Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 10 years and 1 month old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

We got up early this morning (5:45am MST!) so we could get breakfast at the hotel as soon as it opened and then be on our way to Camelback Mountain for our annual hike. This year we decided to do the Cholla Trail, instead of Echo Canyon, since we hadn’t been on that trail since our first trip and didn’t make it to the top.

We were parking the car on Invergordon Road when we realized we hadn’t stopped to get bottles of water, oops! By the time we found a Circle K and made it back to Invergordon with our supplies it was now almost 20 minutes later and we ended up parking farther down the street from Cholla. It was still earlier than we had ever started the hike before, however, and the crisp breeze and low temperatures made for a pretty pleasant hike to the summit. Spectacular views, as always.

My brother was wearing his Garmin watch again, so he tracked our hike up and back down. 

Since we were done with our hike early (about 9:45am) we decided to head over to the Goodyear Ballpark Complex again and catch the end of practice. This time I did manage to chase down a foul ball that came over the first base fence. I felt a little bad about beating out some young kids to it, but they already had snagged a few of their own so I felt justified in getting one. My brother was unsuccessful in tracking down Nick Swisher for an autograph after practice, so we headed over to the stadium again for our last game.

I had purposely gotten us seats in the shady area along the third base line, a side of the park we’ve never sat on, thinking that would be a nice break from the Arizona sun. Figures it turned out to be the cloudiest day we’ve ever seen on our trips and it was overcast for most of the game.

My brother wasn’t complaining though, based on the weather waiting back home for him.

During the game we were also keeping tabs on our alma mater Dayton Flyers men’s basketball team as they beat Fordham in the A10 tournament, 70-67. Go Flyers! The Indians’ bench then came through with another late inning explosion and beat the Kansas City Royals 12-6! A straight flush of Cleveland victories for the first time on our trip! 😀

Following the almost exact same schedule as yesterday, we drove back to our hotel, cleaned up, changed, and then headed out for our traditional last night steak dinner at Rustler’s Rooste. The beef, brew, and view, were great as always.

Thanks to my brother and the magic of  Twitter, we met “Trail Boss” Cathy, whose father built the Rooste back in 1971. Ashley, the social media manager who runs the @RustlersRooste Twitter account, is Cathy’s daughter and remembered us from two years ago thanks to our Lego pictures. Too funny!

Hard to believe our trip is already over and tomorrow we head home …