Phoenix and Spring Training

Well I have made it to Spring Training after 50+ years. The flight out of Fresno was a breeze. It was scheduled to land at 3:06 PM and they opened the doors of the plane at 3:06. Vada and Al were in the terminal to meet me - which was good as they have totally remodeled the airport since I was there last and the terminal I was in wasn't even there when I was there last. They took me to Gay's so I could unpack and then we went out to dinner at Mimi's - sound like a Grandma Betty travel log?

On Tuesday we went to Costco and got Gay a new HD TV (32 in model that fits into her book cases just right. She loves it and if the Suns would win a game on it she would be happier.

Today I took a little walk. The temperature was just at 80 degrees so that is fine. I didn't realize the length of the trip I was taking but the "square" I planned to walk was about a four mile one. (One mile on each side.) Actually you can't do the whole square because a wash runs through a corner of it for flood control, so I estimated I walked a good 3 miles. Quite a little jaunt but fun.

I left at 11:20 for the ballpark down on Camelback Road. To get there you take the 101 freeway. Sound familiar? Well it is Arizona 101. Anyway it takes you right past the Arizona Cardinals stadium and the hockey arena, which is next door. The baseball complex is a whole two weeks old and barely built in time. They were really pushing it when they finally finished it. I took some great stills but they are on my camera (internal memory!) - I forgot to put the memory card in all the way and left the connection cord at home because "I never use it any more anyway!" Oh well - the game was long, long, long - 18 runs and 25+ hits, and who knows how many players.

I put a couple of videos in here. The one with the pitcher on the mound is the first pitch of the game. Kershaw was out starter - he stunk. The other video is a panoramic view of the stadium from behind home plate. I will put more on the web after tomorrow.




This is the only picture I had off my memory card after my internal memory maxed out. This is Dave Roberts (the ex-Dodger) the pitch before he drove in the winning runs with a double to the fence. Oh well, the BIG NEWS today was Manny signing with the Dodgers. It should be interesting tomorrow and I am sitting right behind the Dodger dugout instead of the visitor one. I hope to get some good shots. The guy in the gift shop said they had 350 Manny wigs (dreadlocks) scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I'll try to get some shots.