Cincinnati Reds Fireworks Friday
After Friday evening baseball games, the Cincinnati Reds have what they call Fireworks Friday and we happened to be in Cincinnati on a Friday night!
Sheila and I had actually talked about getting tickets to this game but, while we were planning this trip many months in advance, Sheila reminded me that we had no idea what the weather would be like. I had no desire to sit in the rain so we scrapped that possible activity for our visit. We knew that, at the very least, we could walk over one of the bridges to Kentucky or hire an Uber to see the fireworks so we figured we wouldn't miss the fireworks show. Plus, we hadn't told Kenzie and Lukey about the fireworks so that was a bit of a surprise.
We got lucky in that our "high floor" hotel room was looking directly toward the ball park and the Ohio river. This meant that if we turned out all the lights in the room to eliminate reflections, then we could watch the fireworks from the comfort of our room. The fireworks didn't start until around 10pm so we wouldn't have gotten back to our hotel until around 11pm if we had walked or called for an Uber. It was a blessing that we were able to watch from our hotel room. What would have been better, however, is if we could have found access to a nearby rooftop. All things considered, being in our room worked out fine though.
It just so happens that a rather severe thunderstorm had rolled through about an hour before game time. We probably would have been caught in this thunderstorm and gotten completely soaked had we purchased tickets to this game. Then our seats at the ball park would have been wet too Even though the temperature was in the 90s, being completely drenched before the game would not have been all that pleasant especially since I probably would have had a small camera with me as I always do.
Putting aside the thunderstorm, it's a bummer that we didn't have tickets to this game. First, I later found out that neither Lukey nor Kenzie had ever been to a professional baseball game. Attending any big league game in person, regardless of the sport, is very different than watching on television so it's something every kid should experience at least once.
Honestly, with the clarity of today's televisions and the amount of angles they capture each play, I prefer watching any game on television but it is the rest of the environment that is something every kid should experience. The sights, the sounds, the PA announcers, the roar of the crowd, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn... those are the things you can't experience in your living room.
That being said, if you are simply serious about the game itself and how it is played, then television is the way to watch. This night and this trip, however, was about the whole experience. At least we stayed dry and comfortable in our room watching the fireworks through the wall of windows. Plus, I'm beyond sixty years old now with significant health problems so having easy access to a very nearby bathroom is worth more than any experience for me!
Another reason it is too bad we skipped this game is that the Reds won the game with a score of 9-1. We actually listened to the game in our room at the hotel and watched some of the game while we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Also, the tickets I had planned to purchase were great seats which would have made the game even better.
Even as a kid growing up on Long Island, I was a Cincinnati Reds fan (and a Mets fan). Then my first Air Force duty station was in Dayton so this just cemented my strong feelings for the Reds. I often attended games for free and was always a big part of the Opening Day festivities which was a special honor that few have had the privilege to receive or, perhaps earn, as I did. Being back in Cincinnati brought back a lot of really nice memories.
So, here we were in Cincinnati on a Fireworks Friday night and our hotel was looking down on The Great American Ballpark and the Ohio River toward Kentucky. Before the game started, we watched a strong thunderstorm with high winds pass through the area. It was interesting watching this storm from a high floor which provided us with a very different point of view that we usually have for a storm. Fortunately, the wind dried off our windows fairly quickly after the storm had passed and then I captured a few photos from our room looking down toward the river and the ball park...
We had recorded video of this fireworks show too but, somehow, I managed to screw up the focus so the whole long video is out of focus. I remember that I had trouble focusing and that was likely due to the tinted double-pane windows of our hotel room. When we got home and I moved the video to my desktop computer with its big monitor, it was really disappointing to find that the whole video is out of focus. The video looked good on the tiny 3 inch LCD on the back of the camera and it even looked good on my 14 inch laptop but it looks horrendous on my desktop monitor! So, I have no video to show. The photo above is probably a more impressive sight anyway!
It was nice to be able to add this surprise activity to our trip itinerary. It just so happened that our schedule put us in Cincinnati on the right day, in the right weather, in a hotel that was perfectly aligned with the ball field. Sometimes it is the little unplanned things that not only pleasantly work in your favor but become quite memorable.
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