June 28, 2019, Oakland, CA - Minute Maid Stadium sits in the middle of downtown Houston, but like other big cities you'll not want to stray too far off the lighted path when you attend. The stadium area appears to divide the city: On one side are high dollar tourist hotels and convention center and the other side you should probably avoid at night. Getting into the city was an ordeal as it seemed all roads to town were afflicted with construction. This is Texas, so there is heavy traffic and aggressive driving. It rained on our game day which did not help the traffic situation, and the weather also ensured that the roof to the stadium was closed during the innings.
My brother-in-law acquired seating for us on the lower level to the left of home plate which we really enjoyed (thanks, Mitch!). With the roof closed there really wasn't a view of the city, but there were lots things to marvel at within the stadium. For instance a train track overlooks the bleachers in left field and at key points in the game they will run a small train over them. In fact, that whole area is designed to look like a train trestle.
It was 80's night so the team was in 80's era uniform, they played 80's era bumper music, and the scoreboard had Atari like graphics. It was a clever promotion, and we got an Astros fanny pack as a giveaway.
The real treat was at the end of the game. Friday night is fireworks night, and since the rain had stopped the roof was opened for the event. Watching the roof open was treat enough, but seeing the fireworks over the just mentioned train trestle left field was the cherry on top of the evening.
Before leaving the next morning I did a run which included a circuit around the stadium so I could get a look at the roof engineering. There is a long track on only one side of the stadium that actually pulls and pushes the roof open. So when the roof is open it must look like a large canopy over the back of the stadium.
Stadium Ratings are exciting, good, meh, bad, disastrous.
Facility - No view of the city but lots of entertaining things to look at inside the stadium. I always find roof engineering fascinating and this one was no exception. The fireworks show was impressive. Rating: Good
Food - The food choices were pretty typical sports stadium fare with some local BBQ stands as well. I made of the mistake of getting a fancy topped hot dog instead of just a basic one. Christine got a loaded baked potato that we both ended up enjoying. Here's a tip on food vendors: Tip them as they are preparing the food. Christine ended up with a better potato because she did. Also, just because you don't see a tip jar does not mean that won't accept tips. Rating: Meh
Mascot - I expected a bit more from Orbit. He did venture into the stands and had a few routines, but ultimately he seemed tired. I was most entertained by the guy behind me encouraging Orbit as he danced on one of the dugouts. "Go Orbit! Break it down, Orbit! You got it, Orbit!" Rating: Meh
