Happy Birthday to Melanie

Jim, Barb and Sami celebrated Melanie's birthday in style at Pier W on Saturday night.  The views, the food, the ambiance and the company were exceptional.  CC and TT even arranged for champagne and a fab bottle of a Pinot Noir to be delivered to our table .

Sami worked very hard during the day to bake cookies, make cupcakes, cards and other surprises for his mommy.

Happy birthday Melanie!

Spring Training Goodyear Field

The Tribe 's spring training is in full swing in Goodyear, AZ.  We had a great view watching the 1st and then 3rd basemen going through their drills.  Grover was on the field checking out the action and Tito was hitting balls to infielders.  

Check out Swish, Giambi ("G") and LaHair at 1st.  Love the shot of them picking up balls for the next drill.

Santana was looking good at 3rd, and Chisenhall was no slacker.  Hope springs eternal at spring training - Go Tribe!

Art Installations

While in Phoenix we visited two art installations by James Turrell, an artist whose medium is light and space.  His structures are called skyspaces.

The first exhibit was at the Scottsdale Museum of Contempary Art , called "Knight Rises."  You view this before , during and after sunset.  You sit in an oculus and stare up at an opening in the ceiling. The focus is on the changing sky as night " rises"  - actually rather cool.

The second one was at Arizona State U, near the Interdisciplinary Sci and Tech bldg, and it's called "Air Apparent."  Love the play on words.  Again, it's best viewed during sunset (or sunrise.)

Tomorrow, the Tribe and spring training.

The Grand Canyon

    Here are a few pics from the Grand Canyon, with the first one being from a quick stop in Sedona (Bell Rock is in the background.)

Then we have Bright Angel Trail - the most popular one that you hike down to the bottom of the  Canyon.  You start at 7000 feet, and it typically takes 6 to 9 hrs to hike back up.  We passed on this one.

In the last  2 pictures you can see the Colorado River.  These were taken from  

Lipan Point, our favorite viewing spot.  Looking very closely you can see class 8.5 rapids (2nd to last) and a graceful S curve of the river on the last one.  It is 8 miles from where we were standing to the opposite rim.

Chihuly in the Garden

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix (est 1939 ) has a fantastic exhibit of Dale Chihuly blown glass that is incorporated in the garden's displays.  Below are just a few of his creations.  

And Barb continued her quest to learn the identification of more desert plants, much to Jim's chagrin.  

Goodbye Tundra, Hello Desert!

Thanks to encouragement from Lexi and Sarah, I'm attempting my first blogs from my iPhone - from our balcony at Canyon Villas/Desert Ridge in Phoenix.  

Welcome to "our desert" with the first stop at Pinnacle Peak where we did a hike almost to the top - we are working on getting back into hiking form.

I am obsessed with learning the names of the cacti, and below you will see the iconic saguaro and then the teddy bear cholla.  

If this works, more to come ( though I can't figure out how to delete the pic I put in twice  - oops!)