Grandad Visits and Off to Pensacola for Baseball! (Day 6)

Day 6 of the trip was an exciting one as we got to meet up with my father, who was on a road trip of his own, and head over to Pensacola, Florida to take in a Blue Wahoos baseball game.  This was a new stadium for all of us and we were exited.  My Dad met us over at the AirBnB and we all took off in the early in the afternoon for the game (the wife and kids needed to sleep in).  As you can see, they slept in the car ride to Pensacola too.

The ride from the AirBnB to the ballpark was only about an hour and it was a nice ride along the coast.  When we got there, there was plenty of parking and we went right into the stadium.  I was pretty jazzed as I've been to somewhere around 60 different minor league parks now.  So when I visit a new one, it's pretty exciting.  

I did not really recognize anyone from the lineups except Victor Victor Mesa.  He was a highly touted prospect that signed with the Marlins (along with his brother Victor Mesa Jr.).  He has not advanced as far as those would have expected, but it was still cool to see him.  

I always enjoy walking around the stadiums to see what they have to offer.  In this case, the stadium was a beautiful place to see a game.  What made it even better was the weather was sunny and 71 degrees and it was the first game I saw of the 2022 season.  

My family and I had really good seats to the game along the first base side, close to the field.  

This gave us a great view of the mascot race which included representation from all branches of the US military.  Of course I rooted for the Marine Bulldog.  

As always, the girls and I had to hunt down the mascot to get our picture taken with him.  

The girls and I did a lot of exploration at the stadium and they loved it.  It was nice to see them being good friends and exploring together.  

We stayed the whole game and unfortunately the Blue Wahoos lost the game 3 - 1.  It was a pretty bad effort by the home team, but we had a really fun time.  

When the game was over, they let us go down on the field for a game of catch.  Since my daughters and I always bring gloves to the game, this was a lot of fun.  I was so happy watching them play catch as the sun set over the stadium.  

Overall, Blue Wahoo Stadium is an amazing place to see a game and I highly recommend going.  It is located right along the water in Pensacola and not too far from a really neat downtown area with some different bars, restaurants and shops.  So after the game, we wanted to grab some dinner before the drive back to Gulf Shores.  

It was a little later on a Sunday night and a lot of things were closing up.  However, we were able to find a place called Graffiti Pizza which had some great sounding pizzas and a nice beer lineup.  I forgot to take some pictures, but we sat out on the patio there enjoying our pizza and watching the Red Sox game on TV behind their outdoor bar.  

Overall, it was an amazing day with not a lot going on other than some baseball and pizza.  A perfect follow up day to the craziness we experienced in New Orleans.