I’m adapting nicely to the new work schedule. Early to bed, early to rise. The sleep is of a much higher quality than the variety I was conditioned to. I can’t stay up past 9 PM now without really fighting it.

I joined my folks in Phoenix, AZ last weekend (March 23-24) for a little fun in the sun. We do the standby flying routine and had to use creative routing to get there. My Mom went from Chicago to Cleveland to LaGuardia to Newark to Phoenix in a single day Saturday. My Dad and I unexpectedly ended up in a Newark Airport hotel Saturday night before making a flight to join my Mom just in time to hear the anthem performed prior Cub’s-Athletics Cactus League action in Phoenix Sunday afternoon.

The weather was spectacular. 80 and sunny with no humidity. At night, it cooled off sharply.

We took public transit to and fro which worked out well. Phoenix has a 20-mile above-ground rail service that stretches from the eastern edge of Tempe to a part of Phoenix north of downtown near the Christown Spectrum Mall. The one-way fare is just $2 and all-day unlimited ride passes are four bucks. If you try to purchase a day pass on the bus however, you pay a penalty which we discovered on day two of our travels.

To avoid turning into boiled lobsters at the ballgames, we slathered on sun block to shut out the UV. The stuff I was using was so thick and so protective, it appeared as if I was wearing white clown makeup on my face.

We saw Junior Lake of the Cubbies go deep three times vs. the A’s on Sunday at Phoenix Municipal. The next day we caught Pujols, Hamilton and the Angels play the Giants at Tempe Diablo Stadium. The A’s-Cubs game was more enjoyable because we had seats. We tried to get day-of-game tickets at the Diablo box office but all they had left were scattered singles so we bought G-A ducats for $18 per. That’s kind of a steep number to sit on the sloped lawn in left field but we had no choice at that point. Outside Diablo, a herd of pedicaps waited to shuttle fans between the parking lot and ballpark. Both games had pleasant vibes. Relaxing. Low key. You can tell which ballplayers have a roster spot locked up by watching those who lope slowly on the base paths and in the outfield. Hamilton didn’t extend basic stride while hitting two doubles. The lone exception was the freakish Hunter Pence who only seems to have one gear. High.

We ate well.

Tempe’s Los Favoritos on Broadway serves a great fish taco. My Mom was a little freaked by the swarm of flies that buzzed in the dining area but the food was excellent. As we exited, there was a long line of college students snaking out the door. The next night we ate at Haji-Baba near the hotel. This place is a real-deal shawerma joint sharing space with a grocery store. Everything we had including the baba ghanoush teaser with a side of fresh pita was super tasty. My Dad got the gyro and liked it.

Between baseball games on consecutive days we spent much of Monday morning on the campus of Arizona State University. With an enrollment of 75-thousand, ASU covers a lot of space in this sprawling desert region. Students were returning from a week-long break on the day we visited. In dorm windows and in the library there were clear expressions of push-back against state and local governments’ recent anti-immigrant, anti-gay initiatives. An advertisement on the side of a light rail car touted the return of the Super Bowl to suburban Glendale in 2015. It’s an event at risk of being yanked by the NFL had Arizona Governor Jan Brewer not vetoed a clearly unconstitutional piece of legislation drafted by hate-mongers who have seemed to hijack the Arizona statehouse.

We pulled on an open door at the campus basketball arena and were able to get a good look at it. The gates of the football stadium were locked but we had full access to the ASU Sports Hall of Fame which went out of its way to minimize the fact Barry Bonds played baseball there while of course displaying great pride in Pat Tillman.

It was kind of a chore getting out to Phoenix given the lack of empty airplane seats. But once we all got there, it was great. We celebrated the good weather and safe travel on Sunday night with a bottle of wine poolside. We laughed at how cold it was in our respective hometowns.