College World Series

First things first though- you might not know this about me but I’m a very big birthday person. My family always makes sure that each birthday is celebrated no matter how old you are. It’s one day that holds a special place in your parent’s hearts and a day that is all about you! You might be wondering

why I am talking about this but… Ryan’s birthday was the 13^th of June! This meant that I had to do something out of the norm since he is the best person at figuring out presents.

I decided to surprise him with a trip to the College World Series. What better time than this year, since the Aggies were ranked number one (they didn’t end up making it thoughL). Ryan was super excited when he finally got his gift and said this is by far one of his favorite gifts ever!

Day 1:
We drove early Sunday morning to the airport and immediately had to grab coffee from Dunkin Donuts! (We were tired from one of the most beautiful and fun-filled wedding we attended the night before - the Turner’s wedding). If you’ve never been to for Dunkin’ Donuts you should really reconsider. They have a rewards program and offer different specials throughout the week. 

We finally landed mid-morning and had the hotel pick us up (they offered a free shuttle service - LOVE FREE)!  We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Omaha. It was only a half mile away from the stadium. Also one of the baseball teams stayed at our hotel-UC Santa Barbara.

 Since our room wasn’t ready, we decided to go to the baseball stadium. Ryan and I probably looked like young kids wanting to do everything. They had games, vendors selling everything and anything, free giveaways, and so much more.

We knew TCU and Texas Tech were playing each other, which was a must for us to see. We bought general admissions tickets for only… drum roll please… $10. I was as shocked as you! While we were walking around I didn’t really notice the heat but the heat, inside the stadium was indescribable (results in my red face and huge hair).

 

Another part of Ryan’s birthday present was reserved tickets to the game Sunday night. Side note - when buying tickets to the College World Series, you want to buy them in advance (cheaper), but you take the risk of not knowing when each team will be playing. We decided before the game started to pick which team we thought would win. We both picked Coastal Carolina which they ended up beating Florida.

 

Day 2: 

Monday morning we decided to explore the downtown area since there weren’t any games until later that afternoon. There were many stops along the way but Ryan was definitely a trooper!

 After doing so much walking, we decided it was time to have breakfast. We found this cute little hole-in- the-wall eatery and bakery, Wheatfields. They make everything homemade- fresh bread, pastries, cookies and much more! They even made these cute cookies for the College World Series. We had read many reviews about their honey fried chicken but it was too early for that! Maybe next time J

 

 

I had the fruit and yogurt parfait and Ryan had the lobster and crab cake eggs benedict. I would recommend anything on the menu. Everything that kept coming out looked very delicious.   

After breakfast we started our way back to the stadium to look around at more vendors. Remember how I said it was so hot the day before - today all day it was overcast with a nice breeze. Then all of a sudden this happened… the OSU vs Arizona night game was delayed but ended up being a good game to sit at since the rain made it cooler outside!

Day 3:

Tuesday morning we decided to sleep in and get rest since this was the day we had to go home L. When we finally woke up we decided to do a little more exploring. We also had to have breakfast again at Wheatfields! 

ConAgra Foods headquarters is in Omaha, Nebraska - who would’ve known! The man in the above picture is the Chef Boyardee man better known as Hector Boiardi.

In this Old Town Market Area we found this secret little underground area. It had three different levels with shopping, eating, and even spas.

We had been eyeing this ice cream parlor since we we’ve been here. We finally decided to check it out. It wasn’t an ordinary ice cream parlor; it was an Omaha tradition since 1984. All of the ice cream is made from scratch with a slow-churner (the old-fashion way) made with rock salt and ice and only fresh ingredients!

We had so much fun exploring and experiencing the College World Series. There are some tips that I would like to leave you with:

• pack clothes for all types of weather

• pack a hat due to the sun being so hot

• bring a water bottle (they have stations all throughout the stadium to refill your bottles)

• no need to really care about your hair so leave those hair essentials you think you need

• pack food for the hotel room since nothing is open after the games

• sunscreen is a must

• pre-purchase seat cushions if you plan on sitting in the general admissions section