Day 3 ~ In which #KiwiChickInUSA goes to her first baseball game

Starting the day off at a little diner called Mandy’s Family Restaurant, real old school stuff with seats at the counter and lots of choices of all-day breakfast that have bacon in them. All good. Which is why I ordered a bacon and avocado omelette (in case you’re interested!), which was tasty but no way could I finish the whole plate.

Next was more driving and looking at cars—actually, my DH looked at cars and dealt with salespeople, I read Jill Shalvis’s latest book. A much more enjoyable experience, I can assure you. Did I mention I’m a huge Jill Shalvis fan and hoping I get to say hello to her at the RWA conference without keeling over and dissolving into a puddle of nervous giggles.

We made it to the Dodgers Stadium through a crush of traffic on the I5 and found our way to the entrance where a very helpful police officer told us how to get to our seats. We were completely clueless, and no doubt gawking at this huge, frantically busy stadium like country bumpkins. And the blue…blue shirts, blue caps, and even a few with dyed blue hair. Wow. Lucky I convinced DH that he really shouldn’t wear the San Diego Padres cap he’d picked up at Walmart yesterday…Of course we had to try the Dodgers Dog and some garlic fries, but I have to be honest, they really weren’t the greatest. The atmosphere—and the seats we got—more than made up for it. Luckily, for the majority of the 3 hours we weren’t sitting in the sun and we had a blast jumping up for the Mexican Wave that seemed to go on forever and joining in with the ‘Let’s go Dod-gers’ chant. Turns out American’s are even more passionate about their baseball than we New Zealanders are about our rugby. After the game (the Dodger’s won 4-3) we stayed for a while watching the Top Gun movie showing on the huge stadium screens. We were going to go sit on the field, but got told by a security guard we weren’t allowed, so we decided to head home. Then we made a rookie mistake and left from a different entrance than the one we came in through. Yup, we got a little disorientated and ended up walking what felt like FOR MILES trying to find where we left the car. Eventually, we came across it and headed home through crazy traffic and downtown L.A lights. We picked up some Chinese for dinner in front of Fear The Walking Dead and the fortune cookie prediction was perfect for us: Life is full of wonder…explore what’s around you.

Amen, friends. Amen.

I’ve always wanted to meet a CHiP – yes, I watched the program as a kid! 🙂

By this point we were very lost, but the ladies we asked to take our photos were so sweet and helpful!

What this Kiwi Chick loved most about today: Listening to The Star Spangled Banner being beautifully sung before the game.

Things this Kiwi Chick learned today: That the big jar of white stuff on a diner’s table is sugar, not powdered creamer…

What food this Kiwi Chick loved today: Chinese food from the restaurant next to the hotel – VEGETABLES!