Staycation, SLC Bees vs Tacoma Rainiers, Game 49

Here is another of our many staycation.  For anyone who hasn't heard, a staycation is taking the time you would use to leave the state for vacation and using it in your state, and taking advantage of the great things it has to offer you not to far away from home. An interesting concept right?  I thought it was.

The itch came on around Monday.  We have been working in the yard and working in the house, which by the way can I tell you my back is killing me! Mental note to self bend knees when pulling weeds!

This along with work in general, plus handling all the other extras in life that have a way of showing up when you least expect it.

By Tuesday the itch really came on, we thought to ourselves, the kids were all going to be off doing the things that they just love to do, and we were all caught up, even if only for the moment we were caught up! Here we are open with a free weekend and we hadn’t been to a game this year what are we waiting for? Our own short and sweet staycation!    

We looked for tickets online at the Bees website.  They really didn’t have any good seats left we should have looked sooner, I think that itch had a delay in it!  So here are with the stars aligned telling us this was our turn to get out, and we couldn’t find any decent tickets, at least not any we could have and sit together!  If you ever find yourself in this predicament I have an idea that ended up being worth the try for us.
 Use the internet to look for someone selling tickets online. 

In my case I went to KSL Classifieds.  Always make sure you check out the sellers information the best that you can, find out all the information you can and call to verify.  That is exactly what we did and it worked out dandy!  It turns out our tickets were worth more than just a seat, we ended up with two tickets, section 20 in the front row which put us in between third and home base plus a VIP parking pass that was VERY convenient that in itself!  Trust me if you have ever tried looking and paying for parking this is a definite bonus feature, you feel like your sneaking in and out! Our tickets also included fireworks after the game, and all this went for $30.00 it worked out great!

Five reasons why baseball is a great choice for a staycation?

1. To watch the game (of course). Cheer for your favorite team.
2. To get out and have fun without dumping a ton of money into it, (date night or family night.)
3. Step up to the concession stands and have one of their famous All Star Dogs.
4. Catch a foul ball. Oh the determination and don't forget the maskcot shoots off shirts to the audience too!
5. See the expressions and hear the comments of the players live and in person.  It's always amazing to me to see the size of the players, the T.V. is very misleading, these guys are good sized players!
6. Keep your eye on the ball, you never know where that it's going to go!  True story, I swear one time at the game a player hit the ball and it shot straight into the girls bathroom!
7. C'mon it's baseball, an all American sports!   

Here is how I went about finding game tickets.

•  Look online for a site such as KSL Classifieds, check out the deals.
• Make sure you compare them with the available seats at the Bees website.
• Never pay with credit cards over the phone.  Often they will give you a couple of options either to meet them at a arranged location for the exchange of money for the tickets, or you can pay with Pay Pal and they can take the tickets to will call for you to pick up on the day of the game.  
• Check for credibility, make sure you follow up call to see if the sellers name is known with the game ticket office prior to sending money.
• If you are meeting at an arranged spot let someone know who you will be meeting the address and contact information, and never go alone, it’s just good business.
• Remember the odds are they are perfectly legitimate but it’s up to you to keep the good people honest.   
  
  
  
  And so after the Pre-Wedding Bridal Shower Saturday I went to it was off to the Salt Lake Bees vs. the Tacoma Rainiers game, yay!
  
  We were excited and looking forward to spending the summer evening up at the Spring Mobile Ballpark watching the Bees take on the Rainiers for Game 49 and firework show after to celebrate.  The Bees had not been doing the best but maybe, just maybe this would be the game that turned things around.
  
  We made it to the game and I was able to jump out pick up the tickets from will call and jump back into the car before the light changed, talk about great timing.  We parked in our VIP parking and off we went to get seated. We got a drink, and headed for our seats.  We were happy with our seating we had to sit in the sun for about ten minutes before it moved over behind the stadium it was warm out there though!
  
  The more I think about it I think there was an another agenda to going to the game for sure! I think we had something inside that was craving one of the All Star Dogs from the concession stands!  Did I just put that down in typing?  Yes I did and I even went so far as to take pictures as well! I think it's fair to say everyone loves a good hot dog.
  
  
  
  
  The baseball game concession stands know just how to pull together a great All Star Dog, it had our taste buds going while we were enjoying the yummy hot dog!
  
  
  
  
  After we got what we came for we had time to kill so we watched the game!  I don’t mean that, they just have this sauce they put on it that is pretty tasty and with the toppings it is just tasty, we split though don’t worry about me!
  
  
  It was a great time, I don't know what they were thinking but from where I was sitting it looked like everything they put together was working, the Salt Lake Bees won the game 18-9 and that was a ball game.  The fireworks were great but I really hate traffic so we snuck out early.  Another staycation under our belts!
  

Dirt Bike Cake with Whoops

There is something to be said about a cake made at home.  This was a bit of a production I must warn you, but all well worth it!  Take a look and see what you think!

I just wanted to put this one out there.  I am not the everyday sweet baker but I wanted to make this cake.  I couldn't find a bike cake similar to this anywhere and I like the taste of home made cakes better than the store bought ones.

Click here to read about a motocross experience.

Every since I made this cake I have been making cakes instead of buying them, and I will tell you something, it will get eaten!  This cake was inspired by my son and his love for motocross and dirt bikes!  Mission accomplished!

I went a bit to tall, actuall really tall!

I made it with Oreo's whipped cream cake mix icing over snickers for the whoops and a little creative thinking on my part!  I had fun with it and they loved it!  I had people from the party place asking if they could try it they loved the way it looked so much!

Here is the recipe.

Motocross An Amazing Race

Our 16 year old son that rides Motocross.  For those of you who do not know I will try to explain from my eyes.  Motocross is an exciting and often painful sport not to mention physically demanding, one that continues to grow and grow.  It is where dirt bike riders from near and far, the young and not so young come to ride. They compete on many levels for bragging rights, the thrill of the ride and who knows maybe pick up a trophy along the way.  But I think more the thrill of the ride.  They line up with sometimes up to forty racers at the gate to compete on a long man made obstacle course designed with jumps, whoops and other obstacles.

Very enduring.

My son raced in his second race of the year at the annual Utah State Motocross Championship race.  To watch him from when he was just my little guy on the powder puff track who would tip over and everyone would race to pick him up,  to how he has grown in to this young man, doing it all on his own today is one of the reasons I titled this the amazing race.  It has been simply amazing to watch.

The race was a 3-motto format done over 2 days. This is new to me I wasn’t sure what to expect.   But talk about long difficult Moto’s on a new updated track oh my goodness!  The endurance to stay on that track and compete strong lap after lap is unreal.

He had raced in the beginner level in his first race and did so well that this time he was moving up to the junior’s class.  He went to the open practice that Friday.  He felt pretty good about it.  He was so nervous, this will be his last race for this year and he wanted to do well.  He went up early morning Saturday.  My youngest had a football game going on in that same time frame and we were about 19 miles away from the track.  Always with the impeccable timing, and so my youngest played a rough game of football, and played well winning the game, bonus!  Then it was our amazing race to make it to the race before it was his turn.

You have to love it, trying to be in two places at the same time.

My son did the morning practice.  It isn’t to work on his speed so much, it helps him to take a good look at the track and feel it out.   He tries racing at a good speed to give himself an idea and feel for the track.

After they all practiced he took a look at how the starts were run, he looks to see how the gate drops, and where he wanted to start at on the line.  You have to pay close attention to the race order and watch to see what you will have to expect when your race is up.

That and if you don’t pay attention, well you will miss your race!

Miraculously I was able to make it to the race and with no time to spare.  He was on the line.  I have always had my video camera with me.  I had gotten pretty dang good at shooting film, but I like to scout out the track to see where it leads and I didn’t get to do that.   They have added to the track, combining it with the track.  So you have to film pretty far.  So many factors in filming a race! 
It is time.

He gave himself enough time so that he wasn’t rushing before his race.  They do a random draw to decide who gets to pick first of where to start from the gate.  Then they begin what will be a long and enduring day of racing for all who are involved.  He chose his spot on the line next to the box, he was at the gate they started their large and very powerful bikes revving their engines all at once.  He was sitting there on his 450 Yamaha at the line with anticipation  of the gate dropping, three, two, one the gate dropped and all at once he along with everyone else at the gate raced for the whole shot.  The whole shot is a corner the riders battle to get around first.  There really is so much that goes into racing.   It is very calculated.

Once he made it through the whole shot he was off to race his heart out for the next fifteen minutes of the Motto.  He raced through ruts, and crater sized holes, rocks the size of your fist flying at him all of this while holding the throttle down at full speed.

After his first lap I could tell he was feeling it, he had went down when he was taking a corner in one of the deep ruts made from previous riders. That would cost him some time.  His arms always hurt and swell from the arm pumping, he always tells me how he loses hand control it makes it a struggle to hold onto the bike.  The course is almost a mile long and you do about five laps at full speed.  By the end of the race he was physically beat!

Oh did I mention he was going to undergo this whole process again the next day!

It makes you wonder who goes out of their way to do this right?  The amounts of money constantly put into the bike, the gear, and the racing.  The chance of serious injury or any injury at all for that matter, there is a lot at stake and a lot to chance.   It goes back to the thrill of the ride I tell you.  The chances of winning the whole race are really slim.  So it is that hope of getting what your came there for that brings them back again and again.  To really understand you would have to physically do it, get on a bike and physically ride before you could get the big picture as to why they do this.