A Suite Surprise

We've been to a lot of Mariners games but never like this.  We're the bleacher-seater type.  You know, we buy the cheapest seats in the stadium, and it suits us just fine.  Well last weekend we got to see how the other half lives.

To tell this story, I must first back up to LDS night which was held at the beginning of August.  The tickets are purchased through the Institute of Religion at a discount price and then each ticketholder is given a free LDS Night Mariners t-shirt.  Our ward decided to take all of the youth for their youth night activity.  The kids had a fabulous time.  Caleb even got to go down on the field at the beginning of the game.

Caleb with one of the Mariners.  The two girls on the right are complete strangers but the two guys on the left are members of our ward.

We danced our way onto the jumbotron.

Then got to see our name in lights.

The Mariners won and it was a great night all around.  But I did forget my camera so I had to borrow these shots from Camille. (Except that first one, that was taken by a Mariners photographer.)

Well evidently the Institute of Religion purchased enough tickets for LDS night that they were given a suite to a future Mariners game.  And since our ward ordered a large number of tickets, the invitation was extended to Jon to be among those included in the suite, since he is the leader of the ward.  He got notice on his birthday, last Wednesday, that we were going to the game on Saturday.  What a perfect birthday surprise!

We have a regular place we use for parking when we go to games.  It's a good half-mile away but we don't mind the walk and it's free.  But that's not how the suite gamers do it.  Oh no.  They get a parking pass to a garage with a sky bridge that connects directly to the suite level of the ballpark.  It's a quick and easy stroll that keeps you entirely protected from the elements.  The carpeted floors and mints in the bathrooms make the suite level feel much more like a hotel than a stadium.

"I didn't wear the right cologne," said Jon, which is his standard joke for times when we middle-classers are posing in the high life.  I always feel like they--whomever they are--are going to figure me out, like it's obvious that I'm just a pretender and they'll send me back out to the bleachers where I really belong.

The suite life is pretty nice.  Too bad our camera was freaking out.  It's traumatized from its fall from the roller coaster at Lagoon; making funky stripes of light on our pictures and the flash isn't functioning properly.  But you can get the idea.

Soft reclining leather chairs and a table to eat our favorite ballpark meal.

After dinner we could sit back and relax, stretch our legs out and rock gently back and forth as we ate our Milk Duds and Junior Mints.

No getting on the jumbotron this time.  Suite people don't really do that.  Is it because that is not appropriate suite behavior or is it because they're just too comfortable in their cushy seats that they don't want to get up and dance?  I'm not sure.

The Mariner's played poorly and the game itself wasn't too exciting.  But that's OK because inside the suite was a big screen TV where I could watch football!  I did mostly watch the baseball game but I occasionally went inside to get caught up on the day's football action.

The view from my leather seat inside the suite.  There was another TV on my left showing a different football game.

It was definitely a fun night and we feel lucky to have had the opportunity.  Next time we'll go back to the bleachers with our kind of people.