Toyota reached out and asked if we were baseball fans. Of course we are, it’s the Great American Pastime! “Great,” they said, “how’d you like to drive a shiny new Toyota vehicle to join us at Rockies vs Mets at Coors Field?” Well, you don’t have to ask us twice for a gig like that so before you could say “major league baseball” we were ready to, well, go places with Toyota.
To start out, they did indeed drop off a shiny new 2018 Toyota 4Runner TRD for us to drive for a week (I’ll write about it in another post), along with tickets to the game and even a ticket for prepaid parking at the elite “C LOT” parking lot. Even Rockies fans probably don’t know about C Lot because it’s small, maybe 50 car spaces total. And it’s directly across the street from the stadium, as you can see in this photo of my younger daughter K- posing with our bright red 4Runner:
You can see, the walk from the car to the ballpark is ridiculously short. Very nice parking, I’d say, definitely beats parking a half-mile away and walking with the crowds.
But there was a bigger surprise waiting for us: Toyota had borrowed the AT&T SportsNet box directly above home plate. Sports from a box seat is always soooo much nicer. I go to a fair number of sporting events but I can count on one hand the number of boxes I’ve experienced. And they’re always terrific!
Here’s what our box at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado looks like:
Outside are comfy seats for actually watching the game, and the indoor room has TVs on closed-circuit for the game, comfy armchairs, catered food and much more. Joining me and my girls were two other great Colorado parenting blogger families: my friends Aimee & Bryan Giese [Greeblehaus] and Jamie & Rodney Lee [The Denver Housewife], along with Paige from the Toyota marketing team. Oh, Jamie brought along her three ridiculously cute little ones and Aimee and Bryan brought their buddy Jeff too. Not a very big group at all for our box space.
The game was a good, exciting matchup between two teams that are quite similarly ranked in the baseball stats this year (Rockies are at .493 for the year so far, and the Mets are at .431) that started right out with a run for the Mets at the top of the first inning. Our view let us really see all the action too:
Definitely a good place to watch the game, high up enough to be able to follow the play, and close enough that you can see the pitches and track the ball as it’s pitched or hit. In fact, if you look closely you can see the pitch in the photo above!
(Aside: All photos taken with the iPhone X. Which is pretty darn nice given it’s a phone, not a camera)
We didn’t have to walk around the concourse to find a hotdog or beverage either, because Toyota also catered our box with a variety of classic ballpark munchies:
Going above and beyond, they also anticipated my vegan daughter A-‘s food needs and added a delicious (but somewhat salty) Grilled Portabella Mushroom Falafel which she ate with enthusiasm. Me? Hot dog with all the fixin’s and a handful of veggies, along with some chicken tenders and pulled pork. Quite a meaty snack, perfect for a ballgame.
What we didn’t have much of was beer, which was fine with me. Toyota’s thinking was “you’re driving our cars, we don’t want you drinking any beer” but I don’t much like beer anyway, so it was easy to omit that particular beverage choice even if there’s a connection between baseball and beer.
The game continued and we enjoyed a pretty even matchup where the Rockies were ahead, then the Mets were ahead. Home runs, runners walked in (with corresponding boos from the audience) and even foul balls tantalizingly close to our seats. Until this showed up on my phone:
My son G- was unable to join us at the game because he’s working as a coach at the local YMCA this summer, but by 9pm he was home and cooking up a late dinner. The Nest Protect smoke alarm was warning me remotely that he needed to turn on the darn fan and lower the burner!
Our reaction to the alerts about the situation was neatly captured in this selfie:
My favorite part of this photo is unquestionably Jamie & Rodney’s little girl photobombing us in the background. Makes a funny photograph 10x better, don’t you think?
I’m also glad to report my son got the cooking all managed without an incident. No fire department, no calls to 9-1-1. And we got to enjoy a really beautiful evening at a great ballpark, Coors Field, and a good match between the Colorado Rockies and NY Mets. The fact that we ultimately won 10:8, that’s just icing on the proverbial cake.
All in all, a terrific experience, and I’m grateful to Toyota for inviting us. Definitely matched their #LetsGoPlaces theme! And that 4Runner? Still driving it, still really enjoying a vehicle that offers a comfortable drive and high confidence in even the worst driving conditions.
Goooooo Rockies!
Disclosure: Toyota loaned us a vehicle for a week and covered our game tickets and parking in return for this writeup. Which was darn nice of them, if you ask me…