Thursday night, my co-worker Jessica, my friend Kim, and some other girls from the company we work for went to Portland's PGE Park to watch a Beavers baseball game... or so we thought. Before I elaborate, Thursday nights at PGE Park as always "Thirsty Thursday". Cheap $2.50 beers and really expensive $6 hotdogs and $8 hamburgers. I, however, don't drink beer so the cheap beers didn't matter to me. I was going to have some fun with my girlfriends.

We get there and the parking is $10, but because Jessica is riding with me, she offers to pay for half, which was a-okay with me! Then we go to buy the tickets, which were normally supposed to be $8. But instead of it being a baseball game, it's some fancy exhibition soccer game and it's $16 for general admission.

It's 7:15pm, it's bright and sunny. It's also 92 degrees outside. I immediately buy a bottle of water... which was $3.75. Within an hour I've drank the whole thing. So Kim and I go back for water and food. I opt for a $6 chilli-cheese dog and another $4 water. By the time we finished our food and got back to the stands with Jessica and the other girls, the game was almost over. I had no idea soccer games were so much shorter! I'm used to baseball where it can take 4 or 5 hours for it to end. 20 minutes later, we're back outside and leaving.

Jessica wanted to hit one of the local, trendy bars, but I politely declined, telling her I had a headache (which I did). But truthfully, I couldn't think of spending anymore money. I expected parking to be at least $8, as it is usually expensive in Portland and I planned on the $8 for a ticket. But that's only $16. I ended up spending $35 on evening that I thought would be closer to $20 or $25. Not that $10 or $15 makes a huge difference, but I hate those little surprises.

Not to mention it was soooo hot outside. I'd much rather have spent my $35 in my favorite air-conditioned sushi joint (with no fee to park) right by my house. And after 8:30pm, the sushi is all 20% off, too! But oh well, it was still fun to get together with the girls. :)

The next time we plan to hit up Thirsty Thursday, I'm going to eat a big, cheap meal before we go. And it won't be 90 degrees.

Labels: baseball parks are expensive, money surprises