A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

portland

Summer of Baseball: Portland a good place to catch a game

Hadlock Field is one I’ve wanted to get to for a few years now. It’s also one of those fields kind of all by itself (Maine has one affiliated professional team), so going just for a game isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do, despite Maine being an amazing state.

So, let’s break it down.

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Hadlock Field, built in 1993, is a solid minor league park. Though I’m not a fan of aluminum bleacher flooring, it’s a pretty comfortable all-around park. The ambiance is solid, which seems to be a pretty good trend when it comes to Boston Red Sox affiliates. The site lines in the park are good and the seats are decently comfortable.

The night we were there was cool, too, as it was a Seinfeld-themed night. Though not the biggest Seinfeld fan, John O’Hurley (who played J. Peterman) threw out the first pitch. It’s always neat to see things like that.

Anyway…

The park has an older flavor to it as the concourse is under the seating bowl. The concourse is decently wide but was definitely crowded. The team store is small, which shocked me, if not just because it’s a Boston affiliate. I think I hold the idea that Double-A and above would have better team stores, and despite seeing many smaller ones, it still shocks me.

The food selection was solid and the hot dogs were really good. I will say I didn’t have the food selection on the minor league food fight as it was this amazingly huge ice cream sundae sort of thing … and well, my blood sugar went up just looking at what it included, let along eating it. So I just went with a regular old ice cream and it was solid. Beer selection was pretty strong, too.

The stadium itself is pretty nice. A “monster” in left field is a nice tough, and I like the scoreboard. The elevated bullpen in right field was a  very cool setup, too. I think overall, it’s hard to not go here and have a good time. That being said, I have to pull off some points for the aluminum flooring because it’s really tough, at times, to pay attention to the game when there’s so much stomping on that flooring.

Parking is decent and not far from the stadium. The area felt safe and after, it was easy enough to get out, which is always a positive.

I’d definitely visit again, as long as it was encompassed with other aspects. For me, it’s a hard trip to pull off just for a game, but it’s definitely not a bad place to take in a game.

Park Notes:  

Hadlock Field
Portland, Maine
Home of the Portland Seadogs (Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox)
Visited on: July 15, 2016
Opponent: New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays)

Ratings (out of 10)

  • Stadium: 7.5/10
  • Concessions: 7/10
  • Parking: 7.5/10
  • Ambiance: 8/10
  • Friendliness: 8/10

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Experiencing Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut

The famous pink box!

The famous pink box!

If you are a fan of any of the food shows out there — be it the Food Network, Cooking channel, Travel, network television etc., I’m sure you can relate to wanting to try places you’ve seen.

I’m most certainly the same way.

Unfortunately, I don’t always plan it out well enough to hit these places, but I’ve had a chance to visit a few.

Yum!

Yum!

One of those chances happened recently on a trip to the Pacific Northwest. Though based mainly in the Seattle area, a day trip was planned to Portland. And part of that trip?

Voodoo Doughnut.

Voodoo has been on many television shows, including ones on the Travel Channel and the Cooking Network. The Portland hotspot is known for eclectic delights, a bright look and interesting flavors.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Sometimes, places like this — ones that become “destinations” of sorts for foodies or other travelers won’t live up to the hype. They branch out, become big and the quality suffers. That doesn’t seem to be the case at Voodoo, at least by my experience.

The original was the spot I needed to hit. When arriving, the line wasn’t too long and I’d estimate I was in an ordering within 30 minutes or so, which wasn’t bad in my eyes.

At the original in downtown Portland.

At the original in downtown Portland.

TIP: Pull out that smart phone and access their menu via their website. By doing so, you give yourself a chance to look at the menu, see what the doughnuts they offer are and have a good idea in mind, so once you get to the counter, you can order.

When we were walking out, the line was much longer.

Inside is a doughnut-lovers heaven.

There many of the famous pink boxes ready to house your doughnuts. There are showcases of the many magnificent creations. The back looks very busy and there are racks and racks of doughnuts that the workers grab. Everybody seemed so happy, too, which always makes for a great experience. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted when I went to order.

One note — this isn’t Dunkin’ Donuts. By that I mean, you don’t get a dozen for five bucks. The doughnuts are priced depending on what you are getting. There are different sizes of some of these (there was one that was massively huge — I decided it was in my best interest to skip that one!), so that means the price of the six you get could be different from the next person etc.

One of Voodoo's most famous creations!

One of Voodoo’s most famous creations!

I ended up getting six or so, figuring I’d have them throughout the trip to Seattle. That meant I had the chance to test several different ones, and I really enjoyed each of them.

TIP: When getting your doughnuts, take a chance. Ask the person serving you his or her favorite doughnut and grab one. You might find yourself a great surprise. I did this and the one the girl chose was fantastic.

Despite a dreary sort of day (it was overcast and had drizzled once or twice — but that’s fine as in Seattle that day were thunderstorms, so we avoided the one bad day of weather during the Seattle trip), sitting outside and biting into one of these creations was delightful.

I fully enjoyed the experience at Voodoo and would totally recommend it. The doughnuts are delicious and the people were friendly and helpful. Definitely worth the stop.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Block Party is almost here!

For those of you who geocache, you likely know that this year’s Block Party is the final one. With that in mind, three of us are embarking on the cross-country trip to go to the event, as well as others surrounding it.

And I’m getting quite excited.

The trip is going to be five days of some serious fun, at least I hope. My true hope is that Mother Nature gives us some good weather for the time we are out there.

Anyway, the plan is to fly out on a Thursday morning and arrive mid-afternoon in Seattle. After grabbing the rental car, and checking in at the hotel, it’s into Seattle for the first event.

The pathtag I have for my Northwest trip!

The pathtag I have for my Northwest trip!

The weekend continues with some historical geocaches (on a side trip to Portland), some cool other places, and a baseball game. Unfortunately, the Mariners are on the road, so I am going to catch a minor league game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, but though this is a geocaching trip, I am hoping to see some other things. Am I going to be able to do everything possible? Probably not. But I want to be able to visit the Space Needle and the Sky View Observatory. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to the outskirts somewhere and get a photo or two of the Seattle skyline.

I’m sure a brewery or two will be on tap (ha! See what I did there?) too, which will be fun.

That being said, there are some great geocaching items planned.

We’ll be attending the final Block Party at Geocaching.com’s headquarters. Also, there’s a trip back to HQ on the following Monday to get a hosted visit, which I think will be a lot of fun. The HQ GeoTour looks like a blast and I think we are planning on doing that on one of the other days (not Block Party day) to hopefully get a chance to do them without a game of “pass the log.”

The Friday trip to the Portland area is going to net us the original cache stash plaque, as well as some other old geocaches. I’ve been looking at a few of the caches there and I think it’s going to be pretty cool to grab some of those historical ones and know I’ve done them.

There are three webcam caches that I am hoping we can nab over the course of the weekend, too. Considering how few of these are around, it’s nice to be able to get them when you can.

On Sunday, a trip to the spot of the “Ape” cache that is no longer there. So, unfortunately, I won’t get the chance to get that icon on my profile, but the Snoqualmie Tunnel is open. This tunnel is part of the rail trail and is an old railroad tunnel. It’s very cool and is a round trip hike of a little more than 5 miles (on level ground, if I read right), so that’s pretty cool. On the other side are some historical geocaches, so that will add to the experience and the day.

There’s really not a lot more I can say about this trip, without breaking down day by day. I think in the overall scheme, it will be a fun trip. I’m looking forward to grabbing a few new states on my profile as well as finding some old caches. I’ve also created a pathtag for the trip to the Pacific Northwest, so that is cool to have and hopefully trade along the way.

I’m definitely excited about seeing a few things, getting to go to a baseball game and, of course, geocaching. It should be a heck of a fun experience and I’m looking forward to it.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!