Before I go any further I would just like to apologize for how long it has taken me to write this piece and finish this Baseball Road Trip Series. Part of it has been being very busy between school, work, and other obligations that currently take priority over this, as well as sometimes lacking motivation. But I am back, and I am hoping that I can still write about all my adventures that happened in the span of me not writing. Without further ado, here is the final piece of my family's Epic Baseball Week.
I have been to Greenville, South Carolina many times over the last few years. All of them have been to see some kind of sporting event because that's usually my main reason for traveling, but I'm a huge fan of the city in general, and it's somewhere I could see myself moving after college.
Whenever I make a trip to Greenville, it usually starts with me getting a Slurpee from 7-11 as we approach downtown, since we don't have any in Georgia. Unfortunately this time I accidentally directed my mom to a 7-11 that inadvertently took us a little bit out of our way. It wasn't a huge deal but even as I sipped on my Cap'n Crunch Berry flavored Slurpee (I was skeptical too but it tasted amazing) I still felt a little bit bad about it. This did not deter us in any way, shape, or form in the long term because we still made it to Greenville with plenty of exploring time.
When going to see a Baseball game in Greenville on a Saturday, your best bet for free parking is to park in at the Tax Collector building. I don't know how it works on weekdays but it hasn't failed us yet on a Saturday. The West End district of Greenville has a lot to offer in terms of shops and restaurants. A personal favorite of mine is "The Vault" a store that specializes in Retro Sports Appearal. On this particular day, I decided to buy a teal colored Florida Marlins hat (which is much better than their current logo but that's a story for another day), and a Furman University T-shirt. Why the Furman T-shirt you ask? Simple, the shirt had the Institution's initials on it, which would, of course, be "FU." It has since become one of my favorite shirts and has drawn the laughs of many of my friends and acquaintances. The Vault well and truly has someone for everyone, and is a must visit for any sports fan.
For lunch, we went to Kilpatrick's Public House, an Irish Bar/Restaurant that is attached to a Comedy Club. Considering it was the middle of the afternoon, there wasn't any comedy going on but a still decent selection of food and drink that made it a worthwhile choice.
After lunch, we made our way to Fluor Field. Unbeknownst to me, that night's Drive game against the Asheville Tourists was one of four “Copa de la Diversión” games, a celebration of Greenville's Hispanic community. With this special promotion, included alternate uniforms and also going by the name "Greenville Energia."
With Greenville being a Red Sox affiliate, Fluor Field has a handful of nods to Fenway Park. The most prominent one, being a replica of The Green Monster in Left Field. One of the highlights of this game was a player hitting a homerun over the Green Monster, a feat that my brother and I pondered being possible for a Single-A player. We never said it couldn't be done. So technically, we weren't wrong.
It's not often that going to a Baseball game teaches me a valuable lesson, but this was one of those rare times it did. The dessert stand at Fluor Field is called Sweet Caroline's, a nod to the song "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond which is sung by Red Sox fans every game at Fenway Park in Boston, as well as Drive fans in Greenville
While looking at the menu, I couldn't help but notice that the larger sized Ice cream was only $1 more more expensive than its smaller counterpart, so I decided to take advantage of that. This turned out to be a poor decision because it ended with me getting an upset stomach. Eventually, I decided I needed I needed to leave the confines of my seat in favor of the grassy knoll on the third base side, which in all fairness, was a great place to watch the game.
So even if it did end up going well in the long run, I still think I will refrain from upsetting my stomach by eating too much Ice Cream, in general, but especially at Baseball games.
This was another tight contests which would also end up going to extra innings. This was the night after the crazy extra innings game in Atlanta that we couldn't even stay until the end for, so we decided we'd had enough and made our way home.
A few days later my brother flew back to Virginia, and my mom and I took quite a bit of recovery time following our amazing, but very busy, week.
I had never done anything like this before, but I honestly couldn't have asked for better places to have visited, or better company in my mother as brother. Well, maybe my sister and brother in-law in addition to them, but maybe that can happen next time.
I definitely don't think it'll be my last "ballpark tour" and when it does happen again, I will be sure to document it the best I can on here. Thank you for reading.
I have been to Greenville, South Carolina many times over the last few years. All of them have been to see some kind of sporting event because that's usually my main reason for traveling, but I'm a huge fan of the city in general, and it's somewhere I could see myself moving after college.
Whenever I make a trip to Greenville, it usually starts with me getting a Slurpee from 7-11 as we approach downtown, since we don't have any in Georgia. Unfortunately this time I accidentally directed my mom to a 7-11 that inadvertently took us a little bit out of our way. It wasn't a huge deal but even as I sipped on my Cap'n Crunch Berry flavored Slurpee (I was skeptical too but it tasted amazing) I still felt a little bit bad about it. This did not deter us in any way, shape, or form in the long term because we still made it to Greenville with plenty of exploring time.
When going to see a Baseball game in Greenville on a Saturday, your best bet for free parking is to park in at the Tax Collector building. I don't know how it works on weekdays but it hasn't failed us yet on a Saturday. The West End district of Greenville has a lot to offer in terms of shops and restaurants. A personal favorite of mine is "The Vault" a store that specializes in Retro Sports Appearal. On this particular day, I decided to buy a teal colored Florida Marlins hat (which is much better than their current logo but that's a story for another day), and a Furman University T-shirt. Why the Furman T-shirt you ask? Simple, the shirt had the Institution's initials on it, which would, of course, be "FU." It has since become one of my favorite shirts and has drawn the laughs of many of my friends and acquaintances. The Vault well and truly has someone for everyone, and is a must visit for any sports fan.
For lunch, we went to Kilpatrick's Public House, an Irish Bar/Restaurant that is attached to a Comedy Club. Considering it was the middle of the afternoon, there wasn't any comedy going on but a still decent selection of food and drink that made it a worthwhile choice.
After lunch, we made our way to Fluor Field. Unbeknownst to me, that night's Drive game against the Asheville Tourists was one of four “Copa de la Diversión” games, a celebration of Greenville's Hispanic community. With this special promotion, included alternate uniforms and also going by the name "Greenville Energia."
With Greenville being a Red Sox affiliate, Fluor Field has a handful of nods to Fenway Park. The most prominent one, being a replica of The Green Monster in Left Field. One of the highlights of this game was a player hitting a homerun over the Green Monster, a feat that my brother and I pondered being possible for a Single-A player. We never said it couldn't be done. So technically, we weren't wrong.
It's not often that going to a Baseball game teaches me a valuable lesson, but this was one of those rare times it did. The dessert stand at Fluor Field is called Sweet Caroline's, a nod to the song "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond which is sung by Red Sox fans every game at Fenway Park in Boston, as well as Drive fans in Greenville
While looking at the menu, I couldn't help but notice that the larger sized Ice cream was only $1 more more expensive than its smaller counterpart, so I decided to take advantage of that. This turned out to be a poor decision because it ended with me getting an upset stomach. Eventually, I decided I needed I needed to leave the confines of my seat in favor of the grassy knoll on the third base side, which in all fairness, was a great place to watch the game.
So even if it did end up going well in the long run, I still think I will refrain from upsetting my stomach by eating too much Ice Cream, in general, but especially at Baseball games.
This was another tight contests which would also end up going to extra innings. This was the night after the crazy extra innings game in Atlanta that we couldn't even stay until the end for, so we decided we'd had enough and made our way home.
A few days later my brother flew back to Virginia, and my mom and I took quite a bit of recovery time following our amazing, but very busy, week.
I had never done anything like this before, but I honestly couldn't have asked for better places to have visited, or better company in my mother as brother. Well, maybe my sister and brother in-law in addition to them, but maybe that can happen next time.
I definitely don't think it'll be my last "ballpark tour" and when it does happen again, I will be sure to document it the best I can on here. Thank you for reading.
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