Baseball in the Lone Star State

Despite being lifelong Mariners fans and having followed their team to many distant ballparks, Ray and Traci had never followed their team to their AL West nemesis, the Rangers. Thanks to an early road trip having games both in Arlington and Houton, Ray and Traci planned an early season tour of Texas’s ballparks. Alaska Airlines fortunately flies nonstop to both Dallas and Houston, so transportation was quite convenient. After arriving at DFW airport, Ray called the Arlington Hilton shuttle bus to bring them to their hotel. With a late arrival, Ray did not get tickets for the Friday game which was a good thing since the Mariners posted the first of many losses that weekend. Ray did wander out of the Hilton to the ballpark, to watch the Friday post game fireworks show. Saturday was a very busy day – the Hilton shuttle bus took Ray and Traci to the NFL’s Taj Mahal – Cowboys Stadium for an amazing tour of the facility.

Starting in the team store, visitors then wander around the stands, then head down to the artificial turf where kids of all ages played out football dreams. Afterwards, the tour continues into the locker rooms for both the Cowboys and their cheerleaders which were also pretty amazing.

The stadium has a retractable “sunroof” similar to the opening in the Cowboy’s famous old stadium, although the tour guides remarked how few games are actually played with the roof open. After leaving the grand cathedral of NFL football, Ray and Traci walked toward another Arlington attraction – Six Flags giant amusement park. Walking turned out to be a mistake because it was 3 miles along a path which very little pedestrian access. During the journey, Ray and Traci had the opportunity to really admire the exterior of the Texas Ranger’s Ballpark.

The brick facades sported curious pictures resembling ancient hieroglyphics.

Eventually, the baseball fans arrived at Six Flags. Given the limited time available, Ray bought a platinum entry pass which basically means guests don’t have to wait in any lines. This turned out to be a mistake as riding some pretty intense roller coasters – Batman, Mr Freeze, and the Texas Giant was enough to make Ray and Traci feel quite ill. So after only 5 rides in 90 minutes, they decided to go back to the hotel. Ray and Traci ate dinner both Friday and Saturday evening next door at Boston’s Restaurant and sports bar. After dinner, Ray and Traci took the Hilton shuttle to the ballgame. The inside of Rangers ballpark isn’t quite as nice as the outside. Some of the field views are obstructed and the upper deck level railings made front row patrons look through a plexiglass barrier to see the action.

The Rangers have been a great team during the past few years and the crowd clearly brought much enthusiasm to what was previously a football only town. Unfortunately, the Mariners played the role of a kind guest and lost the second contest in a row.

Ray started Sunday with run around the stadium district, again admiring the beautiful setting of both the Cowboys’ and Rangers’ home stadiums. Large grass parks along with artificial lakes break up the long roads and parking lots. Ray and Traci took the shuttle bus to the stadium for a final Mariners game.

Fortunately the game was rather close until Ray and Traci had to leave for the airport, allowing them to mercifully miss what turned into another lopsided Mariner loss making the Arlington series one of the Mariners worse ever. The friendly Hilton Shuttle bus driver turned out to be a former Seattle native and classmate of Traci’s aunt – he brought the baseball fans from the stadium to the airport where they took a very short American Airlines flight from Dallas to Houston. Of all of the places Ray and Traci have visited, it would be hard to find a more friendly tourist  town than Arlington – at the hotel, the stadiums, the restaurants, everyone worked hard to make tourists feel welcome…everyone except the Texas Rangers who didn’t share the hospitality with the Mariners.

At Houston’s Bush International Airport, Ray and Traci rented a car and drove to the downtown Hilton. The hotel was beautiful and modern, perhaps the nicest Hilton they ever stayed at. It also was only a few blocks from the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid ballpark. Arriving late on a Sunday night, Ray and Traci had dinner at the hotel’s main restaurant.

On Monday, Ray and Traci drove their rental car to NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

While America is currently not launching any manned spacecraft, the Space Center continues to provide a glimpse into the rich history of the program with a tram tour of the area, close up tours of the past rockets, and a quite informative space exhibit and museum covering all aspects of space flight.

Having done a similar tour at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida which just happened to include a satellite launch taking place that day, they weren’t as impressed at the Houston site. From the Houston space facility, Ray and Traci returned to the hotel. After a late lunch at a nearby food court, Ray and Traci walked a few blocks to Minute Maid Park. Houston plays in a downtown retractable roof stadium much like Safeco Field. Minute Maid has a sterile feel to it - perhaps the plethora of empty seats and having two struggling teams playing that evening removes much of the enthusiasm seen in Arlington. Taking place on a beautiful spring night in Texas, one of the ushers remarked how she was unhappy that the roof was actually open as she anticipated a cold night in her empty section.

Ray and Traci actually scored some dugout seats behind the Mariners using stubhub.com and witnessed a brilliant Felix Hernandez performance allowing them to salvage one victory among the three games attended.

Much like the Met’s new Citi Field, there doesn’t seem to be much wrong with with the stadium but it really doesn’t capture visitor’s imaginations either.

Before leaving downtown Houston, Ray jogged around downtown early next morning. Despite being a large metropolis, downtown was easy to navigate with limited traffic in the area around the Hilton. After checking out of the beautiful Hilton hotel, Ray and Traci drove to the airport. Their Alaska Airlines flight brought to back to Seattle, completing their Texas baseball adventure.