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Coming up on Day Two: the Grand Canyon and a rare spring training night game. What could be better?

6:56am: we took the shuttle bus over to the visitor’s center where we started our hike along the South Rim. We missed the “official” sunrise, but the view was still spectacular.

It’s pretty chilly (mid-40s), but the brisk air makes for great hiking weather.

8:52am: we’ve been hiking along the rim for the last two hours … now it’s time to head down the Bright Angel Trail.

10:00am: we’ve made it the mile and a half (1,131 feet change in elevation) to the first rest stop. We passed the pack mules on their way back up from the Phantom Ranch.

Now we have to get back up to the rim which is the hard part!

11:20am: we’re back on the rim (that was some workout!) heading to our hotel. My brother was using his Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS watch during our hike. Check out this awesome graph/map of our entire hike it generated. It’s been an amazing morning but it’s time to head back to Phoenix for more baseball!

12:30pm: we stopped in Williams for a quick lunch and to check out the historic Route 66 loop.

5:17pm: incredible: we’re sitting in the right-field pavilion back at Goodyear Ballpark eating some free food and listening to a presentation by one of the Indians’ front-office staff.

How did we get here? We checked into our hotel in Goodyear about an hour and a half ago after the scenic drive back from the Canyon and decided to come over the park early. We got a great parking spot and ended up right next to a couple in a large pickup truck who arrived just in front of us. As we were getting our jerseys and such out of the trunk the guy from the pickup truck comes over and asks if we’re season ticket holders. No, we reply, to which he says “want to go to a party?” It turns out that he and his wife are originally from Akron but live here in Phoenix now and are Indians spring training season ticket holders. Tonight is the appreciation party at the ballpark and they have four tickets but only the two of them and wanted to know if we wanted to go! The answer was, of course, sure! He wouldn’t take any money for the tickets so instead we gave him our raffle tickets so he had more chances to win cool stuff like tickets to the All-Star Game (unfortunately he ended up not winning anything).

6:15pm: we’re in line for autographs at the party: Tony Sipp, Chad Durbin, Matt LaPorta, and Shin-Soo Choo!

7:15pm: game time! We’ve got great seats four rows behind home plate.

9:00pm: our luck continues! The father of a friend of my brother’s was at the game and we found him just behind the Indians dugout. The guy he was with had some open seats in the row so he let us move over and sit with them for the rest of the game. The weather tonight is beautiful. I love night-time baseball outdoors!

10:17pm: the Tribe beat the Rangers 12-6 in a slug-fest. Tonight’s attendance: 6,334.

10:45pm: we’re back at our hotel room. My legs are starting to feel the hike this morning, which doesn’t bode well for tomorrow. We’re gonna watch some NCAA basketball and then get to sleep.