My Travels – MLB Stadiums: Turner Field, Atlanta Braves (May 28, 2012)

Posted on by Jon Cook

This past weekend Kara and I headed down to Atlanta to see the sights of Turner Field. I’ll be honest, after taking in a game at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati on Friday, I was kinda ready for an upgrade in baseball scenery. The good thing is that Turner Field didn’t disappoint at all.

It was Memorial Day and the pregame ceremonies were exceptional. The Braves organization did an outstanding job of remembering our fallen troops and honoring our veterans. There was a massive American flag for the national anthem, recognition of veterans from all the branches, a moment of silence, and the always appreciated military fly-over.

One of my favorite parts of Turner Field was the giant drum in center field. When the chop gets going, the Braves chant starts growing, and the bass drum gets booming, Turner Field can get pretty eerie. As far as game day environments go, it’s a pretty sweet experience.

We found great parking west of the northwest gate of the stadium. A little sketchy in the neighborhood but it was just fine in broad daylight. There’s a bunch of parking just north of the field for $15 if you’d rather stick closer. We parked in the parking lot of Calvary Temple Baptist Church for $5, which went towards helping them build their new building. Sounds like a win-win.

When it comes to food, do yourself a favor: don’t eat before you arrive. It’s worth the extra money to get some great Southern cooking around the ballpark. They even have the favorite fast food of Churchland, Chick-fil-A, on the first level. Also, spend the extra $2 a person to take a walk through the Braves Museum on the first level. The Braves have a rich and long history that includes members like Babe Ruth, Roger Hornsby, Connie Mack, home run king Hank Aaron, and all of the more modern day legends.

Turner Field ranks right up there as one of my favorite MLB ballpark experiences so far. Nine down, twenty-one to go!

My Travels – MLB Stadiums: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati Reds (May 25, 2012)

Posted on by Jon Cook

On Friday Kara and I packed up our car and drove to Cincinnati to watch our Rockies take on the Reds at Great American Ballpark. Since Cincinnati is less than five hours from St. Louis, we decided this would be a fairly easy ballpark to check off our bucket list. The added bonus was seeing the Rockies seal the win, 6-3. Eight stadiums down, twenty-two to go!

Here’s a few things we noticed during our visit to Great American Ballpark…

  • If you arrive early, check out the open plaza on the southwest side of the park. Jugglers, magicians, and all sorts of fun attractions are there to help pass the time until the gates open. The Reds team shop on the south side of the plaza has story after story of Reds trivia, apparel, and lots of other fun collectibles inside, not to mention the three-story tall baseball bats that double as pillars inside.
  • If you’re looking for good food, you could do worse than Skyline Chili. Their specialty is their chili dog but they have other options as well. The chili dog may look gnarly to the eyes but it was great on the taste buds.
  • Parking can be kinda tricky with the river blocking off one whole side of the stadium so keep a heads-up for a good deal that you might get only one block west of the highway by the park.
  • Since Cincinnati is on the Kentucky border (and the Cincy airport is actually in Kentucky), we found that hotels were much cheaper around the airport than in Cincinnati.

All in all, we enjoyed our visit to Great American Ballpark. It’s not the flashiest ballpark or the most iconic but I’d give it a 6 out of 10. Hey, they can’t all be Coors Field! Here’s to checking another one off the list.