Miami - Sun Life Stadium

We attended the Houston Astros vs. Florida Marlins game on Sunday afternoon.  This is the final year that the Marlins will play in this stadium. The Marlin fans and the Marlin's organization are very anxious for their new stadium to be built.  There was a very small crowd, maybe only 2,000 people in attendance. We arrived at the stadium about an hour before game time.  It cost $10 to park and our spot was literally just a few steps from the gates.  There was a very festive atmosphere outside and throughout the concourses.  The Marlins do a great job of keeping the few fans that are there entertained.  We had our picture taken with the cheerleaders and the mascot Billy the Marlin.

We had great seats that were really cheap to buy.  After we sat down, there was a swarm of bees circling in our general section, so we were allowed to move over one section.  We ended up sitting right behind home plate in the 5th row.  These were incredible seats that gave us an amazing view of the game.  This is the only stadium that we could get seats anywhere nearly as good.

It was quite hot out, maybe just over 90 degrees, but not extremely humid.  We had bought a bottomless soda for $11 which was a good bargain, and we filled our cup with lemonade and diet sodas five or six times and crunched on the ice to try to stay cool.  The game was very entertaining, back and forth, and the Marlins ended up beating Houston 5-4.  The few fans that were there in attendance were very passionate and knowledgeable.  It will be interesting to see what kind of support the Marlins will get at their new retractable roof stadium.

After the game, we drove to Fort Lauderdale and had dinner with Tina's cousin, Robin, at the Grand Lux Cafe that was located in a huge mall.  We had not seen her for seven years, so it was really nice to reconnect with her again.