March 26, 2011

Phoenix to Scottsdale to Flagstaff

I left my motel about 8:00 a.m. this morning and drove to the Old Town area of Scottsdale. Ordered a latte and cheese pastry at the Starbucks and finished working on my blog from the previous day. The internet service at my motel was sporadic. I then walked around the charming Old Town area.

Next was a drive to Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright desert National Historic Landmark. Frank Lloyd Wright "literally created Taliesin West out of the desert. He and his apprentices gathered rocks from the desert floor and sand from the washes to build the desert masterpiece."

I arrived just in time for the 90-minute guided tour of the facilities.

Frank Lloyd Wright spent most winters here, along with apprentices, who helped design and build Taliesin West.

This photo is of the theater where the stage area can be altered to accommodate all types of productions.

This is the cabaret theater with excellent accoustics. The room is cone-shaped, somewhat like a megaphone, and the sound is amazing.

Additional information about Taliesin West is available at http://www.franklloydwright.org/

I drove back to Scottsdale for a Giants spring training game - Giants vs. Reds - and arrived just as the ballpark opened.

Tim Lincecum pitched through 5 innings and gave up 6 runs; not his best outing. But the Giants scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning and won the game 9 to 6. Giants' player of the game was Pablo Sandoval. The Panda has lost weight from last season, made some excellent fielding plays, got a couple of hits, and was a marvel at base running. He actually slid into 3rd base safely and a couple of pitches later slid into home plate safely on a wild pitch. Fun game; great weather. Attendence: 12,096.

Here's a view of the field from my seat along the first base line.

Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey right before game time.

A view from the outfield.

After the game I decided to drive to Flagstaff to get an early start tomorrow for my first visit to the Grand Canyon and arrived in Flagstaff about 8:30 p.m. Checked into Super 8 Motel and had dinner at Chili's.