Friday morning we rolled in and got the rest of our training done...amazing how fast things start to come together when layered over days. The plans that took us 3 hours to complete were getting done in 30 minutes now. Keystrokes were coming into play and we were getting excited about heading to the Red Sox game that evening....

Gifts, Red Sox Tickets & The T

After class dismissed Friday we made a frantic dash around town for presents and to take a few more pics and of course hit the oldest fire house in town.

We took a few pics on main street and stumbled upon Station 1 purely by accident, but were glad we did after getting out and asking to take a few pics for home. The brothers were helpful, and grabbed us drinks for the road. Then made sure we knew the next time we came up, we would be better to spend time with the real firefighters in town. Ain't we all the same!
After a brief visit they directed us to the local minor league ballpark where we spent too much money and then off to the hotel we went to clan up for the game.

Ahh yes, the game, my real reason for getting us into that class...LOL

We didnt leave the hotel till 10 minutes to game time, did I memntion we were 30 minutes away from our parking place...and little did we know another 20 minutes from the park. Oh and the other plot twist to this story...we didnt have tickets! Yep, no tickets for a friday game at Fenway, but off we went anyway.
Traffic was thankfully light, and we arrived at my friends firehouse to find them eating dinner, and of course watching the game on TV. Have I mentioned that watching Red Sox games is like a cult thing up there??? So again we were treated better then could have been expected, and were given very specific directions to the park. Not to mention, where to look for tickets and an invitation to hang out longer next time. And off we went...
The subway ride was crowded but not overly so and we arrived at kenewick station unscathed. We did however get a few strange looks when offering our seats to women who were standing up...isn't this normal???
After a brief walk we were at Fenway...now I can tell you, I felt like a kid on christmas. See...Fenway is definatly on EVERY baseball fans "Bucket List". I know it has been on mine since the first time I saw Yaz play against my Rangers in the mid 1970's. And now I was here, but and it was a BIG but, without a ticket to get in. NO worries, I have always been able to aquire sports tickets at the last minute...but this was Fenway. OK, so you get the picture.
We found the ticket window and were promptly told they were sold out, but we might try gate A. So off to A we went, and ran across a guy scalping lower level tickets for $30 each. Now those were $700 tickets so I was not optomistic but looked anyway. Hmm no bar Code...not good. Course he wants to sell them that way and having worked for the Texas Rangers, I knew what they should look like and passed on them. A good thing as 2 girls tried to use them and were told they had already been in the park...oops. Anyway, we made it to Gate A and were told it was "Will Call only". Damn!
My luck was fading, but then I saw a Jake in uniform and asked him if he had any idea where we could come up with a couple tickets. When he saw we were on the job, he grabbed the security guy and sent him looking...god I love this job. A couple minutes later we go back to the window and viola, standing room only tickets! and get this $10 each!!! Again did I mention how much I love this job!

So we go in and walk up the steps to the area behind home plate...WOW! It was everything I imagined and more. Rabbid fans, incredible vibe, and my Rangers hit a 2 run homer just after we hit the top step...it was gonna be a great night. Hold up there Lone Ranger...that made it a 9-3 game, 9-3! Ummm...yeah we were now only 6 runs behind...so maybe it was not gonna be a great night, lol.

Well, bad is relative...right? Bad for my Rangers, but incredible for the fact I had gotten to watch a game at Fenway Park.

Here are a few of the moments that I will always remember:

- Sweet Caroline...bump bump buuhhhhhhh! That was awesome.
If you dont know what I am talking about...go to a Sox game!
- Rangers turn 2 and I yell..."YEAH!" and immediatly follow up with "Yankees Suck!" Thanks J!
- Walking out of the park and seeing the 10 year old telling his dad how awesome it is going to the game with him, and that they should do it every night. Yeah that made me a little misty.
- While taking pics of Fenway Park a guy walks up and asks to use Johns phone, and tells his girlfriend a security guy let him use it...well when she arrived she quickly corrected him with "those aah fyafightahs, of course they let you use theyah phone" And after seeing the Wally plush in my hand ask who it was for and gave me her Red Sox Nation band for my 3 year old too. Pretty cool...

The T

Still on a high from Fenway we headed back to the T thinking it would be crowded, but not expecting the cattle drive we were in for. I could go into great detail of our trek to the Subway, but that would not add anything to the story, so Ill go strait to the Gray line train.

So we get on and think the car is full, but the doors stay open for another 2 minutes. NOW let me tell ya...for two minutes we were stacked in like sardines, wait sardines need more room than that. Let's just say that those Volkswagons with Clowns that keep exiting, well...they dont begin to describe how packed we were. Crazy.

OK, we make the first stop and Im thinking relief...right. Nope 1 guy gets off, and 10 took his place. Now there wasnt room for the 1 guy, but somehow we got 10 in his place. Needless to say we were rather personal with everyone around us...lol.

Yeah I know Im all over the place, but it was crazy...

So we finally made it back to the other side of Boston and ran into a captain from NOTCFD who was also headed for his car. We talked for a few minutes and my friend came rolling back into the station from a call, so we got to say goodbye in person. Did I mention that while we were at the game I was getting texts asking if we had gotten into the game. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

So we had to be on our way to the airport at 4 am and it was quickly approacing 2 am when we finally left, so needless to say...the trip home had it's moments too.

More on that tomorrow...