Southern California - 2002 - Angels Baseball Game

Edison Field - Anaheim Angels vs. Baltimore Orioles - July 4, 2002

This is a re-print of an original post to the ThompsonFamilyWeb site about a trip we took to Southern California in July 2002. It is mostly unaltered from my original post.

Intro
Angels Baseball game
Old Towne Orange
Disneyland
California Adventure
Downtown Disney
Harbor Blvd Hotels


While planning this trip we obviously knew we'd be there for the 4th of July. We knew we would want to see fireworks, but we were unsure where. Andie & I really did not want to have to find someplace that would have fireworks once we arrived, and we knew that we did not want to deal with what we assumed would be a mob scene at Disneyland. We were planning on staying with my brother Todd and his wife Kim on the 2nd and 3rd, then switching to my parant's place for the 4th. Todd & Kim live near Lake Elsinore, so I called the Lake Elsinore parks department to see if there would be fireworks on the lake or something. The woman I spoke with told me that, if anyone would have fireworks it would be the "Lake Elsinore Storm" - the local Minor League baseball team. They were, however, scheduled to be out of town on the 4th.

Still, that got me thinking… Summer… Fireworks… Baseball… Anaheim… The Angels! I looked up the schedule for the Angels and - sure enough - they were scheduled to be in town on the 4th and they were planning fireworks (of course). I went on line to buy tickets and found that absolutely awesome field box seats in right field were available. Funny thing - being a Yankee fan - the seats were $23 each. Comparable seats at Yankee stadium would be about $55. Twenty-threee dollar seats at Yankee Stadium are not exactly in the nosebleed section, but you had better bring spare oxygen.

Edison Field is a very nice stadium. As long as I lived in the area, I only went to the old "Angels Stadium" (The "Big A") once - and that was for a football game (I was a Dodger fan when I lived in Southern California.) The stadium was the home of the Rams for a while. I don't remember much about the stadium from that trip - except the Rams lost and the stadium was a lousey place to see a football game. Now that it's been re-done (and re-named), it's a very nice place to enjoy a ball game. The public areas are airy and light, and the field is nice. Of course I'm used to Yankee Stadium, which can't be beat for watching a game but leaves a lot to be desired once you leave your seat.

The game itself was pretty dull - the Angels lost 7-2 - but it was a beautiful day and we all drowned our sorrows in many beers, hot dogs, peanuts and other over-priced goodies. And the fireworks were incredible!