Let's Play Ball, Phoenix (July 20, 2015)

It's our 30th anniversary today and Steve's official first day of no work. We got up early and went to the admin building here at Leisure world to try and take care of an insurance issue. We couldn't do anything until the computer lab opens at 10:00, so we went back and had a little coffee and gluten free banana bread for breakfast and waited for our youngest daughter to wake up then went to Recreation Center 2 for some swimming exercise and hot tub. 

Leisure World has two recreation facilities with swimming pools, so you always have a choice.  When the computer lab opened up we went back to Recreation Center 1 (where the computer lab is) to use their printer. We sat by the pool and filled out our paperwork (rough life) then went back to the admin building to fax it over. We had our leftover Thai food for lunch and still have more leftovers. 

Tonight we are going to go to a Diamondbacks baseball game in downtown Phoenix so we left after lunch so we would have time to explore downtown Phoenix before the game. As we got off the highway and approached downtown Phoenix, we were surprised at how small the downtown area was. We started looking around for an area with shops, little restaurants, etc. There are a lot of hotels, and some university buildings, as well as Chase Field and US Airways field but not much else. It appears they are trying to revitalize the downtown Phoenix area by making it a college town. There are a lot of Arizona State University (ASU) buildings going into the downtown area and they are currently building a new ASU law school there. But since it is summer, there are no students and the streets are deserted. There are a few small restaurants in the area, but not much else. So our idea of walking around the downtown area didn't work out very well.

It is mid day in downtown Phoenix and not a sole in sight.  People must hibernate during the heat of the day.

Chase field is a stadium with a retracting roof, and when we first came into downtown it was open. The stadium has real grass, so they have to leave it open to give the grass sunlight. But by the time we entered the stadium at 5:00, the roof was closed, and the stadium was nice and cool. 

You can see that the stadium roof is open as we approach

But closer to game time, they closed it and cooled it off inside.

The temperature outside today is about 108, so the air conditioning is a huge relief. At Coors Field in Colorado, there is always that chance that we will be either baking in the sun, or sitting in rain, but here at Chase Field, it is incredibly pleasant. We walked around the main floor concourse, to see what kinds of food they had for dinner. We had done our research ahead of time, and knew that they had a gluten free stand that sold GF hot dogs and nachos as well as snacks. We really enjoyed just walking around and talking to all of the nice people on the concourse. The most interesting thing we saw in the stadium was a Mountain Side fitness facility. You could look in through the windows and see people working out as we were walking around the stadium. They also have a beautiful pool and hot tub that you can reserve to watch the game if you want. 

Hot tub and swimming pool overlooking the field inside Chase Stadium

We finally decided on some yummy looking hamburgers, and our daughter had loaded nachos for dinner. We found our seats and enjoyed our dinner. 

During the 4th inning, our row of seats all won lottery tickets from the Arizona lottery, so that was a really fun bonus, and we had our moment of fame on the mega-tron. 

Sorry it's blurry, but our moment of fame on the Mega-Tron.

We ended the evening with the Diamondbacks beating the Miami Marlins 3-1. What a great way to end our night!