The East Valley

We've been driving around a bit since we've been in Phoenix
and most of it has been spent in the East Valley since that's
where I used to live and we know the area better. We went to
a yarn store and this was outside of it. I doubt it's the world's
largest chair, but it's probably the world's largest "Pink" chair!


No Cub fan would feel that a trip to Arizona was complete
without driving past HoHoKam Park in Mesa. HoHoKam is
the Spring Training site for the Cubs. I drove around the
entire park and couldn't find anyone that might be able to
open up the gates so that I could look around, but at least
it was interesting to see even if the team is playing badly
back home in Chicago.


There was a pretty good view of the field from past the
outfield fence.


At the entrance to the field there were round batting circles
for each of the players that have had their numbers retired
by the team...including my favorite, Ryne Sandberg.


We drove to Chandler and took a look at the condo I used to
rent. Surprisingly, very little had changed in almost 14 years!


One of my favorite flowers is the Bougainvilla. The state Department
of Transportation has chosen to use it on the sides of many of its
freeways. It brings a lot of color to an otherwise tan landscape.

Swim Time

One of the reasons we came to the Doubletree Resort in
the first place was because of the pool. It's not the biggest
or best in the area, but we like it anyway. There are actually
two pools here but we tend to use the rear pool the most
and since it's mid-summer, we practically have it all to
ourselves. When I lived in Chandler, the condo complex
had to spray the pool down continuously in the summer
to keep it cool. Not so here. I'm not sure if it's because
it's larger or they have some way to cool down the water.
Kind of like an anti-pool-heater. Regardless, it's very
refreshing.