Day 11

The other day we let you know that we hit 5,000 miles. It was time for us to get an oil change. We took care of that and a round of grocery shopping (well Tim did) and began our last drive in California. 

Last summer, Tim worked with Union Pacific on some bridges for a railroad track. With just a bit of a detour, and what’s a few hours in the long run, we got to see some of them. If you are ever driving through the town of Niland, California and see a railroad track running alongside the road, know that Tim helped create the bridges holding it up. We stopped for lunch at the Buckshot Diner in town, a place Tim frequented regularly while on the job. 

Driving through that part of California was very strange, it was hard to believe we were still in the U.S. Sure, we all know the county has deserts, but it’s so much different driving through them. The sand dunes were straight out of travel books. Thankfully the wind wasn’t too bad otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to see much of anything, especially the road. 

Speaking of the road, was that a roller coaster. Tim told us we were in for a hilly ride, and he wasn’t kidding. Along the side of the road were signs that read “Dips Ahead” and we proceeded to drive up and down the hills that followed at what felt like breakneck speeds. Compared to some of the local cars we were seeing, we were taking them a little slow. 

We got into Phoenix with plenty of time before the game and found our hotel. For most of our stays, we will be able to find a couch or guest room with friends and family. There are a few instances though where that just wouldn’t work. The Maki Family has been generous enough to cover a significant portion of our hotel costs, and Rebecca’s Aunt Tina and Uncle Kevin were able to cash in points to cover the rest. Last night was a points hotel, so thank you Tina and Kevin. 

  After a brief viewing of Season 6, Episode 1 of Gilmore Girls, we proceeded out into the 100 plus degree heat to enjoy a ballgame. Chase Field is one of the MLB stadiums that comes equipped with a roof. For many of the teams, the roofs are meant to prevent rain cancelations or delays. For Arizona it’s to prevent sunstroke. We learned that regardless of the roof being open or closed, the air conditioning is always turned on during a game. We got there to the roof being closed before the game, and as we sat in our seats waiting for the first pitch, the Diamondbacks opened it up, so we got to experience both ways!

Chase Field was pretty empty that night, so empty that the four of us made up two thirds of the fans in our section. It was a Monday night, so we didn’t plan on breaking any attendance records, but being able to hear some cheering would have been nice. It’s likely that most of you have been to a ballgame where the crowd has been too loud for you to think. Well, this one was eerily quiet. 

  We saw four really cool things at this stadium. The first is that there is a pool right off of the outfield where people can swim during the game. We don’t know what it takes to get in the pool area, but that’s pretty neat. The second is that Chase Field is the home of the Churro Dog. It’s probably a bit like what you think. It is a long john doughnut sliced down the middle (similar to a hot dog bun) with a churro inside. As if that wasn’t nearly enough sugar, it is topped with soft serve vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate and caramel sauce. This monstrosity was about 1,100 calories, so we had to try them! It was quite tasty, but it was very difficult to eat. That, and the fact that eating one is half your calories for the day, was the only major flaw we could find. 

  The third cool thing was that Chase Field has a value menu at their concessions stands. We were able to get hotdogs for $1.50. Naturally, we couldn’t pass up this deal, so we enjoyed dinner at the stadium. The fourth was that we noticed a couple with a sign near our section that said “7 games in 7 days.” We got to talking and it turns out they are also going to be seeing all 30 parks, but they are doing it over the course of 5 years. After this week, they will only have two parks left. 
This was our 10th baseball game of the trip, we are technically one third of the way through this great adventure. The Diamondbacks took on the Braves, and the Braves essentially secured the win in the second inning. The final score was 8-1. We have seen the Braves three times on this trip so far, against the Dodgers, Giants, and now the Diamondbacks. There have also been many trades since our trip began. We were wondering if we would be able to see someone play for multiple teams while on this trip, well it happened. We first saw Juan Uribe play for the Dodgers a week ago. Since then he was traded to the Braves. We saw him play a bit against the Giants, but he started tonight against the Diamondbacks. 

We have been cheering for the home team at every game we attend, and while the Diamondbacks loss brought our home team record to 6-4, we still had a great time! Hopefully our home teams have better luck in the rest of the county.