Stayin' on the trail...

Stayin' on the trail.... Or not. With five days to go until the end of Spring Training I'm starting to collect quite a stash of memories from this trip. In the last week I've had two visitors join me at "Camp David". The love of my life, Sophie, flew down for her Spring Break to enjoy the Arizona heat and she got a full taste of what temps in the high 90's in March feel like. While I was slaving away at the old ballgame she was out hiking and biking. I did get a chance to take her to old town Scottsdale one day and another day we rented a boat on Lake Pleasant to see its pristine waters in style.

My wife loves to captain the boat so most of the time I sat back and relaxed while she took me bouncing over the waves (she really likes the waves - the bigger the better!).

I also was visited by Tim from Denver for a couple of days. I worked with Tim's wife for many years at Pinnacol and have gotten to know Tim as well. He was nice enough to take me out to a ballgame and dinner while here and he's flying back to Denver today where apparently snow fell overnight.

We took in the Mariners/Angels game at Peoria Stadium and had great seats along the third base line. I took Tim on a flower-filled walk on a short section of the Wild Burro Trail at Lake Pleasant. Both he and Sophie picked a great time to come as the desert is really in bloom.

At my work some of the folks are leaving for other gigs around the country. When this is all done I'll miss working with Bob and Larry who were with me most days at the 3rd base tent. Larry is quite the free spirit and really made the time fly by. His ability to connect with almost anyone (he was especially fond of those of the female persuasion) is something I wish I had.

As I mentioned, the desert is in bloom. A lot of the snowbirds are readying their rigs in anticipation of heading north when the weather gets too hot here. As one RV'er told me, he leaves when the non-4 legged critters come out to play. Well, that time has definitely come. I'm hearing the rattle of snakes on my mountain bike rides now and the library now sports a sign warning folks to stay on the trails.

And in the Park office you can view live specimens of what you don't want to encounter up close and personal outside.

I'll leave you with a couple of baseball images to get your mind off snakes and the like. A lot of fans go to great lengths to dress up in their team apparel. I caught this fan sporting a great pair of boots the other day.

And finally, while Surprise Stadium really doesn't have a bad seat in the house this young fan at last night's game really did have a fantastic view.