Monday, March 2

Today we went to the Desert Botanical Garden. It was really hot, but today was the only free day we have left in Phoenix since we have baseball tomorrow and Wednesday (temperatures are forecast to be slightly cooler). It is amazing how many different plants grow in the desert – it’s so much more than cacti! We spent about 1.5 hours walking all of the loops in the garden, including the butterfly enclosure; just over 2 miles in total.

On the way back to the house, we stopped at Trader Joe’s, which is in the same plaza as Safeway; we wanted to get an appetizer and they always have such a good selection. We chose chicken spring rolls and they were really good – yummy filling and they got perfectly crispy in the oven. We are planning on leftover chicken for dinner, so nothing very exciting.

Tuesday, March 3

There was a full slate of baseball games today since many of the teams participating in the World Baseball Classic played exhibition games – including Team USA. We had tickets for a regular spring training game between the Dodgers and the Guardians at Goodyear Ballpark. We had an issue with the tire pressure on the way to the park, so we had to get off a few miles from our exit and buy a tire gauge at Target. The tire on the front passenger side was the culprit, but it was only about 3 pounds lower than the others, so we continued on to the ball game and had missed only the first two batters (LA) in the top of the 1st inning.

Once again, Cleveland seemed to set the tone for the game by hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the 1st, after Sasaki (LA pitcher) loaded the bases by walking 3 in a row with no outs. Then, the bases were loaded again, but the Dodgers managed to get out of it without any further damage. Los Angeles responded by scoring 2 in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th, and, that is how the game ended – 5-4 LA over Cleveland.

In other baseball action, USA walloped the SF Giants 15-1; the crowd must have been really into it because they played 10 innings – bonus baseball!! When I got our tickets, I hadn’t thought about the exhibition games and that many of the star players, such as Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Will Smith (all Dodgers) wouldn’t be playing in regular spring training games. Oh well, it was still good baseball!

Wednesday, March 4

Today was our last spring training baseball game; Italy at the Angels in Tempe Diablo Stadium. (Have you ever thought about the dichotomy of the Halos playing in “Devil” stadium? The things that make you go hmm!) It was a really good game with both teams playing well. Final score was 5-4 Angels over Italy. Unfortunately, once again, the “big” names were absent from WBC play – we learned that many players were not able to get insurance (i.e., season ending injury) to play outside of the MLB. For example, Mike Trout was not playing for either the Angels or the USA because no insurer would cover his $85 million salary.

Anyway, our seats were in the shade, and it was slightly cooler today, so it really was a perfect day at the ballpark. Markus and I shared a BBQ brisket sandwich with a side of mac and cheese. It was delicious – but absolutely huge! We were stuffed!

So, the only other “excitement” for the day was that the issue with the tire pressure continued. We stopped at a gas station to add air, but the air pump was defective and Markus ended up letting air out. Thankfully, there was a Valvoline Oil Change across the street and we pulled in there. The guys could not have been more helpful! They aired up the tire, gave us two cold bottles of water and didn’t charge us a cent! After the baseball game, I called National to ask about exchanging the car; we were only a few miles from Phoenix Airport and could easily access the National rental cars there. Since Markus and I had diagnosed the problem as a bad sensor (the tire doesn’t seem to be leaking air), the customer service representative advised us to continue back to LA tomorrow as planned. He also told us that if we had any difficulty along the way that National would immediately respond with a replacement vehicle.

The last item we wanted to note for today was parking at the various ballparks. At Salt River Fields, we had to pay $10 to park about 1/2 mile away; at Goodyear, parking was free and we had a really close spot; at Diablo, parking was free but it was street parking and it was not at all organized – we were essentially on your own (the spot that we found was about 0.4 mile away from the main gate).

Thursday, March 5

We had a really long travel day today – 385 miles. At the outset, Apple Maps predicted it would take 5 hours and 50 minutes, but it took closer to 7 hours and 20 minutes, albeit with 2 rest stops and 1 stop for gas. The last 220 miles (all in California) were particularly difficult as traffic was incredibly heavy and there were multiple construction zones, not to mention merge zones, which sometimes cause traffic to stop entirely. You can’t even imagine how happy we were to exit for the Marriott after 380 miles of grueling driving.

As luck would have it, there is a Pavilion’s Grocery Store (part of the Safeway brands) just 1.5 miles up the Newport Coast Road. We stopped and bought shrimp and pasta for dinner and a quiche for breakfast. We got to the vacation club and checked into our villa. It’s beautiful and roomy (2 bedrooms / 2 baths) with a view through the pines of the Pacific Ocean. We saw a lovely sunset – a fitting way to end our stressful day.

Since we don’t have too much else to share today, we thought we would mention Waymo. Phoenix was one of the first cities to adopt the driverless technology and the vehicles are everywhere – particularly around the Arizona State University campus. At first we didn’t know what they were as they don’t look like regular vehicles with all of the technology mounted on the roof and on sides of the hood. And, it is a little odd to see a car going down the road with no driver! The photo at the right is a stock photo; I never had an opportunity to take a picture of the vehicle myself. Every car that we saw was identical to the photo – a white Tesla with black wheels.

Friday, March 6

To say we were lazy this morning would be an incredible understatement! We were exhausted from yesterday and didn’t get out of the villa until after 1:00. We drove the Pacific Coast Highway south to Laguna Beach where we stopped for lunch at the Lost Pier Cafe at Aliso Beach. Markus and I shared a burger and fries. It was a huge sandwich – and delicious – one of the best burgers we have had in a while. It was a beautiful day to sit on the patio and watch the surf roll in.

We drove further south to Dana Point and then turned around and made our way back north to the villa. Traffic was quite heavy in Dana Point and Laguna Beach so it was slow going. But we weren’t in a hurry – just out enjoying the gorgeous weather and ocean views.

When we were driving through Laguna Beach, we passed Las Brisas Restaurant. Markus and I ate there 29 years ago with my mother, step-father, Carl and Lydia. We were all in California for my step-brother’s wedding. If I remember correctly, Carl and Lydia were living in La Jolla (north of San Diego) and drove up to meet us for the day. As you can see from the picture at the right, the weather was gorgeous! And, don’t my mother and uncle look amazing?! What beautiful memories! 🤍

Once again, we stopped at Pavilion for chicken for dinner. The butcher shop had several pre-seasoned options; we chose Italian chicken thighs as well as garlic and herb baby red potatoes to complete the meal.

Saturday, March 7

Our last full day in California with a lot of idle time before our flight. We checked out of the resort at 10:00, and strolled around the property for about a half hour – taking pictures and enjoying the ocean views.

We decided to take the Pacific Coast Highway north to Manhattan Beach since that was the slowest route and we certainly had the time. We wanted to park and eat lunch in Manhattan Beach, but it was incredibly busy and parking was non-existent, so we bailed on that idea and continued north. After scoping out the rental car return at LAX, we turned around and headed back to Hermosa Beach (~ 5 miles), where we filled up with gas. We also found a Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch (funnily enough called Las Brisas but not associated with the restaurant in Laguna Beach). The food was very good and the service was excellent. It was almost 3:30 when we left the restaurant; we found a shopping center with Peet’s Coffee in Manhattan Beach so that was our next stop. We managed to linger over coffee until 5:00, when we drove the last 3 miles to National to return the car, once again encountering Waymo vehicles on the way (picture at right is ours – not stock). We told the customer service representative about the tire sensor issue and she gave us $20 off of our rental for the inconvenience. That was a nice way to end the road trip!

By the time we got on the shuttle and to the American Airlines check-in area, it was 6:00. We thought that we couldn’t check our bags until 3 hours before our flight time, so we found a “seat” and whiled away 45 minutes. (I put the word “seat” in quotes because there were exactly zero places to sit in the check-in area. We sat on the window ledge, which was not at all comfortable.) Finally, I thought that I should verify the baggage policy, and the agent told me that luggage can be checked at any time, as long as it is on the same day as the flight departure. Needless to say, we immediately got rid of our bags and headed to security. Since we still had so much time, we opted for the American Express Centurion Lounge. Apparently, loads of other people had the same idea as we had to join a wait list. Ironically, we were still so early that we even had to wait to join the wait list because you can only be admitted to the lounge 3 hours before your flight departure time. Fortunately, the wait wasn’t too long and we were able to find a table and sit with a glass of wine. We had a bite to eat and left the lounge around 9:30 for the 15-minute walk back to terminal 4 (the lounge was in the international terminal).

The flight was on time and a few minutes before 10:00 pm, we were finally on board! We enjoyed a glass of bubbles before take-off and once in the air, we settled in for the 4 1/2 hour flight. I watched some mindless TV and Markus played sudoku. I managed to doze a little, but Markus was awake for the entirety. He did manage to capture some pretty good footage of a storm off to the north of our flight path – check out the video here.

Sunday, March 8

Our flight was overnight – and we sprung forward an hour; as such, it was 7:15 when we landed. It took almost an hour to claim our baggage walk to National, pick our vehicle (a black Jeep Gladiator) and exit the garage. The drive home was uneventful and we pulled into our driveway at 9:45. We unpacked the truck, rested for a bit, and returned the vehicle to National at DBIA.