A week in Arizona

Visiting the Desert Botanical Garden was the hidden gem in our quick Arizona trip. With an entire day to kill before an evening spring Training Game in Surprise, we were keen on some warm weather outdoor activity, and have always enjoyed botanical gardens, from Kew to Melbourne, so we left our hotel in Mesa and drove through Tempe's deserted campus (spring break), and past the Ferrari and Bentley dealers (can't afford it) in Scottsdale to the Garden.

Exquisitely maintained, with an outstanding staff, the garden can easily occupy 3-4 hours of your time. And don't worry about being there over lunch, as the patio cafe, while short of shade, has excellent food. The mushroom and goat cheese tart is recommended, and pricing is maybe slightly under what you would expect.

You can see the website at http://www.dbg.org

The Spring Training Home of The Chicago Cubs. Hey, tomorrow (30MAR06) is the last game, and it's already sold out! Maybe next year... Plenty of shade in the stands for an afternoon game, but if you prefer, there is unlimited sun in the outfield hillsides.

Hohokam is a clean and attractive ball park, with typically great ballpark chow. I prefer the polish sausage smothered with jalapenos, but you dress it yourself so you can add sauerkraut too!

If you don't want to wait through traffic to get into the stadium parking lot, park in one of the outlots ($5 in either case - although I did see one lady only charging $3 for her front yard) and take a cycle cab.

Really a perfect day at the ballpark (CUBS beat Seattle 6-1) except for the prices in the souvenir shop. With $26-30 caps and $28 T-shirts, I came away with all my cash still in pocket.