Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 12 years old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

It’s hard to believe, but our fourth annual Spring Training trip is over. Time to head back east …

5:10am (MST): rise and shine!

5:30am: we’re on the road to the airport.

6:00am: I dropped off my brother and sister-in-law at the United/Continental terminal for their flight back to Cleveland, and then my sister at the USAirways terminal for her flight to Chicago. Then my daughter and I turned in the rental car and took the shuttle back to the airport.

7:00am: amazingly, we’re already through security and at our gate two hours early! As an added bonus, my sister’s flight to Chicago is the flight before ours at the same gate, so we got to see her again before she boarded.

4:15pm (EDT):  despite taking off almost 30 minutes late (waiting in line for the runway in Phoenix) we landed back in Tampa only 10 minutes past our scheduled arrival time. And with that, our trip comes to a close. This was my daughter’s first trip out west with me to spring training and I think she had a great time. She attended three baseball games in three days, climbed to the top of Camelback Mountain, got six separate Indians autographs, and of course spent a lot of quality time with her dad. 😉

After we got home, unpacked, and settled in (I have to go back to work tomorrow, but at least it’s Friday!) I found an e-mail in my Inbox from Ticketmaster informing me of the Indians upcoming visit to Tampa in July … so of course I bought tickets. Already looking forward to more baseball … except this time my daughter will be rooting for the Rays. 😕

GO TRIBE!

P.S. If you’d like to see more photos from our trip, in Lego form, check out the LegoUs tumblr!