How Tailgate parties became the latest craze in Belgium

Yes, I know, the last post is too long ago. Sorry, was just busy having too much FUN.

But I’ll try and make up for it, by telling about my super awesome Sunday (Fun Day)..

When first arriving in the US my colleagues asked what was on my bucket list (not that I was planning to die or anything, but you never know what is crossing your path next – live now!). I managed to do quite a few things (New York off course, Niagara Falls, …) but going to a baseball match wasn’t crossed off yet. AND, by now I had heard about the sport of ‘tailgating‘. Half of the fun of going to a game is arriving early with food and drinks and just ‘hang’.

So hey, let’s round up some colleagues/friends. We filled the car with Kyle, Beth, Eileen, Dana, chairs, drinks, more drinks, the cutest little grill, food and drinks.

Should we take another cooler with us and leave Annika behind? 😉

Kyle made sure we left on time as we were seeing a mid day game (Mets vs. Astros) and the parking lots fill up quickly with other tailgaters on a Sunday.

Making sure the beer below stays cool

We claimed our spot (and the 2 next to it) and chose a first drink. This is when Eileen pulled out the best present ever: a Mets beer cooler thingy! Perfect.

A dirty bastard in the morning

With the beer cooler thingy in front of the Mets stadium

In case you are wondering about the orange on me: the color of the Mets are orange and blue.

Eileen – pretty nifty!

What a great day: sun, sun, sun. After crisps, cheese, … we started with the cute little grill. Kyle made perfect burgers that were matched with some great Belgian beer (Chimay). I had some Belgian chocolate with me as dessert. So relaxing and fun, I’ve decided this will be the next craze in Belgium next summer. Be sure to keep a close eye on the news from overseas ;-).

Quote of the day: We’re probable the only ones tailgating with Belgian beer AND Belgian chocolate.. Oh, AND a Belgian!

Handy bag that includes fire accelerator

The grill master

Keep that sun coming!

Dana with the ‘neutral cap’

Yum!!!

Some more beer to flush that burger down?

Oh yeah, better not forget to go see some baseball in the stadium behind us

The parking lot was almost full before we realized it. Time to get out our tickets and see the game! Everybody was great at explaining the rules to me. It’s pretty different from what I remember from playing something similar at home.

We baked in the sun and got to see a home run in the 2nd inning, which made the big apple pop out of the stage. Between innings there were little games, like the kiss cam, the bongo cam, … we also managed a little wave, shouted ‘let’s go Mets, let’s go!’ and tried some stadium beer.

The last inning was pretty exciting. The Astros managed to get a run and were tied with the Mets. That was just before Ike Davis managed to do a ‘Walk-Off Homer‘ and the stadium exploded in cheers. You can check out this magical moment here. You’ll see the ball just bumping off the dividing wall.

Well, the Mets now have a fan for life and I have a Mets foam finger as a souvenir to remind me of this absolutely amazing experience. A big thank you to my colleagues for helping me scratch this of my bucket list!