Spring Training...and so much more!

I can now call it a dream fulfilled. I went to Spring Training 2010 in Arizona and it was everything I wanted it to be. What I did not expect was the time not spent at the games to be so special.

First of all, the weather was spectacular, I don't know the exact temperatures each day but suffice it to say, we needed the 30 SPF sunblock we took with us. But it wasn't so hot that you couldn't be outside, it was actually perfect!

First day: This was the day I had waited for. Mariners game at 1:05 pm. We got into our Dodge Journey rental car and drove over from Scottsdale to Peoria where we arrived by 10:00 am. No, gates didn't open until 11:30 but as we discovered, there was lots to experience until then. We found the big names, Griffey, Ichiro etc on Field Number One. We got to watch them start to warm up slowly then move toward batting practice. We were less than 20 feet away from what was to become a great show. Griffey and Ichiro were having a contest in batting practice to see who could hit the most home runs. Griffey hammed it up for the crowd when Ichiro was up at bat and Ichiro actually did the same. I have never seen Ichiro so animated and having so much fun. At one point, Griffey even stood in front of Ichiro daring him to hit the ball and when he did, Griffey caught it. If I never even went to the actual game, I would have been happy.

But I did go to the game. Front row, next to the Mariners dugout. Felix Hernandez was the starting pitcher and walked by in front of me less than 10 feet away. The very cute Franklin Guttierez warmed up right in front of me. And then, while no autographs were signed, Griffey came out of the dugout and talked to several little kids, again, less than 10 feet away. I was star struck!

I had many conversations with my Dad before he died about baseball. He loved watching the Mariners and we used to talk about how much fun it would be to go to Spring Training. I never got the chance to take him when he was alive but I did take a little of his ashes and poured them on the Mariners field so he did finally make it there.

The game itself was a good one. Felix pitched 5 shoutout innings, the Mariners beat Arizona in front of the largest crowd ever to see a Cactus League game and I was there! I even caught a ball from the first baseman Ryan Garko when I yelled his name and he threw it to me. It was perfect!

Day Two: My dream was Spring Training. Mark's was to go into the desert and hike. We went to Tucson and drove out into the Saguaro National Park starting with the Sedona Desert Museum. The drive there was almost as spectacular as being there. The desert homes were built on the hillsides with Saguaro Cacti surrounding them. The museum itself is a hike through the desert with stops to see different exhibits, animals and even a Harris Hawk demonstration. These hawks were amazing, five of them, flying over our heads to their trainers, landing on the top of cacti and wowing the crowd. Then there was the hike into the forest of cactus which was a unique experience in and of itself. In reality, we could have spent the entire time seeing this wonderful desert.

Day Three: A trip to Scottsdale Stadium, within walking distance from our hotel to see San Francisco play Texas. Had to pick up a little souvenir for our great nephew whose daddy is a great Giants fan and the food at this stadium was the best of all we saw. It was another day in paradise and we saw a great game that went into the 9th inning tied. Again, our wonderful sunscreen did the job, no sunburns!

Day Four: Unfortunately a late night on the town on day three left us feeling old, tired and yes, a little under the weather if you know what I mean. We did manage to get ourselves out to Surprise Stadium though to watch our third game, KC vs the Cubs. We got to see Lou Pinella again. We were told this was a must see stadium, one of the newer ones in the Cactus League. We were not impressed. It seemed sterile and the food wasn't even as good as you get the Tacoma Rainiers. The game was a good one though, again, a tie into the ninth inning.

Day Five: Our flight out wasn't until 5:00 so we took this opportunity to go to the Mill District of Tempe and got to see some of the ASU campus. For a campus in the middle of the city, it was much more appealing that the Arizona campus we saw in Tucson. We did the tourist thing, ate lunch (I bought a cowboy hat!) then left to return the rental car, a chore to say the least. then headed home.

This was a great vacation. Baseball, desert, great food but most of all, six days spending time with my husband, relaxed, carefree time. We don't do that enough and we should. While we don't have any big vacations planned for the summer, I think we will be able to get back into the simple things for fun, camping, driving to places we've never seen or haven't seen in a long time and hopefully, just sharing time with family.