To participate in the wonderful tradition of baseball Spring Training, we decided on a mid-week trip to Phoenix to watch the Oakland A’s play in the “Cactus League”. Things didn’t quite work out as we had hoped.
Over a 5 year period in the late 90’s I “commuted” to Phoenix, spending 3 days a week working with a team of 30 engineers at VLSI Technology. I was interested to see what had changed since then.
Day 1
We were intrigued by the Sedona vortices described by our Uber driver on the way to San Jose airport, and made a note to visit one of them during our trip. The flight was uneventful except that the flight attendant broke the record for serving the smallest drink ever, unofficially measured at 2 fluid ounces.
On arrival in Phoenix, the first difference from the past was apparent. Rather than picking up my Hertz rental car next to the terminal, we had a long train ride to the humongous Car Rental Center (which is just slightly smaller than the airport itself), punctuated by an emergency stop that sent young children sprawling across the floor. Lesson to children: the instruction “Hold on to the handrail” means hold on to the handrail.
Confirming the wisdom of our normal decision to avoid hotels during our trips, the Airbnb in Midtown Phoenix was a very comfortable and spacious unit with several good local eateries. We dined at “The Main Ingredient Ale House and Café” (once again my strategy of selecting an Airbnb close to a brewery or ale house paid off). I had my first ever U.S. “Mac and Cheese” which would have been great if not for an excessive pesto drizzle.
Day 2, Sedona
I had underestimated the drive to Sedona which turned out to be over 2 hours, but what a drive through the saguaro cactus desert and spectacular Sedona Red Rock Park. After a brief stop at the Red Rock Park Ranger Station, we continued into Sedona and into heavy traffic. I had the brilliant idea of catching the “Sedona Shuttle” into town to avoid parking issues, only to find out just before we boarded it, that the shuttle actually heads out of town to Cathedral Rock. Close call, we wouldn’t have had such a good lunch there.
Later on our way to the Bell Rock Trailhead we stopped off at the Yavapai Vista Point to get our compulsory days hike up into the red rocks: such inspiring views. In Sedona we had dismissed a visit to the vortex at the airport (far too urban) in favor of the Bell Rock vortex. Unfortunately, there were no parking spaces at the Bell Rock Trailhead, just lots of cars looking for spaces, so we missed out on experiencing those vortex cosmic forces.
On route south we took a detour to the “Out of Africa Wildlife Park”. We spurned paying $40 each for the remaining hour it was open, failed to find the elusive lemur fluffy toy in the zoo shop (“We just can’t get hold of them”) and headed “Out of the Wildlife Park” and back on the road.
Driving back into Phoenix, I was reminded of something that has not changed since the 90’s. Driving in Phoenix is, shall we say, a “challenge”. Firstly, there are no advance signs of approaching side roads, and those roads have miniscule unlit street signs, resulting in several last-minute, high-speed right turns. Secondly, the city’s decision not to add left turn arrows at stops lights on many busy intersections means that you sit in the middle of the junction, hoping to turn left after the lights change to red and before the cross-traffic hits you. Finally, and worst of all, the center turn lanes that, for four hours a day, morph into lanes that you can either freely drive in or cannot enter at all depending if you are going into or out of town (my navigational skills preclude such subtle distinctions). I conclude that the Phoenix Transportation Agency really should not have listened to Insurance Company’s and Auto Body Shops when designing the traffic system.
Dinner was at the nearby Nino’s Greek Café, great Gyros in a casual atmosphere.
Day 3
After three dry weeks, the weather gods decided that today it would rain, rain heavily and continually. We traded our planned Zoo trip for a morning visit to the Heard Museum of Native American Art and Exhibits. This was really worth the visit, and as we had some hours to kill before the ball game, we acted out of character and joined the guided tour. A good decision, the knowledgeable tour guide did a great job of linking world historic events with tribal customs and explaining the relationships between the many tribes.
Next we bought Subway sandwiches and headed for Hohokam Stadium in Mesa and our first ever Spring Training game. We arrived just before game time to find the stadium eerily quiet. Game rained out due to the weather. What a blow, the only day Spring Training games were cancelled this season! Distraught, Alison has vowed to mete redemption from the A’s in the form of free “stuff”. Watch out Oakland A’s!
That brings me to my third comparison with the past: the Phoenix weather remains consistently inconsistent: I would describe it as Irrationally Unpredictable. We all go to Arizona because it is warm and sunny, and mostly it is. However, I have been caught out in three occasions over the years. Today, obviously, the only rain in weeks spoils our day at the baseball park. The time I was heading out to dinner and fortunately glanced through the window to see a wall of sand approaching the hotel: I had to stay in the bar for 2 hours waiting for it to subside before it was safe to venture out into a sandy, palm-frond strewn city. Not quite so surprising was the day the temperature peaked to over 125 degrees and the airport closed: apparently at that time aircraft takeoff speed tables did not go over 125.
Back to the Airbnb we went to dejectedly eat our sandwiches in the dry. But what better to do on a rainy afternoon than watch a movie? We chose the 7 Oscar winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. It was brilliant. No spoilers, but watching “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” the previous week was good preparation.
For our final night’s dinner we went to the “Authentic Thai Kitchen” for yellow curry and drunken noodles: another fine choice and it seemed pretty authentic.
Day 4
Of course it is bright and sunny today, so off we went to the Phoenix Zoo. This is a fine, expansive zoo; even the large spring break attendance did not make it feel overcrowded. However, they also had no lemurs.
Then back to the Car Rental Emporium and a train ride without casualties to the airport. Our return Uber driver in San Jose did not mention vortices, I guess word was out that we missed them.
So our visit to Phoenix and Sedona ended without us attending out first Spring Training game and having missed out on the vortices. Not the plan, but a fun trip anyway.