Spring Training Trip 2014

 Almost every year for 20 years I've been going to watch Spring training baseball in Arizona (once in Florida) and once again I made it this year. At first my friend who organizes the trip said he wasn't going to plan  a group trip, just one for this family. But then he ended up buying 20 tickets for two games and so I bought my airline ticket to fly out.

I got there late Friday  night. Usually we all fly together, but this year everyone drove except me. I got to the hotel in time to get some food and beer at the bar. I was soon joined by a few more from the group and we ended up talking until  past closing time. They were nice enough to not kick us out.

 

The first game was at the new Cubs park in Mesa. We had a little trouble finding it because the GPS took us to the old location. Well, we still had time to get to the correct park, do some tailgating and get in before first pitch. It wasn't hot, but it was nice that we had seats in the shade the whole game. For food and drink I had an Old Style and a bratwurst.

Above is my lunch and a view of the outside of the park. Right after the game was over a freak storm hit with a little rain and strong wind blowing more dust than rain.

 On Friday night after eating pizza in the hotel banquet room, we went to the bowling alley across the street where after two games of just breaking 100 I was done. My yearly bowling.

On Saturday we went to see the Giants in Scotsdale. These tickets are hard to get as the games always sell out. We thought we had good seats in the shade, but they ended up being in the sun on bleachers. It wasn't too hot and the bleachers weren't too crowded or uncomfortable. The Giants lost to the A's so the fans weren't happy.

Then on Saturday night after happy hour at the hotel bar we went out for our usual dress-up dinner. Instead of a nice steak place we went to a popular Mexican restaurant that we had never been to before. We sat outside, where it was also very windy, and had a nice meal with some beer and Patron.

Sunday morning I had time to sleep in, get my free breakfast and get to the hotel in plenty of time for my flight home. Even though I was there for just two full days instead of the usual four, I felt like I was there for a week. Guess I'm getting old(er). Can't wait until next year, or actually this June in Omaha for the College World Series!