Tanned, baseball watched: spring training mission accomplished

ABOARD A 737-700 BETWEEN PHOENIX AND MILWAUKEE -- I'd love to report that my final 24 hours of spring training were an epic adventure of cinematic proportions, but I'd be exaggerating. Greatly.

In actuality, Sunday and Monday consisted of one more Brewers game, a nap, some excellent sushi and a nightcap at a cool bar. The biggest fireworks were at the airport this morning, as TSA shut down the terminal, screaming "bravo" because someone presumably skipped through the security line.

I left off my blog yesterday morning right before we departed for Maryvale, and we were determined to get to the ballpark early. We grabbed breakfast burritos at one of the area's zillions of authentic Mexican restaurants, and I'll make this proclamation yet again: Maryvale doesn't scare me one bit.

It's not downtown Scottsdale, but it's not South Central L.A., either. People who are still freaking out about the Brewers' spring training home need to relax and enjoy a taco. Still, three out of the four games I saw this year were at home, and that's a bit of a bummer, since part of the fun here is experiencing the different ballparks in the Valley.

We ate our burritos on the berm, of course, then watched the Brewers battle the White Sox to a 2-2 tie (in spring training, they simply end games when they're done with the allotted pitchers for the day). Randy Wolf gave up two runs in the first but then settled down nicely. It was the first time I've seen him pitch, and I'm impressed with his changeup. It seems to baffle hitters.

Slightly melancholy, I bought my annual T-shirt, visited the press box and said goodbye to baseball for another spring. It's hard to judge a team from five days of exhibition baseball, but I think the Brewers will be in good shape in 2010.

After the game, I indulged myself a desperately needed nap, though one hour of sleep almost did more harm than good. We hit the hot tub one more time in hopes of a rebound, and finally felt good enough for dinner by 7 p.m.

Upon the suggestion of the Brewers' John Steinmiller, we drove east to Scottsdale to Geisha A Go Go, 7150 E. 6th Ave., which is really one of the coolest sushi joints I've ever visited. It's not fancy like some others, and the food was really good but not life-changing, but Geisha melds a rock bar with Southwestern ambience and Japanese minimalist design. Even better, the bar features private karaoke rooms for rental with DJs mixing mash-ups in the main bar. Even better still, Sunday is half-price night, so we ate a ton of sushi for super cheap. If this place was in Milwaukee, I'd be there every week.

We also met Justin, the manager, who, of course is from Milwaukee. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are so many Milwaukeeans in the greater Phoenix area. Other than the gorgeous weather, the funky geography and the ridiculous sprawl for miles and miles and miles, Arizona almost feels like home.

We wrapped up the night by dropping off Jerry, our friend of a friend, back at the Hotel Valley Ho, where he was staying. Yes, this marked our second visit in a row to Trader Vic's, but why mess with perfection? One silly Polynesian drink later, we ambled back the Sheraton Crescent to call it a night.

This morning went smoothly until the TSA incident at the screening gate of Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport. I had visions of hours of delays, but it really only slowed us down by 20 minutes. Now I'm en route home, just three hours from my non-rock star, non-tan, non-baseball life. And I'm quite ready.

A few observations that didn't make it into my daily travel blogs:

• AirTran is really growing on me, and not because they've been a major OnMilwaukee.com advertiser recently. No, it's the wi-fi on board, which is already reasonably priced, but right now is completely free. Unfortunately, when the whole plane logs on, performance seems to take a major hit.
• I can barely imagine what this trip would've been like without a smart phone. Apparently, I got by 13 years ago without even a cell phone, but between GPS and Google Maps and texting between seven people with diverging schedules, travel is easier than ever. What a world in which we live.
• I saw some interesting things on the field. Jim Edmonds still glides around the outfield, Ryan Braun has plenty of pop in his bat and Rickie Weeks hasn't missed a step. As expected, Yovani Gallardo looked great, Randy Wolf looked good and Jeff Suppan looked absolutely terrible. From this semi-casual observer's perspective, the Brewers appear confident yet relaxed, and I predict they'll be better than last year.
• Off the field, I'll concede that I can no longer soak in Arizona 24/7 like I used to. At 35, it's not that I'm too old for this trip, specifically -- though four hours of sleep no longer cut it -- but as we've layered on new opportunities and destinations here, we've increased the ground we try to cover. I love visiting here, but I don't think I could live in a city in which 30 minutes drives are par for the course. Even our centrally-located hotel was a hike from Tempe and Scottsdale, where we spent most of our non-Brewers time. If you visit, be prepared to drive a lot or spend a ton of money on cabs.
• I cannot wait for the smoking ban to take effect in Milwaukee. There's nothing like coming home from a night on the town in Scottsdale and not reeking like smoke. Now, if only Milwaukee could implement something like Phoenix's new light rail system ...
• So much of this trip is a scouting report. Our work each year has proceeded us, and some of my contacts were already familiar with my annual travel blogs. To that end, we've had lots of assistance with the local CVBs and properties -- even the ones that we didn't stay at -- and next year, we may try to put together some discount packages for OnMilwaukee.com readers. I'm not a Phoenix expert -- yet -- but I really now have a feel for the area and I enjoyed relaying it to our readers.
• We couldn't have asked for better weather. Every single day was hot, sunny and beautiful. But it's not always that way. I've come in the beginning of the month, when the weather wasn't super duper awesome. And I've come at the end of the month, when it was scorching, but the baseball was somewhat boring, rosters set and players going through the motions. I strongly recommend a mid-March trip.
• I don't have empirical proof of this, but I saw significantly more Brewers fans out there this year. Back in 1998, I felt like we were the only ones making the trip.
• Finally, if you take nothing away from this week of travel blogs and frequent on-the-scene tweeting, remember this: don't spend your whole life thinking about taking a spring training trip to follow the Brewers. Just do it. It's not cheap, but it doesn't have to break the bank, either, and there's no better way to take your team loyalty up a notch. I guarantee it'll become a memory you'll treasure forever, and more than likely a vacation you'll take many more times in the future. Brewers fans, see you at Opening Day.