Visit a friend in a different town (Again)

Last visit was to New Smyrna Beach, this visit was to "The Burg", "St. Pete", or "Home of the Rays."  My friend Teresa had invited me over to go to a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game with her.  She has season tickets (limited games - mostly weekends) and knows I like baseball. So I headed over on a Saturday morning and returned on Sunday.

The game was at 6PM against the Baltimore Orioles, leaders of the American League East. I told Teresa we could do lunch and some visiting then attend the game.  The ride over was uneventful but I still have not figured a route to avoid traffic. I tried the 192 route through St. Cloud and Kissimmee but of course that has lights and many cars. Interstate 4 is also always busy too. It is about a 3 hour drive to Teresa's home in north St. Petersburg from my house in Melbourne.

I arrived a little before noon. Teresa gave me a tour of her home remodeling done since my last visit, and then we headed out to have lunch. I asked Teresa to drive her fancy car since I had had enough driving for the morning.  We headed to downtown St Pete and we parked on one of the Avenues. Appropriately, the place she took me to for lunch was called "The Avenue."  It is located on 1st Avenue S between 3rd and 4th Streets.  I have included one side of the menu...I had forgotten my camera so I am sorry of the poor quality of the photos.

Partial Menu for The Avenue in St. Pete

I ordered a Jai Alai IPA to drink and Teresa ordered a water. I tried to get a picture of the bar but got mostly Teresa.

Teresa and the bar at The Avenue in St. Pete

Of course, I like to take pictures of my beer too!

Half full Jai Alai IPA (I am an optimist)

 The menu had lots of good things including poutine. Teresa said the burgers were great. She ordered the "Cal-Berkeley," described in the menu "Advocado, thick cut peppered bacon, chipotle mayo + Swiss."
I ordered the "Raging Bull," described as "Grass fed bison, cabernet glazed onions, mushrooms + smoked Gouda." You got a choice of regular or cajun fries. Of course I got the cajun...

"Raging Bull" at The Avenue in St. Pete

I liked that it was served on a wooden plank with an indentation for the fries. I asked Teresa if she thought they cooked the fries in the little basket they served it in. Those were cute but they were not hot...

Since this was a new restaurant for me, I give the place a 3 (great). I need to go back and try the poutine. It is a laid-back place, not too fancy. If you have ever been to the heart of St. Petersburg, you know that there are tons of bars and restaurants. It is a little touristy but I do not mind that.

After lunch, Teresa and I walked down to Sundial St Pete, the local shopping mall on 2nd Avenue North between 1st and 2nd streets. There is a place called the Locale Market which is a variety of food and deli like places selling a lot of local foods. There also have gourmet foods from around the world. It kind of reminded me of shopping at Downtown Produce or Green Turtle or Pettys. Think of all three of those located under one roof...Sorry no pictures. BTW, there is a huge sundial in the square, but I pointed out that it was two hours off the correct time.

After lunch we headed back to the house where we relaxed before heading back out for the game.  The game was at six but Teresa likes to go early to park in a small garage that charges only $5. As we walked to Tropicana Field, the prices were then $10, $15, and eventually $20. Teresa pointed out some of the new restaurants and stores on our walk to the field. For my friends that do not know, Tropicana Field is in the heart of downtown St Petersburg and is home to the Tampa Bay Rays. It is an inside stadium with a roof. Cool place to visit if you ever get a chance.

Since we got there early, and since there are not a lot of fans since they are in last place, we went to the Republic Bank Draft Room, a perk for season ticket holders. They have a bar, live music, free pop corn, and food available.  At the bar, I could watch the Baltimore Orioles do batting practice before the game.
I ordered a craft beer from the Green Bench Brewery, a local microbrewery not far from the stadium. here is a picture of my game program, beer, and a very bright window onto the field.

My beer and program at Tropicana Field

There were open areas to the field and I caught this with my phone. I found out after the fact that I could have brought my camera but i did not feel like carrying it anyway...

Baltimore Orioles taking batting practice (as seen from Draft Room)

After a beer and some free popcorn, Teresa and I headed down to our seats. The next few pictures are from our seats in section 124, row G, seats 6 & 7.

Real close to field on First Base side (home team Rays)

A selfie of me & Teresa at our seats....

Selfie of Teresa & I at Tropicana Field

The players were giving autographs right in front of us....

Autographs at Tropicana Field

During the National anthem, the players lined right in front of us. I had told Teresa that doing the middle of the anthem, the Orioles fans like to yell "O" when the word oh is sung. I do not think she knew what I was talking about, but sure enough, and I gave her a warning right before, a couple thousand Oriole fans yelled "O". It was great!

National Anthem (see words on scoreboard in LF)

The star of the team is Evan Longoria, I think he use to be on Desperate Housewives; here is a photo of him at bat...

Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays

Another player that the Rays have that I knew was Steven Souza Jr. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2007 and played on the Nats in 2014.  For my Vermont friends, he played on The Vermont Lake Monsters in 2008 in Burlington.  This is his second season with the Rays were he starts in Right Field.  I always liked him as a player and I am glad he is playing full time.

Steven Souza Jr of the Rays

 He also got two hits....

Steven Souza Jr. runs to first after a single.

 It was a good game but the Rays lost 2-1. They tried to get back the lead and it was not over until the final out. The Orioles, as I said, are in first place and the Rays are in last place in the American League East. On Saturdays, they have post game concerts which draws some of the people to the game. We did not stay to watch Bret Michaels (of Poison) perform.

Instead, we headed over to the Green Bench Brewing Company. I was curious about the name and found that at one time there were Green Benches throughout the city of St Petersburg. I have included a postcard...

Green Benches

They wanted a name that portrayed the history of the city. Teresa took a picture of me outside the Brewery...

BJ in front of the Green Bench Brewing Company

They had a large Beer Garden outside where people were enjoying a Birthday Party with a live Band. Inside, they have a farli large tasting room. A TV screen has the list of beers available. There were about 20 and took 2 pages that toggled back and forth. I ordered 2, 12, 15 and 19....

The flight Teresa and I shared at Green Bench Brewing Co.

 The first was "Easy Rollin", a rye session beer that was good. The next two were the Sunshine City IPA and the Green Bench IPA, both 6.8% ABV. The Sunshine City description on the web page: "In celebration of our beautifully sunny city, this IPA was designed to be a bright as the warmest summer day. Packed with hop flavor and aroma, we double dry hop this beer with equal parts of Mosaic, Citra and Azacca, for an intensely tropical profile reminiscent of tangerine, nectar, papaya, peach, kiwi, and pineapple." This was definitely my favorite of the flight.

The Green Bench IPA: "This is our “bench-mark” beer. A medium bodied ale with aromas of soft citrus and earthy pine combined with very subtle notes of tropical fruit. This highly hopped American style IPA leaves your pallet with a lingering dry and bitter finish." After the Sunshine, I did not like it as much.

The last was one that Teresa wanted to try called "Purple Rain."  It is a cider made with??? Sorry, no info as the brain was full for a day filled with activity. I will finish the trip description in my next post...