Priceless Prince-cess

OK, in 50 words or less, my Priceless Prince adventure at Target Field... Well, more than 50 words, I'm sure.

Got to my niece Caryn's house by noon Friday so we could golf, cool off in her pool, wait for some other family to arrive by 3 ish, and head downtown to Target Field. So that all went according to plan. Sprinkled on and off and all we could think was at least we'd have an umbrella.

Had to do some touristy things around the Target Plaza outside the entrances since couldn't get through the gates before 5:10 p.m., 2 hours before game time. There were lines already formed before 4 p.m. Everybody wanted to be among that first 10,000 to get Prince tribute umbrellas.

A new statue this year is of T.C., the Twins mascot.

 My niece Caryn.

I believe this is my 4th time posing with Kirby Puckett in this same stance. I'll probably have to check previous visits to the stadium to see if I was wearing the same shirt, too!

Caryn and the group held a spot in line so I could show the first-timers the statues and stuff around Target Plaza and get our pictures taken. Here we are in the glove. We did not even have to wait in line for any pictures because everyone was in the main "umbrella lines" at all the gates.

My sister RoAnn sitting pretty.

Sister Romey fitting like a glove.

Me lounging without a care in the world – except to get that umbrella.

Everyone was pretty much dressed in Twins gear or Prince gear. Saw a lot of cool shirts and outfits.

This was how big the line was at our gate with another half hour before gate opening. Crazy. At least they entertained us with Prince songs blaring while we waited.

Got in and got an umbrella!! Noticed a lot of signs of Prince around.

For batting practice, the Twins players wore special purple Prince/Twins shirts. They had them for sale around the stadium, too, but they sold out within minutes.

"We have umbrellas!"

Pregame song was Let's Go Crazy and the crowd was pumped!

Had to take a picture of Coach Paul Molitor for my BFF, who has been crushing on him since 1982, I think!

Some of our crew – crazy niece and niece-to-be ensemble between nephews David and Travis.

Sisters ready for popcorn and peanuts and everything!

Niece Beth and her husband Anders, who live in the Cities, arrived later than we did and were un-umbrella-ed fans. My stepson Casey also came after work and did not get one. He wasn't broken up about it or anything.

The lights than normally shine Twins Red and Blue were throwing a purple hue on Friday.

Very cool when the sun was setting!

Our seats were top level but Caryn and I stopped in the section near home plate to watch a bit.

Just by coincidence we were there for the homerun and saw the Twins' only run cross the plate.

7th inning stretch and we finally got to open the umbrellas while Purple Rain (a few seconds of it, it seemed) played.

Pretty cool but too short. Darn TV timeouts.

I as impressed with the umbrellas. Thought they'd be little "purse size" or something but they were almost golf umbrella size. Purple on the outside and ....

And the Purple Rain movies poster image on the inside. Way cool!!

After our 8-1 loss to Cleveland, the stadium lights dimmed for fireworks.

All that purple looked awesome!

Fireworks were launched off the roof a the parking garage next to the stadium. So it was a nice view from our cheap seats!

Since the fireworks were choreographed to Prince music, there had to be some purple ones, of course!

One last shot as we got in our car. Those purple light sure are cool against the dark night sky!

Had a great time with the newbies and the seasoned veterans of Twins games. Wasn't even that bummed that we lost. At one point when we were down 7-0, I said, "C'mon. I did not drive 4 hours for a shutout."

Apparently, though, I did drive 4 hours for an umbrella.

Worth it. Priceless.