WBC & Josuha Tree
On the 18th we got together with all of Cathy's cousins down here for her birthday and my sister bought a canoli cake from the local New York West bakery at 101 st and Grand. On the 19th we drove to LA. We stopped in Indio, CA for lunch at a great mexican restaurant, Huertas. If you're ever on I-10 in that area stop and eat there. Great food. Get the Birria, goat entree, it's delicious. Hand made margarhitas and mojitos too.
Rae was flying in the morning of the 20th so we could attend the semi-finals and finals of the WBC. She found a great guest house on Air B&B in the Hollywood Hills section of the town a couple blocks north of Hollywood Blvd and about 5 blocks from US 101. The first afternoon we tried to hook up with Claire Wilmoth, Rae's friend from Northwest Girlchoir. She had been in LA and was headed back to NY via LAX. We drove to Marina Del Rey and she was going to catch a ride once she had dropped off her rental car. Unfortunately she could not get a car service. Wait time was an hour and the trip was going to take an hour due to traffic. We ended up having our lunch without her. Too bad. It's been a long time since we've seen her and we missed the opportunity.
After our late lunch, or early dinner, we headed for Dodger Stadium for the Puerto Rico/ Netherlands semi final game. It went 11 inings with PR winning at the bottom of the 11th, 3-2. Rules for ties after 11 are unusual. Lead off batter always bunts to move the runners from 1st and 2nd to 2nd & 3rd. As expected the lead off hitter is out. The second batter gets walked to load the bases so a double play ends their chances. Well, the Netherlands did hit into a double play but the PR team did not. A single through the infield ended the game.
We had a great place to stay and our hosts were wonderful. The guest house was up behind their home and had a beautiful garden full of flowering plants and bushes. There were dozens of humming birds hanging around all the time. You could sit on the patio and there was always 3-4 in sight.
Puerto Rico vs Netherlands
The next night we went to the US/Japan semi final. Japan and Puerto Rico went undefeated through the tournament. This game was also a close one. The US won 5-4 in regulation. No strange 11th inning rule to make the game end. No 19 inning games in international baseball. The weather was unsettled, light rain throughout the game. We copped some seats under cover since there were plenty to poach.
Wednesday we drove up to Griffith's Observatory to see the Hollywood sign and LA views. We were lucky. It was sunny and clear with a strong breeze. No smog after the light rains on Tuesday. I was able to get some good photos.
LA from the Observatory promonade
The final game was US vs Puerto Rico. Weather was cool with a breeze coming up out of Chavez Ravine. We poached seats a couple times but the ticket holders showed up. The two teams drew a large crowd. The local Latinos came out to root on the PR and the US drew a bunch of fans so seats were not readily available to poach. We ended up in our seats, upper deck, right field. We did not expect the US to win. PR had only 2 players that hit under .300 and the US had only 3 that hit over .300. The US starting pitcher's mother is PR but Marcus Strohman was born in New York and played for the US international team in college. He chose to play for the US rather than the PR and his poor mother was getting all kinds of hell from PR fans for his choice. He pitched a hell of a game. 7 1/3 innings of perfect baseball until the PR got a hit. I doubt he could have had full perfect game because pitchers are limited to 95 pitches and he was at 70 or more when pulled. We beat feet before the trophy ceremony in order to avoid the hour-long ordeal to exit the parking lot. The US hammered the PR 8-0. This was the first time the US team made the semi-finals and handed the PR its only loss.
On the way back to Phoenix we drove through the Joshua Tree National Park. We got off I-10 and headed to Twenty Nine Palms, the north entrance, 43 miles north and east of I-10. We should have gone in through the west entrance at Joshua Tree. It would have added about 30 more miles to our trip through the park but we may have seen more Joshual trees. Going in at the north entrance and driving south through the Pinto valley to Cottonwood Springs entrance where the road rejoins I-10 you don't see expanses of Joshua trees. You see about as many driving up UDS 93 to Las Vegas as you go through Arizona's Joshua Tree State Park. The road is paved but the speed limit is only 35 so it takes most of an hour and a half to drive through it. The Cottonwood Springs entrance is east of Indio so gas up in Twenty Nine Palms because there's not a lot between Indio and Phoenix.
On Saturday 3/25, we drove to Scottsdale to attend the Italian Festival. It seemed to be bigger than the one in Seattle. At least there were more vendors and food booths since it's not monopolized by the Sons of Italy and their food sales. We found a couple more Italian restaurants to try but they are all in Scottsdale. What was surprising is that their prices were lower than the ones we have eaten at here in Sun City. In the couple weeks we have left we'll have to try one or two of them.
Well, I've caught up with our trip so far. Tomorrow I have to get the 35000 mile service done on my Rav and Wednesday we're going to drive the back road to Roosevelt Lake and dam up in the Superstition Mountains beyond Tortilla Flats. It's a trip we've never taken because the rental cars weren't high clearance. So....
Ciao for now.