Fenway Park is Old

Lydia and I are a good travel team because she meticulously plans out trips months ahead of time and then I fix them like the day before they are about to take place with zany half baked nonsense. Well buying Red Sox tickets last night was one of my last minute plans that I think turned out pretty well.

To prepare for our Boston baseball bout we hit a local liquor store to gather pre-party supplies. Beers are expensive at the ballpark, people.

I had to get some Sam Adams Boston Lager out of principle.

I bought this Night Shift Brewing New England pale ale for the sole fact that To Be Fair references one of my current favorite tv shows, Letterkenny. I am not ashamed.

I hope that this is supposed to be funny and if so, congratulations.

So as I stated concerning the Uber from the airport, there's a shortage of drivers and I wonder if the only ones remaining are the weirdos. On our way to Fenway Park we booked another Uber. We got a message that the driver doesn't want more than two passengers in her car. Fine. When she arrived and we hopped in her car, she sanitized both of our hands. If memory serves I think she also had the windows rolled down the whole way to prevent covid cooties. Fine. So I started to make my requisite driver small talk to try to make this trip less awkward and I asked if she had gotten her vaccinations yet. "No I'm still on the fence about it".

I thought the layout of the Area in front of Fenway was kind of interesting. Built in 1912, Fenway Park is the oldest active major league baseball ballpark. For a little perspective on how frigging ancient this is, 1912 is the year that famous Civil War nurse and Red Cross founder Clara Barton died. Because of this there is a lot of quirky stuff going on to try to smash modernity into the old place. For example you can see here that they are doing the metal detectors outside in the middle of the street. There's no way they would fit inside the building. Blocking off the street was kind of fun because it meant that there was a whole block of bars and baseball merch shops that were inside the secure zone.

Venerated American treasure standing in front of Fenway Park.

The original ticket booths are now just filled with memorabilia.

As members of #ModernaGang it was nice to be in friendly territory.

I'm a long time Boston Beer Company fan and shareholder so I was excited to see that ol Sammy Adams had taken up residence in the ballpark. I sort of forgot that ballparks don't have to be plastered in Budweiser signs.

"Fenway has the Fenway Frank, a classic brownish-red tube of pork and beef slapped on a New England roll-steamed white bread. Accoutrements? Just mustard, please (after all, this is New England, not Chicago)." At six bucks I didn't think I got too terribly brutalized. I have actually been on the hunt for a lobster roll but all of the places that sell them in the park seem to be sold out. Blast!

"Juicy, hazy and full-on wicked, Wicked Hazy New England IPA is bursting with fresh fruit aroma, packing punches of oranges, mango, and pineapple. It's delightfully drinkable with full flavor and a smooth, silky finish. Crack it open and be prepared-it's wicked delicious!" I don't say the word "wicked" nearly enough and I plan to rectify that starting today.

I was still sad about the dearth of lobster rolls in this establishment but pizza helped me get over it pretty quickly. Regina Pizzeria is Boston's oldest and had an outpost in the park so we went for a classic. 

I think they need to bring back this big red condom mascot to boost attendance. I suppose it could backfire if it lowered the population of Boston.

I wowed the crowd with my angelic voice during a seventh inning stretch rendition of "Sweet Caroline".

Apparently in between beers and eating and walking condoms there was a baseball game taking place. The Red Sox beat the Angels 4-3.

Adding to the old-timey ambience of the park was the hand operated scoreboard. 

Walking down this ramp out of the park which was slapped along the outside of the building, you could get a good look at the hodgepodge of bricks old and new.