The drive from Baltimore to Atlanta is about 10 hours. We decided in the planning stages that we would drive through the night and stop in Greenville, SC which was only 8 hours away, take a nap, and then drive the very short drive to Turner Field for our 17th game of this trip. Tim’s older brother, Joey, offered us his apartment for the morning, and even did some grocery shopping for us. Rebecca and Andrew took care of the driving and everyone slept very well during our daytime nap.
We didn’t get to do our customary walk around the concourse before the start of the game, but we got to do something a lot better. Before the trip, Rebecca reached out to all of the MLB teams telling them about our adventure. The Braves thought it was a cool idea, and Chandler Faccento, a Guest Services Coordinator with the Braves, made sure we would have a great game day experience! He arranged for us to get field access before the game so we could watch batting practice, and promised us some pretty cool Braves gear. Needless to say, we were excited to go to the game. This was our fourth and final time seeing the Braves on this trip, and it was also our third and final time seeing the Padres. These two teams have given us some of the best game day experiences so far on this trip, and we wish we could continue to see them over the next 17 days.
When Chandler brought us down to the field, he mentioned that his boss, Erin Sheehan, was a Marquette grad as well, and was very excited for us on our trip. She came down to the field to meet us and we got to talking about the trip and Marquette. She asked us where we were sitting for the game, and we told her in section 415. She said no, and pulled some fancy Guest Services strings and we were upgraded to section 108! She took us on a little tour of the offices where we got to see some pretty unique Marquette gear, and talk about the construction of the new Braves ballpark: SunTrust Field. If we had more time in Atlanta, we probably would have been able to see some of the construction in person. As if the Braves and our Marquette connection hadn’t already spoiled us enough, we were also given field passes for the Charlie XCX concert post game, and the promises of H & F Burgers at some point during the game.
We found our amazing seats, met up with Joey and sat down to enjoy the game. This was our third time seeing Ross pitch for the Padres. We were a little worried for the Braves going into this game. We always cheer for the home team, and we are keeping track of our home team record. The Padres have hurt that record twice. They lost at home when we saw them against the Pirates and beat the Reds in Cincinnati. But today, the Braves won 4-1 and our home team record moved to 10-7.
We were surprised with some amazing Braves gear bags, filled with tshirts, hats, bobble heads, and tomahawks. They were a welcomed surprise. After the 7th inning stretch (which the Braves announced very well) we got to try H&F Burgers. Erin told us they aren’t as good as Sobelman’s in Milwaukee, but they are pretty tasty. We determined that they are a very different burger, and delicious. H&F is a restaurant in Atlanta that doesn’t have burgers on the menu, but is famous for them. The owner will sell 24 of them each night at 10pm, and that’s it. They are all made the exact same way, and they are pretty coveted by restaurant goers in Atlanta.
After the game we stayed for a bit of the Charlie XCX concert and then went for a drive around downtown Atlanta. It was pretty late so we couldn’t stop and do much, but we made sure to drive past the Georgia Dome and were very surprised to see that they are building a new stadium across the street, which is scheduled to open in 2017, the same year as the new Braves park. We will have to come back to Atlanta sometime in 2017 to experience the Braves in a brand new place and see the new football stadium.