#3 The 30th Annual Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival Chandler, Arizona

This Festival was on March 9-11 and we went on Sunday the 11th. I read about this festival about 15 years ago when the Anaheim Angels manager, Mike Scioscia gave some of the players a spring training assignment.  He gave pitcher Jarrod Washburn the assignment of going to the Ostrich Festival. The next day he came in the locker room with an ostrich which sent pitcher Ramon Ortiz into his locker yelling “el Pollo grande”. After I read about it I didn't really think much more about it until recently when I was looking for 30 things to do this year. The more I read about the Ostrich Festival the more I wanted to go and since it was the 30th annual I just had to go. 

On Sunday morning we wanted to get up early to get there, but we were tired and didn't get up so early, but since the event lasted all day it was okay. We got there just around lunch time and when we arrived the parking was nice how they just had the handicapped section in with the VIP section and was not very crowded at the time we were there. We bought tickets which were $15 for adults and my parents got the senior rate of $8. Once we entered we walked down the main road through the event where all the vendors were selling just about everything, ostrich this and ostrich that but I was in search of an ostrich burger.   

 

Once we found the food area there were so many choices including barbecue on a stick, fried items and just about everything you can imagine but eventually we found the ostrich burger stand.  I ordered mine with cheese and it also came with grilled onions and pickles. They had condiments out on the table in front of the stand but I thought I should try it without. We found a nice grassy area next to the stand to eat. The burger was kind of like red meat like a regular beef burger, but there was a rather odd taste to it and I wasn't so sure if I liked it.  My dad ended up eating the other half. 

After this we went to watch the pig races. This I thought was not too exciting and a bit hard to see sometimes when oblivious people lean over in front of you to take pictures and block your view. But the pigs were racing around a little fenced in area and the winner gets an Oreo cookie and the losers get the crumbs that were laying underneath. 

Once this was over we had time to get to the main attraction the ostrich races! We got there about an hour until the races, but so did a lot of other people. 

 

When we got to the arena area the ostriches were out and about. One was just walking around and looked rather odd with real skinny legs and neck and the midsection area bouncing around a bit and this just made me laugh. Another one was sitting down and resting until there was a kid that was pestering the other one. He came over by the fence to defend his friend and the kid was lucky to not lose a finger.  

 

 After a while they got all the ostriches rounded up and ready to race they had three racing at a time with rider on top of each. When they took off they looked even more ridiculous than before especially with the riders on top. The crowd’s main reaction was just laughing about it and I can't tell you which ones won any of the races, if it was the red white or blue rider. They also had kids running with the emus and chickens and even a couple camel races.  All these things were kind of interesting but just not the same as the ostrich races. Once the races were done most of the crowd immediately got up and left. Right after that they let the ostriches out again.  The whole group of them ran right up in front of us and we could easily see them since everyone had left.

After all this I was kind of tired, so we decided to head out but I had one last thing to do which was to get an ostrich cup. They were selling these right next to the ostrich burgers. When we were done with that we left.  This was quite the adventure and I had a lot of fun watching all the ostriches.  There was so much going on and I could’ve easily spent all day at the Ostrich Festival.

#2 Spring Training: Cactus League mini tour, March 2018

Every year for the last 10 years plus one time before that my parents and I have been traveling to Phoenix and before that Tucson for Spring Training baseball.  And this year was no exception. We do this Mostly to see the Rockies but some other teams as well. I also enjoy going Spring Training in Phoenix because of the weather and a lot of good food but the main reason is to see baseball and get ready for the season to start. This year we went to three different games at three different stadiums and got to see five teams including 21 all-star players and also 4 former Rockies players including Brandan Barnes from the Indians who hit a three run homer. 

Game #1

 

The First game we went to was on March 10 at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix which is the home of the Milwaukee Brewers. We didn't get up real early that morning and not as early as we planned, but we still made it with plenty of time to spare.  This game was supposed to be a Zach Davies bobble head giveaway day, but they weren’t handing them out so I don't know what that meant. So anyways when we got into the stadium I found a hotdog added mustard and of course I had to get sauerkraut. 

After I was done eating my mom came back with a barbecue sandwich and cheese curds in a mini Brewers helmet. I tried one and almost burnt my mouth on it but after that they were absolutely delicious and I immediately wished I would've had gotten my own instead of the hotdog but luckily my mom shared quite a few with me.  

 Our seats were just to the third base side of the stadium and at the top of that section. So they were easy for someone in a wheelchair to get to, and they were great for somebody in a wheelchair as the bar in front was lowered unlike most ball parks, so I could easily see over it.  Also the companion seats were movable seats are not bolted down and unmovable like most stadiums, so my parents and I could all sit where was best for us. 

Once I had eaten I checked out posted lineup and noticed the Rockies lineup was Nolan Arenado and the Albuquerque Isotopes.  You might remember the Simpsons episode where Homer is on a hunger strike until the Springfield isotopes admitted they were moving the team to Albuquerque. Well that team is the Rockies AAA minor-league team. The Brewers who had more of a normal lineup. The day was cloudy the whole time and a bit into the game it started lightly raining and did most of the game and was a bit chilly. I even needed to get my hoodie out.   

The game didn't have much going on besides the Brewers scoring some runs, 

but in the middle of the sixth inning they have the Brewers famous sausage race which the Brewers have for every home game and this time the chorizo won the race. About this time the lower level minor-league players came in to finish the game that the Rockies lost 9 to 2.  This wasn’t too good of a game unless you’re a Brewers fan, but I still enjoyed our day at the ballpark especially those cheese curds.

Game #2

 

 

Game two was a few days later on March 13 it was a game between the Seattle Mariners and the Rockies at Salt River Fields at talking stick in Scottsdale Arizona. We arrived pretty early and had good parking and basically could pick wherever we wanted and were there before the gates even opened.  So we waited for a few minutes until they opened.  my first order of business was find the bathroom which at this stadium as well as the other two we went to they have really good family/handicap accessible restrooms which makes it a lot easier for someone like me to use the bathroom because I need extra space and these had quite a bit more space than a regular stall in regular bathrooms. After this we walked around the stadium and I got a slice of pizza which was quite large, but so was the price at nine dollars. I got this along with a Coke but needed quite a bit of help and basically needed to be fed since it's difficult to eat at ball parks and things are just getting harder to do. After I ate this I just sat and took a rest for a while and waited for the game. 

And a very nice guy came up and asked if I wanted a signed baseball so I said sure. He pulled a baseball out of his backpack and asked if I could tell who it was.  I could kind of pick out a DJ plus the number 9 so I knew it was DJ LeMahieu.   

 

 

For this game the Rockies had more of a regular lineup including all Stars Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado again and the Mariners had Robinson Canó and Nelson Cruz. This was a pretty good game that included some interesting things.  One happened just after the game started when in the first inning Nelson Cruz got injured running to first base and left the game. But in spring training teams are extra cautious with their players so who knows how bad it really was. Then the Mariners starting pitcher Rob Whalen struck out 9 Rockies.  The game got to the bottom of the 8^th inning with the Rockies down 7-2 but the minor leaguers had a rally and scored 4 runs.  Then in the ninth-inning they tied the game up then had a walk off hit from Derrik Gibson! This was a great day at the ballpark with good weather and was very comfortable especially since we were in the shade and it ended up in an exciting Rockies win. 

Game #3

The next day on a Wednesday March 14 we went to Goodyear ballpark and Goodyear, AZ which is just south and west of Phoenix by just a few miles.  This is the home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians.  We have visited this stadium in the past and there usually aren't too many people there, but I think because it was a good matchup of two good teams and included the Angels so the stadium was mostly filled today. This was also nice day not too hot not too cold almost perfect weather. 

 

 

We arrived pretty early and I found myself a hotdog and I made sure I got the Bertman's Original Ball Park Mustard which they have at the stadium in Cleveland and apparently is a big thing. I thought it was like a spicy brown mustard almost but was better. 

For this game we got to see many all-stars and future Hall of Fame including Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Justin Upton and Ian Kinsler from the Angels and Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion from the Indians. And one Shohei Ohtani the highly touted pitcher/hitter from Japan.  For most of this game it was mostly Corey Kluber dominating the good Angels lineup for five innings but was still a good game until the Indians blew the game open in the 8th inning with their minor-league players and older players just trying to make the team.  We even saw former Rockies Brandon Barnes hit a three run homerun and Ryan Hanigan had an RBI hit and Eric Young Jr from the Angels had a couple of hits. The Indians won this game 7-0. This game might not been quite as exciting for me without the Rockies in it, but I do like seeing some of the other teams play and got a treat at this one as I got to see so many great players.

This year we had a great trip to spring training and got to see three of the 10 cactus league stadiums and five of the 15 teams and got to see 21 different all stars and 4 former Rockies and had good weather for two of the games and not horrible weather for the third so all in all it was a rather good trip.