Fun fact, when I woke up in Tucson yesterday it was 43 degrees. When my plane landed in MPLS in the afternoon it was 43 degrees. My first trip since Covid started. Honestly, Tucson was a great place to be holed up. Lots of hikes, no crowds, easy to find great food in joints that were not packed to the rafters. I don't know if I just hit the right week in the right town or what, but we never felt uncomfortable anywhere we were at. Also, for a state with far fewer restrictions, the citizens themselves seemed waaay more concerned with public safety than I see in the Midwest. The weather was also perfect. 40-45 degrees when I woke up each day, which is awesome weather for a morning walk. 65-75 as a high each day, which provided the warmth my body needed after our 2 weeks of deep freeze. Found some crazy good food and drink around Tucson and played a round of golf at Ventana Canyon, which is a very nice course. My only stressor was a 5 mile hike through the wilderness of Saguaro National Park (East). It was a beautiful hike, but 5 miles on a narrow desert trail with "rattlesnake activity" signs made me a bit nervous. Cuz... I ..... hate.... snakes! Luckily, we saw no snakes (rare to see this time of the year) and it was a beautiful trip.
I'd have recommended a trip up to Kitt Peak, but not sure what would be open to see right now anyway.
Last year we drove up to the top of Mt. Lemon, which was pretty cool. 80 degrees in the valley and a foot of snow up in the mountains. Next year we will drive out to Kitt Peak as honestly, in two trips to Tucson, I never heard of it.
McMath Solar Telescope is iconic, but they have some pretty massive scopes up there, and it's a nice outing from Tucson (unless the high-up switchbacks bother you!)
The whole place is a pretty impressive facility. I’ve never been as a visitor, but it’s a nice place to go as an observer.
When I was there at least, there was some way to get a tour of the 4-meter telescope, because we had to plan the timing of our daytime calibrations to let them know when the visitors could come through the control room and telescope dome area. That was long enough ago that it may have changed, though.
On our visit we just "wung it"; Mrs Runner probably wouldn't have been excited for the tour anyway, but I would have enjoyed that. WIYN was still pretty new when we were there
WIYN was relatively new (about 10 years old) when I was there. We visited someone observing there on the night before our observing run started, and it certainly seemed very new and modern compared to the control room of the 4-meter, which was full of manual dials and switches that could still be used to move the telescope (though they were just a backup at that point; the telescope operator did all the moving and pointing with a computer).
And I'll put in a plug for the desert museum . Maybe my favorite museum.
even more than the sign museum in vegas!?
I do love the neon graveyard....
If you ever head up-river to Cincinnati, meat, I recommend a visit to the American Sign Museum.
Awesome. I’m going to add that to my list of places to visit.
Another next trip visit. We were going to stop there on Monday after our desert hike, but the last mile was along a wash that was basically 2 inches of loose sand. By the time we got back to the trail head my wife was in no mood for any more stops other than lunch and a margarita. Our favorite lunch stop on our trip was a Peruvian restaurant in which we had our first run in with Pisco (peruvian brandy), which was amazing, and I had a dish which was similar to paella. Best stop of our trip. Worst part of our trip was gaining 4 pounds, despite extensive hiking. We typically share an entree and a salad or appetizer when we dine out, but since we were exploring fine foods, we double down and ate too much. Might have imbibed too much as well, but it was well worth it.
Pisco and Coke.
We tried a Pisco Sour, which had some egg white in it, creating a nice froth at the top of the cocktail. Yummy!
If you are in PHX the Desert Arboretum is fantastic as well.
We just booked our trip to AZ to stay at my parent's in March. Very much looking forward to hunkering down with a hot tub for a week.
this happened in chicago yesterday:
Incredible timelapse of a giant section of ice covering Lake Michigan around the Chicago shoreline breaking off and drifting away. This video timelapse was captured by the WGN Hancock camera. H/T Tom @Skillingpic.twitter.com/9evTRpiLtn
TIL that our company has an employee named Kirk Gibson. We also have a Michael Jordan and a Mike Schmidt. True story: our Mike Schmidt was completely unaware that a man with his same name was a HOF third baseman.
Was Mike Schmidt really old out really young? You'd think if he were really young, he'd at least Google his name.
He's young. Under 30. Just no clue at all.
I have a line cook who's first name is Bruce. I saw in his file a few weeks ago that his middle name was Wayne. So, that day I was calling him Bruce Wayne which brought a lot of chuckles from the other cooks. He came up to me later and asked why everyone was calling him Batman. He is 19 years old.
Back pre-2000s I went through our 2-page work phone directory and there were several "celebrities" there; I don't remember most of them anymore, but definitely Steve Young and Vincent Price were a couple of them.
Why is my brother in your local phone book? Oh wait...
As a lawyer, my clients included a Dick Van Dyke and a Zane Gray.
Apparently my real name is common with a flash in the pan celebrity as well.
oh, raspberries...
The #MNTwins announce that Royce Lewis was feeling soreness in his right knee during intake. They got an MRI done, and he has a right ACL tear.
Lewis will undergo reconstruction surgery in the Twin Cities on Friday.
So sad for this guy. Actually pretty sad for all minor league prospects as this past year has messed with a lot of careers. Wishing him a quick and full recovery!
Damn. that’s really terrible news for Lewis (and the Twins, but I feel for the kid most). I hope this isn’t the case, but given it’s the ACL, I wonder if that’s the end of any hope he might have to stick at short.
I also hope it doesn't mess with his speed, like what resulted for Kubel.
IIRC, Kubel all but detached his lower leg from his upper leg.
This sounds more like a "routine" ACL repair, if such a thing could be characterized as routine. I'd guess that he'll probably be back at full speed in 12-18 months.
Yes. Straight line speed shouldn't be affected.
Kubel tore up both knees in an OF collision if I remember right
Couldn't have been worse timing. After missing out of a full season of development last year due to COVID, he's now missing a second consecutive year. That's really going to push his timeline back. Hopefully, he can at least play in the Arizona Fall League again or even one of the winter leagues.
Mar. 4 vs. Tampa Bay -- Section 215, Row 3, Seats 11 & 12
At some point RhuRu, I need to pick your brain on a spring training trip. The wife and I talked about vacationing near the facility next spring.
Next spring? Better start to nail down your lodging then.
Good to know... any suggestions on best area for lodging... or specific properties?
We love Ft. Myers Beach, although traffic can be poor (construction on the main drag); Sanibel is also nice. Try VRBO.
In the past I've just bit the bullet and gotten Twins ticket through a broker; forget any Twins/Red Sox games, since they're both situated in Ft. Myers; in a pinch, Port Charlotte (Rays) is only an hour away.
I just got back from my parents place in Estero which is just south of FM and is less than 20 minutes from Airport and the Twins Facility. The Estero/Bonita Springs area is not a bad place to look either. The traffic isn't nearly as bad and there are some nice beaches in the Bonita Springs area. Definitely not as cool/trendy as Fort Myers Beach or Sanibel, but a lot easier to move around.
Very true. Anything with access to Hwy 75 is good; Tamiami hwy is workable alternative, too.
Bradenton is a fun park too if you are willing to watch Pirates "prospects". I've been 4-5 times and haven't had a hard time finding accommodations. (Obviously depends on your preferences)
I meant park to visit to see the Twins. Lots of other nice places to stay near the beach like other's have mentioned.
It's not looking good for the outdoor rink, significant puddling the last couple days and definitely today now that the sun is fully on it. Looking at the forecast, I'm hoping we can get out on it another time or two Sunday or Monday. But once the 40s hit, it could be game over.
Yup. What a year. It finally got cold enough for us to get a good freeze, and we had about 4 days of skating. Now it's looking unlikely we'll get any more - maybe a time or two if it refreezes well.
At least I learned a few things that I can apply next year, and hopefully we'll get a better rink because of it.
Sunday and Monday look possible, but that could be it. I'd love to take a trip to Warroad to check out the ice trail they built, maybe next year.
Growing up on a lake, I got real good at skating on crax ice. The first time I skated on Zamboni ice I couldn't handle it until I had my blades sharpened.
I think the Wolves got a makeup call with Rubio getting three free throws in the final seconds of regulation to send the game into OT after KAT fouled out on a BS call a few seconds earlier.
Fun fact, when I woke up in Tucson yesterday it was 43 degrees. When my plane landed in MPLS in the afternoon it was 43 degrees. My first trip since Covid started. Honestly, Tucson was a great place to be holed up. Lots of hikes, no crowds, easy to find great food in joints that were not packed to the rafters. I don't know if I just hit the right week in the right town or what, but we never felt uncomfortable anywhere we were at. Also, for a state with far fewer restrictions, the citizens themselves seemed waaay more concerned with public safety than I see in the Midwest. The weather was also perfect. 40-45 degrees when I woke up each day, which is awesome weather for a morning walk. 65-75 as a high each day, which provided the warmth my body needed after our 2 weeks of deep freeze. Found some crazy good food and drink around Tucson and played a round of golf at Ventana Canyon, which is a very nice course. My only stressor was a 5 mile hike through the wilderness of Saguaro National Park (East). It was a beautiful hike, but 5 miles on a narrow desert trail with "rattlesnake activity" signs made me a bit nervous. Cuz... I ..... hate.... snakes! Luckily, we saw no snakes (rare to see this time of the year) and it was a beautiful trip.
I'd have recommended a trip up to Kitt Peak, but not sure what would be open to see right now anyway.
Last year we drove up to the top of Mt. Lemon, which was pretty cool. 80 degrees in the valley and a foot of snow up in the mountains. Next year we will drive out to Kitt Peak as honestly, in two trips to Tucson, I never heard of it.
McMath Solar Telescope is iconic, but they have some pretty massive scopes up there, and it's a nice outing from Tucson (unless the high-up switchbacks bother you!)
The whole place is a pretty impressive facility. I’ve never been as a visitor, but it’s a nice place to go as an observer.
When I was there at least, there was some way to get a tour of the 4-meter telescope, because we had to plan the timing of our daytime calibrations to let them know when the visitors could come through the control room and telescope dome area. That was long enough ago that it may have changed, though.
On our visit we just "wung it"; Mrs Runner probably wouldn't have been excited for the tour anyway, but I would have enjoyed that. WIYN was still pretty new when we were there
WIYN was relatively new (about 10 years old) when I was there. We visited someone observing there on the night before our observing run started, and it certainly seemed very new and modern compared to the control room of the 4-meter, which was full of manual dials and switches that could still be used to move the telescope (though they were just a backup at that point; the telescope operator did all the moving and pointing with a computer).
And I'll put in a plug for the desert museum . Maybe my favorite museum.
even more than the sign museum in vegas!?
I do love the neon graveyard....
If you ever head up-river to Cincinnati, meat, I recommend a visit to the American Sign Museum.
Awesome. I’m going to add that to my list of places to visit.
Another next trip visit. We were going to stop there on Monday after our desert hike, but the last mile was along a wash that was basically 2 inches of loose sand. By the time we got back to the trail head my wife was in no mood for any more stops other than lunch and a margarita. Our favorite lunch stop on our trip was a Peruvian restaurant in which we had our first run in with Pisco (peruvian brandy), which was amazing, and I had a dish which was similar to paella. Best stop of our trip. Worst part of our trip was gaining 4 pounds, despite extensive hiking. We typically share an entree and a salad or appetizer when we dine out, but since we were exploring fine foods, we double down and ate too much. Might have imbibed too much as well, but it was well worth it.
Pisco and Coke.
We tried a Pisco Sour, which had some egg white in it, creating a nice froth at the top of the cocktail. Yummy!
If you are in PHX the Desert Arboretum is fantastic as well.
We just booked our trip to AZ to stay at my parent's in March. Very much looking forward to hunkering down with a hot tub for a week.
this happened in chicago yesterday:
That was pretty cool to watch.
The shadow of the skyline was pretty awesome.
TIL that our company has an employee named Kirk Gibson. We also have a Michael Jordan and a Mike Schmidt. True story: our Mike Schmidt was completely unaware that a man with his same name was a HOF third baseman.
Was Mike Schmidt really old out really young? You'd think if he were really young, he'd at least Google his name.
He's young. Under 30. Just no clue at all.
I have a line cook who's first name is Bruce. I saw in his file a few weeks ago that his middle name was Wayne. So, that day I was calling him Bruce Wayne which brought a lot of chuckles from the other cooks. He came up to me later and asked why everyone was calling him Batman. He is 19 years old.
Back pre-2000s I went through our 2-page work phone directory and there were several "celebrities" there; I don't remember most of them anymore, but definitely Steve Young and Vincent Price were a couple of them.
Why is my brother in your local phone book? Oh wait...
As a lawyer, my clients included a Dick Van Dyke and a Zane Gray.
Apparently my real name is common with a flash in the pan celebrity as well.
oh, raspberries...
So sad for this guy. Actually pretty sad for all minor league prospects as this past year has messed with a lot of careers. Wishing him a quick and full recovery!
Damn. that’s really terrible news for Lewis (and the Twins, but I feel for the kid most). I hope this isn’t the case, but given it’s the ACL, I wonder if that’s the end of any hope he might have to stick at short.
I also hope it doesn't mess with his speed, like what resulted for Kubel.
IIRC, Kubel all but detached his lower leg from his upper leg.
This sounds more like a "routine" ACL repair, if such a thing could be characterized as routine. I'd guess that he'll probably be back at full speed in 12-18 months.
Yes. Straight line speed shouldn't be affected.
Kubel tore up both knees in an OF collision if I remember right
Couldn't have been worse timing. After missing out of a full season of development last year due to COVID, he's now missing a second consecutive year. That's really going to push his timeline back. Hopefully, he can at least play in the Arizona Fall League again or even one of the winter leagues.
Mar. 4 vs. Tampa Bay -- Section 215, Row 3, Seats 11 & 12
At some point RhuRu, I need to pick your brain on a spring training trip. The wife and I talked about vacationing near the facility next spring.
Next spring? Better start to nail down your lodging then.
Good to know... any suggestions on best area for lodging... or specific properties?
We love Ft. Myers Beach, although traffic can be poor (construction on the main drag); Sanibel is also nice. Try VRBO.
In the past I've just bit the bullet and gotten Twins ticket through a broker; forget any Twins/Red Sox games, since they're both situated in Ft. Myers; in a pinch, Port Charlotte (Rays) is only an hour away.
I just got back from my parents place in Estero which is just south of FM and is less than 20 minutes from Airport and the Twins Facility. The Estero/Bonita Springs area is not a bad place to look either. The traffic isn't nearly as bad and there are some nice beaches in the Bonita Springs area. Definitely not as cool/trendy as Fort Myers Beach or Sanibel, but a lot easier to move around.
Very true. Anything with access to Hwy 75 is good; Tamiami hwy is workable alternative, too.
Bradenton is a fun park too if you are willing to watch Pirates "prospects". I've been 4-5 times and haven't had a hard time finding accommodations. (Obviously depends on your preferences)
I meant park to visit to see the Twins. Lots of other nice places to stay near the beach like other's have mentioned.
It's not looking good for the outdoor rink, significant puddling the last couple days and definitely today now that the sun is fully on it. Looking at the forecast, I'm hoping we can get out on it another time or two Sunday or Monday. But once the 40s hit, it could be game over.
Yup. What a year. It finally got cold enough for us to get a good freeze, and we had about 4 days of skating. Now it's looking unlikely we'll get any more - maybe a time or two if it refreezes well.
At least I learned a few things that I can apply next year, and hopefully we'll get a better rink because of it.
Sunday and Monday look possible, but that could be it. I'd love to take a trip to Warroad to check out the ice trail they built, maybe next year.
Growing up on a lake, I got real good at skating on crax ice. The first time I skated on Zamboni ice I couldn't handle it until I had my blades sharpened.
I think the Wolves got a makeup call with Rubio getting three free throws in the final seconds of regulation to send the game into OT after KAT fouled out on a BS call a few seconds earlier.