Seattle Sounders Game, Firefighter Night and Meeting Drew Carey

I got up around 10 knowing that I had to do a few things before Ben rolled in to head on up to Seattle for the game.  He wanted to leave at noon so I ate some food and then helped mom do a few things. I got ready to go and he finally got here almost at 1.  We made sure we had everything and we headed north.  It was raining up until we got to Seattle.  There was no rain...yet.

He took an exit I wasn't familiar with and when we stopped at the intersection, there was a lot with tiny shed like buildings scattered behind a fence line called Nickleville.  It made me thankful I don't have to or choose to live like this.  It was sad.

We got closer to the stadium and ended up driving past where we got on the train back during the Seahawk parade two years ago.  Then we drove past the coffee house where we spent the day waiting for the parade.  He tried looking for a parking spot and ended up parking in this small parking garage where they drive your cars into the hydraulic lift so you can park a car underneath it to save space.  I've never seen a parking garage like this before.  Ben wasn't too sure about it but we did it anyway.  We didn't realize it took us this long to get to Seattle and find a parking spot.  We kinda wanted to eat food and then join the rally and march at 3.  We only had time for the rally and march.

We walked to Occidental Park and there was a huge crowd!  I forgot it was the last game of the regular season.  As we walked closer to the tent, where there was a band and a microphone set up, we heard Drew Carey getting the crowd all pumped up.  We heard the tail end of it and I wandered closer to the tent hoping that we would get to see him.  Sure enough, when he exited the tent he stood behind as fans flocked to him asking him for photos and autographs.  I asked Ben, do you wanna go meet Drew Carey?  He said sure, and that it would be pretty cool.  We waited in line and several people and kids cut in line and delayed our turn.  I kinda got irritated.  It was finally our turn and he was awesome.  We shook his hand, introduced ourselves and he was happy to take a pic with us.  Some other brief conversation and then he told us to enjoy the game!  How cool was that?  He was very approachable and supported his fans who in turn supports his team.  It was just a really awesome moment.  For a brief second I remembered sitting in front of the TV watching The Drew Carey Show and Who's Line is it Anyway? and I finally got to meet him in person!  Video of Drew Carey.

We stood around waiting for the march to Century Link while Ben fiddled with the GoPro.  They started chanting and we were on our way.  It was fun chanting the songs and watching everyone get really into it.  Ben said in years past they had green and blue smoke flares which they didn't this time.  We made it to the field and everyone dissipated.  Ben wanted to go get food and drinks before we went inside.  Like I said earlier, we got to Seattle too late and didn't have enough time to prefunk.  Every place we went inside had a 20 minute or more wait because of game day.  I told him I didn't want to be late again and I was willing to eat food inside the stadium knowing that it would be more expensive.

We entered through the north end gate and Ben found a game to play.  You get two tries to kick the ball into a goal with five  holes.  You didn't win anything if you scored a goal.  It was just for fun.  I grabbed a program and we then made our way up the cement switch back all the way to the third level, where our firefighter night scarves were.  We also ended up eating food up there as well.  I had Ivar's and Ben had a pulled pork sandwich and a side of chips with a beer.  We ate the food in less than 10 minutes because Ben wanted to go down to the ECS section to see if they were really enforcing the wrist bands.  They were.

We continued to section 109 and sat with Lance because he offered his friend Shannon's spot to both of us.  We squeezed three of us into two spots.  The game began with a national anthem guitar solo, followed by breast cancer awareness and survivors.

We played Salt Lake City and we dominated the first half.  We scored 2 goals in less than 20 minutes, both by Dempsey.  It was nuts!  The stadium was packed and everyone cheered.  It rained most of the game and I got wet and cold.  Luckily we all survived with the body heat from being so smunched together.  We scored one more goal followed by a goal by Real Salt Lake.  We dropped them 3-1 which clinched us a spot in the playoffs.  The first game is Wednesday with the LA Galaxy.

We took a picture with the ECS at the south side of the stadium and then tried to go into the sports store but too many people and the parking garage was only open an hour after the game ended.  We basically had a half hour left to walk to the car.  When we got there I was happy to take off my wet jacket and get warm.  Ben went the long way to the freeway.  We got stuck in traffic off of First.  Then the traffic was stupid on I-5 because it was raining.  I swear people's brains shut off when it rains.  We got into Yelm about 8:30 and wanted some ice cream.  We stopped at Safeway and picked up some stuff and headed back to my house to hang out and talk about my birthday weekend.

Next Adventure:  Halloween Pic at work with Annykay