I walked to the hostel from the terminal. It's about 3 miles. There is a local bus service, but I like to walk (I think it's the sun going to my head). I checked in, had a quick shower and then walked into the downtown area. The hostel is again not in the centre of the city, but a good 15 minute walk.
The first stop was the very helpful visitor centre, who informed me (politely) that there's not a lot to do in Phoenix and it is so big that it is hard to get around without a car. They were genuinely really helpful and offered free internet access where I booked my accomodation, for next week, in Vegas. The Stratosphere on Tuesday, the Sahara on Wednesday and then it all gets expensive, so I'm off to the hostel.
Next I went off to buy tickets for the upcoming fixtures. It's nice to finally get to a city where the sports teams are playing at home. I bought tickets for the Phoenix Sun (NBA Basketball) tonight, Thursday and saturday and the Phoenix Coyotes (NHL Ice Hockey) on Wednesday and Friday. All these games are to be played at the America West Arena. I know it seems a bit extreme, but the tickets only came to $61.50 for 5 nights entertainment.
I had an afternoon to kill and I suppose most sane people who hadn't slept all night would go and get their head down. Not me, I went to go and take part in my most favorite thing. You guessed it, a stadium tour of the Ball One Ballpark (BOB) for $6. It's situated right next door to the America West Arena. You guys must be getting a bit bored of me writing about sports stadia and to be fair I'm finding it a bit tedious too, but this stadium I actually found different from the rest. It seems to have been built with the fans in mind as opposed to the corporate big spenders and they've paid attention to the little details. Every seat in the stadium is angled towards homeplate. It has a retractable 5 acre roof that takes 4.5 minutes to open. They've installed airconditioning and a swimming pool, from where you can watch the game. You've got to bear in mind that Pheonix is in the middle of a desert and for 90% of the year the temperature is over 100 degrees. Today is only 80.
BOB is home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, winners of the 2001 world series and are owned by the same owner as the Suns. The whole stadium cost $354m.
That past 90 minutes of my life, so I went for a drink and pre game meal in the TGI Fridays that overlooks the ballpark. I think this is such a great location for a restaurant. I was all paid up and ready to head across to the America West Arena when I got chatting to the bloke sat next to me. It turns out he's going to the game and was waiting for his friend to turn up with the tickets. So we had a few more drinks at his expense. When Elizabeth turned up, we drank some red stuff before Elizabeth decided she couldn't be bothered to go to the game and gave her suite tickets to Clem and I.
Next thing I know I was sat in an executive suite watching the Chicago Bulls play the Phoenix Suns. It was pretty cool in the box as the JD's were very generous and Clem still paid. We even got to meet the cheerleaders, as we were executives. I have to say that they were much younger than I imagined.
I'm afraid the game rather passed me by but i do know that the Suns won. Clem gave me a lift home afterwards and it's fair to say I slept like a baby. I had a great night although I could have saved the $12.50 I'd spent on my ticket.
