Saturday, we took an Ancient Ruins tour with the Pink Jeep Tour Company. It's a great outfit - knowledgable guide, fun Jeeps, a great time. And the ruins were quite interesting. While a few could be several thousand years old, most were from around the 13 century but looked like the cave art seen in Europe from prehistoric times (approximately 40,000 BC). What's even more interesting is a lack of knowledge about the meaning of this art and the cave dwelling it was found in. How can we not know? This was at the same time as Genghis Khan, the Crusades, Marco Polo, and the construction of great cathedrals but we know virtually nothing about these Native Americans, their art, and domicile. Crazy!
It's hard to top Native American ruins but we tried on Sunday with an Arizona Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. The sun was shining and our seats were in the 7th row on the right field line. You can't beat that. As most of my baseball games have been at Wrigley, I was a little baffled by there being a giant wall in outfield rather than bleachers full of highly intoxicated shirtless dudes waiting to catch a home run. They put on a good show at Chase field - something going on between every inning and lots of special guests (it was Softball Day, Autism Awareness Day, Organ Donation Day and a few others that I've forgotten). There's a restaurant to watch the game from, a pool, a playground, all inside the field. What they didn't have, however, were the stands filled on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I know some think Wrigley should be demolished in favor of a slick stadium with all the bells and whistles like functional toilets. I have to say, however, that Wrigley is packed pretty much every game and everyone comes for the baseball. No reason to mess with a good thing.
