Spring Training Trip 2012 Recap-PART ONE

Hello my friends!! I'm so sorry I wasn't able to update last week. After getting back from my trip on Monday night, I was busy trying to get caught up at work and honestly, I was just too tired to get online when I got home. My trip to Arizona for Spring Training was FANTASTIC! We had SO much fun!! We've decided to make it an annual trip. I have so much to recap that I'm going to have to break this up into at least two different posts (maybe three).

Our trip almost started out in a disaster when my friends got stuck in traffic on their way to my office to pick me up. They sent me a text about 6:00 asking if there was anyone still around who could take me to the airport (our flight was at 7:20). THANKFULLY my director was still at the office and he was very sweet and gave me a ride to Love Field. It worked out perfectly because my friends got there at almost the same time that I was being dropped off. We got checked in and through security with enough time to grab something to eat before boarding the flight.

Tonya, me and Ashley waiting to get on board our flight!

I made activity books for the flight!

We had a layover in El Paso (because Southwest doesn't fly straight to Phoenix), but we didn't have to change planes. Side note: we had some turbulence coming in from Dallas due to heavy winds. I'm not a huge fan of flying to begin with, but I have to say the pilot did a great job with the landing. We really thought it was going to be a rough one. During the layover Tonya noticed that they had opened the cockpit door and were letting people inside to view it. Of course we had to get a picture!

I was a little concerned our pilot looked about 8! ;)

We finally got to the Phoenix airport a little after 10:30 local time (11:30 to our CST bodies). After wandering around the rental car location looking for Fox Car Rentals (the company we had a reservation with, who, by the way, had the smallest business sign ever- one reason we couldn't find it), by 11:30 local time we had our rental car and were ready to hit the road towards Surprise (about 40 miles away).

Of course we had to rent a Mustang convertible! :)

After Google Maps got us lost on our way to the Windmill Inn Suite hotel, and a long ordeal trying to get checked into our room (very gory details, I might share another time), we finally got to our room a little after 1:00 am local time.  Whew! We were beyond exhausted (we had reached that point where we were so tired we were hysterical- you know what I'm talking about).

We expected to be able to sleep in a little bit that Thursday morning, but we all woke up before 7am (yuk!) Don't you hate it when you are on vacation but can't sleep in. We decided to get lunch before heading to the Surprise Stadium for the game between the Rangers and the White Sox. 

We rolled topless in the convertible! ;)

So, guess where we ate for our first meal in Arizona? If you know me, you won't be surprised at all! It was also on the way to the stadium, so it was convenient to stop there.

Two of my favorite things!

We were very excited to get to the stadium- my sports heart had almost healed enough that it was ready for baseball again! We had really good seats (just to the right of the Rangers dugout). Thanks to Tonya and her awesome camera, we were able to get some great shots!! :)

Showing off our awesome homemade T-shirts!

The back of our shirts!

View from our seats

Some pictures from before the game!

Some pictures during the game!

My Twitter momma Traci (AKA, Mama T) was also at the game, so I met up with her at one point. She is so super sweet! She's one of my favorite people. She gave me some tips on what to do at Spring Training, since this was my first year going. She told me how we needed to get to the practice fields by 10am so we had a better shot of getting pictures and maybe autographs. Thanks for the info MamaT! :)

Me and the lovely Mama T! :)

We had decided earlier in the day that we needed to go some place and buy some snacks and drinks to keep at the hotel (we had a microwave and mini-fridge in it). On our way back from the game, we passed by a Walgreens, so we made a quick stop there. Our hotel allowed you to borrow a DVD player so we rented a movie from Red Box too (by this point we had a feeling we were going to pretty much stay at the hotel that evening instead of going out. We were all exhausted). While we were checking out I noticed that someone had walked by, but I didn't pay any attention to who it was. A few moments later Tonya nudged me and whispered "That's Frenchy isn't it!" Side note to those non baseball fans: Jeff "Frenchy" Francoeur was with the Rangers back in 2010. I actually knew him when he was on the Braves earlier in his career. He is now with the Kansas City Royals who, by chance, also practice at the same place the Rangers do. We both did a quick glance and confirmed it was indeed Frenchy. I quickly wondered if it was appropriate to approach a ballplayer in a drug store. 3.2 seconds later I decided it was and walked over to him (along with Ashley, Tonya was still checking out). He was talking to someone he obviously knew and when he saw me walk up, he smiled and said hi. I apologized for interrupting him but just wanted to tell him we were huge Rangers fans and we really missed him. We wished him the best that season (unless he was playing against the Rangers- but I didn't say that). He thanked me and asked how we were doing. Insert small talk here. I then asked him if it would be okay to take a picture with him. He said absolutely! He commented that he really loved our shirts (but we have now changed that part of the story to say that he commented that he really loved us). Let us live in our fantasy world please. :)

Our picture with Frenchy. Why yes, we did notice that he was extremely good looking!

That evening we ordered food from Jimmy John's (mainly because they delivered and we were too tired to go out). We had rented the movie Courageous. It's a really good movie, but be warned, you will cry. We went to bed fairly early that night because we wanted to get up in time to get to the practice fields the next day.

I don't want to overwhelm you (more than I already have), so that is all of my recap for today. I will post more tomorrow!! Hope you have enjoyed it!! If you would like to see more pictures from Day 1 of our trip, please click here. It will take you to the photo album on my blog's Facebook page. Even if you don't have a Facebook page, you can see the pictures. If you do have Facebook, please feel free to like my page! :)

This trip also allowed me to update my 101 in 1001 list! Weehoo!

XOXO!