It wasn’t without challenges, but Jude and I made it to Vancouver and had a great time at the Canadians’ ballpark, where we saw Paly grad Josh Kasevich go 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI in a 5-1 win over the visiting Hillsboro Hops. It was great catching up with Josh after the game; he was a student on my Viking Sports Magazine staff a few years ago (five, I think?), then played at University of Oregon, before getting drafted in the second round by the Toronto Blue Jays last year. Thus far, he’s been doing well, hitting over .300 and playing a solid short stop.

This was our third Northwest League game in three days and since there are only six teams in the league, we’ve now seen all of them. Nat Bailey Stadium is not quite in downtown Vancouver, and it’s fairly accessible. We did have to circle through the parking lot a couple of times before finding street parking pretty close by. The big issue is that the ballpark is right next to a rec center, and the nearest parking lot is reserved for people headed in to use the pool or ride the elliptical or whatever. But they don’t really TELL you this is the case until you’re stuck in that parking lot, by which time you pretty much have to circle slowly past the ballpark without actually being able to park. I suppose if you live here you know this. We did not know this.

But that driving fiasco was a mere blip compared to our adventures the night before. You might remember from my previous post that we left Spokane around 9:00 p.m. after the game ended, I knew we’d have to hustle to make it to an early afternoon start in Vancouver the next day; it’s about a six-and-a-half hour drive and we didn’t have room reservations anywhere. I just figured we’d drive until I got tired and do the rest this morning.

The problem with that plan was that by the time I was ready to stop, near Snoqualmie Pass, it was 40 degrees and raining, with gigantic wind gusts. I was almost certain that it was about to start snowing, or sleeting, or hailing, or all of the above. Also, none of the hotels had any vacancies, other than one that was about $200 more than I wanted to spend and wasn’t really on the way.

So I decided, as Jude snoozed in the back seat, to just gas up the Jeep and keep on driving. I got out at an abandoned Shell station, still in my shorts because it was warm when we left, and realized we were in the Arctic Circle. I mean, it was COLD up there. Nobody was at the gas station, customers or attendants. But I guess my credit card still worked. I guess. I may have hallucinated the entire evening.

Eventually we made it to a hotel in Bellingham, about 30 minutes south of the Canadian border, around 4:00 a.m. Jude and I zonked out for a few hours and then got up around 9:30 to drive the last hour to Vancouver, heading directly to the game and the aforementioned parking debacle.

Once we made it into the ballpark, though, all of our problems disappeared. As is often the case. The Fathers’ Day crowd was enthusiastic and a ton of fun; probably the most energetic audience we encountered on the trip. There are some old school obstructed view seats in the ballpark, which is a little annoying but mostly just reminded me of all the times I sat behind a giant pole as a kid at Tiger Stadium.

I was so happy that we made it in time for the National Anthems, both of which were sung by the same teenage girl with a beautiful voice. The Star Spangled Banner received the same amount of attention it normally does in the States: most people removed their hats, and a few sung along. But I was caught off guard, emotionally, when the Canadian anthem began and every fan in the park sang along. It was hard not to start crying, honestly. I think it was probably the first time I had ever been to a sporting event in Canada, and I loved it.

During the game itself we were able to move around, despite the relatively large crowd size. We started in the shade behind the plate, then shifted over to the first base side in the sun for a few innings, where it was about 15 degrees warmer. I’m not sure what the equivalent is in celsius. Probably less than 15 degrees.

We wandered, too, of course, coming across a bunch of fun Blue Jays fans, and also one of the best food finds on the trip: the Yard Dog: a three-foot-long hot dog that’ll run you 30 bucks Canadian. A fair number of people were ordering them (although not us: Jude and I were still hot dog hungover from $2 dog night on Friday). They pretty much feed the whole family, so honestly they sort of seem like a pretty good deal for the money.

I also noticed a player perk that I hadn’t ever seen before: the Canadians bullpen had rocking chairs in it. And the players were taking advantage, watching the game while looking like senior citizens on their porches back home. They also have a bullpen cart in Vancouver. Someone in the front office must have been a relief pitcher at one point.

I didn’t realize it until later, but the Canadians’ victory in today’s game meant that they clinched the first-half championship; after Jude and chatted with Josh, he jogged off to join the on-field celebrations and photo opps. At the time, I just chalked it up to the team being silly and excited about a victory. “They really seem to like each other!” I remember saying to Jude. But it turns out this was more than just a win.