Cactus League with Tom and Eileen

Hi Blog!

As full-time RVers, we rely on Kathy's sister, Eileen, and her husband, Tom, to be our home base. We keep all our important stuff in the cupboard-under-the-stairs at their house. In exchange for their providing our residence, we pay our "rent" by hosting them for a week-long vacation in a destination of their choosing based on our itinerary. This year, Eileen and Tom met us in Phoenix, Arizona for a week of Spring Training baseball.

They arrived in Phoenix on March 4, and on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, we attended our first game at Salt River Fields -- which Tom, of course, referred to as Saltpeter Fields, because that's the kind of guy he is. Before heading to Salt River Fields, we took a scenic drive along the Apache Trail, a spectacular scenic byway in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix.

Here are Eileen and Kathy making trouble in the back seat of the Jeep.

Since the Jeep only has two doors, we designated Dave and Tom to be the official photographers for the scenic drive. The Apache Trail is one of the most scenic drives near the Phoenix area. This well-traveled road affords visitors an incredible view of canyons, geologic formations, desert plants and trees, desert and lake views, and wildflowers in season.

With all the rain and snow that Arizona had recently received, the wildflowers were exploding all around us.

Since we are all Philadelphia Phillies fans, it didn't really matter which games we saw in the Cactus League. We picked the Brewers vs. the Colorado Rockies since Salt River Fields is halfway between the Apache Trail and our RV Park. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community partnered with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies to build the award-winning Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, which opened in 2011, as the first Major League Baseball Spring Training facility in the nation to be built on Indian land.

Here is the view from our seats behind 1st base:

Since the complex is shared by the Diamondbacks and Rockies, the stadium is literally divided in half. Everything on the 1st base side is Colorado Rockies and everything on the 3rd base side is Arizona Diamondbacks. Each club has its own gift shop in their respective outfield corners. They even have different beers highlighting the local craft breweries in Arizona and Colorado! Since we were sitting on the Colorado side, Kathy decided to dress the part!

On Wednesday, we took a break from baseball and drove Eileen and Tom for a three day trip up to the Grand Canyon. More on that adventure in the next blog. For now, it's back to baseball.

On Saturday, March 9, 2017, after our return from the Grand Canyon, we met up with with friends of Eileen and Tom who just happen to be in Phoenix at the same time:  Tom P., Denise, and their two boys, Tommy and David, were all in Chandler for a short vacation and some house-hunting. Tom P. and Denise are thinking of retiring to the Phoenix area. We all agreed to meet at Tempe Diablo Stadium to watch the L.A. Angels play the Milwaukee Brewers.

In order to make sure we could get tickets for enought seats together, we arrived early. The boys of summer were still taking batting practice. Brad Ausmus, the new manager for the Angels, came over to the sideline to sign autographs and chat with the Angels fans.

Tempe Diablo Stadium is one of the oldest stadiums in the Phoenix area. It is only used by the Angels. Dating back to 1968, most of the seats are long metal bleachers. We can't image how hot those get during the summer months!

If you look at the second section from the left, you will see Dave's bright orange bike jacket.  Kathy walked around to the far third-base side to take this photo.

From our seats along the right field foul line, we had a nice view of The Buttes. Since the bleachers were not crowded, we had plenty of room to spread out and chat. It was fun listening to Tom M. and Tom P. bust on each other. We all had a great time catching up. Unfortunately for the Angels fans around us, we were the only ones that enjoyed themselves, as the Brewers beat the Angels 5 to 1.

On Sunday, we took another break from baseball so that Tom could explore his other passion - The Flea Market!  The Glendale Public Market is a year-round open-air market with fresh produce, new/used eclectic items, a cafe and live entertainment. We ended up not taking photos at the market because our hands were full of our latest purchases! We did manage to catch Tom smiling like the Cheshire cat after a week of baseball, scenic drives and shopping!

Just before dropping Eileen and Tom off at the airport, we meet up with Darla and her brother, Harry, at Mother Bunch Brewing. Good food, great beer and even better company. Again, we were having so much fun, we forgot to get photos with our new brother, Harry, but Tom and Eileen were clearly having a lot of fun:

While Eileen and Tom were just finishing their week, Darla and Harry were just getting started!  They forwarded us this wonderful photo of them at one of Spring Training games later in the week:

We, on the other hand, are heading north to visit the Grand Canyon Caverns for a few days of spelunking!  Before that, however, we have a blog entry to share with you about our trip with Tom and Eileen to the Grand Canyon South Rim.