Another stellar breakfast, this time dryish (bad)
gristly (good) sausages and omelets filled with this
weird hash of cheese, onions, and baconoid, actually
quite moreish when drowned with the little packets of
Heinz salsa offered. Fresh and sweet pineapple and
cantaloupe. I checked out the oatmeal, which looked to
be particularly gluey. It is served with raw almonds,
raisins, three kinds of artificial sweetener, and two
kinds of sugar. Honey available on request.

We were again out of synch between hotels and ballparks
and had to zoop westward and northward. I'd considered
rejiggering the reservations, but the closer you are
to gametime, the more they jack up the prices. Oh, well,
Swisher had told me not to bother, as he likes to drive.
He didn't count on all the traffic and construction and
the misbehavior of Nigella, his GPS.

On this occasion he got truly incredible seats at the
fairly nice but remote Surprise Stadium to watch the Reds
and the Rangers. This is a more compact ballpark with the
chairs set at a shallower angle, so I could see the ball!
pretty much throughout! when it was stationary and even
caught a glimpse or two of one in motion.

A rather poor refreshment selection, but there were some
local options, including the Huss (from Tempe) coffee
Kolsch, a weakish light brew made with hazelnut vanilla
coffee. I found equal vanilla and coffee flavors and
maybe a vague nuttiness. It's advertised as 16 IBU, but
the actual number is a bit higher, no doubt caused by the
coffee (the hops being the only factor taken into account
by the rating. Kilt Lifter in cans, but I was saving
myself for Lilli and La Fonda.

The visitors prevailed 6-1 in a game that started off
quite tranquilly but ended with three hit batsmen, three
stolen bases, and a pair of wild pitches, pretty evenly
distributed between the teams. Also other irregularities
that I forget (never having seen them in the first place).
And a homer for the Reds and a double for the Rangers.

Quite a slog back town to the TownePlace Suites Tempe at
Arizona Mills, which handily has an airport shuttle, so
Lilli wouldn't have to rent a car or try to brave the
unreliable public transport. It took us over an hour and
half to get 30 miles.

Lilli came in to the airport during our game, so I'd
suggested she check us in and then camp out at La Fonda
to wait for us.

We were late enough to have to punt the hotel pit stop
and rolled into the restaurant with not so much time to
spare for Happy Hour, where we rushed through a couple
rounds. They ordered dinner, combo plates, from the
regular menu. These were the usual thing. I had two
more margaritas and a couple snacks from the happy
hour list, which, as it turns out, are much more
gringified, carelessly prepared, and a crummy deal.

Beef taquitos were substantially worse and less tasty
than frozen supermarket ones but almost redeemed by a
blob of decent guacamole and a scattering of what tasted
like Sargento Mexican Blend or the equivalent.

Queso fundido was a bland, white, lumpy liquid with not
enough chopped pickled jalapenos to make a difference
stirred in; its "cheese," if it was that, was certainly
not from a cow that mooed in Spanish. Just awful.

I received a tribute of Swisher's rice (he doesn't care
for red rice); he threw in a couple spoonfuls of the
fairly savory beans because he felt sorry for me.

He also paid for dinner.

When we returned to the hotel a bunch later, I
discovered we'd been given one bigger suite for three
people rather than the two smaller ones I'd reserved.
The only thing was a net loss of one bathroom; we had
three rooms with a double bed each (one foldout sofa).
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