Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - August 17, 2015

We absolutely LOVED Angels Stadium.  From the food to the people to the fan shop, this is one of the best stadiums in the country.

The entrance to Angels Stadium is spectacular.  Huge bats hold up the sign and there are gorgeous baseball hats that light up beautifully as the sun goes down.

Unlike the Dodgers, the Angels actually had batting practice and you didn't have to have a field level ticket to access it.  Owen and Lee hit batting practice while Aliyah and I scoped out the food situation.

We have a version of this picture at so many stadiums!

Aliyah and I found our winning food choice pretty quickly - homemade grilled cheese on giant Texas toast style bread.  I got the tomato and arugula grilled cheese and Aliyah ordered the beef brisket grilled cheese.  They were delicious.  The french fries were also amazing.  They were crisp and PIPING HOT, even sitting in the pick-up window.

Beef brisket grilled cheese sandwich? Yes, please!

The weather was SO MUCH cooler that Aliyah was a perfect delight.  If you're heading to Southern California for a game, may we recommend NIGHT games?  Everyone will be happier.

During the Star Spangled Banner, the Angels shoot off fireworks when you come to the line, "and the rockets red glare."  It was unexpected and awesome.

One of the cool things about Angels stadium is the center field water feature. It looks like California Adventure, but the real magic happens when the Angels hit a home run.  Huge pots shoot forth ENORMOUS, HOT flames!  We were sitting in the second deck along the third base side (far from center field) and we could feel the heat from the fire.  They also shoot off fireworks at the same time.  We got to witness these in action several times.  They were impressive.

California waterfall and source of flames and pyrotechnics

At the end of the game, when the fans were encouraging their home team to bring home the win, they would pull out their cell phones and put them on flicker so that it looked like thousands of cameras going off.  The effect was really cool.

One of the best features of Angels Stadium was how family-friendly the stadium was.  Outside the Fan Shop, I saw a huge sign that said FAMILY DEAL - T-shirts: $8.99, Hats: $7.99, Mini Bats: $2.99, Foam fingers: $1.99.  Seriously?!?!  You can barely get a t-shirt for $9 at Target, let alone a stadium shirt!  The family deal applied to only one section of t-shirts, but it was the classic Angels design and there were lots of items in every size.  It's so impressive.  It can cost a lot of money to bring a family to a ball game and souvenirs are so pricey.  This was the only stadium we have ever seen (and this was our 21st stadium) that put so much effort into creating and marketing a budget friendly fan shop.  I am so impressed with this.

I expected the Angels to be a little snobby because it's closer to the O.C. and the Dodgers to be pretty egalitarian because it's such a big, diverse city.  But my experiences were the reverse.  Angels Stadium was incredibly welcoming, price friendly and family friendly and had something in every price range.  And Dodgers Stadium... well, you know how I feel about it.

The Angels won the game , so they lit up the halo around the Angels A outside the stadium.  It's hard to get a good picture with a cell phone.

Three cheer for the Angels.  What a world class experience.