Date: August 7, 2003 through August 12, 2003
Primary Destinations: MLB Cities of California:
San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego,and Anaheim
Games Attended:
Five of the six Major League Baseball teams located on the West Coast are concentrated in California. They are the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Angels of Anaheim, and San Diego Padres. These teams are all conveniently located to the coastal cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. This fact makes it very easy to see most of them play at their home stadiums by simply making a trip either up or down the CA coast.
My brother Bob and I took this “California Coast MLB Roadtrip” in August of 2003. The trip lasted six days and we saw five of the six MLB teams of CA play games at their home stadiums. The trip began with a flight from our home in the metropolitan New York City area to San Francisco. Upon arrival in San Francisco, we took public transportation from the airport to our downtown hotel. This was the first stop in our roadtrip. Because of the newness of Pac Bell Stadium and other attractions in the city of SF, we chose to stay two nights and see two games. We would recommend this extended stay in SF to others.
The roadtrip continued by traveling south down the CA coast to San Diego; and we eventually returned back to the East Coast from LA. Due to the long distance between SF and the LA area, we flew from SF to Santa Anna, CA (just south of LA). Anaheim was chosen for our overnight lodging, instead of downtown LA. Anaheim offers a wide variety of moderately priced accommodations. The day of arrival we drove to Dodger Stadium to see a Los Angeles Dodgers game and the next day departed by car for San Diego. We stayed one night in San Diego and saw the Padres play at Qualcomm Stadium, and then returned for another night in Anaheim and an Angeles game at Edison International Field at Anaheim. We were able to walk from our hotel in Anaheim to the stadium to see the Angels play.
It is not easy to see all six of the teams in CA during s single roadtrip. This is due to the fact that the Giants and Athletics and/or the Dodgers and Angels are normally not at home during the same period of time. However, sometimes it is possible to catch a game of one of the teams just before it departs on the road and the other as it returns home. Our travel schedule allowed us to do this and enabled us to see the Dodgers and Angels, but not both the Giants and Athletics.
We both have visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego a number of times. For this reason, we did not plan many extra activities as part of this roadtrip. However, these three cities and other towns along the California coast are very popular tourist destinations and offer a wealth of family attractions. They include in-city entertainment attractions/activities as well are more remote destinations that would require a full day trip. For instance, in San Francisco, we visited Fisherman’s Wharf and took a cable car ride on the Mason/Powell Line. The Los Angeles and San Diego areas also offer endless opportunities for family recreation. Some examples in the Los Angles/Anaheim area are Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm and in San Diego there are the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park. We had dinner in the Old Town Historic section of San Diego. Attractions like these provide the opportunity to fill extra time before and after games or expand the trip into a baseball-oriented family vacation.
MLB Final Scores and Box Scores:
Game 1: Final Score SFG 7 PIT 5 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN200308070.shtml
Game 2: Final Score SFG 9 PHI 1 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN200308080.shtml
Game 3: Final Score LAD 6 CHC 1 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200308090.shtml
Game 4: Final Score SDP 2 CIN 0 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN200308100.shtml
Game 5: Final Score ANA 10 CHW 8 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200308110.shtml
Travel Method, Route, and Distances:
August 7th
En-route Attractions Visited:
The following are the web resources used for planning a “California Coast MLB Roadtrip:”
Official Website of the Major League Baseball: http://mlb.mlb.com/
Primary Destinations: MLB Cities of California:
San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego,and Anaheim
Games Attended:
Game 1: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. San Francisco Giants, Aug.7th, 12:35PM PDT, Pacific Bell Park, San Francisco, CA http://www.ballparkreviews.com/sf/pacbell.htm
Game 2:
Game 3:
http://www.ballparkreviews.com/la/dodger.htm
Game 4:
http://www.ballparkreviews.com/sandiego/qualcomm.htm
Game 5:
Roadtrip Summary:
Five of the six Major League Baseball teams located on the West Coast are concentrated in California. They are the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Angels of Anaheim, and San Diego Padres. These teams are all conveniently located to the coastal cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. This fact makes it very easy to see most of them play at their home stadiums by simply making a trip either up or down the CA coast.
My brother Bob and I took this “California Coast MLB Roadtrip” in August of 2003. The trip lasted six days and we saw five of the six MLB teams of CA play games at their home stadiums. The trip began with a flight from our home in the metropolitan New York City area to San Francisco. Upon arrival in San Francisco, we took public transportation from the airport to our downtown hotel. This was the first stop in our roadtrip. Because of the newness of Pac Bell Stadium and other attractions in the city of SF, we chose to stay two nights and see two games. We would recommend this extended stay in SF to others.
The roadtrip continued by traveling south down the CA coast to San Diego; and we eventually returned back to the East Coast from LA. Due to the long distance between SF and the LA area, we flew from SF to Santa Anna, CA (just south of LA). Anaheim was chosen for our overnight lodging, instead of downtown LA. Anaheim offers a wide variety of moderately priced accommodations. The day of arrival we drove to Dodger Stadium to see a Los Angeles Dodgers game and the next day departed by car for San Diego. We stayed one night in San Diego and saw the Padres play at Qualcomm Stadium, and then returned for another night in Anaheim and an Angeles game at Edison International Field at Anaheim. We were able to walk from our hotel in Anaheim to the stadium to see the Angels play.
It is not easy to see all six of the teams in CA during s single roadtrip. This is due to the fact that the Giants and Athletics and/or the Dodgers and Angels are normally not at home during the same period of time. However, sometimes it is possible to catch a game of one of the teams just before it departs on the road and the other as it returns home. Our travel schedule allowed us to do this and enabled us to see the Dodgers and Angels, but not both the Giants and Athletics.
We both have visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego a number of times. For this reason, we did not plan many extra activities as part of this roadtrip. However, these three cities and other towns along the California coast are very popular tourist destinations and offer a wealth of family attractions. They include in-city entertainment attractions/activities as well are more remote destinations that would require a full day trip. For instance, in San Francisco, we visited Fisherman’s Wharf and took a cable car ride on the Mason/Powell Line. The Los Angeles and San Diego areas also offer endless opportunities for family recreation. Some examples in the Los Angles/Anaheim area are Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm and in San Diego there are the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park. We had dinner in the Old Town Historic section of San Diego. Attractions like these provide the opportunity to fill extra time before and after games or expand the trip into a baseball-oriented family vacation.
MLB Final Scores and Box Scores:
Game 1: Final Score SFG 7 PIT 5 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN200308070.shtml
Game 2: Final Score SFG 9 PHI 1 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN200308080.shtml
Game 3: Final Score LAD 6 CHC 1 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200308090.shtml
Game 4: Final Score SDP 2 CIN 0 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN200308100.shtml
Game 5: Final Score ANA 10 CHW 8 Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200308110.shtml
Travel Method, Route, and Distances:
August 7th
- Fly: Newark International Airport, Newark, NJ to San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA
- Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART): San Francisco International Airport to Embarcadero Station, San Francisco, CA (31 min)
- Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART): Embarcadero Station, San Francisco, CA to San Francisco International Airport (31 min)
- Fly: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA to John Wayne Airport, Santa Anna, CA
- Drive: 12 mi to Anaheim
- Drive: 31 mi to Dodger Stadium
- Drive: 91 mi to San DiegoAugust 11th
- Drive: 91 mi to Anaheim
- Drive: 36 mi to Los Angeles International Airport
- Fly: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, CA to Newark International Airport, Newark, NJ
En-route Attractions Visited:
- Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA http://www.fishermanswharf.org/
- Cable Car Ride, San Francisco, CA http://www.sfcablecar.com/
- Old Town Historic Park, San Diego, CA http://www.oldtownsandiego.org/
- Golden Gate Park and Bridge, San Francisco, CA http://www.sfgov.org/site/recpark_page.asp?id=17796
- Aquarium by the Bay, San Francisco, CA http://www.aquariumofthebay.org/
- Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA http://www.nps.gov/alca/index.htm
- Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA http://sanfrancisco.ripleys.com/
- Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA http://www.waxmuseum.com/
- San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and USS Pampanito Submarine, San Francisco, CA http://www.maritime.org/index.htm
- Ferry to Sausalito, San Francisco, CA http://goldengateferry.org/schedules/Sausalito.php
- Pier 34 at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA http://www.pier39.com/index.cfm
- Universal Studios Tour and Amusement Park, Los Angeles, CA http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/visitor_info.htm
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, CA http://www.manntheatres.com/chinese/
- Rodeo Drive Walking Tour, Los Angeles, CA http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/losangeles/a/rodeo.htm
- Sunset Strip Walking Tour, Los Angeles, CA http://www.thesunsetstrip.com/?gclid=CNavicvy0ZwCFdFL5QodYyk_Hw
- Disneyland, Anaheim, CA http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage
- Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA http://www.knotts.com/
- Santa Monica Pier and Carousel, Santa Monica, CA http://www.santamonicapier.org/
- Venice Beach, West Los Angeles, CA http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/losangeles/a/venicebeach.htm
- San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA http://www.sandiegozoo.org/
- San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, Escondido, CA http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html
- Balboa Park, San Diego, CA http://www.balboapark.org/
- Belmont Amusement Park, San Diego, CA http://www.belmontpark.com/
- Maritime Museum, San Diego, CA http://www.sdmaritime.com/
- Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and IMAX Theatre, http://www.rhfleet.org/
- Historic Gaslight Quarter, San Diego, CA http://www.gaslamp.org/
- Mission Bay Park, San Diego, CA http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/missionbay/facilities.shtml
- Hornblower Cruises, San Diego, CA http://www.sandiegohornblower.com/
- SeaWorld, San Diego, CA http://www.seaworld.com/sandiego/
- Sausalito and the Muir Woods, http://www.ci.sausalito.ca.us/, http://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm
- Sonoma Valley Wine Tour, http://www.sonomavalley.com/index.php/Table/plan-a-visit/
- Napa Valley Wine Tour, http://www.winecountryminute.com/travel/napa-travel-summer-2009.html?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=winery%2Bin%2Bnapa&OVRAW=Wineries%20of%20Napa%20Valley&OVKEY=winery%20in%20napa&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=18409464513&OVKWID=169137652513
- Monterey and the Monterey Bay Aquarium http://www.monterey.org/, http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/
- Do not have a car while staying in San Francisco unless you are planning to travel outside the downtown part of the city. If you stay and remain in the city, there will be little use for a car and the resulting additional charges for parking at a hotel. Public transportation is available from the airport to downtown.
- In San Francisco, stay downtown at a hotel that is conveniently located near the public transportation that can take you to AT&T Park. We stayed within walking distance of Fisherman’s Wharf, an excellent location.
- Check game schedules for arrival and departures of the Giants and Athletics and/or Dodgers and Angels to see it if possible to work out a schedule that will permit you to see both teams play at home.
- Fly between San Francisco/Oakland and the Los Angeles area.
- Lodgings in the Anaheim area permits easy access to Dodger Stadium and Angels Stadium of Anaheim. It is also more convenient to travel to/from San Diego from this location. Staying in Anaheim eliminates the need to experience the delays associated with getting in and out of central LA.
- Since the end of the 2003 baseball season, Pacific Bell Park has been renamed twice. The current name is AT&T Park.
- For the 2004 baseball season, the San Diego Padres left Qualcomm Stadium and moved to a new downtown, waterfront stadium Petco Park.
- After the 2003 baseball season, Edison International Field of Anaheim was renamed Angels Stadium of Anaheim.
- Fly into LA and do the Southern California teams first and then fly north to San Francisco.
- See more than one game in AT&T Park (Giants) and/or Dodger Stadium (Dodgers).
- Extend the trip with extra days for non-baseball attractions/activities in the San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco areas.
- Instead of driving between Los Angeles and San Diego, take a scenic ride along the Pacific Coast on AMTRAK’s Pacific Surfliner train. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Vertical_Route_Page&c=am2Route&cid=1081256322013&ssid=132
The following are the web resources used for planning a “California Coast MLB Roadtrip:”
Official Website of the Major League Baseball: http://mlb.mlb.com/
- Click on “Team Sites” and then click on the appropriate AL or NL home team, for instance, “San Diego” for San Diego Padres to get to a specific team’s website.
- On the specific team’s website click on “Schedule” and view the “Regular Season” schedule.
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