OMAHA— Day 2

November 21, 2012

Day 2 of being in the Midwest, and I was excited! On the slate for today were visits to Werner Park and the University of Nebraska at Omaha as well as lunch and dinner with family.

After waking up at 7:30, my family and I headed down to the Atrium to get breakfast. If you are wondering, I had a bacon an cheese omelet with a biscuit, fruit, and orange juice.

After that, my dad and I headed out to visit Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers, the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. On our way out, he got better picture of the Atrium

As well a couple of pictures of the outside of the hotel

I wasn’t expecting to be able to get inside Werner Park, however I was hoping to walk around and look inside, and of course take a lot of pictures.

As we approached the park, I took a picture on my phone.

It was in the low 40’s when we arrived, so my dad decided he wanted to stay in the car as I wandered around. Once I got out of the car, I took this picture

The Werner Park logo was right next to the main entrance

To the left of the main gates are the ticket windows

And between the ticket windows and the Werner Park logo, they had the team name and ballpark address

Here is the main entrance

Their team store is called the “Stormfront,” which is quite a clever name. Of course, their offseason hours are noon-5pm. It was about 9:30ish.

I headed towards the right field side of the ballpark

Behind me, this was the scene

For me, this all felt natural, just wandering around the ballpark with nobody else there. It felt like I was there for a game. Except it was cold and windy.

There was a window that featured the various Storm Chasers on-field hats and jerseys

As I turned the corner, I saw a fence that fenced off a little grass area

It literally was a random fenced off area…

I then approached another ballpark entrance

This was “Gate 7”

I decided this was a good spot to try and take some pictures of the inside of the ballpark

They have a nice scoreboard

I decided to keep walking around, towards the outfield area

Do you see all that tall grass? That’s what it was like behind the fence behind the concrete area behind the outfield berm. I could have and probably should have turned back, but no. I wanted to keep exploring. So I headed out into the grass. I looked through the fence to see the field

This is what I was having to deal with

The street to enter the parking lot was behind me

There was this cool plaque right up at the fence

Then I decieed to attempt an artsy photo

The dead grass continued and continued

If you can’t tell how tall it is, it was about up to my knees. (I’m 5’10ish)

Then I noticed some deer wandering around. At this point, I a) Didn’t want to disturb the deer

And b) was getting annoyed with all the grass, so I decided to head the other way.

I got back to the main entrance to try to take some more pictures of inside the ballpark

This entrance area reminded me a lot of Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, and almost a little of Target Field.

I got a photo of the stadium rules

As well as the suite entrance

I then decided to take closer look at their seating and pricing map

Very reasonably priced tickets.

Other than our car and a few employee cars, the parking lot was pretty much empty

Oh, these were the signs that told you what lot you parked in

Nice touch.

I decided to head towards the left field side of the park. The first thing that caught my eye was the will call booth.

It is sponsored by a company that makes windows and doors for houses I guess..

This was a piece of artwork that I enjoyed by the employee entrance

Behind me, it was still very empty

I soon found myself at another gate, this one, “Gate 3”

I took a peek inside

I then found myself at “Gate 2”

I quickly turned a corner to find an empty parking lot

And noticed an open gate that I decided to head into.

Then I saw “Gate 4” was open. I could have walked straight into the ballpark. But I chose to continue walking

While zooming in to get a picture of the foul pole, I noticed that there were letters on the left field foul pole

And then found another open gate. I stepped inside it for a moment and got these pictures

So I could have just walked down onto the field? I guess they don’t keep this place very heavily guarded… Yes, I could have gone in, and yes I desperately wanted to. However, I didn’t want to risk getting arrested, even though the gate was open.

Then I saw a small window with some exercise equipment, presumably for the players. Any other guesses?

The family waiting area…

Then, even though there was still probably more to photograph, I decided it was time to go, mostly because it was dipping into the 30’s. On my way out, I got another picture of “Gate 2”

After that, my dad got out of the car and got some pictures of me under the Werner Park logo

And one under the words “Werner Park”

As you can see, I am wearing the Storm Chasers’ home hat, which my dad picked up for me when he was out here in May.

That was it for Werner Park. From here, we headed back to hotel, where I finished up my most recent blog entry, which you can find here. After that, we headed to my grandpa’s place for lunch.

Right outside my Grandpa’s place, there is a park, where my sister and I went to play while the adults talked.

There were these really fun swing things that my sister and I used for a while.

Then, we went to this other thing that was really fun.

I don’t know what either of these things are called.

After that, my mom took some really good pictures of me and my sister

We then headed back to the hotel, where we had an hour or two of down time, before picking up my Aunt to go visit one of my cousins at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she currently goes.

It was really fun to walk around and get to see the campus and catch up and talk with them.

I only got one picture on my phone. It was of the Bell Tower.

They have a very nice campus!

After walking around for a half hour or so, we dropped my Aunt back off at her house, before heading back to our hotel once again. An hour or so later, we went picked my grandfather up and went to my Aunt’s house for a delicious dinner.

After dinner, we ate some apple crisp and talked in the living room.

Around 9:30, we dropped my grandpa back off at his apartment and headed back to the hotel.

My sister wanted to go swimming, so we went swimming in the hotel pool for 45 minutes, before I came back up to our hotel room to write this entry.

That’s all for Tuesday. As I finish this entry, it’s 1:08am. That’s how much I love you all. I stayed up late to finish this entry. I hope you enjoyed it! On tap for Wednesday, we have a long drive to visit more of my family in Kansas. I may stop by the ballpark that the NCAA College World Series is played at, but I don’t know yet.

Ideally, I would tour Kaufman Stadium, but considering how out of the way it is, it probably is very unlikely.

Nick Badders is a unofficial reporter for MLB.com. He writes the blog, 7000 Coliseum Way, and you can follow him on Twitter @nickbatters or his blog @7000ColiseumWay. You can also LIKE his blog on Facebook or follow him @nickbatters or his blog @7000ColiseumWay on Instagram. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Written by Nick Badders Posted in Omaha