) and carrying a backpack and trombone. I made it across the bridge in about 20 minutes, but, was soaked with sweat and had to take a break to cool off and hydrate (sounds dramatic, but, it's true!) at the Starbucks in the Bayside Mall. 

After polishing off my water at the cafe (and finding that my computer had zero battery and needed to be charged up), I decided that the only way to make the best time to the lesson would be to catch a cab. The Metro Rail, while reliable, is also takes a reliably long time to get anywhere. I still held out hope for arrival at the Frost School of Music in time for a good warm up, short break, and then the lesson.

Luckily, I found a cab right in front of Bayside and hopped in. Of course, with everything else going so well this morning, it should come as no surprise that the cab driver got lost on the way to the University. Furthermore, when we arrived on campus, there was construction happening that not only didn't allow him to get close to the School of Music with the cab, but, made it very difficult for me to get in on foot. 

When I finally got to the School of Music it was a ghost town due to summer break. Many doors were locked and it took me a long time to locate the proper building and Dante's office therein. I sat down in the practice room to warm up at 11:19 am. 41 minutes before my lesson was to begin. Not cool, man. Not cool.

After the lesson, Dante was kind enough to give me a lift back downtown. I met an Indianapolis friend of mine, Jen, who was in town on business for a quick drink at Elwood's Pub. Then I hopped back on the shuttle to get back to the ship. There was a bumper sticker on the inside of the door in the shuttle where I was sitting. I have no idea what it means, but, I took a picture anyway.

Awkward.

Hopefully, my lesson at FIU will be a better experience this coming Friday.

A Proper English Ale

Part of the fun of my job onboard is the fact that…well…I don't work too much. Most days I don't start work until 7 pm or so. I do have the occasional rehearsal in the late morning, but, for the most part my days and afternoons are mine. This past Friday in Miami (after my usual stops for high speed Wi-Fi and checking my PO Box) Ian and I took advantage of our "work" schedule and settled into an English Pub called Elwood's. 

If in real estate "location is everything" then Elwood's is in a prime location. Literally, the pub is 10 steps from where the crew shuttle drops off in downtown Miami. This is perfect as we noted that upon finishing our pints we could stumble a few steps to the crew shuttle and get dropped off at the ship. "Door to door" service to the bar. I always feel puke-y in the crew shuttle anyway.

Knowing very little about beer, I was informed that Elwood's has a wonderful lineup of "real ales" on tap. Apparently all of the tap ales are prepared with traditional English brewing practices regarding, among other things, amount of carbonation. When ales are prepared this way, they rarely travel well. These did, however, making this pub a great find. I tried a Bombadier and Speckled Hen sampler and then had a couple of pints of my favorite: Strongbow. Bombadier was the ale I liked the best. Didn't care for the Speckled Hen (although, I liked the name) as it was a bit bitter for my taste. Strongbow is not an ale, it's an English cider. Sweet, dry, and has a high alcohol content. In fact, it has more than most of the ales, beers, and stouts on tap at this bar, including Guiness. I even like drinking a glass of 3/5 Strongbow and 2/5 Guiness for a bit of a change up sometimes. 

The best part of the visit for me was the authentic fish and chips dinner. I split an order with Ian. The plate included two huge planks of battered and fried fish, several chips and mushy peas (mashed up peas, as far as I can tell). Simply outstanding…and also contained enough salt to pickle me for preservation. 

Ian and I enjoying "proper English ale."

The good stuff!

International Waters, International Sports

One thing that has taken some getting used to onboard is being separated from my favorite televised sporting events. Floating around the Caribbean puts us out of range for the United States feed for ESPN and we get ESPN Euro (or something like that). Basically, what that means is lots of soccer, cricket, tennis,  and rugby. Very few NBA playoff games and zero hockey games. Most of the PGA tour events (except for majors) are not broadcast either. This is kind of a bummer for me, but, I have gotten the opportunity to watch a lot of sports that I normally wouldn't be watching.

For example, a soccer league called the "English Premier League" held their championship match today. I was blissfully unaware of this taking place until I walked into the crew mess for my daily grilled chicken salad lunch. There are 2 huge flat screen TV sets in the mess and they are typically tuned to the crew movie channels showing movies that are incredibly violent, but, today they had the Madrid Open tennis final on one and the soccer championship on the other. A large crowd had gathered to watch the soccer match, so, I joined them. It was a very close match between Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers (QPR). I started watching in the 86th minute of the match (very near the end). 

The crowd was CLEARLY pulling for Man City. So much so they were booing the opposing coach. QPR was up 2-1. City had been pressing for the entire time I had been watching. Pulling their midfielders and even 1 defenseman up to the offensive zone in a desperate attempt to score. With the crowd hinging on every corner kick and desperate shot attempt by City the atmosphere was quite tense. Any person foolish enough to walk in front of the screen was immediately greeted with whistles and yells to move out of the way. When City scored a goal during the first minute of injury time the entire mess let out a huge cheer. Except for me, of course, it was nice to be a fly on the wall for this one.

Less than 2 minutes later, the striker for Man City dribbled the ball to the front of the box. Met by a QPR defender, the striker deftly sidestepped and slammed a shot past the QPR goaltender on the short side. The crowd at the stadium erupted and were joined by the entire mess hall a split second later. At least 50 crew members leaped into the air, screaming at the top of their lungs. The rest of injury time ran out roughly 20 seconds later and the fans at the stadium rushed the field to celebrate the Manchester City championship victory. The crew mess was electric for at least 30 seconds as crew members high-fived and fist pumped. 2 goals in about 2 minutes is almost unheard of in soccer. Nevermind in a championship game, for a come from behind victory, in injury time.

All the while, I was sitting back taking it all in. It's interesting being an observer at this time. Not only is this a sport that I rarely watch, but, when there is a sporting event with a finish like this…I'm usually on one side or the other cheering on a team. 

My last observation was of the crew taking time to celebrate the victory. It lasted all of about 1 minute. Then everybody put their dishes away and went back to work. Except for me. I went to the theater to warm up for the day and then back to my cabin to write this post and watch Federer win the Madrid Open.

Video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJqd7c8xlZ4&feature=related

This made me think of my Dad

I was walking through a Key West neighborhood and saw this bird tiptoeing around on the other side of the street. Whenever I see this particular type of bird, it reminds me of playing golf with my Dad. 

These birds populate the golf courses at Bonita Bay Golf Club where Dad and I played the majority of our golf together. We had some really good times on those courses. He and I played golf together even when he could barely walk anyone. We'd get a blue handicap flag for my Dad's cart and drive right up to his ball. I'd help him out of the cart, watch him hit his shot, and then help him back into the cart to drive to the next shot. My friend John Garvie joined us for many of those golf outings. When I think about those times, it makes me smile.

My Dad died this Fall. RIP, Chas.

It was a nice memory on a beautiful day.

Key West Aquarium

Among the many benefits to working on the Majesty is free admission to various attractions in different ports. This applies and extends to the Key West Aquarium that I visited this past week.

The Key West location has many exhibits that are similar to other aquariums that I've been to before. One big difference here is that they have a "touch tank" where various sea organisms are available for guests to handle. It was pretty fun to put my hand in the water and pull out different creatures for pictures. 

Our tour guide also allowed some small children to feed nurse sharks in an indoor tank. She pulled out a baby nurse shark and we had the opportunity to touch the shark's tail. Pretty cool. The other shark tank is outside. Since the aquarium is located on the shore of the island, they have constructed a tank that is connected to the ocean. Fish and other sea creatures come and go as they please. They feed larger sharks there daily (the sharks are in a tank…they're not just swimming around the area picking off parasailers) and we got a demo of that as well.

All in all it was a great trip. Enjoy the pictures!

Now THAT'S a big hermit crab!

The Touch Tank

(I'm considering trying out "Tank" as a new nickname for me)

Sea Cucumber. Slimy. Squishy. Can't believe I picked this guy up!

Albino sea turtle. All turtles are "rescue" animals at the Aquarium.

Pretty sure this guy was hit by a boat. Notice the floatation belt he's sporting.

Moray eel. No touchy.

Feeding the nurse sharks.

"Feels like sandpaper. Tastes like chicken."

Some land cruising animals as well.

This hawk was just posing for the camera.

Baby alligators.

Hemingway Home

On a recent visit to Key West, I paid a visit to the Home and Museum of Ernest Hemingway. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I don't know all that much about Hemingway or his work, especially with his status as an author and his ties to the state of Michigan. I did read "The Old Man and the Sea" when I was in high school/early college. It was during a time in my life when I felt that I "should" be reading classic literature. I just couldn't seem to get into his books. I'm a sucker for a good story and my favorite authors are Elmore Leonard, Robert Crais, Dennis Lehane, and Stephen King. But…that's another story and another blog post.

Back to Hemingway: I did a little background research online about him and learned/plagiarized most of the following from his Wikipedia page. Ernest Hemingway had 4 wives over his lifetime. He was also very interested (borderline obsessed) with cats, particularly those cats with 6 toes. He was a World War I ambulance driver, but, was wounded and returned home in 1918. From there he moved to Paris and was a foreign correspondent. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. His work includes 7 novels, 6 short story collations and 2 works of non-fiction. He committed suicide in 1961 just as his father did before him.

As for my personal tour, I was impressed. The house itself was bigger than I imagined. I overheard a tour guide explaining that the Hemingway home is on one of the biggest single plots in Key West. The main house is surrounded by lush greenery of manicured lawns as well as palm trees. There is another smaller coach house behind the main house. Both buildings have 2 levels and are separated by a pool. The main building has the living quarters, kitchens, and bath while the coach house appears to hold a study on the upper level and a book store on the lower level. There are lots of paintings and book collections in the main house. Not all of these belonged to Hemingway, but, some were owned by family members and friends who then made donations to the museum. 

Also, the place is crawling with cats with all different numbers of toes. Some friendly, some not. Some camera shy, some divas. All in all it was a fun visit. Pics below.

Front entrance.

Front entrance sculpture close up.

Study in the coach house.

Livin' large with a pool!

One of the many paths around the grounds. Watch out for cats!

Main house dining room.

Main house sitting room.

Lots of donated paintings in the Hemingway Home.

Notice the cat asleep on the pillow (close up below).

A view from the second level deck on the main house.

I believe this is Cuban art.

This guy was sleeping comfortably. I like the toes splayed out on the headboard.

"Go around me, dude. I'm not moving."

A large sign at the front reads, "Please do not pick up cats" in large print.

This guy was guarding the main gate. I used the zoom.

Diva.

A nearby restaurant making the most of the Hemingway cat obsession.

The Avengers

Went to the movies Monday in Miami! Haven't been to a movie theater in a long time and it was a welcome change to the day to day monotony of the ship life. Went to the show with 4 friends, Ian (new roommate and trumpet player), Blair (saxophone), and Danielle (stage tech) and we saw The Avengers in 3D. Pretty easy. Split a 15 minute cab ride from the ship to the theater, bought tickets, donned our sporty 3D glasses and enjoyed the movie. I liked the movie as it delivered exactly what I expected: big time special effects, funny one-liners from Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansen in tight pants. The trifecta to be sure!

After the movie we went to Chili's for a bite to eat. I know it's a chain and I know it's pretty low quality food, but, I LOVE me some Chili's. I kept it reasonable, though. Had a "lighter choice" wrap (under 750 calories!) and just picked at the skillet queso and other appetizers.

All in all an awesome day. Looking forward to doing it again in June for the new Batman flick.

New roommate

With Tony signing off Monday the orchestra lost an excellent trumpet player and I lost a great roommate. The Majesty sails on and moving in this afternoon was Ian Hartley. A native of Calgary, Ian comes to us by way of Calgary University (bachelors in trumpet performance) and, most recently, a stint as a free lancer in England. Sightread the charts for tonight no problem and we had some dinner this evening. Seems I've lucked out again. Another good musician onboard and a nice guy to have as a roommate. Looking forward to getting to know him better.

Take me out to the ballgame

I've found that it's important for me to stay connected to the mainland while onboard the Majesty. I usually use the internet to stay connected with my friends, family, local sports teams, and current events. Okay, not so much on the current events, but still. So, when the invitation came from Blair to go check out an afternoon game at Marlins Park while in port in Miami I accepted without hesitation.

I'm not a huge baseball fan. When I am cheering for a pro team it's gotta be the Tigers. However, baseball is one of those games that I like to go watch in person.  All the cliches apply: the green grass, brown dirt, white lines, cold beer, hot dogs, etc etc etc. It all works for me in person. Plus, this is the inaugural season (actually, the first MONTH of the inaugural season) for the Miami Marlins. Brand new stadium built on the site of the old Orange Bowl. A 12:40 start gave us the opportunity to catch 4 or 5 innings before heading back to the ship.

We caught a cab outside the crew entrance to the Majesty and split the $20 fare to the stadium. Light traffic, so the ride took about 15 minutes. The weather had been rainy all weekend, but, since the new stadium has a retractable roof we knew we were in good shape for some baseball. We arrived around 11:45 am and went to an electronic kiosk to purchase tickets. When I was about to slide my credit card through the machine we were approached by a season ticket holder who wanted to sell his seats for $15 ($5 under face value) so we eagerly accepted. Happily snapping a quick picture of our tickets in our hands, Blair and I stepped into Marlins Park for the first time.

It's a beautiful, small stadium. Rich and bright colors in the hallways and in the outfield. There is a huge marquee painting of a gigantic marlin on a track that jumps up and out of a painted mural of water when the Marlins score. Also, I think they planted a grove of palm trees in the outfield as well. Looking forward to seeing those trees develop through the years. We wandered around the stadium for about 20 minutes and then made our way to a restaurant inside for lunch called The Clevelander.

The Clevelander is a South Beach bar and nightclub that now has a location at the baseball stadium. For a $10 cover, Blair and I were allowed access. Located at the grass level in left field, The Clevelander offers a baseball experience that I've never even heard of. There are tickets that can be purchased for fans to sit right at the fence to watch the game and receive bar/food service. Blair and I took a high top table in the back next to the bar. I ordered a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries that may be the best damn sandwich I've had of that variety. Ever. The fries were actually in "tot" form and could not have been tastier. The chicken was perfectly cooked and topped with tangy buffalo sauce, lettuce, onion, and scads of blue cheese dressing. Truly outstanding. Blair got a pizza that was equally as good as my sandwich. 

The entertainment didn't stop there. In true cliche South Beach fashion, The Clevelander boasts an all female waitstaff and bartender staff that are among the most attractive set of people I've ever seen. Must be awful hot in there as well, because, they were not wearing much. There's also a pool that can be enjoyed by patrons, but, is where 4 bikini models spent their time as soon as the first pitch was thrown. Dancing girls in Marlins "uniforms" (read: go-go outfits) and another trio of women dressed in what can I can best describe as "traditional dance" outfits walked around mingling with everyone and posing for pictures. Topped off with cold beer and a DJ, The Clevelander was the place to BE for pre game, during the game, and (I'd imagine) post game. 

These outfits seem traditional, don't you think?

"Hello, ladies!"

Rules of play in the Clevelander include only cheering for the Marlins. If you catch a home run ball from a Marlin you get a free bucket of beers. Catch a home run ball from any other team and you are encouraged to throw it back. Swimming encouraged. Smiles mandatory (and easy to come by). Miami just does baseball differently…and I LIKE IT!

Blair put it best when we left the bar during the middle of the 3rd inning to take in a few at bats from our seats right on 3rd base, 

"That was a lot of pizza and boobs."

We did make it up to our seats in the front row of the upper deck right above 3rd base. Great sight lines. An awesome place to take in the game. We left in the top of the 5th inning with the Marlins down by 5. But, had I been "watching the game" from the Clevelander the whole time, I don't think I would've noticed or cared about the score.