Our second day into Mr. A’s 30th birthday trip we headed back to the O’s Ed Smith Stadium to catch another Spring Training game. This time we were able to get there early enough to take some fun pictures around the park.
We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a shot with the bird.
And a shot to remind us of all of our family stuck in cold, snowy Maryland.
Like we did the day before, we headed over to the bullpen to catch our pitcher warming up. This time it was one of Paul’s favorites, Jason Hammel.
When the warmups were over, we headed back to our seats to get ready for the game’s main event. Cal Ripken, arguably one of the O’s most famous and prolific players, was stopping by the game to throw out the first pitch. Since our seats were so close, we thought Mr. A might be able to sneak in to get an autograph before Cal got to the mound.
Somehow, he managed to squeeze himself into the crowd and walked away with an autographed ball. I’m pretty sure his A. Rod ball has been officially replaced.
We settled in to watch a few innings of the game (or to take a massive amount of pictures of Chris Davis—we all have different priorities here).
About half way through the game, Cal set up a signing session for fans in the stadium concourse for his brand new children’s book. Even though it meant he missed most of the game, Mr. A stood patiently in line to get his book signed. He grew up watching/idolizing Cal. Cal was one of the saving graces of 1990’s baseball fans. Mr. A’s grandmother, who lived in Maryland during Cal’s career, used to send Mr. A newspaper clippings of Cal and the Os. It’s no wonder he wanted to marry a Maryland girl.
After hours in line, we finally got to meet Cal.
His eyes really are as blue as you would expect them to be and he really is a nice guy.
I think Mr. A was floating on cloud nine for quite some time.
Once the game was over, we headed back to our condo on Siesta Key to check out the sunset again.
Sorry, I just can’t help sharing more pictures. This place was amazing.
Since it was Mr. A’s week, we let him pick out our dinner spot. He landed on Owen’s Fish Camp, which just happens to be one of my parents’ favorite spots.
And apparently, everyone else in Sarasota loves it too because we definitely spent a long time waiting on a table. It certainly was worth it though.
We started with a fried green tomato salad with goat cheese and buttermilk dressing. I’m normally not a fried green tomatoes fan but the buttermilk dressing was so incredibly creamy and delicious that I would have used just about anything to sop it up.
For my entrée, I ordered the sea scallops with lemon-caper butter, grits, and garlicky green beans. This picture isn’t doing the sea scallops any justice but they were the largest scallops I’ve ever seen. I had to cut each of them into four pieces. They were so huge I couldn’t even finish them.
We finished out the meal with a key lime bar. It was good but still not as amazing as a homemade version. Perhaps, my dessert taste buds were a little spoiled by the scallops.
Owen’s was one of the best meals we had all vacation. So if you are in Sarasota, you should definitely check it out, just make sure to get there before 5:30 or you’ll be waiting awhile.
It was the perfect way to round out what was a monumental day for Mr. A. All he kept saying was I can’t believe I met my childhood hero.
