We set our alarm for 7:30 a.m. but didn't get out of bed until almost 8 a.m. Mom got in a shower, and I slowly got ready to go. I made sure we brought all of the stuff we needed for the game in our clear bag, including our sunscreen, gum, wallet, water bottle, camera, sunglasses and other items we thought we would need. I had purchased a new Mariner's sweatshirt at Costco prior to this trip and was excited to wear it for the first time as we got ready for our day. The weather was going to be beautiful and in the mid 70's. Something we have not experienced yet this year. Yes, we had to go to Arizona to be warm.
We walked to the lobby for breakfast. The selection wasn't all that great, but I managed to find two small blueberry muffins, a banana and some orange juice. We did manage to find a place to sit and eat since the place was super busy at that exact time we went. After we were done, we went back to our room, grabbed our stuff, made sure we had everything and walked out to the rental car. I set the GPS to the parking lot address and away to Peoria we went!
Our hotel wasn't too far from Peoria. We got onto the 101 Loop to Bell Road and from Bell Road to 83rd to the parking lot. We noticed there was an In-N-Out near the stadium. I know where we're going after the game! Once in the parking lot, we noticed that parking was free and followed the directions of the parking attendants to a really good spot not far from the stadium. We gathered our stuff, found the tickets on my phone so they were out and ready to be scanned and walked to the front of the stadium. I could not believe we were at spring training! This is something Mom and I have wanted to do for years now, and we were finally there!
Our tickets were scanned, went through security and went inside. We immediately went into the team store because Mom wanted a spring training shirt. It was literally the last day of spring training so there wasn't a whole heck of a lot to pick from. She did manage to find one she liked and in her size. She paid for her shirt, and we walked around the stadium for a little bit. We took a bunch of photos from each vantage point and being there really reminded me of being at Cheney Stadium where the Rainier's play, except that the weather is obviously better in Arizona. We filled up our water bottles and went to go find our seats in section 119, row H and seats 17 &18.
I got up a few times while we waited for the game to start and took a few pictures from behind home plate and other places along the third baseline. Of course, we got a couple of selfies. The team finally came out to the field to begin their stretching and warm-ups. Julio Rodriguez and some of the other players came over to the fans and signed kid's baseballs. Julio was literally 15 feet away from us! It was so awesome!
A bunch of middle-aged guys sat in front of us, they looked like they were here on a work trip, lots of beer was consumed, a family from Oregon sat behind us and a very chatty family from San Diego sat next to me. When they first sat down, the very large husband sat next to me, and I wondered why he just didn't sit on the end. After a while, they figured it out and he and his wife switched places, giving me more room between the seats. Their daughter had hearing aids, so the wife was very chatty the remainder of the game. It was really hard sitting next to them, plus they rooted for the other team which made it worse.
The Mariner's starters started the game through three innings and then were slowly replaced by the players who were trying to make the team. There were no homeruns or big plays the entire game. Through two innings no runs were scored. The third inning was the most exciting inning at that point. Each team hit in two runs each, tying the game up. It didn't last long, San Diego got one more run in the 4th because we kept walking people and letting them get base hits. I had to keep reminding myself that it was spring training, and these are practice games.
As the game wore on, I really got tired of the wife talking so much. It was like she assumed that no one knew what baseball was and gave the play by play. I was hoping we would score some more runs but we didn't, and the Padres did one more time in the 8th. The final score was 4-2. Bummer. I was hoping for a win in Arizona!
We gathered up our stuff and left the stadium. We got out to our rental car and got to leave the parking lot without having to wait in a huge line of cars. I was surprised how fast we out to the main road. I asked Mom if she wanted some In-And-Out and she said yes. I told her we would go to the one at the end of the road. We pulled in, parked the rental car and went in as quickly as we could. In-N-Outs are notoriously well known for being super busy all the time, at least all the ones I've ever been to over the past decade or so. We were the first people in line and we both ordered the #2 with strawberry shakes. Mom got some napkins, ketchup and a table while I waited for our number to be called.
It was finally called, I grabbed our food and sat down. I was glad we got there when we did because the placed filled up fast!
I have not had In-And-Out since last summer when we drove down to Oregon for Jessie's Dad's celebration of life. There's one in Keizer, just north of Salem. For Mom, it's been a little longer than that. While we ate, we talked about what we were going to do for the rest of the day. I did not plan anything because I didn't know how long the game would be. We had a wide-open evening that we had to fill with something fun...but what?
We drove back to the hotel, and I looked up places to go hiking nearby. The one that kept coming up the most in the searches was North Mountain. I read a little bit more about it before pitching the idea to Mom. She said that sounded fine and was a short three-mile drive from the hotel. We gathered the stuff we thought we might need and shoved it into my backpack and off to the rental car we went. I put in the address into the GPS and off we went!
We drove over on the arterial roads. We saw the signs for North Mountain as we got closer. I saw the entrance; we followed the road to the parking lot and found a place to park. We changed our shoes, walked to the trailhead and found a trail to take. There were several scattered around the mountains, but we chose the most straightforward one to the top of the mountain that was closest to us. We started up. The trail was loose dirt, rocks and gravel until we got to the junction of the other trail. That one was paved so the service vehicles could get to the top where the antennas were. We did have to stop a few times due to the elevation. Phoenix sits at 1,243 in elevation which is higher than where we are from. I am almost at sea level in Lacey, while Mom, is almost at 500 feet in Rainier. The elevation did get to us.
The views on our way up were amazing. There were several spots we stopped to admire the 360-degree view of the Phoenix metro area. I could not believe how big Phoenix actually was until we stood on top of that mountain. Once we got to the top, I went ahead of Mom to go grab a cache, Up on Top (GC1QJX8). I searched and searched and searched and just could not find the container the cachers with past "find it" logs were talking about. I did manage to find the old lock n lock cache that was in pieces. I finally gave up and decided to just log the broken cache. It looked like the cache owner has been ignoring the needs maintenance logs anyway. I chatted with Ben for a few minutes.
I took a couple more pictures from the top and walked back down to where Mom was. You could tell the hill we walked up kicked her butt. I told her, "at least we worked off our In-And-Out." She agreed. As we walked back down, we noticed more and more people walking up. This mountain is very popular to the locals. We saw a guy walk up that had better feminine-looking legs than any women I've ever seen!
We got back down to the rental car, changed our shoes and Mom wanted to go to Walmart to get a few things. I found the closest Walmart to us, put it into the GPS and off we went. I asked Mom if she had fun and she said yes, but now she was tired. The hike took us roughly an hour and a half.
We got to Walmart and picked up some more water, aloe vera (yes, I did not put enough sunscreen on during the game and got burnt pretty bad, I knew I should have worn my hat!), some more snacks and a bottle of shampoo and conditioner since my bottles ran out.
We drove back to the hotel. I got in a shower, slathered aloe vera all over my face, we checked in with Dad, Ben and Trish and relaxed a bit before we had to go to bed. I ate my salad, filled in my travel journal and then slowly got ready for bed. We were tired after the long, hot, sunny day.
Some notes on the day:
This was our first time going to Spring Training. It's been on our bucket list for years.
This was my first time to Phoenix.
This was our first warm sunny day of our year since we are from the Pacific Northwest and just got out of our winter/cold and rainy spring.
I got sunburnt pretty bad and regretted not putting enough sunscreen on during the game.
We walked 12,150 steps which is about five miles.
We found one geocache and it was a traditional.
We got to see amazing views of the Phoenix metro area from North Mountain.
Next Adventure: Nevada/Arizona Vacation: Left Phoenix towards Tucson, Ostrich Farm, Saguaro National Park, Cacti Hike, Visiting Tony and Lisa
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